Thursday, August 28, 2014

Late Night Treat

Late night treat


If it doesn’t gush out
It’s not blood
Or true

Is it bloody false?

If it doesn’t kill you
It’s not horrible
Or painful

Is it horribly beautiful?

Can we mince words like meat
And get something no one will eat?

Do words get all sweet and sour in your mind
But taste funny on your tongue?

Is figurative dance an aphrodisiac?
Or an act of defiance
By those who don’t dance, thank you very much.

What does it make me if I’d rather make up words
Than my face?
Rather play with words than drugstore dreams?

Can we sleep on it or
Do you get in your bed while I seem to float above mine
Testing deeper shores of metaphor and rhyme

Reason always seems to arrive
Before turning on my coffee pot in the morning

But then again I can be terribly polite
In my
Caffeinated state

Feed me words for breakfast
And watch me soar



Monday, August 25, 2014

Housework

Housework

The wind is unrelenting in its
Request
Blowing into each open window
Like it belongs among the
Dust and debris
Of my half packed house

It feels urgent that i
Stand firm
Bending like a tree
Stay on the path
But accept the resistance
That I keep facing

To be present
Experience the swirling chaos
And the calm centre

To start moving forward
Aware of what’s holding me
Together

Not regretting change
Or chance
Feeling momentum building
But keeping daily tasks going
At a steady pace

Load the washer
Clean the dishes
Dust the mirror

Reflect only on what I can
See in front of me
Here
In me

It’s hard to see forever
With your eyes shut





Thursday, August 21, 2014

I'm Not Stuck in a Poem

I’m not stuck in a poem

I’m stuck in a life
That tried to
Build a house with
A fence
Leaving the poems
Outside

When I opened the
Windows
And the dust
Cleared
It was the poetry
That came beaming
In with the sun



Monday, August 18, 2014

He Asked Her On a Date

He asked her on a date

Even the question
Came out foreign
A phrase he rarely spoke

Like a wonderful exotic
Magical expedition
Had been proposed

She had not gone out
In years
Before children had slept in her bed

More surprised that
He wanted to be seen in
Public with
Her again

Than that she saw
This small moment
To say yes
Greet her like a horizon
At the end of a long
Tunnel

Glances echoed off their
Faces
Hands and thumbs played
Lap games
Eager not to disappoint the other

The next morning
After some weak
Peppermint tea
She thinks she’s finally
Ready to
Say
yes



Saturday, August 16, 2014

Home

Home

The rhythmic, pounding
Pulse
Pulls out of me

What years of
Pushing
Never could

I have become undone
In another world

Birthed into being

By sound

Thursday, August 14, 2014

I See You Sleeping

I see you sleeping
and want more than anything
To colour your dreams happy
To remove the harsh looks and words from our morning
To wet your cheek one more time with my kisses
To touch your scalp naked against my palm
To remember how precious you are
Awake
When you swallow every gesture of mine with blind faith
And grow up
In spite of me



Monday, August 11, 2014

Eight Haiku: Steps to Freedom

Eight haiku: Steps to Freedom

Tight fit for my grief
Words spoken, eyes averted
I got canned today

Foible future fears
Relax, it’s all in right time
Perfect time for pie

Empty space fills quick
Rubble and regret fall down
To keep me human

Light lighter than air
Escapes from my lungs on fire
Words burn on the page

Enough is enough
Leave your umbrella at home
Let the sky fall down

Keep the words coming
Nothing left to lose at all
Gain some peace instead

Provoke poems out
You know you can taste them now
Dripping from your heart

See past the mountain
Follow the stars and the birds

the way is clear now



Thursday, August 7, 2014

Ease at the Moment

Ease at the moment
Feels like
Creating a linoblock print

Precise
Narrow cuts
Angular and separate
Each surrounded by just enough space
To form a cohesive image

One slip
In any direction
Can distort the purpose
Destroy clarity
Blur the final product

Ease at the moment
Feels like thick ink
Waiting to be pressed into service
Heavy with anticipation
Anxious about when the fated act will happen
If it will hurt
If losing some of itself to a greater purpose
Makes the mess easier to clean up

Ease at the moment
Feels like the blank page
Radiant with longing
Beaming its intentions out into the studio
Knowing the artist can sense its presence
Aware that soon its purpose will be fulfilled
Grateful at the opportunity to serve
To display and uplift a vision greater than itself

Ease at the moment
Takes me to the bottom of the page
To the end of this poem
Past the moment of doubt and
insecurity
Into the fulfillment of creation
And back into the calm
Of knowing

I am at
Ease in
This

Moment

Monday, August 4, 2014

Ease Your Soul/Dusting Duties

Elevate
Alleviate
Elude the dark small talk

enter the light
entrance the one who waits
listening to the words still wet on your tongue

elongate your vision
ease your soul onto the sofa
drink tea and hold hands

envision more for yourself
than dirty dishes in the sink
and what to make for dinner

embrace the possibility that
they expect more from you
than clean clothes
and a full lunch box

you are being watched
for what you bring into the room
their lives
the smiles and tears

staying close to hear their fears
standing by when they want to be alone
keeping the lines open

Love leads
grace dances
life heals




Saturday, August 2, 2014

Begin Again

Begin again
In the spiral of nothingness
To gravitate
To grieve
To gratify the immortals
To be guided towards greatness by the whisper of the wind
To wallow thoroughly in your humanness
To dig your knees deep into the ground


Begin again
At the altar or pew
In dark, the dusk, the candlelight will do


Begin again
To feel the ground beneath your feet
To smell the sea in the air
To see your breath through the tears
To remember that once again
To begin again
You must sense the timing and the meaning


We stumble onto our knees
Desperate to be released from our own stubbornness
Our pride – the last ditch effort to outdo the universe
Thinking only we can provide control and collide


The ground is hard and comforting
A railing – perhaps a tree or a bed – holds us up
Through the night we ache
To be nature – natural again
To feel with our senses the sensual pattern of nature
The ebb and flow of knowingness – willingness
To turn with the tide instead of against it


To breathe in the air instead of trying to keep it out of our lungs
To escape into the dark – to find meaning here in the silence and
Imagery of the soul



Earth longing for herself within the willing spirit of a mortal