The mist steals in
and the land succumbs to silence,
the minutes slow,
the scene crystallizes.
She says ‘Hush my daughter,
your rest is assured’
and I believe her.
I am washed of the worlds assault
by a breath of wind in winter
and the light of the moon on the lake.
When the crescent cuts its slice of night and the Pleiades take each other by the arm, I ride out to the iron gate at the edge of town. Here the stones of yesterday mark well the sleep of both old friends and foes and it is here I sit and wait for sorrow to fall, heavy like the sheets of rain in a thunderstorm, blacker than the clouds that bring it. But as the stars blink their silver eyes in high oblivion, I realize my heart no longer needs to bleed these tears and it is long past the hour of my retiring. My horse exhales and stamps his hooves, urging me to end my reverie and as I rise, I feel released of my imagined burden and see that the sky of my life remains clear.
salted water
seaweed strands
the dim horizon
wind etched sands
slow setting sun
dark cloud bands
on silent shore
alone she stands
head tossed back
with outstretched hands
Today’s word prompts were: position, cusp, farm, luminescent, photo, illicit, languidly.
Stellar
The stars stand in place,
fixed in the firmament,
well positioned sentinels
in eternal vigil over all.
Eventually they move,
slowly, languidly,
like time lapse photos
of the night sky’s topography.
This cold luminescence
appearing to revolve,
but we are the earth spinners
keeping them always
on the cusp of our horizon.
Wrote this for the National Poetry Writing Month or NaPoMoFo over at Google+
The word prompts for today were: tonight, thwart, umbilical, haphazard, journal, precise and dichotomy. You can use some, all or use them just for inspiration.
I came up with Birthing the Blossom
Bloom, rise, reach for the sky.
Your umbilical stem will always provide.
The wet, heavy earth only thwarts you tonight,
as your purpose is coded and oh so precise.
When tomorrow’s sun shines, the time will be right
for dichotomy’s branching into the light.
22 Things
This is because Angie Richmond had a wonderful idea over at Write Me Happy and I feel it has the potential to inspire positivity. Click the 22 Things badge if you want to join the fun.
Since I’m putting this list up as a blog post, I thought I would include some detail, you know, for entertainment value.
1. Find more things to appreciate each day (and appreciate more about those things each successive day)
2. If I see something about someone I like, I should compliment them. (Unless it can be taken as sexual harassment, then I will refrain)
3. Let go of negative thoughts when they rise (or crush them with my war hammer of JOY)
4. Get a haircut (I love Morticia Aadams but my face screams layers)
5. Teach my phone new tricks (translated as: Learn what my fancy new phone can do)
6. Do the dishes for my husband (Because let’s face it, he cooks dinner every night since I might poison us)
7. Buy a fruit or vegetable each time I go to the grocery store that I’ve never eaten before. (Dragonfruit was not horrible)
8. Download at least one of the amazing songs/albums I liked on my Pandora station. (Everyone would enjoy Start Shootin’ by Little People on the Mickey Mouse Operation album. Download it now, I am!)
9. Walk the dog every day. (He can’t go by himself)
10. Get back to having lunch once a month with mom. (I didn’t get to meet her until I was 32 so we still have catching up to do)
11. Wash my truck (nuff said)
12. Get my birth certificate (so I can get my passport)
13. Get a passport (Because mom is taking me to England and Scotland! Hooray!)
14. Wean myself of the online game Grepolis (Greece is great, seafaring battle games are exciting, but having more time to write = priceless)
15. Find different ways to drive home from work so I can see new flowering plants and trees. (My version of stop and smell the flowers. Viva springtime!)
16. Overindulge in pistachio ice cream
17. Increase the weight setting on my Total Gym to compensate for above overindulgence
18. Shave my legs (It’s a treat for me and my husband! Come on, it’s been winter in the Pacific Northwest and we all love big foot up here. Not shaving keeps me warm and gives props to the big hairy fella)
19. Get back to a 15 min daily meditation (No one knows what I’m thinking. I can think about ANYTHING I want for 15 minutes with no complaints, comments, backlash, judgment or interruptions. I know 15 minutes seems paltry but it’s a start)
20. Drink more water (I’m never thirsty. Never. Funnily enough, this is a sign of extreme dehydration. You get so thirsty you lose your thirst mechanism. Water is life. I would do well to remember this)
21. Keep myself involved in writerly pursuits and activities (All the writers I’ve encountered are extremely wonderful people with insights to share. We benefit from each other. May we continue to do so)
22. Achieve world peace (Okay, I know this isn’t something small I can tackle right now but it’s good to dream big and I will continue to dream big)
I used to have a past that I thought I was running from, memories that I wanted to keep but not have them be so…fresh. There were moments that seemed fraught with bad decisions and regrettable behavior, others that were filled with longing and loneliness.
I knew looking back on those parts of my life from a great distance would make them nostalgic and charming. The follies of youth and all that.
Well, here I sit, not far past forty and I’ll be damned if I can’t remember those moments with any great detail or clarity. Did I put too much distance between me and those memories? I see them through the haze of years I piled on top in an effort to continue to move forward. Now, oddly, I yearn for them.
I wonder what happened to that portion of my life and why I cannot access it. Did I try too hard to push on, build walls too strong to get past without assistance? I must admit I’m baffled.
The only thing that brings me close is music. There are songs that act as marvelous triggers that have the ability to transport me to times gone by. Exact situations, small crystallized fragments fly up and I can see them, feel them and its delicious.
I have a nostalgic heart and I can’t help but believe some of that precious nostalgia has been stolen from my by my own determined will. I wonder if I can turn that will upon itself and find my way back. I know there are juicy bits there that I will want to relish, a small gold mine of ideas to fuel my stories.
I am convinced they are there and I shall continue moving through that haze while I listen to song after beautiful song.
The ice has forced us to build little caves and we sit huddled in homes looking out upon the white and sparkling barrier to the rest of the world. We are locked in place, waiting in stasis, and the urge to escape is increasing.
We don’t appreciate the limitation, rail against the situation and want to roam free. How can it be that we find ourselves here, nature holding all the cards and us forced to comply with her whim and her will? She’s a fickle mistress and while we know she will release us soon, the tension is unbearable for the time being.
I too am tied to this winter madness, victim of the sky and all that fell from it. My body sits tight while my mind sees me, hair streaming out behind, rosy cheeked and breathless from the chase, running down endless hallways, ever racing after elusive ideas.
The sun rises as the King of Summer
rides forth to claim his flower bride.
She blushes so that his desire
spreads out to touch the land and bless it
with the life that only he bestows.
Fly, falcon, fly to heights of pleasure
as the days of sunshine reign sovereign,
for this warm caress is not eternal
and soon comes the jealous Snow Queen
to steal back the throne.
*This poem is OLD but I felt like sharing it.
Speaking of who or where or why. Just speaking of something. I choose to speak tonight even though I should be listening. I am not a good listener and for some reason I am very conscious of that lately.
Whispers spin around me in amorphous clouds of words and somehow miss me or move through me. I should collect them and keep them safe but I don’t. I blow them back to their beginning, to their source and I’m often blind to their value.
Shame on me. If I were to have a New Year’s resolution, and I don’t usually, it would be to listen, to cherish the things that people choose to share with me and remember them later, when it’s important.
Aside from my recognition of this shortcoming, what am I doing here tonight? Just taking some steps out into the world again. My silence has been born of necessity. I needed to have serious down time before I could function in the realm of letters, the realm of readers. I have been wrapped tightly lately, to use a holiday pun, and today I am decompressing. Things are lovely in my life, if a bit busy, and I’m just here to express gratitude for all that I have and all that I am. So much goes on around us and flies past us so this is my moment to stand still and appreciate.
So, longest night and shortest day. It makes me stop to think about the world, the universe and how and why it functions. How regular are things really? How much do chaos and change affect our lives? Which do we prefer, the static or the plastic? Why can we sometimes be so much better in a crisis? Do we truly understand our connection to the circumstances in our lives?
So the questions swim. Right now I just want to go water my plants and decompress a bit more.
I hope the holidays offer everyone a chance to decompress, to stand still and appreciate and be surrounded by joy.
