AIM Check from Social Commentary Series

When my children went off to college they went very far away (they to this day admit that distance from the parental units was one of the selection criteria). grin. My experience of their leaving was, I think, so much easier than the generation before mine. Between cell phones, AIM and email they never seemed completely removed from my world. This poem was actually a daily occurrence at that time (and I still do it know..either with Facebook or Google talk contact list.

AIM CHECK

Black letters in
a box of blue
I see them
and breathe
a sigh of relief
YOU ARE THERE!
My child is alive
and assumed well.

This is my personal favorite. About a childhood experience that embodies the essence of life when I was young. It is from the Childhood's Echoes series and is intended to evoke the sound of childhood play and laughter.

AZALEA

When I was young...
there was an azalea bush
The Maiden Lady and her brother
planted in my name.
The Cookie Lady
passed out home-baked cookies
at her fence.
And we jumped
on a buried lump of coal
to make a diamond.

Flowering from Love and Amistad Series

Let he who catches the metaphors---Enjoy! ;-) Smiles

FLOWERING

Pushing against darkness
penetrating nature's wall
striving toward the light
...life is fulfilled

Dancing in the breath
stretched arms seeking
head unfurling
...life is tasted

Surges from below
thickening in growth
velvet beauty bursting
...life is expressed

Velvet touches fallen
thickness drooping
futures pearls scattered
...life is perpetuated

Body folded inward
curled on dark comforter
power cold faded
...life sleeps.

Lotus Love from Love And Amistad

Lotus Love was written about an experience with a man who I still warmly treasure to this day. I have never regretted my decision to bypass the fleeting madness (we truly would have killed and affection for each other in short order if it had been pursued). The desire for him though, led me to attract some very wonderful things...so even the madness I do not regret for a moment... for the doors it opened in me.

LOTUS LOVE

I
Reached for love with
Eager and willing hands
I cupped around it
Oh, so gently,
As one would,
A lotus.
Slowly
I brought it to
My breast, heart yearning
Tremblingly open,
And so caressed
My face with
Its petals.
I
Drunk on its sweet
Scent, was thralled in wonder
To find such beauty
And magic born,
Of something
So fragile.
Then
Picturing it,
Black and wilted to but
A faded scent for-
Ever lost by
The heat of my desire,
I
Slowly knelt by
The water, and reaching down
Gently set it free.
Then, with longing,
I watched it
Float away.

The Pearl - from Love And Amistad

This is one of my most popular poems. I have received emails from both men and women relating to the experience. I hope someday to be able to compose a sister poem to this one...one where that opening is treasured and celebrated. Still waiting.... We live in busy times.

THE PEARL

As always, I lay dreaming
in the oceans of life.
Lapped in it’s ceaseless rhythms.
Lulled by it’s distant murmur.
Safe. Sealed to joy and foe alike.

He came, gentle hands plucking
me from my lifelong slumber
Tickled, sensitive inner folds.
Fire! turning gentle currents
into penetrating steam.

Burning! Animating,
causing tender flesh and
spirit to expand in longing
and, boundless need. Coaxing
until...All of me lay revealed.

The pearl, precious core and
essence of all I am/offer,
lay open to him.
Defenseless, in my desire to
have...and please.

But he, must have found it mis-
shapen in some way. For though
he stroked...and played for a while,
too soon, he laid me aside for
...quote..."More important things".

Futility from Social Commentary

This is from the Social Commentary series. At this time we had yet to even dream of 911...images of the Anger in the Middle East was of interest only to those into politics. I was watching the news with my son one night when the anger and passion of the people speaking of "Americans" caught me eye and I thought ..how sad ..to spend so much energy and hate on people completely oblivious to you.




FUTILITY

ON A FLICKERING SCREEN
I SAW
FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE
GATHERED SWEATING IN THEIR STREETS.
PASSIONATE
IN THEIR ANGER
SHOUTING TO THE HEAVENS AND WORLD
THEIR HATRED OF AMERICANS.
AND I
TYPICAL OBJECT OF
SUCH EXPENDITURE IN EMOTION,
FELT PITY
FOR UNTIL THAT MOMENT
I'D NEVER KNOWN OF THEIR EXISTENCE.
AND I KNEW THAT WITH THE NEXT
FLICKER
ON THE SCREEN THEY WOULD
BE LOST TO MY ATTENTION AND EVEN MEMORY
OF JUST
WHO EXACTLY THEY WERE
AND WHAT THEY WERE SO UPSET ABOUT.

Poems From Yesteryear

AOL took down Hometown where I had these poems posted. They are from the end of the century. 1996 -2000.