Been a while since we had a poem. I found this one in a written journal (yes, I still write on paper, it’s my favourite in some ways) from a year or so ago:

Free Will

Breathe your breath, reprieve your death
and choose your pathway through
the evidence of obstacle,
it’s time to find what’s true
You think you can, you know you can,
and then reality
it’s all about the way it seems
that’s not the truth you see

Perception calls the truth to live,
but filters out the same

to know what’s real, and still to feel
is such a painful game

Play your cards although it’s hard,
you’ll know it when it’s real

you’ll know it by the way it seems
and by the way it feels

Please listen to the tiny voice,
it will not comfort you

it tells the truth, it offers choice,
but won’t say what to do

the moment comes, you hear the drums,
they shape reality

but there’s no drummer, no disguise,
and no identity

Mercury, that tricksy little messenger of the mind, has gone retrograde again. It’s not necessarily a cause for alarm, though there are things to be careful of during these stretches. Double check your communications, edit thoroughly. Not necessarily a good time to bring forward sensitive topics for discussion with others, not necessarily a bad time either, if you are very careful and as open hearted as possible.

Trust matters when Mercury is retrograde. This is a time we have to have faith in each others’ good intentions, because it is so very easy to misconstrue. When Mercury is retrograde, our mental functioning effectively turns inside out, so that the words we say and hear actually travel along different pathways in their swift journey toward our grasp than they normally do. Meanings can be missed that way.

A good way to learn to adapt to Mercury retrograde by using this time to be with yourself, take stock, turn your attention inward, where it naturally wants to go now anyway. Re-read old journals, old poetry, remember the ones who have gone before.
(more…)

Long live crazy poetry! It’s been a while since I wrote one, yay for me! – ph

witch came first

My eggs have all hatched and now the chickens
Are coming home to roost, let others take care of their world,
safety the only concern, best be behind locked doors,
shutter the blinds and blind the minds

Pay no attention to the one behind the curtain who
Seems so familiar. I see a mirror, no enemy,
I got no closed doors, it was a tough job but somebody had to do it,
I am the Queen of my life, director of my play, here and now
(more…)

Ah, how soon I do abandon my commitments! Not abandoned quite; it’s just that I’m not sure how to go about this project. The photos exist, piling up on my flickr page, but the poem thing, hm. I’ll do a few more now, but at some point I’m going to have to figure out how to approach this properly.

I see you
I know what you
are thinking
My eyes flash white
at your secrets
I am at the window
of your dreams
nothing hides from me
wild things grow
in your cracks,
where I live
do you remember?
(more…)

I am here
you can’t see me
the light through my cracks
distracts from my face
but I’m here
patiently radiating
awaiting the day
flower faces
turn my way
and I may become myself
at last, blessed
child of Light

********
(more…)

i thought i knew
was on a path
it led into this cavern
crammed with golden strands
woven by fate-spiders
no passage here
this end is dead
i must remain
wrapped in tangled webs
i read my future
in their weavings
oh! such mysteries resolve
(more…)

The parameters for the poems are arbitrary; I look at the photo and write from the voice that I hear from that particular face, the emotion expressed, and I stop writing when I’ve come to the bottom of the photo. It seems to work out pretty well so far.

do not disturb me
for anything less
than a change
in fundamental
laws for
the way it has been
has killed me
too many times
there must be room
for my heart
(more…)

It’s a little past the New Year, but I feel like taking on another daily challenge, or as close to daily as I can manage (giving myself lots of rope). My photography project (the arty self-portraits) for this year is to focus on expressing emotion through the photos.

That seemed to invite joining poetry with the photos, which serves the bonus purpose of keeping me writing. Here’s the first few installments.

frozen heart

Sad eyes
gaze quizzical
from bluezone
distances
hope froze over
long ago
and now
nothing ever happens
her veins have changed
from hot flood
to lacy traceries
no more beating heart
(more…)

The 365days photos are piling up, indicating that I’m not posting enough here. I like to peruse my archives seeking inspiration, and I regularly discover things written in the past that had gotten filed away under ‘forgettery’. This one from 2006 needed a fair amount of editing, so it’s partly new again.

This is one of those channeled, deep, talking-to-me-as-much-as-anybody-else type pieces that tend to baffle the part of me that just isn’t that smart yet (partly why they get filed away for so long). As much puzzle as poetry, it can take me years to own a particular piece. When I do get it, though, they tend to make a profound kind of sense.

While there are a lot of levels, verse 2 of seems appropriate for this global warming conference in Copenhagen.

Your Suffering Savior

Body, breath, life isn’t cheap
lion in jungle crouching to leap
Boogie’s in the shadow, she never sleeps
So mothers, kiss your kids goodnight
This electric dark draws nightmares
too stark for sweet child minds
who always should stay safe and blind,
and aren’t you Momma’s precious babe? (more…)

We had an uneventful journey, for which I am grateful. Quite magical, really; we missed the bad weather both ways. The trip home was gorgeous, with sundogs and snow, until we hit the Coquihalla and things started to get ugly–but not as ugly as they became after we passed through. We took our time and had a sweet if short visit with my sister and fam.

Right now, my brains are swimming in sugar from eating betty crocker icing, it’s late, and I’m waiting until tomorrow to start my life. I’m still landing in my body from arriving home, the world is snow-covered, and I have no idea what comes next. I’m okay with that. I have a good feeling about this year to come. This last year has been hard, but we made it through and there were plenty of high points. I’ve come to rely on those. They’re always different, but they happen, and I keep changing.