Foreword
This compilation of poetry is a reflection of emotions and thoughts experienced since 1985. I dedicate it to all of those: whether child, man, or woman who have suffered any form of abuse. May these words evoke and energize a spirit of coming alive from a cocoon of numbness, a planet of pain. I like to keep things simple so that they are more easily understood. I search to nurture my right brain. So lets keep it simple. These words are only symbols on blank page. I write them as a person climbs a mountain, because it is there and there is an amazing journey and astounding peak and view involved. Any risk is in the sharing, but that comes from an idea that we are all different. But sharing connotes identification and commonality: do you see what I see, have you felt what Ive felt? Humanness defies separateness. Words link the emotions around the world, yet at times seem extremely limiting to that eternal widening vastness I choose to call Everland..
Conversation at Midnight
Valleys roll out Leaves let in a wind soft and bated with the secrets held in trees I never felt a choice to turn away from Natures play from you nor all this ignorant rage
When the air is calm a midnight balm I wonder what the cause of all this is A new moon bows to the stars The blackness of a well so deep No limits to my sleep that is dream-filled I close my eyes to the day and open a window that parts curtains and blinds to start spirits and minds that lie veiled to mountains never scaled
Can you understand my risk in the midst of a Man-made list Dont speak to strangers famous for the mangers they find themselves in for where have they been Saving a semblance of sanity while suffering inanities of public perusals and career refusals? But grant me this: That I have gambled a paupers paradox to test my Spirit to words that speak as of themselves with a life that leaks with too too much to feel stark and bone-naked to what is real I surrender what overflows and contains And what is left is Spirit And what is left is Spirit And Spirit is what remains
Forgiving Now Forgive
I Honesty sits as a strange thing It comes together or pulls apart like two ends of a string Like red wine in a bottle A jammed cork Push it in or screw it out Either way The blood flows free
II Im so tired of worrying what people think Every face and hand hold a story Mamas hands streak tough with a half century of peeling vegetables baking pies Her fingers swell like her mothers The pain of movement Can we free our tongues that are bound Know that truth can comfort like the smile of a child I do not blame I do not blame It was the map of pain that led to the gain I see the beveled mirror in our eyes The unspeakable dreams for each other The fears along the long stone-strewn path to loves wide blue Everland Mama like you I am many people Daughter sister friend Little by little I show you the crowd Little by little We inch closer and bow Love is forgiving Mother forgive
III Love is forgiving to father forgive Once you said you were not perfect and I proceeded to help you see how much Some memories I have wanted so much to remember, but at times it would be nice to forget Love is for giving not for getting or so I once heard There you sit in The Nursing Home for Forgetfulness wanting so much to remember what it is youve struggled so hard to forget Like sculpture I chip away Sometimes like dynamite I blast through all the emotions tall as Mt. Everest and me feeling so small Do I dare speak the truth that I am afraid to show these words of the ocean that I am What is it they say Blood is thicker than water A once friend once said Others cannot handle my mirror But to look in your reflection I look at myself and pull forgiveness from the shelf Love is forgiving Father forgive
IV I am mountain stream slipping over cold rounded stones Wondering where Ill move around the bend Wondering what else needs to mend Daddys mind rises and falls fills and empties
1991 The year the Light came to me through the tunnel from the Land of Ever Pure Love in sight Forgiving to Father forgive Let there be Let there be Light
Sky Language, 1993
The astronomers say this is the largest meteor shower in 75 years Locusts sing a rhythm of high and low notes Humid skies which lingered all week have finally blown east The Milky Way stretches from south to north I missed the Fourth of July celebration this year I settle in my seat anticipate Gods sky language I am not disappointed 16 meteors speed across the sky Following this I lose count I am learning to accept gifts with grace
The black heavens contrast the shooting streaks and stars Too many city lights haze a meteor shower Can dim the power Natures fireworks A redeeming sight I have needed Gods hand in this Death and Birth I look at shadow with numb fright The caves where the dark mountains meet the night Next week Uranus conjuncts with Neptune a once in a century thing And to the forward stage of that a blue moon patiently hangs in the wings On the wheel of Directions Birth and Death The South rises and swings The child is born is born and sings
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