In the darkness and the gloom,
spirits loom,
speaking, seeking
those with natures bright
who dance and sing,
embrace the light
and watch the birds in morning flight
I watch them, too–
wings soaring, sweeping through the blue
beyond the clouds like sailing ships
until they vanish from my view
in flowing streams
on trips of dreams,
far beyond the moon
Jan Brueghel the Elder, “Air,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
I’m feeling the need for a bit of magic.
Assume the world’s full of joy,
not hate,
stare at birds,
wonder at our fate
and if we’ll mind what happens after–
“the late”
they’ll call us,
if not the great–
but we’ll be gone,
beings that are not immortal
(unless time folds–perhaps a portal?)
and so, we shouldn’t hesitate
just assume the joy
of stars and earth
of moons that hum with charming mirth
then laugh, my dear–
no, stop, wait
—listen
there–the robin on the garden gate
I needed a poetry break this afternoon!
This is for Secret Keeper’s Challenge.
The prompt words were: Assume/Mind/Late/Being/Stare
daybreak comes early
yet still the moon shines
waning from its strawberry fullness,
(smiling, humming)
greeting me as I pick up the newspaper from the sidewalk,
the heat is already simmering there
but not yet at full boil–
June, almost summer–
a spider has spun a web
sparkling in the streaming sunlight,
birds sing from their green-leafed perches
the cats watch from windows,
then turn to say hello to me
before going back to guard duty,
(we all have our jobs)
even as summer sighs,
slow down
and so, I do,
and watch the birds, too.
In the wild water I thrive. I remember this. When I rise from the cold deep, the waves rock and cradle me. At dawn, the grey northern sea turns to fire. When darkness comes, the moon silvers the water, and I watch the stars twinkle and drift across the sky. I didn’t know how happy I was then, watching the days pass in light and shadow across the ocean. My brothers, sisters, and I danced our sleek bodies amidst the waves, laughing and singing our ancient songs. But I had glimpsed you from afar, and I was curious. When the summer sun lingered long and languid, I swam to the shallows, then walked ashore, my human form dripping dulse and smelling of brine. Love, I thought, but possession I became. And now— my true skin gone–I am marooned here, grounded, the sea forsworn forever more. And yet still it calls to me—come! Oh, my brothers and sisters–do you know my sadness? Do you hear my cries?
Tears under moon-glow
fall, drift, mingle with the sea
carried with the tides
Guillermo Gómez Gil, “Moonrise,” [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This is a haibun for Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Poetry Challenge. The prompt words were happy and sad. Sometimes my inner romantic pours out in a brain-tide. 😉
I was a carefree child who played in the warmth of the sun. But her glow and mine have dimmed. At night, after he has finished with me, the moon sends her light to comfort me. Cold comfort. Still, she guides me now, lighting a pearlescent path for me, tangled and silver like the scars that trace my body, but leading me to freedom. I’ve killed him, and though he took my innocence, he can no longer hurt me. My past, present, and future merge—who I was and who I will become. I am broken, but not destroyed. One day, I may glow again, like the sun.
The moon saw sorrow
her tears, silver waves of hope
to light the darkness
Credit Line: John G. Johnson Collection, 1917 Philadelphia Museum of Art
This haibun is a late entry for Colleen Chesebro’s weekly poetry challenge. The prompt words were past and future. Some of you know I’m working on two reference books on rape. So, this. Now back to work for me!
According to the UN Women web site, worldwide, 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence, most often from an intimate partner.
In lustrous beams that glow and flow
I bear the light to brighten night
with streaming rays
(so unlike my brother’s sun displays)
that silvers tracks in woodland parks
where fairies dance and foxes bark
to echoes of my glistening songs
that travel here and float along–
Listen, do you hear me sing?
Watch for me, as my stag I’ll bring
and hope to women in childbirth scared
look there—
now my radiance aired, my light is shared
“Diana,” Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892-1893, Philadelphia Museum of Art
I love this statue that stands at the top of the Great Stair Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The statue once stood on the tower of Madison Square Garden (installed in 1893). It has been at the museum since 1932. In 2013-2-14, museum conservators repaired and restored her original gold leaf finish.
This poem is for Secret Keeper’s Weekly Writing Prompt
The words were: Song/Rays/Lead/Track/Scare
Do you remember? We watched the clouds fly across that June sky,
wondering about our lives, watching that black-blue sky.
It was long ago, we were full of life, in blazing afternoon sky,
and two hearts keeping time, beating under the moon, June sky.
We pledged our love before our family and friends, a noon, June sky,
Settling-in to life together, playful, joyous, a spoon and swoon sky.
We grew older, not necessarily wiser, encountering an out-of-tune sky,
yet I’d not change it, not at all, not even for a jewel-strewn sky
The jewels are here and there, you see, felt and heard in the moon-croon sky,
the moments, still, we gaze and share. (Do you remember? )There, that star and moon sky.
This is a ghazal for today’s (Day 13) NaPoWriMo. I can’t get the formatting right, but they are couplets with some long lines. 🙂
“We kiss in a shadow
We hide from the moon
Our meetings are few
And over too soon”
From “We Kiss in a Shadow,” Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers, The King and I
“When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; “
–From William Butler Yeats, “When You are Old”
When our older daughter was young
she was afraid of shadows
perhaps she sensed that they were alive,
captured, like Peter Pan’s
when our porch windows were shut.
“Shadows hurting you,” she would say,
only “you” meant “me,”
her pronouns confused,
and so, we played in another room
where the shadows were benign.
those porch shadows are long gone
the girl is a woman,
her small, curly-haired shadow gone,
except in my heart,
now older, I take out these memories
like a book,
to read before the fire.
We go to a dance performance,
a fusion of dance and shadow puppet theater,
a full-length production
of athleticism, grace, and imagination,
we’re caught in traffic on the way there,
an entire block closed,
a large crane in its center, reaching to the sky,
casting a shadow over the street
where police officers chatted,
(ignoring the frustrated drivers).
We manage to get to the theater,
pick up our tickets,
get to our seats
(close enough to see the dancers’ muscles),
about a minute before the show starts–
it’s worth it.
The story opens with a girl getting ready for bed
her parents kiss her goodnight,
she goes to sleep on her bed made of dancers,
she begins to dream,
the walls spin,
and she becomes trapped in a land of shadows
where she goes on a voyage of discovery
turned into a dog-girl
experiences the joy of a dog riding in a truck,
the horror of being forced to perform in a circus,
controlled by a whip,
the ecstasy of first love,
the girl becoming a woman,
the shadow world is a magical, fantasy world,
the dancers’ bodies tumble, roll, fly
the hour and a half goes by quickly,
the dancers perform an epilogue,
a shadow tribute to New York City,
bodies creating the Statue of Liberty, the library lion, 42nd Street,
and other iconic spots,
and then to Philadelphia,
the Liberty Bell, the “Rocky Steps,” Pat’s and Geno’s Steaks,
at the final bow, the dog-girl dance leaps into the air,
seemingly still full of energy,
the shadows of the show behind her now–
until the next performance
We leave smiling
into a day of sunlight and shadows
in a city where history has cast a long shadow,
shadows through history,
now and always,
shadow worlds
where people are forced to work,
living secret lives,
held in bondage
or living hidden,
an underground economy,
people who can only kiss
in shadows,
though love is love is love
there are shadowlands all around us
obscured by smiles and sunshine
We walk and talk,
see students celebrating Holi,
their faces and shirts bright with colors,
no shadows on their smiling faces,
on this spring day
the flowers smile and dance in the radiant light,
we drink coffee
discuss the show
later, we go out to dinner,
drink some wine and talk some more,
when we leave
the moon is shining brightly
though not quite full,
I look at her,
wonder what secrets she has seen
from her shadows deep,
hidden lovers and girlish fancies,
we head home,
I dream of shadows and the moon.
This musing is for NaPoWriMo, Day 10. The prompt was portrait.
We saw Pilobolous at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia.
You can see a brief clip of this show performed at another location here.
Under the moon, I sat bereft,
we’d talked of life and love together,
you took my hand before you left,
gave to me a downy feather,
it once lay close to a beating heart,
I touched it softly, that snowy white,
flexible, but strong, sharp like a dart,
I wonder if the owl once loved–before he took flight—
does his mate cry for him now, in the loneliness of night?
This is for Day 9 of NaPoWriMo. The prompt was to write some sort of nine verse poem. This is my attempt at a Spenserian Stanza.
January Moon, National Park, NJ.
Honeysuckle scent
drifting through the moonlit night,
perfume marks the path,
an era’s shadow fragrance
lingers still, testing the heart
A late entry for Secret Keeper’s Weekly Writing Prompt.
The prompt words were: Moon/Era/Scent/Mark/Test
