“Just beyond the bruised lips of consciousness.”
–Jim Harrison, “Birds Again”
I linger
for moment
just on the edge of consciousness–
why can’t we remember that moment
when we free fall
into another orbit–
that split second
we escape the mundane
to fly–
in dreams,
a secret world revealed,
opened,
I taste the stars on my lips
and wake to find the world glittering.
This is for Day 10 of Jilly’s 28 Days of Unreason—poems inspired by Jim Harrison’s Poetry.
“What beauty in this the darkest music
over which you can hear the lightest music of human
behavior, the tender connection between men and galaxies.”–Jim Harrison from “Warbler,” in Dead Man’s Float
When all is dark and without cheer, can you hear the stars sing the light?
In music that glistens–shhh—stop and listen—you’ll hear the stars sing the light.
The baby at breast, suckling at rest, gurgles to hear the stars sing the light.
The mother, fraught, pauses in thought, smiles as she hears the stars sing the light.
When war brings the music of anger and tears, can you hear the stars sing the light?
When you march to the pipes for conflicts and strife—do you fear to hear the stars sing the light?
Tell children separated and lives negated—look up–hear the stars sing the light.
Though your life is horrid and rough, and it’s not enough–yet hear the stars sing the light.
From the cracks in the darkness, beyond the hard-hearted, do you hear the stars sing the light?
In delicate streams, when all is as seems, do you dream to hear the stars sing the light?
In tender connection, we strive for direction, seeking to hear the stars sing the light.
Thus, Merril-y I strive and away my fears drive–to hear the stars sing the light.
Yesterday was darkness, so today is light. This ghazal is for Day 7 of Jilly’s 28 Days of Unreason–poems influenced by Jim Harrison’s poetry. Anyone can join in the fun!
Cobble me
lights, shiny bright
stepping stones–
a path to roam
up in the night,
past the moon
and her humming tune,
lightly skip
through Pleiades–
those starry seas–
make this road
wide enough for two,
and when through,
we’ll turn around
homeward bound.
This is for dVerse, where De Jackson (aka Whimsy Gizmo) has asked us to write a quadrille, a poem of 44 words, using the word cobble.
“The cost of flight is landing“
The cost of flight
is landing
heavy and earthbound
after soaring
weightless in a fantasy–
of scintillation
carried by solar winds
into a starry sea.
But then
at night,
we hear—again–
the whispers of dreams
sighing, straying souls.
We remember,
gathering their fraying tatters
making them whole,
and once more—
glide high and far,
and free.
This is for Day 2 of Jilly’s 28 Days of Unreason using quotations from the poetry of Jim Harrison.
Twinkling from afar,
dead stars’ light glimmers the sky,
illusions of time,
the past waltzing through our minds
laughter and tears remembered
NGC 6744
Hubble, NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS Team
This tanka is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday using synonyms for fantasy and merry.
His thoughts And prayers
were broken-winged she thought, meaningless things
never soaring sometimes boring, never driving
far to the stars, where she longed to go,
but earth-tethered unfeathered, she remained
he stayed, staid, while she longed for blazing rays,
only in night’s dreamscape wandering high to dance together in the sky
A contrapuntal poem for dVerse, where Paul is tending the bar. My poem is three separate poems.
No flask, no wine, no book of verse, this night
We reach for stars and moon, seek gleams of light
Hear the silver streams from the humming moon
Time and rhythms flow, in eternal rites
Upon the sand, waves pitch and break and roar
While spindrift flicks in salted breeze to shore
And you with me, now standing hand in hand
Watching the sea, waiting for dreams, and more.
Ilya Repin, “What Freedom”
I’m off prompt for today’s NaPoWriMo challenge. I took bits of yesterday’s NaPoWriMo poem and tribute line from Omar Khayyam’s famous verse for this attempt at a Rubaiyat for Frank Hubeny’s challenge on dVerse.
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to “take one of the following statements of something impossible, and then write a poem in which the impossible thing happens. I chose this one:
The stars cannot rearrange themselves in the sky.
Somewhere in space, stars always sing,
and in a distance place, they also dance,
in quadrille or waltz, they sway and swing,
they arrange themselves, but not by chance.
And in a distant place, they also dance,
sometimes, a stellar pas de deux–
they arrange themselves, but not by chance–
of course, they do, well, wouldn’t you?
Sometimes, a stellar pas de deux
to the carillon of time’s dawn
of course, they do, well, wouldn’t you—
move with joy, before it’s gone?
To the carillon of time’s dawn
in quadrille or waltz, they sway and swing,
move with joy before it’s gone—
somewhere in space, stars always sing.
“However, what it is really exciting about NGC 1097 is that it is not wandering alone through space. It has two small galaxy companions, which dance “the dance of stars and the dance of space” like the gracious dancer of the famous poem The Dancer by Khalil Gibran.”
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: E. Sturdivant
Chiliads of dazzling dreams
dart and dash with lightning gleams,
fly from souls in darkest night
join in dance until the light.
Circling, soaring they fly high
(you might see them in the sky)
there–around the humming moon—
they waltz. . .but are gone too soon.
Frank has asked us to write a tanaga for dVerse.
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”
–Stephen Hawking
she once had
a mortal body
long ago–
or was it?
Unbound by time, she’s unsure
drifting in moonlight. . .
and starlight
and in brightest sun–
it is all
part of her
and she of it. Wandering,
she touches your heart–
you feel it,
a shock, fear–and awe,
but also
desire
for knowledge. Look at the stars–
time and space folding
Embed from Getty Images
This is for dVerse. We were asked to write a shadorma with the prompt “phantom.” I’ve done a series of connecting shadorma stanzas.
