Goodnight

I missed my walk this morning
and now I think I am glued to this chair
earbuds affixed to drown out the reality tv
a giant insect is knocking on someone’s door
and I hit the pause button and fold my laptop closed
stretching stiff limbs, I say I think I’ll take a shower
you nod your head and eat more chips
I wonder as I let the hot water
pour over my back
why my thoughts are technicolor
while the world is black and white
there must be something wrong
with my corneas
maybe I need a pair
of those 3D glasses
or depth perception therapy
as I lay my book on the nightstand
and close my eyes
I think I will take my walk tomorrow
I see better with my feet
on the ground

 

I meant to post this a few days ago when I wrote it but got busy. Spent yesterday and today with number one son and future daughter-in-law. Pampered Chef shower and arranged for the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. The list is being whittled down 🙂

 

Healthy Skillet Supper

It has been awhile since I posted a recipe and the other day I found one on Pinterest that I wanted to try. I did a little bit of creative modification but it turned out delicious and made several meals for Dale and I. The original recipe used white minute rice in the skillet. I used brown rice for less carbs and served the mixture over the rice. I added the corn and seasonings.

You could substitute yellow squash or eggplant and try adding some cilantro and lime juice.

Easy Skillet Supper

While the skillet is cooking put on some brown rice to cook – it takes about 45 minutes and should be ready by the time the rest of your meal is done.

3 medium zucchini, washed and cubed
1 medium onion chopped
saute in olive oil with a little cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper

drain one can of black beans and one can of whole kernel corn
add to the skillet and add a little chili powder
stir and cook over medium heat for a few minutes
add one can of mild rotel tomatoes
stir and let simmer for about ten minutes

Serve over brown rice with a little shredded cheese. Garnish with sour cream.

The Cup

I carry my cup
with me always
gathering as I move
through the world
filling it with things
named and waiting to be named
described width and breadth
scent of memory
like a scar that still
aches when it rains
raking my fingers through
as details fall from the tips
like drops of water

and if you were to look
you would shake your head
why would anyone
keep those things
why does this make me sing
and that leave me
feeling as though a cold wind
has blown through
leaving me hollowed out
and crumbling at the edges
how can I hold that feeling
of standing on a mountaintop
ready to fly in starlight

it never overflows
no matter how much I pack in
heaping one shiny thought
on top of another
nor leaks though crazed and cracked
when the world turns dark and ugly
and words are sharp and bloodied
I turn to my cup and sift
through the river rocks
and polished glass
rubbing them between my
hands til warm
as though they live
and in my mind
they do

Florida Observance

Florida needs her roots touched up
and her foundation is sinking
into deep wrinkles of time
warm flesh has shifted and the thin
veneer of beauty is scraped away
revealing bleached bones
and a fondness for money
biting the hand she eats from
her poverty of spirit leaks
like the rusted vehicle she has become
and she wears her age like a shroud
walls keep ocean waves
from washing her clean
as she tries to stop time
but the sand has already run out

Tiny Poem

hold it, mold it
gently blow
barely live
don’t let it go
nurture, future
warmth is all
others drawn
they hear it’s call
gather more as
round it hover
save it, shelter
under cover
grow it, show it
careful now
rhyme and rhythm
you know how
craft the lines
with care and see
poetry that sets
hearts free

 

working through the doldrums…

Purple Finery

All the
Latest  lavender ladies
Tarted up in lacy finery
Golden tipped they dip
And sway in summer breeze
They please the eye and
Sidle closer please the nose
Their perfume lures assures
That though demurely standing there
Their leaves go prancing in the air
And give a glimpse of branch
How brazen still we smile
It is their season
To be young and fine
And strong
Til sun bleached heat
Leached then they’re gone

 

Image Credit Tommy Stone

 

Sunflower Lesson

 

whirly twirly seeds of sun
leaning gleaning coriolis
shaky droplets feed the need
elementary excitation just a myth
stare long enough to be eclipsed
drawn to vortex orange and gold
the pseudo forces run their courses
flaming torch against the blue
framed in greening preening
leaflets guaranteed to tower over
feed the birds and seed the earth
for next years crop will
be assured faces seeking
glory peeking at the light
axis spinning earth is twinning
all rotating orbit waiting
all the planets
crashing down a single flower
all the knowledge all the science
photosynthesis in compliance
with the books the pundits say
but you and I know a better way
to stand as still and yet align
my face to follow summer shine
to spend a life in wind or rain
turn to the light again and again

 

image credit Tommy Stone

 

A Meme: Ten Things and Favorite Bloggers (Thanks Jae)

Ten things you may not know about me (thanks Jae)

I have been having a bit of writers block – maybe I over did it in April!

Here is a meme that was passed on from Jae. Stop by her blog to read more than poetry – a heart on a page.

10 things you may not know about me:

1. On my fortieth birthday I was driving down the road and in-a-gadda-da-vida came on the radio. I turned around and drove to walmart and bought hair dye and dyed my hair red.

2. I once hitched from Colorado to Michigan (younger and stupider days)

3. My favorite book ever is Jane Eyre.

4. I once sold roses on a street corner.

5. I can’t go to sleep at night without reading something.

6. I own my own scroll saw and drum sander.

7. I love to sing in the car.

8. I took a course in Basic programming at a junior college in California for the fun of it.

9. I once lived in an RV.

10. I have always wanted a tattoo of wings.

Favorite bloggers:

Jae at JaeRose (of course!) http://jaerose-jaerose.blogspot.com/
Paschal at Murat11 http://murat11.blogspot.com/
Thom Gabrukiewicz of 3 Word Wednesday http://www.gabrukiewicz.com/
Misty at KindleObsessed http://www.kindleobsessed.com/

I can’t list all of the blogs I read in this post or the post would like, well, my sidebar 🙂

 

Eclipse

 

Though flames took sky
and melted clouds
to shadows dripping over trees
the moon took on the
daunting task
pale and scarred
from years and years
of pulling oceans to and fro
she drug herself once more
to shield our burning eyes
from star shot heat
a darkness sweet
would cover us
in daylight dreams
just like the night
no sound was heard
no flash occurred
a kiss surrounding space
penumbra placed just so
for beauty of a mystery
the history of a galaxy

 

Photo credit: Tommy Stone

 

For Emily

I read the words
and sucked in a breath
and then thought about
that breath
did you do the same as you
rounded the point
and saw the ocean
stretched out in front of you
until it fell off the edge of the earth
felt your heart race
and the sea air wash over you
filling your lungs with
the possibilities
of what lie ahead
as the tethered memories
let you go with a snap
sinking your feet into the deck
with the rightness
of the moment
was the poem already forming
on salty lips
as you quietly smiled
in exultation

 

 

Air

 

there is no air
it has been sucked out by the world
by the whirled smoke of a thousand
burning buildings
by the raised eyebrow
of the man down the street
by the grains of sand on the beach
that no one walks on
by the broken heart
silent and dark
beaten, not beating
by the balloons filled
and sated, now soaring
on the end of a thin string
by the attitude of the altitude
of the head in the clouds
by the house all alone
at the edge of the world
vacant windows flung wide
as the wind would rush through
if it could
but there is no air

and I am hungry for it
starving for lung filling
skin cooling
something to walk on
conditioned
or kite filled
like milk spilled
can’t cry for it
eyes dried by it
hair lifted
like wings floating
bubbling brooks
pages in books flip for it
leaves fall through
cushions of pockets of
holding it til you turn blue
for it
breathe in and out
sigh for it die without
sing about
give a shout
all needing air
as I climb
I am out of it
out of the clouds
there is sky
filled with sails
I would spin til
I’m dizzy with
drunk on
the wind

Poetic Asides prompt: vacuum

image: http://www.timgagnonstudio.com/storage/meetmeweb.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1334635176065

Dreaming

there was a time when I was huge
big as the world I filled the sky
years go by and as each passes
I become less and the world
shrinks with me
and more and more
I find myself
lost inside
my head
dreaming

 

NaPoMo 30 Poetic Asides prompt: fading away

 

Not happy with this but glad to have completed the challenge.

Unarmed

I am unarmed
Except for words
Naked in the storm
I wrap them around me
For warmth on this night
Lightening flashes
Reveals one thought
Thunder shatters me
And the thought splinters
Into pieces like raindrops
Like diamonds, like glass
hail stings my skin and bounces
All around my feet
Steam rises from warm rain
Heated by the sun of
Yesterday afternoon
That is gone but leaves
A memory of light
I huddle in the dark
Hoping for the flash of light
Fearing it too
Feeling exposed by it
Corners illuminated
Where puddles hide
The ground
How deep
How dark
How long
Howl

 

Sunday Scribblings Prompt: Storm

 

Time

I have a problem with time
it is linear and I am not
I rebound from what caught my attention
five seconds ago
and bounce back to the present
with a smack that shakes
me to my toes
and leaves me confused
seduced by a shiny thought
then ducking back into the shadow
to dream about yesterday’s double
entendre to ponder
but then the commercial breaks
and my attention spans the synapses
and sparks are flying
because emotions ran rough-shod
over logic I am not cognizant of
any reason for this other
than I just can’t keep the thought
train on the tracks
and there are cracks that I refuse to step on
as I procrastinate the dates fly by
as calendar pages ripped and tossed
and crossed to yes another year
they come with frequency
unpredicted
conflicted but still I sit
and write
when I should be
working

 

NaPoMo 28 Poetic Asides prompt: Write about a problem

 

The Trouble With Writing Prompts

the trouble with writing prompts
is that they can inspire
lead you down foreign roads
of brain grooves unmapped
navigating rapids and canyon
surfing verbage as you hold your arms
straight out for balance
…and fall anyway
because the heart does not
understand gravity
and sometimes the poem
skips a few steps
and skids onto the paper
shocked to find
itself breathing



poetic asides prompt: Begin a poem with “The trouble with…”



NaPoMo 27

There Is A Blue (Morgan Price artist)

There is a blue
Uncommon intensity
Laid next to buttery glow
Of lamplight anticipation
Evening out all the sharp edges
Of a day as dark cars ease down
Lanes of eateries and shops
Lit to entice
To excite and lure
With the promise of
Holding off a night



http://www.winterparkpaintout.org/imagearea/MorganSamuelPrice_2012_EveningLight_OilonBoard_8x10_img.jpg
www.winterparkpaintout.org



www.polasek.org

Hui Lai Chong A Painter Paints

Artist unknowing
Becomes art
Becomes landscape fodder
For a hungry brush
That speeds across time
And space
With no other thoughts
Than light, shadow, color
Dip, stroke, show
Don’t tell (shh)
Sneak up from the side
And you can almost catch
A wind tossed Sky
Through rustling green





http://www.winterparkpaintout.org/imagearea/HiuLaiChong_2012_ADayatKraftAzaleaGarden_OilonBoard_9x12_img.jpg
www.winterparkpaintout.org


www.polasek.org

NaPoMo 27