Poems—April 2015

Sweet William in the woodsAll Poems—

These are my poems from April. There are several reasons why I included all of them rather than making selections… Including the good, bad, and ugly may help readers better understand poem creation…  None require being kept private… The variety demonstrates how poetry can serve as one’s diary, sounding board, imaginative play, spiritual practice, and therapy.  (As usual, these poems are still drafts, not final versions, so please ask for permission before sharing, except by linking to this website. Thank you.)

 

150430

SERENITY NOW

One day
I’m in a furious tantrum
over something.

Next day
I can’t even remember
the cause.

Each day
I learn to forget
a little quicker.

Some day
I will simply forget
immediately.

Voilà! —instant peace.

[ASIDE: “Serenity now!!!” was the theme
of one Jerry Seinfeld episode that I found
impressive and insightful.]

 

150429

STAYIN’ ALIVE

What—another day?
How lucky can I get?
Plus, I have the feeling
I ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

 

150428

RIGHT TO WRITE

I have a right to write
poems.

I have a right to write
bad poems.
As many as I want.
As bad as I want.

What is a bad poem anyway,
except an unwanted one;
a disliked one; one that,
through no fault of its own,
is labeled faulty?

But even the weak,
even the broken,
even the incipient
in this world have value,
do good work.

And even if that statement
isn’t quite right,
I still have a right to write it.

 

“WONDERLICIOUS”

The word of the day is:
wonderlicious.

How can I hold my head up
as a poet and say that?

Because at heart
I am not a poet.

Because at core,
I am not Jo, or woman,
or even human being.

I am the inexpressible
expressing.

 

TREASURE HUNT

Life is the Easter egg hunt
in which the wise, caring,
and accomplished among us
hide (often in plain sight)
their gifts of insight,
inspiration, and beauty
so that we can discover
and claim these for ourselves.

 

150427

PERSONAL BEST

Today I’ll be healthy
and happy and free.

Even though it may
not be up to me,
as best as I can
I’ll be those three;
today I’ll be healthy
and happy and free.

 

150426

RESPONSIVE

My body’s amazing!
It does so much more
than I ever expected.

My body gets praising—
not slights like before,
nor being neglected.

[ASIDE: Written after two days of
 longer and more difficult walks than
I thought my body was capable of doing.]

 

150425

IN DEFERENCE

Nearly disastrous—
that’s what it was,
the scenario I put into play.

Clearly, though—wondrous
the outcome became,
once I deferred to your way.

 

150424

IT’S GONNA
WORK OUT

Jus’ like
that quote supposes—
first I proposes,
then You disposes.

 

150423

HOME ALONE

I love being left
to my own devices.
So many temptations!
Each one entices!

 

150422

NOW YOU’RE TALKING

Will my plans work out?
Let it be.

Am I worthy of my dreams?
Let it be.

Is that mystery pain of mine
something serious?
Let it be.

Do I unknowingly harm others?
Let it be.

Oh look! That sycamore
has opened its little leaf-fists!
Be like that.

 

150421

SEEKING SATISFACTION

Can I really change?
Today, can I be better?—
When it comes to rules and laws,
observe the spirit, not the letter?
Swap old habits for the new?
Instead of gobbling all the treats
relish just a few?

If each day holds only good,
how could that be better?

 

150420

KEY KOAN

What is this life… my life?—

a gift to be enjoyed;
just time, to be employed;

a dance, a play, a song;
a path to walk along;

illusory immersion;
a snag and a diversion;

a test that will be scored;
a dream to be ignored;

an experiment to run;
a mistake to be undone;

a puzzle I must solve;
a chance to grow, evolve?

Is it something I must fit
or what I make of it?

 

150419

GAIA’S GREEN
(for Earth Day)

Green has come
and green will stay—
so we think, so we pray.

 

150418

GIFTED

Nowadays
geniuses are so smart
and prodigies so young,
they can’t but
make the rest of us
feel out-of-date and dumb—
yet proud of them, by God!
…and wistful, glad, and awed.

 

150417

NOT IN IT
FOR THE MONEY

I didn’t fail,
I’m not retiring;
my life career
is just… admiring.

 

150416

ANY “HOLY BOOK”

Why would we
honor, defend,
and preserve it
if it proposes hell,
and claims certain
beings deserve it?

[ASIDE:  Inspired by a saying attributed
to various people. The gist is:
“Re-examine all you’ve been told and
dismiss whatever offends your soul.”]

 

150415

EFFORTLESS BEING

Time… what is it for?

To raise the bar—
to develop proficiencies,
overcome deficiencies,
acquire, outdo, enhance?

To raise the barre—
or just to dance?

 

150414

WRITE AND REVISE

Greed, illusion, fear, pride, rage—
pin the ego to the page;
write its gory-glory story.

Yes—befriend it and transcend it;
heal through writing’s
gentle righting.

 

150413

AT MY ESSENCE

I am not betrayed,
nor perturbed by things judged noisome,
nor am I afraid… for many reasons.

I align with all life’s seasons.
I subsume its grief and poison.
Nothing is misplayed.

 

150412

INSTRUMENTS

Does the pen converse?
let its secrets leak?
have knowings to share?
Yet, can it stay terse?

Does the pencil speak?
speak plain and bare
with nothing to prove?
Then, fingers, move.

 

150411

FRIEND TO FRIEND

Go your own way.
I have nothing to teach you,
nothing to say—
except that each being
must go its own way.

 

150410

FUN OF SHOPPING

I find salad dressings galore
on the shelves of this big box store,
but that’s not what I’m looking for.

Well, I realize after a while,
I must not be on the olive oil aisle.
Olive oil aisle.
Olive oil aisle.
Olive oil aisle.
Say that fast, it’ll make you smile.

 

150409

LATE  BLOOMER

Spring sprang upon us this year
like a jack from a box,
like Scotch without rocks,
like a sprinter from blocks,
as if kicked in high gear.

It was something to cheer.

 

NO END OF BEGINNINGS

As if in confirmation of my setting out
on this morning’s shopping expedition,
the early sun and a brief rain
conspired to bestow a double rainbow.
An uphill neighbor and I made our
acquaintance as we admired it together.

The shopping foray was astoundingly successful,
as was my evening expedition: a long walk
that culminated in making the acquaintance
of the downhill neighbors. She is a walker
and her family shares my enthusiasm for Peru.
We made a good beginning.

[ASIDE: In the past I’d done no more than wave
or say hi when I saw the neighbors outdoors.
In fact, that’s what I had done tonight when I saw
Rodrigo working on a vehicle; then I walked on by.
Soon I was having this internal conversation:
“Go talk to him.” “I did.” “Talk more.” “I don’t
know what to say… you’ll have to give me the words.”
“Okay, go say this… .” And so I did. I said, “Is it okay
to talk with you? I thought I should say more than ‘hi’
to a neighbor.” After that, our visit was effortless.]

 

150408

REFINED BY DESIGN

Bodies are self-healing
(one way they’re so appealing).
They are made to mend, renew—
why not the mind and psyche too?

 

150407

ONCE, AGAIN

Before nirvana,
a final fling?

There’s no such thing.
Such an excursion
only renews aversion–
and that’s its sting.

 

150406

UN GRAN AMOR

No sé por qué
yo amo
este Machu Picchu,
salvo que este pico
tambien
me ama mucho.

 

150405

METAPHYSICAL MAGIC

We are each other’s audience,
each other’s entertainment—
mutual minstrels,
mutual mentors,
a mutual admiration society
of two infinities.

Impossible?
Okay, make that one—
you and I: one none.

 

DROPPED THE BALL

What a mess!
I have to punt
(do something less
than what I want).

 

NIGHT CAP

The cap has a bill.

The cap I wear at night in bed
has a bill.

The cap I wear at night in bed
as I write poems has a bill.

The cap has a bill with two built-in
lights and a switch and a battery;
I can see my notebook page,
my pencil, the cat on my lap,
the clock on the wall. I can hear
my husband breathing beside me,
but I don’t turn my head to look.

The cap lets him sleep;
it’s as much for him as for me.

 

OPEN SECRET

To write about it
or to know it?

To discuss it,
compare it,
analyze it,
tout it—
or to live it?

 

150404

BLOOD MOON
(for Kate)

Prophesies warn us
of dreads due to harm us,
but few men give ear.

Droughts, floods, and famine,
plagues spread by vermin,
blights, scourges, dark fear—
wonders portentous,
signs that torment us—
their meaning is clear.

Red moon at morning,
sinners take warning—
the end times are near!

 

150403

FLOWER POWER
(for Mike’s violet)

All of life
shares one source
(each a part, none apart)—
a trusted force.

Trust is sacred,
trust is earned—
that’s what every flower
has learned.

[ASIDE: My brother photographed a dainty
spring flower, placing it on top of a quarter for
size comparison. The motto “in God we trust”
was about the only feature of the coin visible.]

 

150402

TODAY, THIS

A yellow sky morning
with rolling thunder
and songbird commentary.

 

DAYBREAK

Is it the day…
or the season?
Is it the scene that I view?

I’m happy for
every good reason—
and no good reason too.

 

150401

GO TO CHURCH
(for Manuel)

I was lost
in the everyday traveler way.
My hand-drawn map was wrong,
my cell phone was battery-dead,
and I was overdue
where I was expected.

I chose a country club guardhouse
as a source of assistance
and drove in that direction.
En route, another direction came—
in the voice of the voice in my head:
“Go to church.”

The church
was only a little out of my way;
I’d turned around in its parking lot
after making an earlier wrong turn.
Indeed, assistance was there
and I was set right
toward my destination.

[ASIDE: Actually, I consider “church” to be
the interrelating of all love-oriented beings.]

 

* * *

Photo Credit: Sweet William by Jo Lightfoot

3 thoughts on “Poems—April 2015

  1. Jane Glidewell

    Just read your poems for April and love them. Haven’t seen you on FB in awhile and I’m missing our “talks”.

    Reply
  2. Jane Glidewell

    I got the Halloween Harvest book today and am enjoying it very much. I especially identify with the On The Loose poem about spiders!! I saw one crawl under the bed a couple days ago while I was folding laundry so I ran and got the spray and some of those sticky pads and surrounded the underside of my bed with it all. I hate those monsters under my bed!!!! Janie

    Reply
    1. wayaclan Post author

      Isn’t it amazing how varied monsters can be?

      (I’m glad you’re enjoying my book, Jane. Thanks for letting me know.)

      Reply

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