The Poetry Marathon

6 seasons left untended

Fallow heart

Dormant

The few tenacious tendrils

Emerging from the soil

Wild and untamed

A testament to nature

Rather than nurture

A secret

Magic sitting on the surface of the world

There for all

Waiting for the few 

The curious

To notice

To stop 

To scoop it up

To delight

Allowing it to play along senses

A kinetic painting on skin

Water pools on the surface

Beads of limpid possibility

Stagnant till dabbed with pigment

Kinetic color stretches its fluid fingers

Reaching into the textured plains of the page

Finding a home in its creases

Infusing a blank landscape with vibrant expression

Just a canvas no longer

Now it is open to interpretation

It may even be art

I will take your hand

Show you the paths that lead to the darkest parts of me

Where things are tangled and overgrown

In cupped hands, I will clasp the seedlings that have never known the sun

I hope you like them

In return, I will tend to the garden of your thoughts

Encourage the seeds of creativity to sprout

I will reach into the wellspring of me

And show them the ways that they can flourish

I will tear down the walls that divide our gardens

And build a shed to keep our tools

I will learn to plant with you

And  how the seasons pass for you

When to water and how much sun

If it is too painful to prune

I will do so where you do not have to see

Earth charts a celestial path

Winding her way through the stars

Winter erases the work of her sister seasons

Leaving a barren surface

Beneath lurks a new years promise

Seeds awaiting the thaw

The suns rays

A kind reminder of all they can be

The gentle nudge to urge them to the next phase

The fool beckons

Standing upon a precipice

Ready to leap

Confident in the fickle wind

To catch their outstretched arms

Gravity demands that its laws be observed

Hopping among altocumulus like stepping stones

Dancing through cumulous

Peals of laughter swirling in eddies

Leaving whispy cirrus trails in their wake

The fool mocks logic

They spin storm clouds into a garment

Pin lightning in their tresses

Adorn themselves in stars

And delight in the ethereal

I entered this world and was met with my purpose

The bond that ties me to you

Is the common thread that weaves

Across my life’s  loom

Embroidered with passing

Tales of lady knights

One sister to another

When your heart first broke

I donned golden mail

Took up the mantle of our missing brother

Held out my cutting blade of wit

Growled at all those who presumed themselves fit

Your fierce protector

Standing at the ready

Peering in the dancing shadows with delight

I saw how you played with light

Casting false truths upon the wall

Traveling far and promising that you would call

Having peered behind the curtain

Knowing the mechanics of the trick

I thought I could not be fooled

I was certain

Yet, I too became enraptured by the narrative

Believed myself imperative

When the fourth wall broke

I assumed I was simply in on the joke

So I picked your shadows from the stage

Wove them into a cloak to smother my rage

Stitching layers of shadow for invisibility

That I might not harm your fragility

When asked about the deceptive weave

Id respond

A magician never reveals what’s up their sleeve

Now I must undo the tightened fist

That clutches the cloak to my throat

Hand over wrist

Let my body unfurl

Relax the protective curl

Give myself permission to grieve

That which I so wanted to believe

And allow myself room to gently leave

My lady Justice and the jackel await

With golden scales in hand

For whom gravity bears no weight

Called to the stand

A heart

Versus

A keratin counterpart

Beneath a floppy bow

Chocolate eyes peering

Standing on tiptoe

Twirling in a ruffle cloud

Chocolate eyes dancing

Singing out loud

Surrounded by a group

Chocolate eyes defiant

Protective on loop

Listening to create space

Chocolate eyes kind

Shattered worlds held in place

Diving into knowledge

Chocolate eyes ever-curious

Learning a celestial language

Sister mine, You shine