The Poetry Marathon

The fallow must follow the fecundity 

Grow 

my darling 

Verdant and riotous 

Create 

Vines of ink and harvest of words

Tend 

Insights in untidy rows

Cultivate 

Ideas round and sweet as melons

Gather 

The sun ripened seeds of dreams 

Then 

Turn the earth 

Tuck yourself in soil’s bed 

Let your productivity 

Rest 

For season 

Or years

Trust 

The pale land 

Will grow scarlet 

With inspiration 

Ready 

To flower 

Once more

At a time

When our shared breath was threat and possible death 

When the streets emptied 

and nature crept where tires no longer tread 

When home became haven and prison 

When we sheltered our lungs

and the human world stood still

Then the blossoms still carried on 

In silken softness

and the gradual easing to leaves

The trees continued 

To convert our cloistered breath

To oxygen 

And the hidden sun

To syrup

When there are no comings or goings 

Only staying 

Staying to watch through fogged windows

Each stage

Of the trees awaking 

When there is nothing to do 

But count the blossoms 

and watch them fade

Aware

Of life’s unfolding

and 

That even your masked breath 

Is transmuted 

To life 

Even in silence 

We sing with the trees 

Even when our faces are hidden 

Nature boldly reveals itself 

One generous bud

At

A

Time

OPEN

________________________________

Unclench fists

Fill them with seeds and soil

Unsquint eyes

Fill them with beauty and truth

Soften heart

Fill it with forgiveness and joy

Unlock throat

Fill it with song and honesty

Untense toes

Fill them with dance and delight

Set free mind

Fill it with curiosity and wonder

Open self

Be full of all life’s potential

GIVE

_________________________________

Gift is written in my DNA

My mother’s form

My father’s eyes

Ancestry and artistry

Waiting to arise

Fortune multiplied

With the twin soul

My parents brought home

In the loves

That shared their journey

In the friends

That left and those that stayed

In each day

I am given

To be

More fully

Me

RENEW

_________________________________
The hours passed

The days disappear

The world holds its breath

Until it no longer can’t breath

Then cleansed with fire and rage

The structures that uphold our deep shames

Are razed

And

Built

Anew

JOURNEY

__________________________________

When we walk

The arch of my hips

Collides with yours

The length of my legs

Shorten your stride

Yet you always delight in the collision

You slow to match your step to mine

***

Whether my mind is streaking

Across the sky

or at sunny ease

You keep me company

***

When I move from interest to interest

A bumblebee curiosity drunk on pollen

You hold each one with care

Marvel as though it was rare

***

When we find the home we built

Can’t hold our combined becoming

You cheerfully build

Anew

A place big enough for me and you

***

When the pieces are scattered

The puzzle obscured

You bring play and patience

To form a picture

That makes sure no piece is missing

***

To journey with you

Is to wander

Knowing

That we are always growing

That the first words on your lips

When we find something new

Will be

“This too”

“I love this too”

HONOR

_______________________________

My mother is earth

Her mother before her stone

I, I am clay

The inheritance of determination

And lifetimes of unshed tears

Each generation softened

To mutable ground

That grows wild with flowers

Demands no sacrifice

but the pangs of becoming

I will take many forms

A filter without shape

A vessel to contain

A wall vitrified by fire

A fractured storm of shards

A gathering softness in river bends

I honor the Terra that bore me

By evolving

RELEASE

________________________________

Once the ribbon of breath

Wound through the lung’s branches

Trailed along throat’s passages

Found its way

From the mouth’s arching cathedral

Into the world

As little girl’s

Homespun melody

—

Then the ribbon tangled

On other’s criticism

Snarled in shame

Faded in a heap

At the bottom

Of the chest’s deep

—

Until thread by thread

It reweaves

Gather’s in wind’s pipes

Breeches the mouths’ dam

Pouring forth once more

A song released

BALANCE

__________________________________

The Scales will tip

As life’s complexities

Weigh your hinging arms

…

The Earth will tilt

As it carves it’s celestial curve

Grounding your clay feet

…

The current will shift

As time winds its path

Cleansing your tidal heart

…

The wheel will turn

As life carries on

Propelling your electric mind

…

Be the fulcrum dear

On which the balance of imbalance

Forever Turns

SHINE

___________________________

There is a price for all shine

—

The Sun collapses in on itself

Consumes and fuses

That light might cast

On the hard edges of diamonds

compressed in the earth’s breast

Taken from the ground

By hands shiny with scars

Earned in the life’s labors

That too carry babies

Into the world shining with

The mother’s triumph

That they  might

Peer into the age worn

Light of Grandparent’s eyes

No shine is earned without effort

The world tumbles us all smooth

Compression and fusion

That we might be

The Sun’s reflection