The Poetry Marathon

Strength
gentleness
balance
meditation
creativity
walking/hiking
poems and
more poems

Sometimes it’s ok to be alone in the dark
and sometimes it is good to emerge into the light

Today I celebrate with my friends and
tomorrow I spend my time with no one

Grateful for poetry and dogs and the moon

There is a light guiding me
on and on
and I see you and me
our silent destiny
and forward we go
together

What is love
Please let me know
Florida Texas Indiana
Because love is love
Right?

They danced above
and around me,
blissfully unaware
of the harsh brevity of our lives,
the most beautiful duet
I’ve ever seen

The sunflowers
turn their sweet faces to me
as I swing above them
in the sky

I kick my feet as
I child would do and
propel myself
into the sky

I sing
a sunflower song
as I swing
and I feel joy
and am free

I would like to lose
myself
in a sea of wildflowers
below a deep blue sky
and a gentle sun.

I would like to lose
myself
in a glade in the woods
listening to the breeze
in the trees above.

I would like to lose
myself
in a desert canyon
with stars overhead
and a rising moon.

I would like to find
myself
far out in the ocean
surrounded by dolphins
and an infinite sense of peace.

Hope is impossible when you look,
and actually see,
when you witness the fires,
the wild winds and the
ferocious rains.

Hope is impossible when you feel the heat
of your silver earrings against your neck
after minutes outside and you pray
that the power grid doesn’t fail.

Hope is impossible when you listen
to the myths being spun by
those who don’t want to see change and instead
want to bank on destruction.

Hope is impossible when you comprehend
thousands of penguin chicks
drowning on melting ice and the deaths of
deer and otters and falcons and – then –
us, our family and friends.

Hope is impossible when
you know it is only getting more
dire and
there is nothing, just nothing,
to do to stem
the tide of despair.

At this moment,
I wish for us
a celebration
of peace and joy.

Let us walk this labyrinth
together with hope and laughter and
a shared commitment to a common
tomorrow.

Let us start anew,
inspired by the music of birdsong
and the cool fragrance
of mountain snows.

Let us embrace sunrises and moonsets
and walk in the morning rains and
let us catch snowflakes as they fall and
dance under the stars.

Let us now at this moment,
at this one enchanted moment,
begin again,
and again, and again,
in the spirit of love.

A crow calls,
celebrating the morning.
I tap my Merlin app to chronicle
the answered greetings of
the chestnut-backed Chickadees.

Soon others are joining in song:
a Stellar’s Jay, a Brown Creeper,
now the barn swallows and a
red crossbill.
These are not my desert birds.

I drink in my coffee and peer up
through the branches
of the towering firs,
into the cloudless blue sky.
I feel untethered, free.

The wind rustles the leaves,
dogs bark today’s messages and
far-away voices catch in the breeze.
In the distance, I can hear the waves:
the ocean beckons.