Category: Poetry & Music

Poetry & Music /

The Lone Crane

Mistdrifts on the lake, a singing bowlof mystery, pinesangling the rim, breathof September thinningand catchingon the edges of autumn,and on the cuspa crane waits. He seesleaves releasing in mute surrender,revealingforgotten robin beds, feelswarmth retreatingfrom the skin of the earthdown and down intodeep and unshakeable summersunder the world. He standsregal, listeningfor the messenger wind callingwitness to justice,wings leaving whispersof what his eyeshave seen in the sky, wingscalling eyes to heaven. A blink,and he is gone, risinginto winter alone. ~s. rochelle

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Poetry & Music /

Agnes

That’s from Agnes, he said,leaning on his rake, pride glintingfrom between his teeth, pipe smoketracing my face with fingers ofcharred oak and buckwheat honey,and we stood therelooking at the bold line drawnon the side of the tobacco shed,in red paint.  I had seen the pictures,sepia squares from ’72 pastedunder plastic in a thin scrapbook,squares of brown water and strangefaces, of buildings mud-cakedand shrunk,the lines and the places thatcontained our days gone, roads lostin a night.  I was young, standing therelooking at a line on a tobacco shed,and all I knew of floods was…

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Poetry & Music /

She. Is. Woman.

Little girl,skirt between jeans,blood on the knees andhiding scraped palms, provingshe can do anything theboys can.  Woman,just barely, andlearning the edges betweenworld and heart, face tothe wind, lips bruisedbut laughing.  She,losing the edges, haslearned what it takes to bea good mother and daughterand anchor to allbut her.  Shelets her hair down,alone for a momentas night slumps overthe world, hands shakingon the brush.  Her eyessearching mirrorand oceans, past livesand night skies, wonderingand losing who she was,before. Sheawakens worlds wherethere are none, butone glimpse into hersis enough to awakencenturies.  Centuriesof wind chimes in thenight, rain…

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Poetry & Music /

Let There Be Light

He sits aloneon the steps, a little boy,guilty only of being humanand born, listening for a footstepno longer lurching, for a tongueno longer burning, for thekey to turn, for warmthto reach out, butonly dark comes to answer, darkthat a thousand candles can’t pierce,and while he waits he is weavinga house to hold him, a house wovenof sticks and stones, wordsborn in bone. Oh let there be light. She stands alonein the night, a woman,hands on her throat, voice once vibrant now silent, lancedby hands feigning love, words piercing steel-edgedwhere angels fear to tread,her…

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A Life of Meaning /

What If

What if These tiny green leavesWaiting at my feetAre not the weeds I’veBeen taught to disdain,Meant to be hacked withMy implements ofRitual and sermon,Doused with pietyAnd holy water,Starved with fasting andNegotiation,Suffocated withThe weed-block of thatEndless noiseI call prayer. What if These tiny green leavesAre simply life formsI don’t recognizeYet as beautiful,With all my labels,Depictions writtenBy witnesses whoOnly rememberA garden defiled,Who can’t see lionAnd lamb lying downIn stillness besideThorn and rose bloomingTogetherIn beauty. What if I lay down Both sword and plowshare, And kneeling, let my Fingers slowly touchThe strange edges Of my own…

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Poetry & Music /

Lights

Little mothmoonlit blur brushingmy skin, you were slipping inbefore I could close the dooron the night, wingsshimmering silverwhispering of sageand cicadas, you were inclinging to the lightsbefore I could warn youthis isn’t the placeyou are looking for. But here you are,searching the lights. And I smile,for like you I have breathedthe night air listening forthe drumbeat of unknownroads, slipping in doorways,listening on the bordersof porches and fringesof firelight on thissearch for truth, forfreedom, for beginning,lingering lyric waitingfor a chord. Like you,searching the lights. Listening to the voicesof prophets and poetsand opinion-gods, searchingfor eyes…

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Poetry & Music /

Surely a god

There is a sermoncalled sinners in the handsof an angry God, it tellsof a god standing readywith an elbow in the door to hell,my list of sins in his hands, cataloguedby date and severity of offense, this godunwilling or unable to hear my defenseand no one to speak, for I’ve been told it’s too latefor penitence at this door to timelessness.  Perhaps I misunderstood.  But there’s been too much anger already,too much hate, too much shame,too much killing of innocence andlaugh-lit eyes and feet dancing thatI cannot believe it will end with moreof…

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Poetry & Music /

Go Gentle

Go gentle with the one you loveas the moon, which does not drivethe tides but enthralls the space between. Go gentle with your childrenas the bow, which does not forcethe arrow but yields to the archer’s course. Go gentle with the prodigalas the sun, which does not withholdits warmth but embraces all the earth. Go gentle with your pastas the oyster, which does not purgethe wound but covers it with beauty. Go gentle with your tongueas the winter plum, which does not shamethe season but finds it flowering. Go gentle with your heartas…

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Poetry & Music /

May I Be

May I be content,but never so contentthat I forget to questionthe ways of our living, to listenfor the origin of my soul. May I be anchored,but never so anchoredthat I forget the universeis more than we can imagine,and God is not a person. May I be present,but never so presentthat I forget the conditionof the earth, and the missionof myth and tradition. Like the ocean edge restless,reaching for shore, falling backto source, skin mirroring lightand shadow, resting and risingwith sunrise and storms, yetdeep beneath lies presenceunmoved by wars and glories,cradles and graves, by…

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Poetry & Music /

Only Yesterday

We’re here together, my brother, on this   land that raised us, rinsing yearsFrom the worn siding, filling cardboard boxes   with photo albums and Thanksgiving linens,The grandkids are splashing in the creek,   feet slipping on mossy rocks, fingersClutching for handholds and crayfish, laughter   leaping between those timeless grass banksAnd you look at me and smile and say,   that was us only yesterday. Forging our world in those same waters,   and the boats to sail them, bending branchesInto shelters, ruling realms, we were kings   shaping visions, no wonderWe both grew up to love Lord of…

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