Not a Cape in Sight

 

Heroes:
Not the ones
wielding guns, sowing chaos,
or usurping and abusing power

but

the woman brave enough to say
"see you in court"
to a bully president
and
the news anchor
who does not mince her words,
even knowing
she will soon be fired
for speaking truth
or
those who nobly resign rather than
follow illegal orders against
the Constitution

Not

the men taking chainsaws
to government agencies,
social services,
and democracy itself,
proclaiming they are
saving (not wrecking)
their country

But

the aging warrior
- Bernie Sanders! -
unafraid to tell the truth
about what is really
going on,
who goes out among the people
to give them leadership
when all is collapsing,
when he could be sitting at home
in his armchair
after fighting for years
to awaken his country

and

the heroic, dedicated man
risking his life
to fight for his people
against the aggressive war criminal
invading his country,
who never gives up,
even when his strongest ally
betrays and abandons him.

When all is falling apart,
watch for the heroes,
who have integrity
and are unafraid
to speak truth
to misguided, destructive 
and demented
power.

(I have admired several leaders
who seemed to wear capes
in the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
They stood firm
for democracy and human rights.

Not a cape in sight
these days
among the president
and his flatterers.
But plenty of heroes
in the trenches,
trying to preserve
and protect
some basic human rights.)

for Mary's prompt at What's Going On: Heroes. Heaven knows we are in need of them, but I don't know if they can do anything about the wrecking ball dismantling government as fast as possible. How President Zelensky - a true hero - was treated this past week was sickening and appalling. 

Poet in Search of a Dream

 

source

All these years,
we had the audacity to believe
in the land of the free
and the home of the brave:
a country that fed starving children
across the sea,
a country that finally learned
to embrace diversity at home
in all its jazzy splendor.
A continent where
we all lived under
the same sky,
believed in honour, integrity
and dignity in our leaders,
who took an oath to serve.

Now "leaders" serve themselves.
Now they send into exile
those who kept our crops alive,
worked in service, dared to dream
life would be better here.

Now they turn away
from our allies, bully the heroic,
rip services away
from the most vulnerable,
take money from the people
and give it to billionaires. 

The Statue of Liberty is lovesick;
she holds her head in her hands
like the Ukrainian diplomat
watching yappy ignoramuses
flagellate her hero - our hero.

Once we dared to sing
Imagine,
once we had the audacity
to believe in the land of the free
and the home of the brave
and that it would prevail.
Now we live under the same sky,
afraid, appalled, heartsick, angry.
Our hope lies in the energy
that rises from the bottom up.
At the top, they don't even try to hide
that they don't care.

For Shay's Word List, inspired by Richard Blanco, who wrote the inaugural poem One Today at Barack Obama's inauguration, when we were filled with the audacity of hope.

In Dark Times

‘In the dark times

will there also be singing?

Yes, there will also be singing.

About the dark times.’

~ Bertolt Brecht

In the dark times, we light candles,

place them in the window to guide

lonely wayfarers home. We hum,

as we stir the thick soup, wash

all the pots, set the table for

whoever will come.

In the dark times,

we come together, break bread,

share empathy and humanity

and hope.

In the dark times,

we gather together

and sing.

In the dark times,

we dream.

We dream of spring.

***

I emerged out of darkness,

as we do, as we all do,

and strove towards

sunny days and blue sky.

Friends helped me, and dogs

helped me more, till my heart

healed itself like a craggy old bunion,

that I polished until it shone

like a pearl;
then I taught it to sing.

for my prompt at What's Going On: The Dark

That Farther Shore

 

For ages,
you have been visiting me
in dreams. 
Your lovely snout,
your big wolfy ears,
your goofy grin.

Such a handsome boy
you were.
I pine. I pine.

How you rollicked along
the shore, water
and wind in your fur.
We were wild together,
oh, we were wild.

I am at a sleepy time
of life these days,
almost ready to tip forward
into dreamtime myself,
to come and find you
somewhere
on that farther shore.

for Shay's Word List

A PARKA FOR YOUR SOUL

At dVerse Poets Pub, the prompt is to write a 144 word prose story based on a quote by Alice Walker which really appealed to me: "Make of it a parka for your soul", from her poem "Before You Knew You Owned It"  , which is wonderful. What came to me was not prose, but I liked writing it. Such a cool idea and I have not been doing well in the inspiration department these days.

My parka for the soul is made of fleecy blankets
that I huddle in on winter afternoons.
Softness, to counter the harshness
of this world, with all the rhetoric and untruths
that clutter the news-streams of our lives.

I hide in my room like a winter bear
not ready to go out into hostile territory.
I peer out like a fearful wolf, hungry,
yet knowing how great the threat is
beyond my den.

I encase my heart in bubble wrap
to keep the barbs and outrage
from entering. I wish for little
beyond peacefulness
any more.

Every time I see
a crocus springing up I hear a pop!
and smile. One more bubble, burst.
Soon there will be more,
then forsythia, then daffodils.
Pop, pop, pop.

Spring will re-wrap my heart
in all the colours of the rainbow.
I can hang the parka up until next year,
and meet the spring bright-hearted,
ready for Mother Earth’s finest display.

And all those vicious voices
can simply fade away.

With thanks to Lisa, at dVerse for the inspiration. (And to Mary Oliver, one of my faves.)

THE COMING OF THE LIGHT

 

For some time, now
Traveler has been
watching the days lengthen,
welcoming the extra light
morning and evening,
putting behind her
the difficult winter
which has birthed the beginning
of her next journey.

Now comes
the putting away of the old
and the welcoming
of the new.

Now comes
increased ease,
and Possibility.

What gestated all winter
bathed in her tears
now brings to fruition
all that was making its
difficult passage.

Traveler sets aside
what no longer
serves her.

She prepares herself
with hope and relief
for renewal,
a lightening of spirit.

She flows
within the emergence
of a new cycle
with trust, with grace,
and enormous gratitude,

knowing that
all is as it should be,
(in herself, if not the world) -
a time of letting go,
a time of stripping down,
a time of being true
to one's own spirit
and the simplicity
of its needs.

With the light will come daffodils,
cherry blossoms, forsythia.
Tiny crocuses are already
pushing upwards through the earth,
reaching for warmth and sun,
drawn forth by the
coming of the light.

As much a miracle
in this, her 78th spring,
as any other.

for Susan's prompt at What's Going On: the Light

IMAGINE

 

almanac.com photo

Imagine the earth
as the First Nations do
in ancient legend:
perched on the back 
of a turtle.

I was amazed to read
that scientists say
the tectonic plates
below the earth resemble that
of a gigantic tortoise.

How did they know
ten thousand years ago,
when they told the tale
around the communal fire?

The sky is like
a giant bubble overhead,
we, below, on a marble
blue and green,
making an absurdity
of our passage.

Rockets to Mars,
wicked overseers,
angels scattering blossoms
on the tombstone
of our fondest hopes.

Imagine:
this beautiful orb
of green and blue,
sailing through space.
Imagine
that we  knew how
to live in peace.

for Shay's Word List.