Forever Gone

That moment,
when I felt your snout on the edge of my bed -
the way you woke me every morning
of our lives together -
was the moment you went into the flames
and up into the sky,
into the spirit world -
forever gone.

You had stopped by,
in flight,
to say goodbye.

That moment loosed
a river of tears
- it does so now -
for all we had been together
and all I now had lost.


for Sumana's prompt at Midweek Motiff: A Moment

Landai

source

The ice is melting under my paws.

You have made my homeland a place of hunger and death.

                                  ***

The wildfires are burning the forests.

As we flee, we hear the cries of burning koalas.

                                  ***

Can we sit in prayerful silence

contemplating the destruction of our living world?

                                  ***

How many times can a heart break open?

In my dreams, wild wolves are seeking a safe place to hide.

                                  ***

Mama Bear and three cubs flee the policeman

but they cannot run fast enough to outrun his gun.

                                  ***

From the southern border, can you hear

the distressed cries of children calling  for their mothers?

                                  ***

Some depressing landai for Sanaa's prompt at Real Toads: the landay. 9 syllables in the first line, 13 in the second, this is a form usually sung by Afghan woman. They can include topics of grief, death, women's oppression - and sometimes are ribald, provoking women's laughter. I love how women find ways to release, if only temporarily,  the yoke of oppression through poetry, song and laughter. I chose North American topics, because oppression, of people and species and natural systems, is everywhere.

meditation on blue

blue, the colour of hope:
blue skies, my whole life spent, head
tipped back, grinning at the sky.
blue velvet, the music of my youth,
soundtrack to all those broken dreams,
and my midnight blue velvet dress;
(wherever did I wear it?)
blue mood, eased by nature's beauty
and the love of a beautiful dog.
blue horizon, Tomorrow on the other side
Eternity in its scope.
blue, the colour of melancholy,
sadness for what is gone, and
gratitude for how much still remains.

I look at life with blue eyes,
a world of blue skies and sunny days.
Like the song, I walk on
the sunny side of the street,
a smile for all I meet.
I am in love with blue-green rivers
and the sea. Bluejays sing
my mornings in. In December,
I seek  blue shadows in the snow,
note dark winterblue in the sky,
colour in indigo  my memories of
all  I have let go.


for Rajani's Poetry Tuesday: Blue

Above the Wilding Shore

Pacifico ~ The Pacific Ocean
Kerry O'Connor
@skyloverpoetry

I flew above the wilding shore

though my lungs could breathe no more.

A ride upon a phantom wind;

my journey ends as it begins.

The keeper of the light appears.

He is as real as all my fears.

He grabs me, gasping, all a-flutter

and fries me up with lots of butter.

Pharos ~ The Lighthouse
Kerry O'Connor
@skyloverpoetry

LOL. Sorry, couldn't help myself. For Kerry  at Toads - 53, not 55, but I dont want to change the rhythm.

With Spirit Sore

A lambent shine on the horizon lifts my eyes.
Stripped of  illusion, I walk the wilding shore.
With spirit sore, my eyes still scan the skies 
under which we humans should be so much more.

Stripped of  illusion, I walk the wilding shore.
With all we know, we should be worlds away
from the misery of today; be so much more
than the sorry state of hungry power in play.

With all we know, we should be worlds away
from indecision; call leaders to intervene
in the sorry state of greed and power in play.
Hope in tomorrow still gives our hearts their sheen.

From indecision, we call leaders to intervene.
With spirits sore, our eyes still scan the skies.
Hope in tomorrow still gives our hearts their sheen.
A lambent shine on the horizon lifts our eyes.

Words used: horizon, lambent, intervene, stripped, illusion, indecision.

I wrote this pantoum as an exercise, using Kerry's word list to describe the conflicted feelings I have walking this beautiful landscape, knowing the environmental devastation happening everywhere, also knowing a tsunami could come at any moment and wash this coastline away. And yet we have to hold onto hope somehow, against all the mounting evidence that we have been much too slow to awaken.

The Blue Jays, at Dawn

The blue jays come to my deck at dawn.

 Each morning I draw back the sliding door, 

crumble the bread.

Every morning is the same

but the blue jays and I

are all imperceptibly changing,

one day of living closer

to our transformation,

one more day of gratitude

for our long, blessed unfolding

and all of its gifts.

One more day,

before, suddenly, 

we're gone.

What has changed me most

in my long life?

My friends,

who had the hard task of teaching me

that there was someone inside me

worthy of love.

They shone the sunshine of their smiles on me

and repeated, until I believed:

leave the heartbreak of yesterday behind.

The time for sorrow has ended. 

Come play with us

in the garden of delight.

They taught me:

"The moment of change is the only poem."*

*Adrienne Rich

Ah, my friends, the winds of change are blowing as my two dear friends, Susan and Sumana, soon take leave of Poets United, where we have played so happily these many years. Thank you is not words enough for all you have given, and all you have come to mean to me. Come join me in the garden of delight and we shall continue our poetic journeys, which unfold the pathway we are walking with every new poem.

for the Midweek  prompt: Changes

Change-Makers

One tired woman

sitting at the front of a bus

One small girl

sitting in front of Parliament

One man with a dream
One girl with a book
and a veil and a voice

Can spark a tidal wave

of change.

for the Pantry of Poetry and Prose at Poets United.