Pilgrim

April 30, 2015 by leximagines

I release to You all that is fear.

I surrender my breath
to be filled with your life.

I still myself so I may hear
your heartbeat.

I settle within your compassion
to see others the way you see me.

I rest, held in your palms,
in the wideness of creation.

It is not my design, but yours.

May I let my wild being
flare in your fire, purified.

May I realize myself
in your presence.

May I walk my path side by side
knowing we are One.

May I heal in your sacred unfolding,
trust deeply, dance lightly,
revel with abandon.

May I lay down who I was,
and accept your Grace to become.

NaPoWriMo Day 30 The end.

As in all endings, there is always a new beginning.

Suspension

April 28, 2015 by leximagines

It’s that place I came
to realize was always there,
well, maybe not always, or
maybe that didn’t matter, it
met me, just me, it waited for
me to take that last step, or
was it the first step, onto its
hold, the deck I couldn’t see
through fog, or was it tears,
I trusted and licked the final
footfall off solid ground
that was safe but no longer
held promise, just pain,
or was it emptiness, and I
advanced from embankment
onto bridge that joined me to
something I couldn’t see,
I didn’t need to see, because
I accepted you would be there,
I was brave in myself to take
the leap, course ahead,
span your footway
suspended over an abyss,
delicately balanced
in your hallowing,
and never looked back.

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 28. Sigh. Only two more days.

“And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about bridges. A bridge is a powerful metaphor, and when you start looking for bridges in poems, you find them everywhere. Your poem could be about a real bridge or an imaginary or ideal bridge. It could be one you cross every day, or one that simply seems to stand for something larger – for the idea of connection or distance, for the idea of movement and travel and new horizons.”

Still

April 27, 2015 by leximagines

Still

Broken open

Don’t abandon me

Fragile

Fractured morsels

Piece me together

Gentle

Loving hands

Hold me near

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 27

I welcome today’s simplicity.

“And today’s prompt – optional, as always — comes to us from Vince Gotera. It’s the hay(na)ku). Created by the poet Eileen Tabios and named by Vince, the hay(na)ku is a variant on the haiku. A hay(na)ku consists of a three-line stanza, where the first line has one word, the second line has two words, and the third line has three words. You can write just one, or chain several together into a longer poem.”

Kiss me in the rain

April 26, 2015 by leximagines

They tell me I wouldn’t like
the rain if I lived it, in a place
where it doesn’t stop for days.

They tell me I don’t understand
because I am native to sun. It’s
not me that doesn’t understand.

There is a voice inside that
sings and sighs when rain
enfolds me.

Grey skies and pattering quiets
me, hushes the fuss, makes space
for me to listen.

I refuse umbrellas, let
water splash upon my
toes in sandaled feet.

I welcome the rain to touch
my skin, drench my hair,
clear away my sadness.

They don’t understand
rain like I do. Kiss me in
the rain, and I am yours.

The Ladies

April 25, 2015 by leximagines

St Therese of Lisieux,
what the other sisters didn’t know,
snuck off to the kitchen
to enjoy some leftover chicken.

Mary Magdalene once said,
“Don’t let it go to your head
and be careful not to fall,”
was to Peter her warning call.

St. Brigit of Kildare
was far more than just fare.
She milked cows and brewed beer
keeping others in good cheer.

Sophia, our lady of wisdom,
set herself apart from the great “hisdom.”
Her spirit wends its way
through our lives everyday.

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 25. A bit of silliness today following the prompt.

“And now for our prompt (optional, as always)! It’s the weekend, so I’d thought we might go with something short and just a bit (or a lot) silly – the Clerihew. These are rhymed, humorous quatrains involving a specific person’s name. You can write about celebrities, famous people from history, even your mom (hopefully she’s got a good name for rhyming with).”

I decided to go with the ladies who are currently guiding me. Such fun!

St. Therese of Lisieux

Mary Magdalene

St. Brigid of Kildare by Joanna Powell Colbert

Pistis Sophia by Louis Janmot

Extinction

April 24, 2015 by leximagines

I heard that poetry is going extinct,
government data shows, a Friday
afternoon tweet to end the week.

But I wonder if they heard
the darling little bird outside my
window before dawn,
it’s featherweight held bravely
by budding branch, itself
tweeting an arrival that returns
without fail in creamsicle
goodness each day.

I wonder if they heard
my first graders who listen to
Dickinson and Guthrie,
Williams and Hughes
as they place their chewed pencils,
erasers gone for the use,
on lined paper almost too
narrow to hold their words.

I have made a erath
today. It looks pride qute.
I wote wrds.

I know what he means.

I have made an earth
today. It looks pretty quiet.
I wrote words.

Or, I wonder if they heard her,

owl owl come
I love you you love
me hoooooo said
owl I am a girl said
the owl I follow the
forest I love the hooooo
I follow the village and
I follow my self I love
the forest forest and
I love my self the
people say I am a
gorgeous white owl
I love when people
say I am a gorgeous
white owl I just follow
my heart people follow my
heart I say to the people
hooooo they say
I love owls they say
I will follow your heart

I heard someone tweet today
that poetry is going extinct.

I wonder where they heard that.

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 24. I did not use the prompt today. A tweet at the end of the school day caught my attention instead.

According to government data, as reported by the Washington Post, poetry is going extinct.

Not in my life. Sorry. Data, whether in standardized assessment in the schools or studies funded by who knows what, only tells a tip of a story.

There is more. There is always so much more.

Cup

April 23, 2015 by leximagines

I find You when
I drink deeply enough
I feel your lines and colors
gentle waves of compassion
folding over me, holding me

If I drink passionately
my heart slows into a rhythm
that says your name,
calls my name, two as one
woven into a precious canticle

When I find You, when I have
sipped fully and freely
you touch me tenderly,
consume me, keep me near

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 23

“And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always). Today, I challenge you to take a chance, literally. Find a deck of cards (regular playing cards, tarot cards, uno cards, cards from your “Cards Against Humanity” deck – whatever), shuffle it, and take a card – any card! Now, begin free-writing based on the card you’ve chosen. Keep going without stopping for five minutes. Then take what you’ve written and make a poem from it.”

So I decided to pull a tarot card from an app I have, The Goddess Tarot by Kris Waldherr. I pulled the Queen of Cups. Here’s is what resonated with me the most: “Within ourselves is the ability to feel profound joy and appreciate intense beauty–the presence of this card suggests a new awareness of this state of grace…”

A Million Ways

April 21, 2015 by leximagines

There are probably a million ways to something,
fall into love, hate, etc.

What always works better, for me anyway,
eavesdropping.

I overheard things you would never say,
it’s hard to trap something.

In fact, nothing is off limits, I suppose,
There are many rules.

There are no rules.

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 21. An erasure poem.”Our prompt for today (optional, as always) is an old favorite – the erasure! This involves taking a pre-existing text and blacking out or erasing words, while leaving the placement of the remaining words intact.”

I couldn’t get the spacing right so it appears just as a regular poem. But I used an article about writing poems from Writer’s Digest in Poetic Aside by Robert Lee Brewer, 5 Ways to Write A Poem. What fun.

Conception

April 20, 2015 by leximagines

I know when my bare feet
touch morning grass
teardrops of early dawn
wash me of my sorrows

I know when I inhale
sweet summer air
I rest on obscurity high
above my anxious days

I know when I touch lips
that also know emptiness
I entwine myself with you
to stitch closed the desperate chasm

I know when I hear
evening coyotes call
in search of vanquished prairie
I walk the night in kinship

I know you whisper my name
I wild myself in your conception

Author’s Note:

NaPoWriMo Day 20

“And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, I challenge to write a poem that states the things you know. For example, “The sky is blue” or “Pizza is my favorite food” or “The world’s smallest squid is Parateuthis tunicata. Each line can be a separate statement, or you can run them together. The things you “know” of course, might be facts, or they might be a little bit more like beliefs. Hopefully, this prompt will let your poem be grounded in specific facts, while also providing room for more abstract themes and ideas.”