on realizing you are

raw-

as seeds,

softened soil, 

nurturing      sky

hard thrusting of birth

sweat, blood & fears mingling

with joy... and the unknown looms 

like   giant  tidal   waves,  you    feel   

the weight on your shoulders & though your 

hands  are  gentle now,  your  eyes are all fire- 

A New Beginning by Canadian artist:  Maxine Noel
Grace @ Everyday Amazing

Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Corey's prompt on Raw
and Sunday's Mini-challenge by Hedgewitch - Etheree form ~  Happy weekend ~

the balancing act

Melting Ceramics by Artist Livia Marin

Right side of me

Weaved & staggered like a leaf

Caught in a summer storm-

After washing dirty cups left the previous night

Wiping sink & bathtub free of suds & grime

After picking up clothes & socks on the floor

Folding & ironing clothes with tenacity of a turtle

After you grumbled like a bear while doing laundry



While balancing children's activities around my hips

I drive to and from my work in the city

While buying groceries you had forgotten to buy

I think of paying the home bills

While sharpening the knife in preparing tonight's dinner 

Left side of me

Blanched & melted, indelible ink

   Blue, weight of the mountain

Posted for:   D'verse Poets Pub- List Poetry - Thanks for the visit ~ 

what's in a name ???

Departing Vancouver International Airport

Grace @ Everyday Amazing

I knelt on the dirt floor of the cabin

       and asked the elders for my name

They in turn asked the wind & sky

       to measure the breath & bones of me    

They looked north for brightest stars

       and wingspan reach of the eagles,

Claw prints of the bear & coal eyes of ravens

       for spirit of man & animals are one & the same  

Listening to the full moon's tide song,

      they meditated on my purpose in life

Finally, in a dream, my name came- 

      whispered by the giant spruce trees

My name is bestowed, entwining my spirit

      & flesh, sweetgrass is ceremoniously burned

A pipe is solemnly passed from one to another 

      While plums & grapes piled ripe on wooden table

    

Drawing close my fur beaded in red & black,

       I draw circles & lines that connect me to the roots

Of our Turtle Islands, of all women:

       My tongue rolls my name – storyteller. 

Inspiration:  Nokomis – She is an Ojibwa artist and storyteller who grew up in the bush north of Lake Superior more than seventy years ago.    

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight - every Tuesday

the Goddess in the garden

                                                     Photo credit:   Margaret Bednar


Summer comes pitted fruit seeds, we savor its core like wine         
Dripping yellow thick, we pant like fishes out of the sea 
We strip clothes, mad as bees, wishing we don't have two arms & two feet ! 



Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Summer - Smiles from British Columbia ~
Poetry form:  Sijo 

What the sign said: Pennies are ok!

Vancouver, BC
Grace @ Everyday Amazing

By the beach bench, they huddle close
He, unshaven & matted hair -
She, sand-stained shorts, a wilted rose- 
Holding to plastic cups (& sign), sun 

Setting slowly, mirrored in gold (dust)   
By the beach bench, they huddle close
Like swept up shells in grainy shores
Gutted by wind & bitten by 

Uncertainty for tomorrow
is a steam-chimed clock,  boat adrift (empty)  
By the beach bench, they huddle close
As weary trees after a storm

Blackening their feet & fingers 
For a scrap, or puff, they beg for coins
This city, their drug & eden (lost) 
By the beach bench, they huddle closer 

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - I was going around Vancouver City yesterday and saw homeless young (and able bodied) Canadians begging for coins.         They, along with the other homeless people, stay around the beach area and popular tourists spots.     I also mentioned Gastown steam-run clock, because it's one of the attractions in this city.     

Poetry form:  Quaterns - Playing with the form a bit but following the refrain line pattern.

Meeting the Bar:  Writing Characters 

Where we will sit & dine

Spanish Banks, Vancouver, BC

Grace @ Everyday Amazing

Sit beside me
Where the sky blows, cools fresh as pines      
Sit beside me
Where fine sands melt into the sea
Wind, forest, sun - these we will dine  
And bottle summer days to wine 
Sit beside me


Posted for Poetry Jam - Summer Heat - Enjoying the summer heat in BC ~ 
Poetry form:   Rondelet -Seven lines with the rhyme scheme of AbAabbA ~

My kind of road trip

Going to Vancouver City, BC

Grace @ Everyday Amazing

I want to go where the road 
meets the sky & white-capped mountains -

I want my eyes to feast beyond the 
sea wall,  mossed & dotted brown by geese  -

I want my hands to catch the hum & trill
of forest beat & symphony of wildflowers - 

I want my eyes to follow the wings of seagulls & 
black crows, soaring fearlessly above the bay-  

And these - the rush of the wind, heat on my face, 
sands beneath my feet, time to sip as the sun sets- 

My words simmer and cluster, then fall
like waves against the rocks, endless & free  -

View of Vancouver City from Stanley Park, BC 

Posted for Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Sunday Challenge - Live a little
Shared with Poets United

Wishing you all Happy Sunday from BC where our family is vacationing.    

blurry images from last night

Last night, severe thunderstorm struck our city, powerless & cold.

Grace @ Everyday Amazing

                                                drop               drop               drop               drop
                                                            drip               drip                 drip               drip

                                               wires dis-connect-ed,  power waver-ed & still-ed,

                                               wind-whipped, lights falter-ed & b-linked blank-

                                               candles flicker-red as machines shut down, black 

                                               screen everywhere as water drums-beats-crashes- 

                                               rises-like the sea, sweeping trains & cars-off-roads-

                                              
                                               tick               tick                tick                 tick
                                                       tock                tock                tick                 tock           
                                               

                                               back to basics:   books & paper & cardless-
                                  
                                               strangers & neighbors exchange kindness:  car rides, 

                                               (cold) pizza boxes for dinner, buckets to scoop water

                                               from overflowed basements,  words face-to-face- 

                                               where once blurry & dis-tant, are now Up/close&personal-




Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight ~  I'm home now as power in our Toronto Office hasn't resumed yet.   Thanks for the visit ~  

at night, unboxed

                                               I  wake  up,    fetal   position  in  bed

                                               Before  the  alarm  promptly rings 3x

                                               A  list  of  things  to  do  in  my  head  

                                               The  day looks neat as a   cereal  box,

                                               And   roads  dilute in the rain,     driv-

                                               ing, a man crosses the street:7:27 am

                                               & I will always make that traffic stop/

                                               deja  vu unfolds as I go the office, file

                                               & type, straight-jacket inside my cube.   

                                               Cars & trucks  zip  & zoom,  marching 

                                               outside my window, same beat, 100+

                                               kph down the freeway.  During lunch

                                               break,  I peer                                  outside.

                                               The trees & flowers are bright in their  

                                               plant boxes.   Plastic tables dot along  

                                               the mirror walls.   Time snails,   linear

                                               in my phone & laptop.   Some/ /times

                                               words press & simmer, then  fade  2x-

                                               driving straight home.           The night  

                                               sparks my thoughts,         out   of   the   shadows,   
              
                                               weightless as seeds on my eyelids,    f  r  a  g i  l  e,

                                               as silk

                                                          worms,  c r aw l i n g           

                                                                                                o u  t       o   f

                                                                                                                            t  h  e

                                                                                                                                        b o x.

            

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - This is my typical work day and writing is done in between & mostly at night.  I basically used numbers, city sounds, shapes & formatting my words on the page.   Let me know what else worked for you ?   Thanks ~

Picture credit:   Silvia Grav

A lesson from the sands

Grace @ Everyday Amazing

the sands-

scooped, patted

into shape:   a temple

rises under the sun - then falls 

like dust

the wind

carries its weight 

like a seed, shifting all:

cement, steel, roof, words - nothing stays

the same

Posted for Imaginary Garden for Real Toads - OpenLinkNight - Happy Canada Day to all !!! 
Also shared with Poets United

Poetry form:   Cinquain