wake up & touch the grass

i wake up in the morning waiting for the sun

to soften me, soft as linen, softer as mud pie

my fingertips are tapping, checking the blue sketch

of canvas, granite silver stones, the studs, the slow motion

of time, rocking me to stupor, here in my pink dress, white

socks, shoes off, floating, i twist my body to bend

into the hourglass of sweet complicity & simplicity

but this solid bed of recycled plastic is hard, my thoughts

run grey, spiral to crawl, crash, cramp__

i cannot move to lift myself off this loneliness, this rabbit hole_

tell me you care, tell me to touch green grass,

tell me to get off the phone & social media,   

this body swells of longing for rain, soil & seeds,

sounds of birdsongs, the smell of pine trees 

i want to drown in my dreams of clouds, as the sun 

softens me, soft as linen, softer as mud pie, sinking to earth 

María Berrío, Closed Geometry, 2022, 

paper collage and watercolor on linen, 72 1⁄8 × 90".

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - We are writing Ekphrastic Poetry based on the 3 artwork selected in the prompt.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visits and comments.

song credits (to us)

 

we're blending the lyrics & notes

to strum of guitar riffs

you drunk-sway as goldfish in fish-

bowl

i play the piano (off)key

as soaked flowers  

by summer rain

our faces are blue

with sweet refrains & kisses

bravely, we watermark the album 

with our names

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille:  Pouring Out Our Poems - Hosted by De Jackson.  This is a 44 word post with the chosen word - water.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

summer of calendula

 

i count more than 12 petals

sun-radiant, golden lemon bright,

red specks in the center

we are bee-struck over your

healing prowess

though your size is my palm 

your willowy sway

in the breeze, safron scent of mint

and thyme

brings a joyful morning

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille hosted by Lisa.   

Happy 12th anniversary dVerse!

june diary: strawberry moon

this kiss, yours -  is an unbridled sonnet

tart as wild juniper berries in gin

brimming with seduction & sloppy grin

unpredictable as crashing rocket 

who would have guessed, we like chaos & black 

not sweet strawberries, but peppery to  

roll our tongues in shock, like a strong brew-

we adore brightness & shadows, a stack

of poems.  if we cared what they say we are-

not compatible, crazy kids with wheels-

we would not be here, love drunk, twined in teal

in a heartbeat, your eyes are silver stars 

you gift me a lush garden of verses: 

unrhymed poetry, dance beats, blue metric,

guitar riffs, rocking my world electric-

there's no time to dally in rehearsals

               

your lyrics unravel me, spilling ink

moon tides, my lungs on fire, i flower pink

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- MTB with John Donne and his Heroic Sonnet hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  

I reworked some of the lines I wrote here and made this a longer poem, following the sonnet model as requested by Bjorn.  Thanks for your comments.

under our sky

 

the forest is burning

(&)

you ask me a question

you will get an

answer

differently

(when I'm 40)

(when l'm 60)

last year or next year 

because my present

is ever changing

as clouds in bleak smoked sky

as silkworms searching mulberry leaves

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Quadrille - hosted by Lillian Hallberg.

This is 40 word post, with the chosen word, PRESENT.  Thanks for your visit and comments.

sisterhood

 

we were born on sawdust and torn tweed

scattered along plains of wheat and weeds

we suckled on old goat's milk and blue scars

etched on bodies of our mothers searching for stars

we grew up suffering through our & their pain

never knowing the joy of freedom & our names

how we fought and grinded with vigor

as we took blows to go through the rigor

we are stronger when our voices are melding 

to bring justice & peace, all with a good ending

we now stand humbled but proud women fighters

as we made this, our way, survivors

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -  When "we" writes Poetry, hosted by Laura Bloomsbury.  Thanks for your visit.

The Quality of The Thimble

The thimble is thinking of imposter's 

syndrome.    Bigger than sunflower,

but softer than guitar strings.  It gets a summer

job watering the garden of a grocery store. It

thinks it is all easy, until it forgets to wear

sunscreen & gloves and pricks its fingers 

from tiny thorns.   It keeps on bitching

that the pain everywhere is brutal to deal with. 

The thimble wilts very quickly in the summer

heat.   Like a banana which you buy greenish but

turns brownish spots in 2 days.  So you must

consume it quickly like sugar snap peas,

or radish when quickly pulled out

from the soil, crisp and slightly peppery.

The thimble loves April's Fool.  It likes to 

eat melting ice-cream when walking

to a farmer's market.   

It is also a memory box.

Keeping all the crochet bonnets and 

half-sewed materials, and all the 

unfinished verses,

no titles, just a tumble- 

weeds of words.  

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quality Poems hosted by Kim M. Russell.    Inspired by the style and poem format of The Quality of Sprawl by Les Murray.

Emerald eyes of spring

 

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Watching the pink lilacs blooming

Under the glossy silver sky

Green buds are preening & swooning

Red flowerettes bloom - a marvel

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Brimming with spring steps so cheerful

Without wiles, witchweeds or guises

I scatter seeds, saplings arise

Under the bright sun's long hours

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Tying colorful wildflowers

Gathering pinecones, I pen words

Under maple tree, sweet as pie

This is where I'll be - heeding birds

Calling me with emerald eyes

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Poetry Form is Quatern.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   

the ArC

 

the spring weather is a contradiction

of hazy sun with a dirty glass sky

smeary, smoggy, soggy but also sparkly

just like myself when I pass by a mirror wall

what you see is blurry & opaque outline

what you don't see is the toil & tedious work

welding myself with heat, friction and iron

when there is no preset or map to follow

there is no certainty that I will be a whole canvas

or even a completed chapter of a novel

but I am making small steps to overcome my addictions

my doubts and yes my contradictions

Note:  poem inspired by Thorvald Hellesen

“Portrait of Mary Alice Eckbo” painted in 1914

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - An Artist Gets His Due - hosted by Lillian.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thank you!

 

 

a letter to Ilhan Sami Comak

I bring you the season of tulips

and lilacs from our spring season in Ontario

The smell of lilacs is fresh citrus

A reminder of how beautiful spring is

Outside of your prison bars

For more than 25 years

I come bearing the sounds of robins & bluejays

The sighs from the weeping willow trees

As I open the window 

There's black raven flying above our maple trees

Its powerful wings reaching for the sky

I weep when I think about prison walls & cages

We are meant to fly, unchained

And walk, untied

Not of fear or rage or bitterness

But with gentle voice

I hear you

Above the rumbles of dust storm 

The cry for justice

Between dusk and dawn

You will persevere with your will of steel 

One day, you will be walking free

And writing back to me

How you got lost in the forest

smelling the wildflowers   

with petals bluer than the sky

******

Note about the epistle poem:  

You can read three poems for and poems by Ilhan Sami Comak who has been in a Turkish prison for 27 years. He was arrested as an activist and later became a poet in prison.

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Poetics - Uncaging the Poet, with guest host, Paul from Parallax.   Please join us for the theme of justice for those poets behind bars, when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.