Best Kaleidoscopes Poems
Remembering when
Perched high above on rocky crags
Cliffs weathered by times handprints
I saw far and wide to distant shores
Tendrils of desire radiating outwards
Riding the briny mist
Being carried by the breath of the ocean, my constant companion
Hearing the distant voices, the silent tears
The bursts of passion ~ love and loss
I ride the wings of hope and change
Towards the beckoning landscape of
Creation, mystery, and nuance
A vibration fills the air
The quiet chanting of our ancient brothers and sisters
Their words floating in effervescent bubbles
Tinged with melodies so clear
We are one ~ We are here
Let us bathe you in light
Let us heal your wounds
Let us give you hope
We are all mirrors of one another
We share one breath
We are connected like the mycelium under the ground
Our journey is peaceful
Come to us with your pain, your heartache,
Your fear and your loss
We are here to listen
Our ears and hearts are open
You have come to a safe sanctuary to reveal your secrets
Your darkness, your desires, and your bliss
Without judgement
This is a time of renewal
Tiny green hummingbird lays lifeless on the ground
Surrounded by new life
Glittering musical notes sound as
Pink butterflies gather
Gentle wind of wings bringing change
Warm rain falls as we make our way
Through the kaleidoscopes of turquoise, teal, lime and chartreuse
Sunlight reflections
Moss, furry seedlings, and ferns
Intertwine dancing in the shafts of light
A steady illuminated procession
Sweat running down our bodies
We are a train of humanity pushing forward
Through the dense moist jungle
Coming upon a clearing to witness
The newborn baby girl wrapped in velvet greenery
A majestic glowing beacon shining her light
On all of us
Howling
The chatter of monkeys as they scramble down limbs to join us
We feel her heartbeat
We meld into one another seamlessly
Swaying gently in unison
To honor, rejoice and celebrate
Receiving the gift of what it is to be human
Slowly the child is lifted into the air
Aloft on fingertips of joy
The Circle of Life begins
And we return to the simple act
Of loving and giving to one another
Into eternity
Smiling, as our glances would glimpse, knowing, as our souls would meet
Upon this plane of sphere, where time, it did not ever exist
These curtains, no longer drawn, exposing thresholds
That we both had crossed, wishful, and wantingly
Into my arms, she then now waltzed, within her velvet, and silkened touch
Melting, into my depths her love, deep, inside of me
Silently, as I gazed into her eyes, kaleidoscopes, of cascading colors, reflecting
The endlessness, of these vast expanses of desires, longings, that we both could see
Much more than flesh, much more than barriers, much more, than life itself
Was the warmth, of her cherished breath, the essence, of her purity
Reaching, resurrecting a pulse, that I, we, should finally be
As the world stood still, and the skies became frozen
When our lips first brushed, an impassioned kiss, that would follow
The galaxies, exploding, from beneath the waters, of this now, washing sea
For no longer was she just a picture, and no longer, was she just a dream
Entwined forever, was this our spirits, as one, she became real to me
These souls that danced, amid the starlit heavens, unto the endless, of all eternity
She and I, and we alone, immersed within a light, a love
That no time, no life, no eyes, have they ever seen....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Destiny ~
Night of Aurora
Dance of Life -
Night of Aurora before the midnight sun,
Before the polar threshold of the daystar,
As Aurora’s swirling spirals flicker
In winsome purple-green electric flashes,
Dappled spectral neon scarves
From nighttide’s celestial dust,
Dance of barefoot soul bewitched -
Arrayed in fiery folds of scarlet-red
Leaps from star to star
When snow buntings chant
Artic serenades with her melody
As silence falls in silver solitude
Of flashing silent symphonies
Across philharmonic fantasies –
Dance of the artic
Beauty in diaphanous neon,
Ephemeral bursts of celestial streamers
Surge from astral pavilions,
Splash in sheer waves of gossamer mauve,
When lavender prisms pirouette
In charged rhapsodies over the fair isles
With sweeping pirouettes
Dance of the ancestors –
Ethereal ribbon dance in cascading rainbows
To tell tidings of sonorous harmony
From those released past the limits of the sky
They wear kaleidoscopes of happy hues
While Aurora dances a tarantella to say
She rejoices too.
11-17-22
Checked the Thesaurus for the spelling of “nighttide.”
Twenty-nine lines of poetry
Contest: Poetry Marathon - Mile 22
Sponsor: Mark Toney
I thought the landscape burst in sudden flame
with embers wild cavorting in the glare
of dawning sun, but boundless sparks became
a throng of monarchs flitting through the air
above a field as though on charcoal ash
that gusts of wind then carry as they gyre.
From wings illumined spread the brilliant flash
of pixie dragons breathing threads of fire
as fine as frog hair glinting in the slow
emission of the morning's creeping light
that struck the gloom with every lambent blow
until each wizard shadow was in flight.
The tartan tiger eye that draped the glade
was blazoned on the pinions as they flew
like flower petals of the clans arrayed
in Lilliputian combat on the dew.
A cadence of disheveled leaves they fell,
these butterflies upon the turrets mean,
escarpments and fay parapets to quell
the mist ascendant from the April green,
then rose again like prodigies from smoke
that came to cloak them from the murky foe,
kaleidoscopes of flutterings that broke
the cling of darkness with emerging glow.
By noon the burnished battle scene had cleared
as dandelions waved their vanquished whites,
the gleaming copper standards disappeared
and I relinquished images of sprites.
Ascending within; to feel my happiness climB
Setting out solo; internal ecstasy can providE
Carving contentment by relearning to crawL
Enjoying this wonderful spiritual crescendO
Noticing on the way; all little things contaiN
Dualities in me but don't require explaininG
Intrinsic kaleidoscopes; always up the antI
Needless is it to enforce emotional refraiN
Grasp the view feeling truest in belonginG
Summer yawns at rest,
Autumn kaleidoscopes in
Ominous beauty.
We said our goodbyes in June,
and the months since blur into mist.
At unexpected moments, awareness
of loss hits; tears spill unbidden.
Family gathering, Christmas Eve
as usual . . . minus one.
We quietly exchanged gifts,
found flowers from her funeral
crafted into hand-made jewelry,
kaleidoscopes, treasured mementoes.
I cooked grapes today, dark muscadines.
I extracted seeds and peelings,
and measured life-sustaining juice
through the metal funnel she used
from the day of her marriage.
It came to me dented and bent,
like her body had been at 93.
I still taste those fresh-from-the-oven
chocolate rolls after school,
garden tomatoes warmed by the sun,
hot biscuits with apple jelly,
squeezed from the peelings after
she baked crisp slices in cinnamon-rich pie.
I'm glad I didn't know then,
about being allergic to Cinnamon.
The Empty Space Between the Stars 10-24-24 Inspired by Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Empty Space Between the Stars
Aurora dances in empty space
Breathing legacies of star dust -
Charging solar bubbles of atoms
Seek reunion
With blasted bits of spangled astral Edens.
Spirits of abandoned ancestors
Twirl
Spiraling hydrogen kaleidoscopes
Cloaked in legend,
Between celestial glories, storming matter plasmas
Seek reunion with voyagers.
Emptiness absolved from desolation
In scarlet phantoms electrified
In stampedes of crimson rose
Wearing neon cloaks
Chartreuse winks at Orion
Launched into the space between…
Harvest Hayride
To the sound of autumn’s horn
When crisp cerulean skies fade
Into indigo stars,
And sunset reaches down
To touch the apple’s waiting face,
Streams of autumn’s light escape
Autumnal kaleidoscopes
To splash across the ripened maize
Bursting with captured sunlight
Along paths, that wait for rain, scuttle leaves,
Painted in shades of bittersweet,
Beneath a coral moon in full bloom
A frosty early twilight ride
Past faded barns filled with abundance
In harvest celebration,
Wreathed in spice and pumpkin hues.
10-23-20
Contest: Still Life Autumn
Sponsor: Eve Roper
The waves cascade upon the starry shore
And wash across the grains of sand they find
To share its motion, a timeless captor
To give freedom to my spirit confined
Soon it will soar in realms of passing dreams
That glide on the visions trapped in the mind
Wondrous worlds where nothing is as it seems
Colored kaleidoscopes there to remind
Of landscape pictures where I'm a refugee
Memories that flee, some are bad some are good
To sit on this shore where my thoughts flow free
And feel life's rhythm as it's understood
To not be a hostage to years I bear
Escape life's chains, I'll never again wear
12/26/19
I have watched the sun pour fire
into a glistening lake
I have heard a miracle born
as mornings line did break
I have seen a thousand angels
living in this world
I have survived as feeble cries
were ignored and never heard
but it was when your gentle hand
caressed my rivers bed,
shooting for the spiritual
I couldn’t care if i was dead
brushing off the peelings
of dread and helplessness,
holding on for sobs
to stop breaking in my chest
kaleidoscopes of love
are thrashing through my veins,
filling every capillary
and adrenaline’s attained
for all that I had searched
it was buried deep inside
and now that its unearthed
I know I can survive
all through the fights and conflicts
as life and love have crossed,
I always felt alone
and sometimes thought I lost
but now with love of life
my shield and spear do shine,
and I stroll onto this lonely road
but all our steps are still in time
I’ll see you in the summer
as white roses bloom again,
and a stream of fire will flow
from the ink within my pen
The only thing worse than getting lost in the dark,
is getting lost in the light you’ve mistaken for your own reflection.
A window says “see through.”
A mirror says “see you.”
And this life…
It’ll getcha if you start reflecting.
The serpent?
He works in a mirror factory.
A place where every thought bounces off another,
until the original feeling can’t find its way home.
If you aren’t careful,
you’ll spend a lifetime trapped in reflection—
not memory,
not meaning,
Echo.
Thoughts chasing themselves.
Images copying images.
Like shining a laser
in a mirror house.
You’ll call it thinking.
But it’s really just refracting.
Endless distortion,
in a mind that forgot how to look out.
The eyes, they are not mirrors.
You were made for vision,
not feedback.
For clarity,
not kaleidoscopes.
Look through.
Because asking a mirror for help is like handing your wounds to a photograph, and expecting it to bleed with you.
It’s like whispering secrets to a shadow.
In gentle breeze, a prism swings,
until each side has felt the sway
It hangs there by a thread of string
while waiting for the sun to play.
Sun passes by, so brief a glance
refracting light from morning skies
And soon my eyes must do a dance,
entranced by all the butterflies !
Thrown against the wall as dice
Into a million moths that clone
from splintered sunlight, color- spliced,
as clear as ice, precisely honed.
And as it twirls, more colors soar
With constellations telescoped
They rise up deep from prism's core
as if to make kaleidoscopes.
Walls gather up the rainbow's hue
Stain-glassed winglets for my view
Although I try to catch a few
They fly away, ...while sun does too.
____________________________________________________
For Contest Sponsored By Julia Ward
"A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies"
The Ballad of John Muir Woods
I squint at the splendid morning sun
golden filtered bright rays conveyed.
Speaking they say, sit, little one
rest a spell in our noble shade.
I squint at this forest of titans
sitting, I wait for more whisperings.
They weigh my thoughts across the breeze
you are part of our air, they sing.
Youth returns in kaleidoscopes
sprightly green patterns swiftly shift.
Tinged golden from morning’s new hope
their harmony in sea breezes drift.
These conifers sprout from stump and boast
wildness, our need is undisputed.
Redwoods, the glory of Cali’s coast
engage me and call me beloved.
DE Fullerton
A winter white blanket melts turning Aspens verdant green.
Buds sprout on mountainsides in a sunlit golden sheen.
Clouds like fresh-picked cauliflower sink low and drift on by.
Distant sun after her show takes a bow in purple sky.
Each eager bear escapes its hibernating cage.
Frozen waters thaw flowing to shores of sage.
Gift of welcomed warmth rids us of icy skin.
Happily we hike the trails, feeling like nature’s kin.
Iridescent dew drops cling to shoots of leaves on trees.
Joyous sparrows sing of birth, building their nests with ease.
Kaleidoscopes of color blossom, grow and softly sway.
Lifting to the heavens high, our spirits soar today.
Miracles of spring’s renewal, God creates for us each year.
Nights curtail and days extend as bustling young appear.
Open fields expand brightly; in the air, fragrance floats.
Poppies, peonies and petunias cover meadows like a coat.
Quizzical eyes peer at us from a shadowed hiding place.
Rabbits romp and hop together through fields of English lace.
Spring reverberates with humming birds and buzzing bees,
temped by sweet nectar of wildflowers on the breeze.
Under mounds of driven snow, earth’s waited to tumble green.
Victorious in her grand arrival, spring’s beauty grows pristine.
Watching from steep ridges, wolves save their howling song.
Xanthic petals mesmerize as we alertly walk along.
Yesterday’s cold winter pales with every step we take.
Zealous spring day warms the soul, our senses stirred awake.
written for Shadow's Abecedarian Contest, 2/13/15