Best Reassurances Poems
"Love in the Time of Uncertainty"
Like the tide of the ocean
coming and going
with its calm seductive
hushed reassurances and
vociferous remonstrations
dragging me towards the undertow
I have placed my trust in lovers
that come and go like holidays
short spent longing for depth and length,
I burn them and begin again
considering all their ardent lamentations
best to put a sea wall up and
walk along the edge considering
all the fins that swim
I throw pearls at them
to wear around their thorny necks
sea rope and weeds I wear like the dead,
sea urchins and sirens going off in my head
Love rises from hiatus again like the Sun
when all the dying has now begun
The Heart is a sea shell
sold by the sea shore
placed now against my ear
a treasure chest warm and beating
from a shipwreck
becries its glorious tales
I hear its distant humming
a song it sings to me across
the waves of absence,
another’s longing,
I drink it all in
a tonic for an old Life to die
a new journey to begin
I am as green as absynthe
drugged in delusions and disillusionment,
now darkest dark blue in form
with shades of deepest grey as a tempest
in a cloudy hot mess reading tea leaves
in a cup turned upside down
as above so below
is this how it is done?
Are there such things as
romantic prophecies,
I am lost in reading all the other ruins and
chariots storming fallen tarot towers
gambling on right and left bowers
jokers and their tricks, Queen's Slippers badly fit
card houses built with straw clowns and broken sticks
questions are asked of the
mystic glamour mysteries
Love in the Time of Uncertainty
Peace in the Time of Uncertainty
Wind in my sails sends me out into
The Ocean again ...
(LadyLabyrinth / 2020)
"Everything Else has Gone Wrong" / Bombay Bicycle Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C92lUB3SAzE
Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Bombay-bicycle-club-everything-else-has-gone-wrong-lyrics
I am not always the smartest
Often times I appear not to be smart at all
My mind rambles
My eyes skip words
My lips speak without hesitation
Stumbling over my sentences
Incoherent blabber
I crawl inside myself
Whispering reassurances
They are meaningless phrases
My insecurities wont allow
The possibility that I could believe them
I am discouraged easily
Even my feet are not smart
Clumsy and tripping over air
You want to hear me say I’ll love you forever.
And yes, I well could say those very words to you:
For after all, they simply state the current truth.
But at the risk of seeming callous or uncouth
They’re also words one could easily misconstrue.
And whether couched in language simple or clever,
In timeworn expressions or phrases fresh and new,
All such words would ultimately be misleading—
For how can anyone pledge a love undying?
The future’s hidden—to deny that is lying.
And nothing lasts forever… still, since you’re needing
Reassurance, this much at least I’ll promise you:
You are the best-beloved of my heart today:
I can’t foresee I’ll ever feel another way.
November 14, 2019
NB: This is an "almost sonnet"-- but differs in line length (12 syllables instead of ten) and, instead of having three quatrains before the couplet, I have used two sestets with an ABCCBA DEFFED rhyme scheme. Also, the lines, while each of 12 syllables, do not really have any consistent metrical structure. By the bye, the word beloved here is meant to be pronounced adjectivally, that is, with three syllables: be-'LOV-ed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Romans 13:8 “…Pay your debts as they come due. However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love that you owe each other.
the mailbox, stuffed~
mortgage payments, car loans
with balances and deadlines
marked in red.
water, gas, and electric bills~
the hungry phantoms of
creature comforts
coldly due.
we chase the spectral zero balance,
dream of that stamped envelope
with the sweet release of
paid in full.
but the other statement
never arrives~
no perforated tear line,
no due date circled in red.
it’s a debt, unlisted, un-itemized,
it haunts no credit score,
demands no late fees~
a debt we’ll always carry.
this bill arrives not monthly
but daily~in every heartbeat,
every hunch that kindness calls
beyond oneself.
this debt, this sweet, persistent owing
is paid in tears dried on a loving sleeve,
with burdens carried, with forgiveness offered,
and in whispered reassurances.
this debt’s non-ending, compounds with kindness~
the interest paid daily—not in coin
but in soulful connection
and ego transcendence.
With his wisdom and my charisma, we shoot strong magnetism.
To be his girl is simply magnetic phenomena.
His love is instrumental loving me without words, reassurances me that I can be his girl.
I do not need to travel the world; I already know that he is the one I am looking for.
Interventions of my heart and his mind, is a love affair that is one of a kind.
My felicity I draw off his mentality.
His pleasing quality makes me love his intellectual capabilities.
I am guilty committing felonies strictly on fidelity, showing nothing but loyalty.
Everlasting fiery no other man can come near me, my flame burns internally literally.
Influence by his charm, as if I was a vampire feeding off his blood.
To be his girl is a translation of my version of his love.
In a state of adaptation I am in compliance, we form an alliance.
Merging our personalities turns me to an unstoppable we.
To be his girl I turn into every woman in the world.
The best of both worlds the collaboration of boy meets girl.
Abundance in his talent possessing riches, loving me wealthy never turning to bankruptcy.
I am definitely making history on the day he marries me.
If you believe professional athletes
should punch their Free Speech Rights out
when they punch in their employment clock,
Why is it fair
to also believe
you have not twittered out your violent
and racist
and sexist
Free NonViolent Speech Rights
when you laid hands on
and pledged your crossed-finger heart
to Presidential FakePatriotic AntiAllegiance
to One First Native MultiCulturing Nation,
for which it stands
under God,
not so much idolatrously and supremely above?
With growing equity, not supremacy,
and WinWin cooperative liberty,
not competitive WinLose violent
and ballistic
restricted TopSecret mega-loyalty corporations,
and for ecojustice of, from, and for All
Species
and climates
and cooperative health care giving and receiving
ecopolitical reassurances
patriotic for ecojustice
inter-network nationed
Sacred Earth,
Headed toward polycultural-endorsing Free NonViolent Speech Outcomes
and away from MonoCulturing Twitters
cheerleading Mindless Speech
as AntiAmerican Outputs,
Indulged and over-invested in too-Yanged ballistic word choices,
not suitable for young non-violent ears and eyes,
as if such were super-calorie patriotic expedited delicious
flag waving
and wearing
and wrapping,
rather than anti-matriotic hearts of loyal-honorable matters
of and for healthy Earth climates,
both inside sacred Twittering
and outside polypathic healthy-wealth
ecopolitically incarnating.
You choose fake patriotism news,
but we,
both Left and Right,
permaculturally prefer
keepin' it realtime jazzy gospel,
Sacred Matriotic Revolutionary Rhythm
and Timeless Blues.
Patriotism is about commitment
to freedom
and justice
and equity
and mercy
and love
and compassion
and justice,
and not at all about feeling bullied to act in ways
that could only betray the integrity of your commitments
to freedom
and justice
and equity
and mercy
and love
and compassion
and peace
and justice for and with All Earthlings,
singing and dancing our best rhythms
as yet timeless blues.
"Random Acts of Kindness"
you send the devil
his reassurances
of forgiveness
through love
the blindness
corresponded
some generous
catharsis
in a moment
of delusion
the sticky web
nullified
words sent
words received
morse code
S.O.S.
S.O.S.
S.O.S.
beats
the pierced heart
the invisible bleed
next level love
the shining haze
bars raised
backhand played
fast on the court
roll called
the masked ball
those present
all masked
the flying monkeys
love-all;
two devils
abscond with all
that matters most
what follows
is not
what we are
taught
kindness,
a random act
a walk
to George’s Heights
the sun shines
not a cloud in sight
blue sky adorns
release,
never arrives
easily,
there is always
the cost, when
the morning star
is torn and falls
grounded
Home
homeless,
lost
a reason for everything
the purpose a mystery
that too, the loss
random acts of kindness
the cost,
the loss
two sides
of a coin
tossed
gravity,
pulls in
anchored words
the heart interred
the card reversed
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
"no more
will my green sea
go turn
a deeper blue"
Soft seas beheld the ebb of evening’s dance
Arousing waves upon a satin shore
Resounding reassurances for more
Soft seas awaiting soulful lover’s glance
An endless tide of passion to explore
And time to drift amidst life’s vast expanse
While holding hands brings comfort still to chance
Soft seas awaiting lovers to restore
When set upon by minions of the storm
Soft seas will raise you high above the ground
When songs of sirens beckon to conform
Soft seas will whisper something more profound
When lovers’ sighs transform the cold to warm
Soft seas awaiting somewhere to be found
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
The Lord is with me too.
He whispers in loud soothing words
that resonate like
liquid softly fluent.
His watchfulness always lingering
in the pushing of
this steel plated city
where I am trapped.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
The Virgin Queen of Heaven
intercedes for all of us.
She intercedes for me too.
She prays in splendid atmosphere
anguishing over every
sin I am thinking.
Her once-flesh hands twinned in
ever steady prayer.
Shapes populate in my always troubled
daily life.
They upset and tangle the soothing
urgings I feel God placing
in my contemplations.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
The pleasing phasing of spiritual halo's
surrounds me in constant
reassurances.
I'm praying mental rosaries, intoning
words familiar, yet, so loved.
So firm in comfortable places where
I come to God.
This straggling pretence of reality
that we call human-kind;
is not as clear as the affable prayers
of Blessed Mary, my holy Mother.
Standing or sitting does not matter.
Nothing of flesh
ever does.
What is critical are the prayers of
faithful gathered
in presence in Christ's Sacred Mass.
I shall be there too, joining my voice
in time honoured assistance,
"Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you."
The Wind Blew Cold
The wind blew cold upon our faces,
we turned our heads towards the east eyeing a muted sun,
clouds in their weary way sagging, formless:
the moon resists it’s rising assent skyward.
Oh orb, on which we stand motionless in spin,
toss to our good graces a stitch of time,
that we may find solace in our vacant hearts, that throb outside our chests,
exposed to the elements of desire.
The prayers to hope, that fall from our tongues,
loosed in the mind, where neuro-chatter reigns as noise,
heave sighs of wanting, deep cries and cravings long,
the cold wind burns sharply against our skin, our faces recede.
The lonely tracks that follow our footsteps radiate golden,
a heavenly chorus of slighted souls weep aloud,
your hand, cool with perspiration glides over to mine
such an embrace is felt intensely, in silence and in awe.
Eaten up in smiles, as wordless thoughts laugh quietly
it’s a meal of granola bars and fruit splayed on a table
water and tea wash away the throaty remnants of food
as our eyes keep tabs on just what lies behind the surface.
Not much in the way of small talk falls here
but the words of repeated reassurances comfort
we walk amongst the cars, the garage reverberates
our eyes and ears attuned to our voices in space.
There is a burning in our hearts of things undone
love spills over the edge of our thoughts and sighs
we remain in our niche, an adventure we crave
our friendship is one that has thrown us far afield, untouched.
1/9/2016
Learning to let your words
stand as spoken,
a broken place in my heart
is reaching to find hope
in an inhospitable space.
I sit in my bed and dread,
searching for the bravery
to accept comfort in your reassurances.
I have always wanted to believe.
Ripped out of the wall and disconnected,
the hum of the radio cradled me,
waiting for my cheating husband to
come home and discuss the phone bill.
The torn red vinyl seat
of an after-hours diner
steadied my hand
as my best friend disclosed her betrayal.
Taped and tied down in a corner
you can find a very small and unnoticed
me, praying to never be
brought back to these places.
Roused from jaded reflections,
I find myself so in love with you
that I have to leave it be.
I sip tea and breathe in
the peace that only trust brings.
Faith is intangible.
It is as conceptual and euphoric
as forever, or always,
or happily ever after.
If faith is believing in something
I've never seen before, then I will have faith.
I heard bankshots last night,
sounded like vault robbery for sure
These startled eyes, which got rudely awakened,
saw some masked bandits
mute walking on a one beam teller ...
not cash registering one word
No safety deposit reassurances were heard,
only silent alarm
breached security measure blurbs
On the latest Bankers Holiday,
I heard some peppery sprayed hotshots
being airwave-pumped
in a high pitch, screaming tire getaway
Preying mantis scarlet quotation tread marks
on the glowing screen said:
"We only take more than you can pay ...
blood money always got a dead air say"
Children of famous crooked faces
were crouched decibel low on a zip lip line,
tightrope beam teller
Proselyte pantomime pupils
moving their mouths a lot, cat burglar quick
Using lip sync tools,
saying not a single word ...
Only giving a wily nod coyote wink
I heard not a word
uttered
No, not one truthful word
spoken
during this brazen, public heist
As every lullaby lamb
warm fleece slept
with their pockets open last night
Eternity is short lived, three or a countless year,
Gushes back fond memories of a life, to us all, so dear,
On a day, you bid goodbye, to life’s encompassing fear,
Drove a world, around you, to seek solace in drops of tear,
Life goes on, for your kin and for your entire loved peer,
Yet your smile, etched in our thoughts, in moments reappear,
Your voice of reassurances, not lost, echoes in the mind’s, ear,
Comforts all living souls to you, ever so dear and near,
In the kingdom of God, you leave your heart, ever clear,
Like a myth, you fought with grit and made pain - disappear
We know not, which star you are, sparkled in lives like a seer,
Set an oracle, defying wisdom for many more countless a year.
Mom
In every memory I have of you,
I hear a smile in your voice.
Even as my soul weeps at its loss.
Still…
After twenty years,
I tremble at the loss of home.
I look over my shoulder
looking for the comfort of you.
I wait for the reassurance of your hope,
and I flounder in
the imbalance of this world.
I never got to live This with you.
The injustice rubs at edges of my reality
Leaving rage in the wake of tragedy.
How can I ever find a balance when my center is gone?
I keep listening to your smile
whispering reassurances and lullabies.
How love is an intangible thing not trapped by time, death, nor even memory.
Your love is weaved inside me,
it blankets me in your grace.
Sometimes veins play hide and seek
When blood draws are required
And nurses who can nail one down
Deserve to be admired.
My daughter’s veins are tiny
Though the rest of her is not.
Unfortunately, doctors need
Her bloodwork quite a lot.
Today two experts, though quite nice,
Just couldn’t find a vein.
They poked and prodded, trying hard
To not cause any pain.
At last my daughter’d had enough;
Attempts came to a halt,
With lots of reassurances
That she was not at fault.
Our bodies on the outside
Don’t allow the slightest glance
Of what lurks beneath the skin
Which we discover just by chance.