~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We fall backwards
into the snowdrifts,
arms sweeping arcs like wings
in slow motion.
Cold seeps
through mittens,
but the sky
is sooooo wide.
Pressed deep,
we breathe
cloud-breath
into
cloud-light.
We rise,
leaving behind
these fragile ghosts
their imprint
remains after we stand~
temporary cathedrals,
hollows
where the world held us
just long enough
to matter.
(Cold Harbor, Virginia, May 31-June 12, 1864;
1,845 Union dead, 788 Confederate dead)
cathedrals rise,
tall arching boughs, crisscrossing limbs,
lush, leafy rooftops lofted high
and rustled by warm tender breeze;
green rooftops shimmer, reverent,
while casting shade to consecrate
this hallowed ground,
this battlefield,
topography forever scarred
by trench and earthworks dug in haste
scratched out for fear and valor's sake,
grave-deep furrows
once harbor to
depleted men far from their homes
who wept and moaned and fought, survived,
sad ditch and trench from which strong trunks
loft high the ceiling's verdant vault
while saplings bend in pensive prayer,
roots buried in brown detritus
discarded by last autumn's chill,
dark moldered leaves
now slowly melting into earth
where men once battled, suffered, died…
to ash from ash,
cathedrals rise
November 15, 2022
The Crap Shoot #2 Poetry Contest
John Lawless, sponsor
Stone Cathedrals of Glenwood Canyon
Stone cathedral spires rise sharply from freely flowing waters -
Birthing renewal through eternity’s eyes -
Lifting up to the eternal
A psalm, a canticle, to serenade the seasons,
Singing celebration in Heaven’s waiting ear;,
Reaching down to lift up
Majestic mountain praise through hallowed halls
With lyrics of the hawk and meadowlark -
Walls decorated by the many hues of whispering aspen leaves
Fluttering in perpetual praise and clothed in cleansing rains;
No prodigal peaks
Sneaking away from the thanksgiving song
While a winding thread of chanting melody follows
The path of renewing waters,
Sounding then resounding -
Captured then released in sanctuaries of red stone
Cradling in the waiting womb ever breathing vitality
Rising upward on wings of sunlight
Shimmering with celestial awakening and the waning light;
Eternal beating pulse
Stretching up for majesty into a bottomless sky
Feeling winds of winter storms - tickling stars in moonlight;
Embracing ever new cathedrals
Formed by flowing winds and winding waters.
10/16/19
Emile Pinet - Sponsor
Give Me Your Best New Poem
It is an old saw indeed
that a person's home is castle,
and I hope this is more true than not,
however simple.
Yet for me,
when I step outside this castle
I enter shared sacred cathedral,
where awe feels more adventurous
and wonderful
than inside my stifling castle,
however luxurious.
million miles across the room
you sing your insect chants
your contours blurred
like ocean cathedrals
and our love is like a missile
and muskets
cheers to the dark and the endless
'cause someday we'll live, I promise
far away from this mass dementia,
macabre spectacle,
manufactured beasts
and fabricated lies
at the bottom of the seafloor
in our own shell house
in Mariana Trench
but for the moment
no one's driving this burning car
out of consciousness
As in sheets, sheared time is laid
forever dream-weaving in sweet sage
lasting breaths to aching pleas
sleeves of soul sway in the breeze
Falling leaves are grazing check
caressing gentle as softly sleeps
Lillie’s teasing arising to greet
milking petals beneath my feet
Kisses brush my mouth to seep
eternal passion from nights weep
supplicating to familiar eyes
saying adieu before the sigh
Magical life is drifting behind
unknown ages splendor-ed in kind
closing windows,and dropping the drapes
eternity comes as my loom is shaped
Fantasy remade into the real
unicorns prancing in the fields
faeries are skipping and jumping rope
every turn a boon,a fulfillment of hope
Wishes aplenty are winking from trees
A man on the moon is in love with the sea
And resting at peace in yonder light
a future is dreaming,what we’ll never sight
In Cathedrals these magical beings advise
and peace is no dream,its breathing new life
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