autumn light
red-tailed deer
thus
joyful
courtship
yet
here
in
the
clearing
Clearing
Enlightenment
Is In Everything
You Don't Have
To Do Anything...
Special.
It Does It,
IS Doing It...
Did It Again.
Wasting Your Time.
Hidden In Jade.
-Gray Squirrel
06-06-2025
I learned a new thing about trees.
Do take care when you cut them down.
For flies will enter with the breeze
Into a home from the cleared ground.
Mammoth cold this morning.
There’s been an ice-storm.
Creaking and walking
boots talking
shovel in heavy hand.
Robins pounce on frozen worms.
The wide spade
snatches at the frozen turf,
its red plastic mouth scooping up
small glacial heaps.
Soon I tire, soon I sag,
flinching beneath the wind's frigid lash.
I throw the shovel down,
defeated -
going to toss bird seed,
feed those robins,
maybe save the life
of a few stiff worms,
make hot cocoa.
Feeling Stressed thinking of it,
Under pressure by the expectations laid on you,
Time to stop thinking of these obstacles,
Undo your past and step into the future,
Rest assured that your life will triumph,
End with a toast to your successful life!
For this is your life, your future and your goals,
You hold the tools to sow the seeds,
Of the many opportunities you get,
In this beautiful garden called life.
The world collectively
lost its mind
When fires burned
our vision blind
From East to West
and North to South
Insanity
from mouth to mouth
The world has finally
woken up
Pundits quartered
their lies corrupt
Mobbed together
they screamed on high
But run for cover
—as truth decries
(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)
As a smokless; human spirit; I yet celebrate'
New Zealands move, not to bin it.' The choice
To use that nicoteen.. Or not.' Is what
We now; are seeing..A drug if types.? Yet not
Invasive, unlike the jabbing drug paraded on
Every screen and radio.' Hordes of presenters
So gung-ho.! So positive in much unknown to
Kids adolecents and fully grown, past 2008 no
One it seems? Can be self determined it hits
My spleen, a different bile allbeit so' we all must
Prevent deny, it though' might and bluster will
Be used' yet the corrosive threat; is our freedom'
Being abused, a crushing of soul specially among
The younger.' Is there a move that this group are to
Be senseless intended? Just malleble drones i well
Consider? This should through all Nations send
Great shivers.!
On a clearing morning I awaken,
yesterday’s ruckus subsiding;
corporal tensions having
been slept away, a dove softly
cooing on my window sill
in the flower box having made
a nest – room for both buds and
nurturing…
the cat at bay, the pane a permanent
divider, every night he awakes to
consciously dream, eyes like fixed
lasers, into the dawn he salivates,
wonders of our shared mystery, why
the mouthful and he separated, by the
same God who pets and soothes, calls him
precious…recalling the turkey they
shared – dispatched, tastefully presented
as grace…?
She stared into the clearing,
And sighed, loud enough for the world to hear,
But yet the world resonated with only silence in return.
She longed for someone to hold her near,
But she thought this was all she deserved.
But quickly warmth spread all across her,
A bag of marshmallows were dropped on the ground.
A blanket covered her next and a smile spread over her face.
Her friends dropped down on the floor beside,
A fire was kindled in the evening light.
Toasts and treaties were made,
Best friends before guys a proclamation was innate.
Her half filled heart was full again.
She danced drifting the blanket of comfort like a cape,
Freedom; a wild spirit she kindled inside.
The remaining folks helped air her flight.
She roamed, she screamed, she giggled,
Everything that was bottled up was out.
They all rolled on the grass, swam in the springs,
Feasted off forest figs, pure bliss; oh infinity!
For they were bounded by shared fondness and true love.
Twig twists intersect then spread victory
Receptors sprout cat waving paws
Fold fruit bowl foliage, branch tributary
Lump eye timber columns support
Steer me clear of thatch caged cluster
Cheerleader twirling ribbons sizzle
Shifted to soft focus forest, fairy dusted
In drifting dandelion seed celestial
Thrown down overlap of toasty tobacco
Crinkle constant joke cracked faces
Humour grants razor slim grasses tackle
Unused nests during seasons' phases
Basket interweave splice strap sun poke
Probes timid shade a radiating halo
Lathered limbs in blossom shampoo soak
Crown me neath ghostly citrine glow
Sombre trots towards her restful rotunda
Floating pollen fluff Snugglepot ego
Fingers spring flags of woodland wonder
Grip ant gazette trail to safe gazebo
6th March
Exists in the middle
Springtime on the ranch is just round the bend
You’ll get your nose cleared, we have cows and pigs
The thaw brings forth chores, that smell and offend
Rubber boots and gloves are now our new digs
As the snow melts, we are left with a moat
Springtime is here with its bag full of tricks
It’s sour and slick, so just clear your throat
The thistles now grow so watch out for pricks
The air never smells like sugar and spice
Out in the birch, there grows fly agaric
It deters the skunk, encrusted with lice
This mushroom will make, all feel lethargic
A blend of toadstool and garlic I’m told
Will stop puffy butt from reaching our fold
The clearing in the woods is where
I find solace and solitude
I call it “the glade” as it caresses
The covert, ceaseless, controlled calmness
That captures my core and character
Like a meditative mantra,
It manumits the melancholy misery
Of mundane mortality
Quiet and still, the glade is an asylum
For amnesty, absolution and
Apology of the mind
He looked above on a clear blue sky
Without his shackles after all those years
Even a heartless could understand why
The air brought his eyes to tears
He was a convict of trial by vilification
He was sentenced in the court of judgmental mind
But fate turned lenient for his emancipation
From the world that's so unkind
From his grave, he stared on the horizon
Trying to figure out how to soar
His heart rejoiced in joyful jubilation
For sharp words can't pierce him, no more
February 24, 2023
He looked above on a clear blue sky
without his shackles, after all those years.
Even a heartless could understand
why those tears flowed from his eyes.
He was a convict of trial by disparagement.
He was sentenced in the court of judgmental mind.
But fate turned lenient for his emancipation
from the cruel world where he long dwelt.
From his grave, he stared unto the heaven,
trying to figure out how to ascend.
His heart rejoiced in joyful celebration,
for, sharp words can't pierce him, no more.
February 24, 2023
The Clearing Poetry Contest
Sponsored By: Craig Cornish
It's summer, and sunlight's syrup pours sweet into afternoon.
We've come to the bungalow's cemetery
to pick over bones of bygone days;
touch time's tender skin, lay flowers on childhood's grave.
The lodge is razed to the ground. We raise
our eyes to sky and take each big breath of blue.
Sharp lemon-light cuts through
the detritus of our days; the oaks once cloaked in dark.
The knotweed nooses and dreamlike domes of fly agaric
have all been cleared; the forest sentinels' leafless limbs
discarded - an abattoir of strangeness, sawdust-strewn.
But all dismemberment is a clearing of sorts.
The echoes of emptiness eavesdrop
on each reminiscence, as we forage for a few last remnants:
blue paisley swirls of 70s tiles,
red bricks from an 80s fireplace.
A yearning rises suddenly, slick sick-sour in my throat...
and yet, it feels cathartic, this purging of the past;
this merging of our then and now,
this blending of bitter and sweet.
23 February 2023
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