.
mine speak's
flesh
softly
rest
you are above
so you descend to the water
on stiff legs
scrabbling down the scree
the tarn looks like mercury
spilled into the umbilicus
of the mountain
when approached
you see the mirroring clarity
where a captured sky
peers inward
from the sloping shale
you throw a pebble
into the water
the splash is small
but its echoing ghost
sinks much deeper
there is no comfort here
only the straining
guide ropes
of a tilting mind
a plunging edge
that tugs at your life
Arid, bony-shanked carapace.
Shiny, weathered patina
tells of desolation,
Belies any promise of richness;
Yet when inverted,
Becoming regal.
A tatty, crown implies
The ancient purport.
Tough, yet easily-torn in avarice.
Revealing, inner passion
Shrieks fecundity and blood,
Gleams with shiny liveliness;
Yet when sundered,
Serried jewels.
A secret, inner-order shows
The abundant warrant.
Red, a study of translucence.
Deep-hued, each perfect gem
Fades to stalk-umbilicus,
Foretells the unborn orchard;
Yet when amassed,
Bitter-sweet.
A fruitful sumptuousness gives life
The noble pomme grenate.
Ubiquitous, they’re everywhere you look
Ridiculous, each page of every book
Umbilicus, they bind us like a tether
Precipitous, in haste, like nasty weather
Iniquitous, they’re tossed about in curses
Injurious, their aftermath needs nurses
Litigious, regardless loss or win
Like Sisyphus, we’re forced to start again
Ubiquitous, sometimes it seems absurd
Ubiquitous, our poorly chosen words
—————
for the Unburden a “U” Word Poetry Contest
theme of “Ubiquitous”
sponsored by Constance La France
written on 11/8/22
Life giving womb, silent and sacred
mystical, blood red, embryo connected
cords from umbilicus, abstract limbo
unborn life, undiscovered, now growing.
Stanza from “Lexi’s Preconceived Womb”
Submitted for Liberum Divisa 2 Contest
Sponsor: Gregory Barden
10/25/2020
Each of us is an infant seized
In the moment of labor spent.
We each are Samson, stained, restrained,
Chained between the pillars that confine us.
The womb of the mother god, Wisdom,
She holding us back from our awakening,
But we press outward, downward,
But we force, our desire to emerge,,
To be free of our old abode,
The hold of another's will,
The hold of another's thoughts,
To be free to become more--or less,
To be free of the cord that binds us,
That cord Umbilicus that makes us a part of Her,
Our breath her breath,
Our blood her blood,
Our life her life.
To be severed from the She that finds us
Being disgorged between her thighs,
The holy pillars through which all life
Must pass.
To leave the holy sanctum
At last.
To see with our own eyes,
To hear with our own ears,
To utter our own sounds,
Knowing this: That there is no going back.
The sizzle, the hum
a sparkle then done
torched and tormented
love starts to run
Cut cords —
umbilicus lies
unintended
never truly mended
Scars grieve
still ~ bloodied
hearts leave
insanity clapping
just look
at
it
flapping ears
elephant wingd
wingding with
out
ing
bam bam bam
bambooing beams
brilliantly bashing blue
berrys burning cruise
connecting cooperation doom
eons elation elevates emotion
fusion focuses firmly finding
grindind greetings global go
holding hopes hands hyme
indigenous impairment
impacting icicles
justified jews
knews know
knees kneel
love longs
lasting
loud
mine
me
mean meanings mostly mumble
numbing nerves nimble necks
neon nights numbering none
nine ovaling opening odes
pheasant players plucked
question quaint qualms
reassured rest resting
testing times tiltings
under umbilicus
uncle umbrella
virtual vices
viral-'ing
victory
x ing
y
z
?
rain reversed not an inch
rivers overflowing oceans pregnant
reverence no more repercussions
roots losing their umbilicus
repercussions of acts committed wrongly
rightly who knows what is good
she stared at me like a blind
n i stared back at the roof of the
rain
a brown and curling maple leave hangs suspended mid-air
in the clearing by the lake, transfixed by the view and kindness
woven within the web it watches the rain fall
within the transparent lace-like web, it curls inward
its only movement seems a solemn gesture of reverence
with its last bit of I it sighs, what better place to die
shielded from the gentle rain within the prayerful curl of sable leaf
the spider waits for the Autumn wind to tear them free, to fly ... on
to see the conifers green among the forest's rise
brisk winds rent the leave from loom and upward rise the pair
a spider spinning on the sable leave of maple anchored by a strand
as we our spirits torn, are reborn, within the clutch
the center holds sound its claim nature's umbilicus, man
like the spider's leaf born flight, we seek on unknown winds to rise
gentle the breeze or harsh the Fall's feverous gale, still … we rise
First Published in Fall Legends - Kind of a Hurricane Press 2013
Life giving womb, silent and sacred
mystical, blood red embryo connected
cords from umbilicus, abstract limbo
unborn life, undiscovered, now growing.
Enclosed in the confines of limited space
haven from the world, as yet unknown
unborn life, feeding moment by moment
living lines and altering shapes, ever reliant.
Cover the little child, unborn, in love
keep it protected, now undisturbed
freedom in birth, to live and to breathe
hope for the future, this new life, to live.
Written on 5/20/2015
A simple scene a nestling seeks the comfort of the night
to lay enthralled, engrossed, in memories of past days,
the nectar drawn from rivulets that run past blackened lash.
A lidded eye roves left, then right, as if it’s been betrayed
a corner tick, a slight knee twitch, odd choices now made.
The blanket once a comforter now twists so very tight.
A falling dream, a horrid scream, yet no land's in sight.
Bloodless body, writhe, heave, callout, nobody's home
your casing calls, umbilicus, umbilicus, reel me down.
A flying lift of breeze ‘neath hips, a lofting, oh so, high,
brings soul to ground with sighing sound within the dream,
entranced, aroused, the coming light, the end of night, wake.
First Published in Sweet Dreams and Night Terrors 2013
She thought of herself as Dorothy
tornadoed into an unknowable oblivion
winded she rises,
fetal curled about an umbilicus of she
a shattered reality lays before her.
Shards of past self's pirouette, prisms
released from the boxed frame of sash
and nested frame of sill,
she rises.
The crisp whiteness of a slip sheeted reality
anesthetizes the tumult of pillows
and comforters left behind
she is trampolined upward
but blown inward,
no out lay.
Unpierced by cut glass
chin tucked, bookless, fairy groomed,
the she child exists within the blink
a flash frozen riser.
It seems, I much prefer my dreams
though times of consequence pass fleetingly.
It seems, I know while in those very dreams
of all that passes in between.
Matching my realities to messages
left within the ‘seems’ of fear and fantasy and light
of the umbilicus cord which snaps when I’m affright.
Yes, I’d say it often seems,
I’m so a home when wrestling with my dreams.
The I sees “I” , and oft compresses screams
Munch-like in hues of blue and green
on bridges to the nowhere and in-betweens,
ear-covering, muffling, silent screams.
Mesmerized, am I, by what can be,
reality dissolves within the ever-after seams.
Clocks melt, trees morph to faces, Dali emotes
tattle-tailing signs that float on reels
in rooms off kilter, windows bricked without.
Can you hear me?
Can I hear me, shout?
I’m right here, I just asleep
Please let me out!
Within the long days of night I ran
seeking always to hide from the seer
for only by my motion, could my spree
like the unbridled wants of a negligent child be seen.
Crying out to the throngs of sinners who sever
the umbilicus of light which veers
from the godhead, my soul sap
suckled from this cape
this husk, this endless span
of time..I pan
pan for the golden sepulcher
peering through the pane
of church windows never
quite alive ..an
orphan on a skewer
I prance knowing only through
healing pain can
I persevere.
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