Every question is a riddle– we are stuck here in the middle– borderlined.
But still we keep on asking why, continue waiting, standing by for guidelines.
Answers just confuse, pretending somewhere there exists an ending– a lifeline.
Deceiving with complexity, embroidering with fantasy– we’re traplined.
In silence there are many words unspoken and more clearly heard– sibylline.
Grace at dVerse introduced us to a new form called Compound Word Verse. Wow! this was hard. But enough revising–at a certain point you need to let it be.
The Oracle got a makeover from MagneticPoetry.com. It’s going to take getting used to. I used the new “happiness” category. I can use some, after reading the news this morning.
When I saw the Oracle’s message, I immediately thought of Sun Ra, an artist of living, not just music, that my older brother introduced me to when we were teenagers. “Space is the Place” was a title he used for many different pieces of art.
I had titled these birdling collages from my archives “birdlings in space”. The birdlings make me happy no matter where they are.
where is wonder? make time for space alive with possibility– between comes whispering– soon surprise will follow
The streets are quiet, eerie, the walls blank. I remain inside.
My windows are noisy with things I can’t see. I rarely reply to them because the response flies away on the wind, storm tossed and clouded, darkened by rain and the fading light.
What would I say to the ghosts of the children?– the ones not on the playground not on the streets no longer living in an apartment, a house, a country, a land– the ones no one can find anywhere?
How to say the word death and to also shield them from its consequences. How to explain why and how we have come to be
living in this uncertain tangle of lies ignorance violence– a place full of humans unable to even acknowledge or to bridge the rising waters.
The ones who would rather drown than make amends.
Sherry at earthweal has reminded us of all the grief consuming the world, and asks us to write about it. I wrote a version of this poem first in the midst of New York’s early pandemic. I’ve revised it a bit, but the ghosts of the children have not gone away.
I think the Oracle is telling me to slow down, stop trying to do everything all at once. Don’t panic because I can’t even find the box where I packed the scotch tape. Sometimes you just need to take time to breathe.
the seed, the root, the vine, the flower in the field, the lily, the rose, the fertile garden, the cedar, the cypress, the cherry, the tree of life, the fountain, the dew, the living waters, the cloud raining upon the earth, the lighthouse, the harbor, the shell and the pearl, the star of the sea, the cresecent moon, the morning star, the air we breathe, the cup, the vessel, the channel, the conduit,
the food of the spirit—
You need no kingdom.
You belong to everything, the very elements that make up the earth and the cosmos.
You bestow mercy and grace to all, saint and sinner alike, rejecting both power and glory, vengeance and servitude.
May we honor your gifts with gratitude and humility, mending and treasuring the fragile balance that sustains them.
We remain, stubbornly, Human
Dear Humanity,
Open your eyes and your hearts. Honor and practice what preserves life not what destroys it. Take only what you need, and return as much as you can. Be patient and persistent and don’t lose hope.
I remain, forever and ever, Your Mother.
NaPoWriMo asks us today to write an exchange of letters.
Back when the musical “Hair” came out, some astrologers grumbled that it wasn’t really the Age of Aquarius yet. But what did we care? We were tired of the world as it was, ready for Peace Love and Understanding.
Well…maybe not.
chaotic stillness watching from the whorled center for new beginnings
During 2020 there were rumblings once again online about the REAL Age of Aquarius finally showing up. I was skeptical to say the least.
all those lost patterns– I collect them in my mind, in new rotations
It seems we had the Age of Aquarius skewed, not only in time. Yes, it’s a total tearing down and rebuilding. But it’s going to require hard work. Taking a lot of drugs and wearing tie-dye and listening to songs about love won’t do it.
all impermanence— no matter which way you turn the path continues
Can we change our entire approach to living together, not only with each other, but with the earth, its creatures, its landscape, its elements? We need to if we want to survive.
giving myself hope inside my dark wanderings– a world of wonder
When Phil asked me to choose this week’s Kick-About prompt, I thought immediately of The Age of Aquarius, because I’ve been turning over in my mind the hope that it might be real, that humanity can change. I always loved the music posters of the “Hair” era, and used them as inspiration for my neon colored paintings.
I’m looking forward to seeing all the other responses next week.
bells answer each other ringing over and over as they tangle with the wind, spin sailing into echoed waves– voices patterning the air with streaming currents, orbed layers of song
A reverse nonet for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday words, mingle and drift.
I had an idea for the art and I did a few different versions with ink and watercolor on rice paper. Although none are exactly what I had in mind, they all have aspects I like.
is (quite) the color of the amphibious moon music of my mind
Mention a color, and all kinds of music comes into my mind. Grace at dVerse has us thinking about musical synesthesia. Stevie Wonder has it. It has nothing to do with the vision of your eyes.
be bop shout– rhythm–blues– eight to the bar– oompah oompah groove– boogie-woogie back beat jingle jangle jive talkin double time front line howl growl whine– interlude solitude riff raff boom– whistle whomp wah wah zoomba zoomba zoom
The Kick-About’s challenge #14 was a short film by Norman Maclaren called “Boogie Doodle”. It really reminded me of Matisse’s Jazz collages, and I used his abstracted figures as inspiration to create my own dancers based on photos of jazz dancers I found on the internet. I also wanted to recreate the shadow effect for both the dancers and the dots. Primary colors seemed a natural fit for both dots and ground, and I cut out the figures in black and white as contrast, inspired by the film.
For the poem I wanted to use music and musical sound words. It was much harder than I anticipated, but I like the idea of a poem composed mostly of sounds, and may visit it again. I found a great onomatopoeia dictionary online too.
