poetry

ghostlight

ghostlight shadows s

that picture in your mind–
where does it go?
inside the mirror

the memory projects
the future looking at the past–
that picture in your mind,

that dislocation of now,
that reversal of an ending–
where does it go?

who will reap
what was shown
inside the mirror?

Michael_E._Arth_-Moscow_Metro-_oil_painting,_1980

For Jane Dougherty’s Words and Pictures poetry challenge, above, a painting entitled Moscow Metro by Michael E. Arth.  She suggested a cascade poem.

ghostlight close up s

As my collage box is fairly bare in my new location, I had no children to incorporate into my collage.  I improvised with a Michelangelo sculpture from a reference book I bought at a library book sale, and cut outs from the New York Times, which comes to my door, if irregularly, these days.

Still enamored with shadows, I photographed it first with my plant shadows on top.

ghostlight s

 

as morning returns

as light returns 1s

as morning returns magnetic

I consulted the Oracle while considering Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above.  This morning I was up as the sun was rising and even though there are no trees nearby I could hear the birds waking the day as they do every spring.  It was a welcome sound.

as light returns bkg a

I did a lot of fiddling myself with the art–first I painted a soft background, and then I did some more intense stripes on a separate piece of paper.  I cut those up and tried a number of arrangements.  It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I started, but satisfying nonetheless.

as light returns 3s

as light returns 2s

as morning returns

light fiddles with sky
mist, the thousand green forest
languages, blue wind

whispers of pink moon gardens–
dream shadows swimming through time

as light returns 4s

everything we need

everything we need s

we do not
need revelation–
what will be
should be un
known, a mystery, like night
skies, like orbiting—

if we hold
the stars, the cosmos,
constant in
awe, we have
already seen both the be
ginning and the end

everything we need close up s

A shadorma chain for Colleen’s tanka Tuesday.  The theme, picked by Sally Cronin, is the night sky.

(in a) material world

material world tree s

If I could disguise
myself as a tree—ancient,
unnoticed, unknown–

when all was wild
unruled
each day began

alive, encircled
by the present
all was strangely itself

taking refuge
without before or after
neither first nor last

accepting changes
as intrinsic
to what is

a dance
always balanced between
darkness and light

material world tree close up s

Mish, at dVerse, asked us to talk about what has been revealed to us by our present isolation.  I try to write a bit each morning and this was composed from fragments in my current notebook.

The art is from my continuing series inspired by Joan Mitchell’s trees.

under the new moon

cherry blossoms s

The day is dreary and cold.  A passing subway train, nearly empty, rattles the window as I remove the screen.  A few black umbrellas walk by.

The apartments on the opposite side of my building look out on the river and the park.  I wonder if they see signs of spring emerging through the grey blur of the rain.

cloudburst
blossoms fill the sky
pink showers

cherry blossoms close up s

For Frank Tassone’s #haikai challenge #131, first cherry blossoms.  I did the artwork sometime last year, and saved it for spring.  The seasons will come, with or without our approval.

are we not what we are

magic-is-afoot-s

my dream is magic rising
my dream calls spirits
cosmic bridges
wishes joined to starry wings
wings singing songs into the air

the spirits dance their circles through the portals of the clouds

we are but voices sailing
the ancient shores of secret galaxies

A quadrille for dVerse where Linda asks us to think about magic.  My quadrille is a cento, composed of lines from poems that pop up at my blog with my friend Nina, MethodTwoMadness, when I search “magic”.  I did have to add one word to bring the total number of words to 44, but otherwise the art, the title, and all the lines are taken from my old poems.

magic-is-afoot-close-up-s

Obviously it’s a subject I consider frequently.