Season’s Greetings

•December 15, 2014 • 2 Comments

Much too fast or way too slow
The felt sense of these days I know
Family time and travel soon
My skull and skin with shrinking room
Outcomes drift up in the air
My stuff piles here as thoughts fly there
I’m good to go or not enough
This season’s self-talk-shit gets rough
Wrapping and unwrapping fears
Shared spaces whisper in the year
Resolute, I’ll make the effort
My messy self kept in the present
What I want and what I need
The gift is that it’s up to me

-a.r.

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Painting: Girl in a Copper Dress 3 by Steve Henderson

Posted in Body, Family, Food, Food & Wine, Identity, Marriage, Meditation, Poetry
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Something’s Wrong with Haiku

•December 14, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Our banks writing bills
Our lawmakers letting them
Our future is passed

Our bodies abused
Our speaking is then slandered
Our value erased

Our people as prey
Our protectors not serving
Our past still present

Our silence allows
Our vengeance devours us
Our words must ring out

-a.r.

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Painting: Rainbow Voices by Kim Novak

Posted in Abuse, Body, Equal Rights, Friendship, Human Rights, Humanity, Identity, Loss, Poetry, Women's Rights, Writing
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Sensitive

•December 11, 2014 • Leave a Comment

It seems I chose the softest part
A precious spot on which to start
Pale and tender this thinned skin
No better place to let pain in

-a.r.

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Painting: Vulnerable by Shana Molt on Etsy

Posted in Abuse, Body, Humanity, Identity, Meditation, Poetry
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Silly Bear

•December 8, 2014 • 7 Comments

Love-hate has always been
My relationship with all things
Including with myself
I have not been able
To give myself completely
To imperfect love affairs
Or family affairs
I always keep a part of me
Guarded and regarding
From a safe sardonic distance
I have rarely even questioned
My hardened nature
It kept me safe
Until this morning
As I slept
My daughter woke me softly
With a kiss to say goodbye
She offered me her Pooh Bear
She said I should hold him for safe-keeping
Half asleep and without hesitation
I held out my hands to her
And I gently took the bear
I pulled him tight to my chest
Wrapped my arms around him
And rested my head between his little ears
In my early morning haze
I exhaled so completely
That I suddenly felt as if I were falling in love
Unashamed, unprotected, unguarded
Unabashedly I cried
Why did I let this go
Why did I ever hide this away
Why did I put it in a box, in a bag, on a shelf
Why did I give it away
Why did I call it child’s play
I want it back again
This freedom to let myself fall
Even if it is only pretend
Even if it is only for the length of a hug

-a.r.

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Image found on e-reading-lib.org

Posted in Body, Family, Humanity, Motherhood, Poetry, Whimsy
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Little Things

•December 4, 2014 • 1 Comment

Loss of little things
Pinpricks of impermanence
Paper cuts still sting

-a.r.

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Painting: Broken Chinese Porcelain by Jan Teunissen

Posted in Humanity, Loss, Meditation, Poetry, Twitter, Whimsy
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Walkabout (again)

•December 3, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Are we so bored
Uninterested and unaware
Of our own travels
That we miss
Our own momentum
Demanding then
Racy bandwagons
To hitchhike on
Hoping, hopping
From one to the next
To another
No. I’ll get there
Eventually
So I wave them by
And think
I am content
To take my time
On my own
Two feet

-a.r.

girl walking alone in a golden paddy fieldPhotograph: Girl Walking Alone in a Golden Paddy Field by Atul Tater

Posted in Body, Humanity, Identity, Meditation, Nature, Poetry
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Make Believe

•December 1, 2014 • 5 Comments

A broken mirror has no meaning
But what imagination makes
It just reflects a fractured image
Of this ever-changing face

-a.r.

image

Painting: Shattered Image by Kimberly Gerry Tucker

Posted in Body, God, Humanity, Meditation, Poetry, Writing
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Silent Killer

•November 28, 2014 • 6 Comments

Sitting quiet, still and stoic
Does not mean
That the stab wound did not sting
That it did not fester and infect
Since I have so long allowed it
To be painfully inflicted
Time and time again
In the same soft spot where it began
As I sat unmoved, sick and distracted
Doped by numbing non-reaction
An illusion of compassion
I have been strong, and have stayed silent
But I am human, spent, and sore
Benefit of doubt becoming septic
Soon to rot from inside out
If I do not get up off this cushion,
Turned doormat, and scream once more
While I cut out this infection
Starting at the source

-a.r.

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Digital art: Silent Killer by Phillip Straub

Posted in Abuse, Body, Family, Humanity, Identity, Marriage, Meditation, Poetry, Women's Issues, Women's Rights
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Barometer

•November 26, 2014 • Leave a Comment

My body feels it
When the dew point drops drastic
Brain deviations

-a.r.

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Photo: The Barometer by NILCO

Posted in Body, Humanity, Nature, Poetry, Twitter
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Outside Chance

•November 25, 2014 • 7 Comments

Tonight
I find myself choosing
Between a tough fight
And a soft relinquishing

I have no fear of sweat and blood
Especially my own
I have blinked away the salt and sting before
I have tasted that sanguine tincture on my tongue
Just as I have gritted and grinned
Guffawed even at the shattering
Of my own sanity
While I shook it off
And got to the business
Of setting it back into place
With a quick jerk, and a wince

Harder still is this, stepping back
And letting his fist fly just beyond me
Leaving only that slight breeze
Which carries with it a faint scent of sweat
And deflated fury
Directing my swollen gaze downward
I let myself listen, for an instant

To shocked silence
A moment of pure possibility
While we wait
To see what move I choose next

Tonight I find myself

-a.r.

Boxing-2 Kalel

Photograph: Boxing-2, by Kalel Koven

Posted in Body, Identity, Meditation, Poetry
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