Across a sidewalk bordered
by green, under the shadows
of a waxy magnolia dotted
with white, he sees her,
sunshine blooming in dark

Walks slowly, shoes tap
cement gently, coming closer,
her eyes shift to violet, his turn
to lightning, burning holes in her
like a magnifying glass
turned on a leaf

A smile spreads across his face,
shifting stubble a centimeter up
and with laser sharp accuracy
ignites the dream she dared

Oblivious to surroundings,
other sounds muffled, subdued,
except for thumping in her chest
which she’s sure is a dead giveaway–

Until he says her name– and then they know
it isn’t the thumping heart that speaks,
nor bashful eyes, or shy smiles
and mannerisms of first love….

but the heat rising in her cheeks
in a shade of blush

***

I have the color “red” in a number of poems, but offer this new piece  for TS Poetry’s February theme of “red”… and if you could see me, you might see a little blush as I step out over my fear and my usual safe places of green and blue, into sharing something a bit more daring, like the color red itself… or as L.L. Barkat called it, sharing a little “sexy pie“…:)

The hunter
prowls, seeks,
because of hunger
left behind in soul
when profane shouts
vacuous holes inside victims

In ravenous rage
beauty seeks entrails
of evil, devours, spits
malice, malevolence
in abyss

Beauty hunter
hangs moments of grace
on mirrors, dotting time
with droplets of red
on faces of eternity

With exquisite touch
soft brush of finger
traces deep of sorrow
fills chasm abundant

***

Sharing with dVerse Open Link Night Week 32

After wandering long thread
of lonely moons, I glide
down silver strings, land

in valley below where willows
brush my face. I gaze into
crystal water, still and clear

and sky smiles back at me. The
universe swirls and moves in milky
hues, white, blue, purple; argent,

lustrous, resplendent. The kiss
is soft, sweet. Cascading vines
entangle, burgeoning florets

burst. Fragrant crimson rain
falls from heaven, soaks me:
love, nectar of life. Ordinary

becomes divine, waters sing,
trees clap, veil rips. Then wind
laughs and flees– but I catch

scent of lavender, honeysuckle
and rose– and I’m always following
its aromatic sanguine trail.

***

*Amrita- nectar, ambrosia, drink, honey, wine (source: dictionary.com).

From Wikipedia: It is a Sanskrit word that literally means “immortality”. It appears in the Rig Veda (ancient Indian text) as a drink that confers immortality. In Greek mythology it carries a similar meaning to “ambrosia”.

From Wayside Word Garden:  I refer to it as “living water”. 

Sharing with dVerse Open Link Night Week 31

***

When he summons, distance dissipates,
my heart journeys in the wind
a thousand miles to his hands–
a sheltered place

Hourglass turns inside out,
time unfolds, we hold the sands
that once slipped, commence again
the days the locusts devoured and stripped white–
innocent, expectant youth

He touches my words softly
pours them like honey
sings melody with me
in a hidden glen

Find us there
in the hollows of dreams
in a world of evergreen summer
where love does not wither,
and hearts forget themselves

But for hope, I persevere

***

Sharing for OpenLinkNight Week #30 with dVerse Poets

Sometimes when I listen to the wind
I hear him calling…
a thousand twilights have taken me
to hide in shades of evergreen

Trees speak to one another,
leaves whisper to me below as I
rest in the shadows and catch these
quivering love songs in my hands–
white flowers that only
bloom under midnight stars–

Hold them to my heart–
and like all earthly things
wonder if they too
will eventually die

***

sharing with dVerse Open Link Night Week 29

their eyes re-kohled and red–
these crimson calyxes
brim with hope of future bloom

and raise dark eyes to an azure sky
seeking expectantly for more drops of red
each and every dusty blue morning

*

Black, smoky air chokes me, I cover
my nose and face
“Roll up the window,” I plead

Beyond the glass
the tiger stretches
yawns, sleeps

our bus is safe from treachery

 *

When does a flowery vine stop,
know its boundary
until renamed a weed?

A reverberation deep,
strumming from soul
shakes the ground under my feet

Barefoot and brown
they move among rushing streets,
work or hide or hold out hands

From behind my window I see
you baffled by glass
at tigers with shoes

a more dangerous animal, we

Unzip our skins
liquid vermillion runs–
the world’s own waters

pour, mixing with rivers of hope
beside a pulsing red tree–
a scarlet thread ties you and me

when crystal mountains crumble 
and vermillion mixes with the sea
red and blue are royalty

***

Just returned from a three week trip to India. Thinking about all of it, a bus safari where I saw tigers, and the caste system, and a country of a billion people and putting it all together in a poem. Sharing with dVerse and with Tweetspeak Poetry (with words chosen from their Word Bowl 2011). 

Slipping behind trees
she waits; watches like the moon
hiding behind clouds.

A courageous soul
behind diaphanous eyes,
beckons her to walk

away from stinging
nettle; tender promises
unheard hitherto.

To her destiny
she flees, amidst night hunting
nay-saying goblins.

***

This poem is inspired by an old favorite George McDonald tale entitled The Princess and Curdie, in which Curdie (a courageous boy) saves the Princess (the King’s daughter) from the unwholesome goblins (who come out at night and want to take over the kingdom). This poem is written in a 5-7-5 syllable rhyme scheme (a sort of modern take on the haiku form, perhaps?) Sharing with d’Verse.

***

She
Sequestered by a tree
Looks beyond what others see

They laugh, they mock
She swings her frock

If she hides when they wave
Will you cast her blame?

She
Sequestered by a tree
Climbs up as far as she–

Seeking, looking for
authenticity
In faces of the young to be…

She is
sequestered
by the tree.

***

It’s Open Link Night at d’Verse hosted by the fabulous Claudia!

I’ll borrow your creek
watch where the expanding waves end
beneath our feet, where we stand
with waves of moving grass rippling
in the wind as we walk over years

Our time cut short by
youth’s shyness, tentative blades
scissored through tender stems of
hope grown tall
Stalks overgrown now and crowded
where footprints impressioned in sand

And did you feel you no longer belonged
to the sea, to the land, to the sky–
when your rib walked away

Curl up like a wave on the shore
Beside dreams buried in the sand
Like an oyster protected

At night you burrow underground
where the haunts of past tides
renew reveries mournful and deep

But in daylight open under the sun
dry out a bit and nap

and find hope in the light

***

Just thinking of some lonely people during the holidays. Sharing with d’Verse and Imperfect Prose.

When flowers fall down from heaven
floating toward tumultuous land
I know not where fragility ends
as I’m caught in gently cupped hand

Vapors exhume in darkness
but vapor of breath am I
Weapons circle sharp around me–
foreign child fallen from sky

Living among others embattled
Born to laugh and to cry
Fighting and bleeding, breathing–
a Battling until I die

The heart drums a distinct pattern
The breaths, a measured rate
The rhythm, set by the leader
The song, that of my own fate

I laugh among rushes and fields
I sing with clouds and creek
I dance with white robed angels
‘Til I find the country I seek

The days, harmonic melody
of movements and stanzas of rest
Chords of truth strum the soul deep
‘til I reach my lifelong quest

Tho’ heart breaks from cacaphony
and weeps in hostile land–
yet hopes in songs of cloud maker
and is healed in gently cupped hand

***

Sharing with d’Verse and Imperfect Prose