Category: poetry

Forgotten Gratefulness

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FORGOTTEN GRATEFULNESS

Gratefulness.
I’ve forgotten about gratefulness.
I’ve been standing in front of a full cupboard, starving.
Starving for joy,
My heart drying up into a hard, shrivelled knob,
Weakening to a limp, wilting shoot.
Gratefulness.
I’ve forgotten that joy
Is there for the taking,
That it is around me
All the time.
Gratefulness.

What shall today’s litany be?

I am grateful for, today:
I am grateful for today.
My celadon green mug.
Soft thick yarn.
The blanket.
The view (always the view).
The colour and pattern and texture of my kaftan.
A day without obligations, so I can finish my mugs.
My computer.
Books.
Movies to watch on my computer.
Good food – eggs and toast and butter and jam – to eat for breakfast.
A lovely kitchen to cook it in.
Air to draw into my lungs,
Lungs to draw air into.

And I feel my heart expand
And my head lift up,
Joy flowing back into my veins.

24.07.2020

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PS: Gratefulness.org: “A Heart with Wings”

Old Year’s Evening

OLD YEAR’S EVENING

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The old year’s evening falls
With streaks of copper light
On frozen hills.

Plump little bird
Pecks one last nighttime seed,
Lamp after lamp
lights up in neighbour’s house.

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Now Luna’s shining orb
Peeks past the ridge,
Rising on high
It lays a streak
Of silver on the lake

As one more year
Draws to its close.

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Happy Old Year’s Evening, and all the best for 2018!

 

Peace Angel

I wanted to use it for something special, the payment I got for my first published story. And I found the very thing at the local Christmas Art Show: a painting by my favourite artist, Eveline Wallace. It was priced exactly right.

The actual title of this piece is “Snow”, but I call it “Peace Angel”. (I told Eveline about it, and she approves.) He’s such a cool dude, that angel. So I wrote a poem about him, and here it is – my Christmas greeting to you.

Peace Angel
Eveline Wallace, “Snow”, 2017. Mixed Media, 6×12″.

PEACE ANGEL

Knobbly knees
A Georgian frock coat
Spiked hair like he is
From The Rise of the Guardians
And on his bent arm
The dove.

Snow whirls around him
As he says without words

That peace
Is not saccharine sweetness
Or fluffy emotion

But power,
Fierce courage,
And strength.

 

Wishing  you a wonderful and peaceful Christmas!