Our Backyard Queen

Paper crowns and bullrush scepters

Her throne a  willow tree

In a  blue cotton gown

And Nike hightop glass slippers

She reigns over  a grassy court

A fearless leader ~ Wild and free

A champion of the winged and fourlegged

Of apple tree and dandelion seed

Dutiful to her backyard kingdom

Collecting the leavings and legacy 

Long may she live!

Long may she reign!

~ Our backyard Queen ~

Black Crow

An old black crow sitting on my tree
Squawks "Hello" each morning to me
Inquiring if I had a good night
Did I rest well? Did I sleep tight?

Well ain't it funny how an old black crow
Can care with a depth that you'll never know
Ain't it funny how an old black bird
Can say so much without saying a word to me


And oooooh isn't it magick, how that old Mister crow seems to notice whenever I'm blue
And oooooh isn't it tragick, how I let myself fall for a cold hearted lover like you.


Well that old black crow, he cares more than you
You know it's true. I never hear from you
I know he'd buy me a ring
And slip it on my finger, with his shiny black wing

Well ain't it funny how an old black crow
Can care with a depth that you'll never know
Aint it funny how an old black bird
Can say so much without saying a word to me

That old black crow sittin' on my tree
Squawks "Hey baby, won't you marry me?
Your old man don't know what he had
Cause I'm telling you baby, you ain't half bad!"

Well ain't it funny how an old black crow
Can care with a depth that you'll never know
Aint it funny how an old black bird
Can say so much without saying a word to me

The Revelations of Love

Love can bring you pleasure
Love can bring you pain
A delicate balance of loss and gain
It can lift you up
It can knock you down
Make you feel so smart
Let you know you're a clown

Love, the sweet vexations of love
Love, the revelations of love

I thought he really loved me
I thought I was his world
Turns out I was just another girl
One of many 
He had strung out on his line
Boys don't cha know
That was a kick in my behind

Love, the desecration of love
Love, the revelations of love

Just another girl
What a slap in my face
I'm on a mission now to erase
Every single trace 
Of that man
Would you like to help me
Formulate a plan

Love, oh the frustrations of love
Love, oh the complications of love
Love, the revelations of love

Innocent Voyeur

Amid the winter's biting cold
And the wind's bitter howl
Sat the stalwart crow
A black sentry surveying

From a high wire watch tower

Vigilant eyes peer
Beyond the icicles hanging
Into ice frozen windows
That distort the shadows moving inside

But the black bird sees enough to know

So is now involved
A part of the story being written
On pages with too many contractions
Violations of terms

And sharp edges, that cut as you try to leave them

       

Riddle or Prison House

Your eyes hold their tongue
And keep their wishes secret
Mysterious, deep and dark

Riddle or Prison house?

Your vulnerability crowns you
And keeps you at arms length
Shaming those who might attempt advancement

Unattainable

Just Five Thousand Kilometres Beneath Man's Surface

Few of us are what appears on the surface
That calm, cool, and collected facade

No, just five thousand kilometres beneath man's surface you will find

Eagerly parting lips
Curves that mold themselves to the touch
Whispers that may be tomorrow's haunting ghosts
Wild and hungry hearts, liquid and refusing to be anything other than what they are

Unbridled molten hotspots

Eager to be explored by those who are daring enough
Those who are brave enough and willing enough
To sink into those dark and rich places 
To pursue and to capture
To burn and  to melt 
With no guarantee that we'll not be altered or affected
Hell no! 
Passion isn't and nor should it be, for the faint of heart

Burn

Tell me Your Miracles

Tell me...

What are the miracles in your personal mythology?

Your Red Sea?

Like Joshua, have you ever stilled the sun and moon and stopped the hands of time?

Brought back to life what you had believed was dead and gone?

(Photograph is a still taken from Renee Laprise's film "Sacred She")

Tell me...

Where do you keep your miracles?
What do you do with them, after you've willed them into being?

Do you weave together the threads of your miracles creating garments to adorn soul?

Do you climb the mountain and carve their details in stone?

Do you build a fire and invite others to sit and share lore?

So that you never forget
And always remember their importance
So that your legend becomes a page in humanities story  

Tell me...

Winter Tears

Emptied and yet heavy with grief
She made the pilgrimage back to the Birch grove
Where once upon a time she played as a child

She made a nest from yesterday's golden and fallen
Crawled in and lie waiting for the North to come 
And mercifully it came

Thick and harsh winter tears
Lay icy and frozen on her lashes
As beneath whitened eyes, stories replayed

Shoving and jostling each other
Among the snowy branches of her ancestral tree
Hungry to be the first retold

Silently, they filled her mind
Beginnings and endings sinking
Into her bones like moons slipping into dawn

And her stories are finally put to rest
And they will remain there, asleep and still beneath her winter tears
Absolvi

Absolvi

Absolvi - to swallow and absorb our loved ones and our own, dark offences. To let these offences find their place in our bones and our marrow and lay them to rest there. Allowing hearts to be free to finally unlock the gates of their purgatory and enter into a new and untouched land, a "state" of grace, perhaps with the one you love, perhaps not ... but more importantly, with yourself and with your soul intact." - Madame Zora

       

Still You Pour Forth

Loss slows your flow to a trickle
Still you pour forth
Refusing this day to be held back
Determined
Earnest
Filled with need to blend with life 

This is a muscular yearning 

A deep restless longing
A hunger that gnaws it’s way through winter
A known but unfound source
Spurs the disturbed soul to sing
A whispered and half forgotten tune strung out over a pale blue January sky

Nature’s song
Filled with forgotten scents and sounds of warmth
Apple blossom and hum of bee
Sea spray and gull’s cry
Thighs rustling against ripening wheat
How it completely arouses ~ possesses

Oh to kiss life fully on its lips and with trembling arms, to fully embrace it

(photograph taken by Photographer Wendy Metcalfe-Morrison)

       

The House of Blue

Visions flash through my head
As she rises from the dead
The girl I use to be
Sometimes she calls out to me
I grab my keys and I'm out the door
Heading to a place I've lived before
An old dirt road and a house of blue
Back to the girl that I once knew

Once upon a time her life was mine
Once upon a long ago time

Sitting on the side of that road
Seeing her with her bedlam load
Two little ones and a long journey
I reach out to pull them close to me
Lessons to learn, oh, she learned them well
Broke me free from a Sleeping Spell
Sacrificed all that she knew
To set me free from a house of blue

Once upon a time her life was mine
I owe that girl for a long ago time
She carried the life that was mine

I Wonder

I wonder if where you are you can see me here
I wonder if where you are you feel the wetness of my tears

I wonder
I wonder where you are

I wonder if where you are you can feel this ache inside
I wonder if where you are you hear my whispered prayers at night

I wonder
I wonder where you are

Where do their souls go when loved ones are gone
And who do the left behind have when lost and coming undone
I wonder...I wonder where you are

I wonder if where you are you hear me catch my breath
When thoughts of you take hold of me and won't loosen their grip

I wonder
I wonder where you are

I wonder if where you are you remember my name
And if somehow I could find you now...would it be the same

I wonder
I wonder where you are

Where do their souls go when loved ones are gone
And who do the left behind have when lost and coming undone
I wonder
I wonder where you are

I reach out for you
But you're not there
And I wonder where you are

_______________________________________________

To my Mother, Father and sister Clara who now reside in Heaven. Much Love to you all.

You Don't Have To Be Good

You don't have to be good
Living just to do the things they tell you, you should

You don't have to be right
Tiptoeing all around your heart, afraid to live your life

You don't have to repent
For being a woman who lives her life without their consent

Woman of the heart, live from your soul
Dig in the Earth, where came the rib
Breathe from your soul
Let bare foot keep time with Magdalene's Choir
Let it bless your lips  and bless your hips
And set your blood on fire

No, You Don't Have To Be Good

After the Dark of Winter

At dawn’s rising

Soul stirs  

It travels the expanse of body

Lighting fires

Whispering delicious words to inspire  

Making  flames leap higher

So high and hot 

As breath leaves lungs and lips

The smoke of breath 

Hits the air

Silky and alive

Awakened limbs undulating

Find freedom from cover

Feet hit the floor

Body rises

Hips sway with purpose

And with every stride

You heat the air

And claim it with your scent

You own this space

Alive by God! 

Alive!

Cath's Poem

Time, people, the joy of bliss, and the pain of wounds

All these weave themselves into the fabric of our lives and oh, 

what incredible and intricately designed garments we find 

adorning our souls at the end of our days

And Did You

And did you try to use reason not knowing conclusions had passed the point of benefit?

And did you try to explain not knowing the ending had already been bound?

And did you try to belittle not knowing shame had already claimed the prize?

The Scrabble Game

"Mostest?" he questioned.

"Mmhmm. Absolutely!" she declared with certainty.

"Oh yeah? Let's hear you use it in a sentence then." he challenged. 

"Sure. You are the mostest most that ever mosted." she offered sweetly.

He grinned, rolled his eyes and then nodded his approval.

And the game continued.

Come

Harvesting the past

Examining every chunk

Swallowing mudstone after mudstone 

That compete to be the first

To weigh down a hungry belly

But they hold no threat

For a belly on fire

1300 degrees fahrenheit

And RISING

I have closed my eyes

And gulped LIFE down whole

Heads, tails
And all the innards ~ you are in my wilderness now!

~ Juicy red fiery cell upon cell ~

All containing history, geography, chemistry, language
Every moment I have ever breathed life into

Yes, you are in my wilderness now.  Come. 

Thank you

How glorious to venture outside the limitations of my own mind 

Experience life through your eyes, your hearts, and your souls

Thank you for sharing your world

Mine is so much more for your opening it to me

(Photograph taken by photographer Wendy Metcalfe-Morrison)

Radix 2013

(Radix, meaning *root* is the latin word from which the word radical sprang and also the word radish. 

Radish because it is a root vegetable and radical because it means a "change at the root".)

I have to say that I love life

I love walking outside and drinking in the seasons

Smelling the scents indigenous to our island

Even with my eyes closed I can know I'm home

Catching up with friendly faces 

All of nature mixing and mingling

A cacophony of natural rhythms

That dance off  breath and pound from chests

The sound of  each snowy step taken reminds

That there is hope for tomorrow

That there is hope for today

That there is hope for yesterday

Purpose filled living that grows deeper and stronger

Grabbing life by the hips and drinking thirstily from her mouth

Striding wholly into the stratum of a living, feeling, breathing being

Thrusting into the wonder that is yesterday, today and tomorrow

I have to say that I love life