Beyond the Fog

“Like Air, I Rise” – Nancy Smith

She was tied and tethered to the words at her back
Like daggers, chiseling holes into her heart
One foot forward
The other melded in familiar ground
She settled for the grey of days passed
Pining for the glorious “at last” that never came
Time capsuled, she waited for someone,
Some thing to brush off the dirt of yesteryears

Jaded
She faded
Into the darkness of candles never burned
Under the bellies of stones never turned
She lost her light
She lost her fight

Rise up, beckoned her soul
Rise up
This day as new as dawn’s embrace
Unleash the anchor that you have built
Link by link….. before
you
sink

With strength, with courage, with grace
She faced the fear that bound her fate
In one moment chosen to change
Throwing her briny tears to the rain
She stood poised and prepared
With feathered weight and opened arms
One leap
Into the unknown

Image credit:  nancysmithfineart.com

It’s Open Link Night over at dVerse Poets Pub! 

Post one poem of your choice. I am your host. Hope you can join us.

It was an honour to participate in “Women Speak”, a unique project by Nancy Smith. This was a poem that I submitted in response to her gorgeous piece, “Like Air, I Rise”.

Collaboration for Peace – 49

Photo: Candace Kubinec

 

Betterment

 

Let the past remind us

Not rewind us

Peace will bloom in

Soils of change

Winds of wisdom

Hearts enlightened

Let us not forget

That we are the rain

 

 

 

Collaboration for Peace – 47

Image credit: Candace Kubinec

 

Forward

 

Why are we backpedaling

While currents of clarity

Still flow at our feet?

How does one drop of impurity

Poison our possibilities?

When are we accountable

For the inevitable,

Witnesses to the destruction?

 

We are the ripples of hope

On waters, stagnant

The ancient sunlight shimmer

Dancing over shadows

We are the reflections

Of persistent hands of change

And this world did not evolve

Without us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seasonal Affair

 

My little maple

Of glistening gold

Flaunting, fluttering as

Sol sister laughs

She knows wind is only

Teasing, breezing by for

One last kiss of autumn

The final dance before

The chill and I will

Cherish your leaves

As fall still breathes

Through winter

 

It’s Quadrille time again and we’d love for you to join us over at dVerse Poets Pub. As your host, I am asking you to write a poem of 44 words (not including the title) and your quadrille must contain the word…

b…r…e…a…t…h…e

or breath, breathtaking, breathable…any variation of the word

Doors open at 3 p.m. EST

There is Light

 

The sun paints for you
In hues against blues
Reflections of great sorrow
You gallantly cope
Through beacons of hope
For sunrises and tomorrows

Let skies amaze you
Daybreak embrace you
Memories warmly whisper
Layers of love shine
Heal in your own time
He lives in your heart, sister

 

Dedicated to my sister-in-law, Michelle.

~

At dVerse Poets Pub, Gayle introduces The Alouette, a poetic form consisting of “two or more stanzas of 6 lines each (sestets) with the following set rules: Syllables/Meter: 5, 5, 7, 5, 5, 7 Rhyme Scheme: a, a, b, c, c, b”. 

Waiting on Wings

 

My days have suddenly become empty. Disconnected. As my feet take to the path along the pond, I am immediately transported to a better world, a wiser system of life. I am guided by the goldenrod that edges the marsh, layered by clouds that whisper October. Distant sounds of the highway become muffled and soon forgotten. My haven is solid. The sun starts to melt on the horizon, pouring liquid gold ripples across the water. They reach for me. I reach for my camera. As I look through my lens, a large swarm of gnats dance against the glow and I wonder how these lowly beggarly bugs can possibly steal the show…but they do. Hundreds of starlings arrive in what seems to be chaotic confusion, contrasting with their precision landings on swaying reeds. I start to climb the rickety wooden lookout and again curse at the park for not replacing the missing step. There must be other people like me that don’t like missing steps. Perched and ready, I wait for the geese, my constant. Usually the honking is outrageously loud as they begin their dissension, but  I hear nothing but a few lonesome tootles. I wonder if they’ve found a new venue and why. The sun lays itself over the pond to bid farewell. Clouds become fuchsia pink feathers, a delicate distraction as the night sky slowly envelopes me. I question my instinct to leave. Am I afraid of the darkness even in the comfort of this paradise?

 

autumn winds waver

memories fade on still waters

sun dips into dusk

 

 

Written for “Haibun Monday: Winds of Change” led by Toni Spencer (kanzensakura)

Join us at dVerse Poets Pub 

Exit Stage Right

 

 

Smiles bursting, sunlit

Cheeks and chuckles

Eyes sparkling

Neurons set ablaze

Pathways to life, love

All that matters

Chatters, first words

Heard and honoured

Stretched and pondered

One on one

Placing puzzle pieces

Hearts aglow

And I know

 That this

 Is what I leave

 

 

For De’s Q44 at dVerse Poets Pub. A quadrille is a poem of 44 words including a given word and this week the word is “leave”. Coincidentally I resigned from my job this week, leaving behind many young children that I adore.

Image credit: pixabay.com

Still Life

 

I was painted pain purple

By words grayed and grimed

But I found my own still life

Speckled in sunbeam yellow

Waterfall tears tinting my

Rainbow soul

I am nature’s canvass

Wide eyed and waiting

Saturated in earth’s tones

Ivy swirls on jagged stone

 

 

We are painting our own portraits with words this week over at dVerse .

A wonderful prompt by Lillian. Hope you can join in too!

 

Collaboration for Peace – 16

In the changing seasons, Candy and I wish you hope and peace…

migrating birds

bringing promise of spring

hope in the sky

~

© Candace Kubinec

Collaboration for Peace-5

It’s Sunday which means another Collaboration for Peace! Candy and I are happy to share our creations and hope that they can inspire you in some small way.

 

 

Pieces

i am the blue of nature

the orange of a sunrise

purple clouds at sunset

the crisp red of autumn

yellow sunflower petals

i am tumbled, jumbled

pieces – a kaleidoscope

ever changing, shifting,

being recreated

~

© candace kubinec

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transition

 

 Miniature ice bergs stubbornly hold on to winter as Lake Huron welcomes Spring. The Great Lakes are a massive stage for seasonal transitions.

This photo was my contribution for The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.

Enter Spring

 

This carpet of green

Has been rolled out for you

Trees bare but not broken

Stand tall to support you

Applauding your entrance

To life

Recipe for Change (50 Things I’ve Learned in 50 Years….#13)

#13. Don’t look to others to change your life. It’s not going to happen. You are accountable for your own destiny. The only one that can change your situation is you.

Life is tough.

I think some people are more fortunate than others to breeze through the first half of their life, without losing  a parent or sibling, without going through a divorce, without being abused, without suffering from a serious physical or mental illness. Then there are others who have faced all of these and more.

Life is not fair.

Random things happen to random people. I think it is foolish to think that tragedy cannot strike at any moment. It can. It does. It happens  to someone somewhere in every moment. It could be me. It could be you.

So now that I’ve spewed this negativity and doom, I will follow with some hope. Hope is one thing that can always exist. No one can take it away. It is yours. No one can control it. No one can end it for you. If you take hope and mix it with a little action, it equals change. This recipe is a keeper. It can also be passed down. You demonstrate this for your children and wowsers, they will have the best formula for survival on this planet. Keeping with this analogy (humour me here), you can also stir things up that really need to be and watch your life rise to new levels.

I made the mistake of looking at where I was in my life as where I had to be. Someone had to get me out or maybe I needed to stay there. This wasn’t fair. What did I do to deserve this? Someone else had to change so that everything would be ok for me. How dare someone else try to ruin my life or leave my life. I wallowed in self pity, anger, resentment and pain. It took many years for me to realize that no one else was going to do ANYTHING of the sort. That is difficult to accept. First you are thrown this horrible fate and then you are supposed to be the one to deal with it? Seriously?

What it comes down to is that you cannot control the crazy, unpredictable, tragic, shocking things that can happen to you and no, you cannot change everything you want. Change  doesn’t bring back the loved ones you have lost from this earth. It doesn’t completely heal the scars that cover a victim of abuse or multiple abuse. Change is a place for you to go. It is anywhere else but where you are…..and  if you’re in any type of despair, then anywhere else is good.