Gone

Poem © 2013 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

 

Sometimes I lose you

in the middle of a sentence:

soul vacates body

your whole being goes blank.

Staring at a Stepford Wife

I ask:

Are you there? OK?

You only speak when spoken to,

a Stepford Rule.

Where does my warm friend go

in these out-of-body experiences?

I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel

friendly or warm

or of this earth

I suspect you’re kidnapped by aliens

their painful probes touching

places you do not want exposed

Invisibility

the hardest force

to fight, fathom or befriend:

You

Us

Them.

~.~.~

Photo Credit: Haunted Forest © Heartland - Fotolia.com

April: Astrological Poetry Month on The Radical Virgo

Preview this book in progress in April 2013!

Dear Friends of Stitched Verse,

After not posting for two years due to other commitments, I’m excited to announce a new wellspring of poetry I'll be sharing in April 2013 on my astrology blog, The Radical Virgo. You don’t have to be an astrologer—or even much interested in the subject—to appreciate these poems, prayers, blessings and meditations about everyday life and the relationship between Earth and the Cosmos.

I’m on the cusp of some down time, taking care of some medical issues and claiming some much needed R&R. By Spring Equinox, I expect I’ll be back here now and then, penning poems. I worked ahead for April's Astro-Poetry Month, and it has been very surprising to rediscover another poetry vein. I'm having the next California Gold Rush!

Hope you’ll “cross over” to The Radical Virgo in April, and I look forward to being back on Stitched Verse in the future, as some major commitments wind down at the end of winter.

Yours in verse,
Joyce

For Ben Hiatt

By Guest Poet A.D. Winans

Like a hummingbird feasting on

the pollen of life

You walked the streets like a Samurai

With words sharp as a sword

 

You lived your life like a chess master

Found peace in the mountains

But never forgot the life blood

Of the city

Ravaged by illness, you cut through

The pain with the precision 

Of a surgeon’s scalpel

Your spirit left behind

In the grass in the leaves

In the sky

Your words soft as feathers

Rode life to the end of the line

With metaphors that serenaded

The mind

Your memory dances with the wind

Becomes one with the stars

In a new place a new terrain

In the Buddha temple of life

All things die

But only the flesh expires

The spirit cannot be killed

Lives on in the heartbeat of the sun

In the words and friends who wait

To become one

© 2011 by A.D. Winans

All Rights Reserved

Photo Credits: Hummingbird © Larry Keller | Dreamstime.com and Samurai Grabbing Sword © Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com

About Ben Hiatt (1943-2007)

Ben was a well-known Northern California poet, a larger-than-life character and one of the many people whose talent and passion for poetry provided a model for me in my early days as a poet. Learn more about him on Rattlesnake Press and on this tribute on Sacramento Poetry Center's blog.

Thanks to A.D. Winans, for permission to print this poem about his long-time fellow poet in honor of the upcoming publication of Ben's last manuscript in Primal Urge, including testimonials. Watch for it.

Great-Auntie Earth

You look so hunched and frail,

yet you have the strength 

to push a hundred.

You thought I was lost—

never met me 

beyond my mother’s belly—

but when I found all of you so many years later,

Your eyes danced love and sparkled recognition.

You were the link to all my good.

When they wouldn’t have understood, 

you took us in.

Your kindness imprinted me for the rest of my life.

Your influence was stronger 

than the word illegitimate.

“You’re the most generous woman I know,” 

my husband tells me.

No wonder.

Look at where I come from

how you welcomed me

and taught me

in utero

when I was still forming

to have an open heart.

Now we sit vigil while you make up your mind

to stay or to go—to cross worlds.

You’re an elf, but also an old Hungarian plough woman

muttering rosary prayers as she cuts through

the thickness of earth with all her might.

You are most God-fearing, but also the most God-loving,

woman I have ever known.

You blend fragile spirit with stubborn strength:

the kind it takes to push earth in its many forms,

and to keep on keeping on,

as we will keep on loving you,

pushing earth like you taught us well

with total generosity of spirit.

© 1999 - 2011 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved
joycemason.com

~~~

Photo Credit: © Oksana Belodarova | Dreamstime.com

Present Peace

Santa surprises

merry mischief

candy cane kisses

love eyes glitter

Italian lights

dark fades

for the light of the world

hearts beating

one loud rhythm

one song

Silent Night

holy

a nanosecond

of illusive calm

in children’s eyes

in adults’ eyes

the child

stacked presents

steps of love

climb to touch heaven

bring peace down to earth

in the silence

finding

no need

to reach.

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

joycemason.com

Photo Credit: Christmas Love © Les3photo8 | Dreamstime.com

The Church of Snow

By Guest Poet Tony Vowles

A whole city adrift
and we become washerwomen;
fretting and gossiping, running and jumping,
talking to neighbours and shovelling.
As the church of snow hymns
across the rickety divides,
levelling its white thud.
And it moves me, the peace of it,
the promethean warmth.
Like a smile from a stranger.

© 2010 by Tony Vowles

All Rights Reserved

theastrologyblog.com

Photo Credit: Woman Shoveling © Andrew Jalbert | Dreamstime.com

Angry Young Men

old lovers

long friends

angry young men

now depressed

on fast forward

aging

corded to my heart

draw optimism

and healing

ask first

without ever saying

the words

or knowing they want it

treasure my life force

touch my chi like thin china cups

of immortality

so gentle

their souls are tissue paper

to wrap the present

their sadness, losses

touch me

their view of the finish line

of life

I’m grateful

to live

grateful to give

grateful to honor our history

to be there for them.

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

joycemason.com

Photo Credit: Cup of Tea © Diavata Dreamstime.com