Resetting the Sand

With wide-opened arms,
I offer myself
again to the sea,
double-red flag at the
abandoned beach
and in me.

I give it all to God
who takes it up
with the wind,
wild waves
rush up from within.

Benevolent powers
remind me
who I am
and what I’m capable of
in this lifetime chance

when He is inside me
like He’s always been,
and all of nature,
my lifelong friends.

The beach itself
is rippled clean,
new slate
on which to imprint
the path
He leads,

another first step
into the trust
of His plan,
the next leg of a journey
to lead me even closer
to where He is at.

Poem and images ©LauraDenise

Re-Lighting

Rough week. Double red flags waving. The bay wilder than the ocean. It called me home. Here’s to the ones in the throes of it. Let’s relight ourselves. Again.

I give my light freely,
but sometimes it is taken,
emotional perpetrators
breaching my innermost spaces.

They underestimated 
my strength
and did again
today,

for as long as there
is the sea and my God,
I will raise my arms
in faith;
you will never 
keep me down
as long as there 
are waves and rays. 

I will wash 
what you left
away. 

You underestimated 
our strength. 

Among the Pink

I sat among the pink today
to have the rest fade away,
mesmerized by the world within,
tracing with eyes each leaf and stem.

Concerns abandoned 
in the face of trichomes;
transfixed am I
under nature’s hold.

I visit the center,
greet the stamens;
they let me hide out
in the silken cavern. 

Next I intentionally slip
into the labyrinth of green
and lose myself
for as long as I wish 
to be unseen. 

This is how I restore
when I give too much 
of me to the world.


The Light in My Reflections

Amongst the backdrop
of artificial light,
even in the pretty art
the water makes of it,
reflections at night,

my lens, guided by
the lighthouse of my soul
seeks the single detail
to anchor, to hold,

for only in the hushed detail
can I find my story,
mine alone,
these silent allegories,

and when the lyrics
feather float
to the page,
I hope
my heart’s songs
resonate,

for really we are all
the same
as the stalk of grain swaying
before the moonlit bay.

Poem and last night’s images ©LauraDenise

Ripples Rising

From a sprout,
sea-oat planted
in sugar sand,
despite the salt
water, it expanded,

yeastless, missing ingredients, 
still rising to release
the aroma of
bay-rippled, lunar-lit
dreams

absorbed by clouds
above a distant shore,
sweet kisses 
and morsels of whispers
delivered to moon, igniting 
the next star

to guide love closer 
to that flourishing grain, 
swaying with that savoring
flavor of faith.

Poem and image ©LauraDenise

Drops and Petals

Single drops of mindfulness,
nothing exists but the rain
in molecules suspended,
clinging to the present,
an amnesia of pain.

Reflections of the now
that surround as pieces
to the whole,
the tiniest spider 
inside a flower
a single strand of silk
webbing hope. 

The world does not stand still,
it simply dissolves;
even the blazing sunset 
ensconces in a single leaf
fallen.

Sometimes peace
is too big of a thing
to be able to grasp onto,
and so nature scatters
daily treasures
for us to collect
as truths,

trinkets for lockets
to garnish hearts
with intended protection
when the showers
feel drowning
and the sunsets
remind too much
of losses.

There is simply beauty
in this moment
offered as solace:
hone your sight
to find and focus on
that instant of inner
silence.

Poem and images ©LauraDenise

Ebbing Regrets

Before they drown me,
I set them free,
release regrets

to the benevolent sea.

The negative leaves
in the ebb,
and in return
brings baptism.

Another rebirth,
a buoyant start,
no more weight
syncing me
to the dark. 

Crest reflects
heaven’s light,
angels waking
at sunrise.

Arms spread wide
as the flow approaches,
submerged in the healing
saltwater solution.

Poem and image ©LauraDenise