Poet. Writer. Photographer.
Like when I was a child
looking at the ceilings
upside down,
I still invert what’s above
to challenge the limits
of ground and touch.
Now I’m venturing
beyond the sky,
following the path
of clouds…
I wonder if I’ve always been searching
for a way
out.
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
Stepping from rooftop
onto the aerial ice,
fathoms deep, soul still
lights…
Poem and photo ©LauraDenise
shifting sands
grains unable to be grasped
slipping through fingers
sieve of my existence
footprints vanishing
in vain trying to leave
an imprint, fingerprints
fossilizing
as I watch
sea drops dry on shells
shells of mankind
displayed non-selves
on shelves
shifting painted shapes
offer to take me away
only to lead to the next
drifting cumulous cloud
lateral when I need
to be higher
homeward bound
shifting sands
I open my hand
spread my fingers wider
I know what the answers
are not
to feel the silk
is to feel
nothing caught
but sensory strokes
the void
in the curve
of my palm
no trail found
to my entrance
into the sea
saltwater can’t sting
when the wounds
are too far beneath
the body’s surface
arms open
I invite
the above in
home-
sick
let me know
I am not
forgotten
There is no greater feeling
(other than love, and perhaps forgiveness)
than the way the heavens
ever so slowly open
in the last of the
fading rumbles,
parting clouds
to reveal nothing more
than the forgotten,
that supreme is
all, above and beyond this,
that we never were alone
through any of it;
it makes me almost wish
for another storm…
I realize that this is
that love and forgiveness
aforementioned
taking form.
This is how inner
peace is born.
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
Unedited after-storm sky,
heavens open up
as if to apologize
for the tribulation
necessarily survived,
though still withheld
must be the why.
Instilled with a knowing
a higher power so loving
is in control when I spin
in my free will off trajectory,
I simply pause all the swirling
emotional turbulence within
and feel the wind,
the exhale of the one above,
mighty breath on my skin;
my hair and soul lift up,
and I wish my feet would.
Grounded on this earth for now;
let me master all the lessons.
There is nothing but comfort
in the after-storm sky,
a sojourn wrapped in serenity,
a glimpse of afterlife.
Some set off to find themselves;
some say wherever you go, there you are.
Some never choose paths to explore
but remain stagnant, wishing upon stars.
(But stars are evermoving,
taking those wishes with them,
beckoning the dreamer to follow
the paths constellationly charted.)
I set off with no objective,
but upon returning, the self-reflection
(thoughts actually in the clouds!)
made me realize about myself
that I am exactly who I thought I’ve already
found.
It’s the lightest I’ve ever felt
upon returning, for now, to the ground.
Without a doubt,
one of my favorite
parts of life is
clouds.
The soft pastels
at dawn lift me up
and take me home;
sunset-backdropped,
at day’s end,
I am delivered again,
haloed in gold.
Nature-ensconced,
nature-infused,
nature my lifeline,
nature my truth-school.
I befriend every creature and petal,
explore every infinitesimal detail,
lose all track of time in the macro
finding clues about myself,
but nothing He has made
entrances me more
than the heaven-brushed strokes
of the cloudscapes Earth-adorned.
For cloudy days, I thank You, Lord!
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
It makes me sad
to have to sleep,
to have to leave
a favorite sky
and realized dreams,
to not have more time
to write and read;
oh heavy eyes,
why do you betray me?
Laura Denise 