Suffice

Artificial light
will suffice
when I employ
on quiet walks
my creative devices
to make art
during heart-
survival crises

until it all naturally passes,
as all weather is designed to do;
I need to do better with storm preparations,
though He always sees ahead and sees me 
through.

Tonight, to distract
with creative play,
I replace and extend
a stem with manmade

until the flower becomes a tower,
and then I ignite the beacon,
and let the moon console 
a lonely orb romantic-dreaming.

I do these magnificent things
not only to take focus away from the pain 
but because it gives me the control and power 
as an abuse-survivor to manipulate 
in a positive way. 

I do it for you, but really and also 
for me, selfishly, 
but if you and I both need it, 
how comforting it then becomes for us
to become “we.” 

You’ve been here too, 
I know, as I have been there, 
not these same tracks
but in the aches that echo,
shared. 

Weekend Renewal

Autumn in the South:
no warm-hued foliage
yet to be found.
Faithful leaves adhere
to branches,
stubborn, taunting
the November ground.

Windows open though,
temperatures temperate,
and the fresh air I breathe in
could not be more perfect.

Saturday morning well spent
reading, writing, creating
with and at ease,
puppy napping beside me
so contentedly,

instrumental music
scooping up silence
in a loving dance,
floating in a reverie
of me-time peace,
I sip my tea
and let the cross-breeze
permeate through
my soul’s expanse…