Poet. Writer. Photographer.
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
Walt Whitman
I spend time and thread
reaching out for
places to land,
and sometimes I do,
but then I feel the wind
signaling again
that the respite is but transitory,
and I am not even
the spider
but a phoenix
whose wings have singed
over centuries
beyond this dimension
as I eternally morph
evanescently,
reaching out
for a home
for me.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider
I am fueled by storms
and coastal wind
as I raise my arms to each
and channel them
until empowerment rises
boldly from within…
But it is in the still
and minute,
in the soft scent
of beautiful,
in the trust of subtle,
the barely discernible,
that I feel the forgotten
soothed,
those buried-alive
non-truths;
the golden elixir single ray
finding the torn petal
coats in those places
I am not able to ever reach
on my own.
Up close and personal
is the only way I know
to heal my heart,
to feed my soul,
and that, I believe,
is the path that leads
home.
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
My heart sighed,
the exhale combined
with the incoming uplifting
screened spring breeze;
despite the birdsong,
my eyes welled up,
as I began to walk into
Sadness’s alluring stream…
But my nature friends
and forces always seem
to intervene!
To my pane came
a hummingbird who hovered
until I forgot
all of my soul’s woes
and again felt
Hope’s flutter
and the feeling
of not being
in this world
alone.
Despite it all,
life is truly beautiful
as long as there is
this Presence I feel
so connected to.
Cut me open. I don’t think
I will bleed.
I am sure
butterflies
will rise
out of me
and to the moon,
my essence return,
merging light
to warmly glow
in a belonging
forever.
A detour, soulful tugging,
I find myself impulsively
knelt again on the white sands
before the altar at an end
of the earth,
surf symphony
rising predictably
to greet me,
but I casually look about
for the signs He wanted me
to again come ’round…
between my toes
ancient mountains ground
to grains,
quartz granules,
sugar-soft,
appropriate backdrop
for the hieroglyph
written for me:
it freezes me.
So easily,
I succumb
to the enchantment
of silence,
save for those waves
and occasional sea birds
with personal messages calling.
(It always baffles me
how I can so often have
this parcel of paradise
to myself…)
I stay a long, unhurried while
just trying to feel
what this enigmatic swirl
of sea oat in the sand
is all about…
Something about curves
is always so sensuous,
aesthetically strokes
my soul…
I don’t need a translation;
in fact, I prefer
this sacredly-carved symbol.
I make it my own
and add it to my collection
of clues
leading me leisurely
home.
It is the journey
after all, and I have nowhere else
to go.
Poem and images ©LauraDenise
If I have to have walls,
give me windows
big and bright
where shadows can dance for hours
with the light,
windows that open
wide
to invite the breezes
inside.
In all mental-health seasons,
I so easily slip away
for days,
lose myself
in those sunny sills
and rainy panes,
faraway thoughts
that need not be
sorted nor restrained;
even my muses need
a holiday.
The spaces inside
my dwelling fade
in comparison
to the glass
and screens I need
for my soul
to not suffocate.
If I have to have walls,
give me windows
through which to endlessly
escape.
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
I’ve ridden
on the same trains
as you
over these eternal years,
collecting the paintings
of your words
in my album
held dear.
When you board,
a sense of comfort
always hugs my soul
even without eye contact
or any vocalized hello.
Somehow, I feel
you know me, though,
while respecting
my poor attempts at
incognito.
Always at night,
we ride, reading
each other;
sometimes I ride
moonbeams
to stay near
when you depart,
hovering at the open window,
turning to respect your privacy
after the last line
of your poem
falls off
sensually.
My spirit knows yours
from some other life or realm;
I’ve counted on you
to always be there
as I travelled through each
lonely world.
Today, the universe
was all out of whack,
for when you boarded,
you replied back
to the thoughts
I did not think were said.
A rose you left,
my name spoken,
thornless
and seeded
as you sat
beside,
chatting away
to my smile
and starry eyes
until it was our
independent stops.
No sins today,
but my heart felt
your pulse.
Fear resides on both sides,
in the direct sun and in
the borderless shadows;
the light, however,
competes with mine,
so my soul still remains
largely unexposed.
I unzip my skin
behind the bushes
and dip into the sea
of all that I am
and all that I have
yet to be,
a flame underwater, inextinguishable,
no longer chained to the illusion
of drowning;
I dive deeper in belief
of my self
and arise, wet and glowing.
In my new skin,
a more comfortable fit,
I swirl together
the sun and shadows
as I dance,
and the flickering
upon my upturned face
reveals another transformation
taking place
within.
Poem and image ©LauraDenise
It’s been sunny and seventies, and the seasons
have not so much been confused
as they have been seemingly
just leisurely mingling, amused,
some stalling, some joyfully letting go;
nothing in the South rushes though.
Like melting cubes of ice in tea,
we take it sweet and slow down here.
It tickles me pink to have the mix
sprinkling personal messages so clear.
Today started differently,
gray with a bit of nip in the air.
Certain trees partaking in autumn
are almost now bare,
covering the patio in a bland
blanket over stone,
which made the flowers
I did not grow
even more the focal point
of my windowed soul.
I smiled for how they have become
so deeply rooted in my journey.
Marking my heart’s pages,
so many petals and leaves held so dearly,
imprinting with their colors and scents
my most powerful untold stories.
Fissures shift,
the inner lifts,
though I wish
to keep it
enclosed.
Exposed
to the elements
becomes my soul.
The tears rise
and flow.
When the painquake subsides,
there are less toxins inside.
I suppose it is nature’s way
of eliminating the accumulating waste,
that which we bury in false deaths,
that which we hide beneath the surface,
a sort of protection and procrastination
of that which we cannot bear in the moment
to face.
Two-faced
are we all.
How are you?
Good, thanks.
Why do we ask
that question
in passing?
Too often fake.
How am I?
Probably actually
similar to how you are
especially in the way
that we guard
the answer.
Brief eye contact.
Continue walking.
If only we acknowledged
anything.
Hands on phones,
hands of clocks.
Bombs inside.
Tick. Tock.
Fissures by nature
are meant to be breaks.
Down is mine. Again.
No brakes.
Not a fall
but an opening.
An involuntary wound-seeping.
Weeping.
My inner, risen now.
What will you do
with what’s come out?
Red is the heart
and magma
at the core.
I’ve left a puddle
of lava
upon your floor.
Laura Denise 