Separate souls flickr photo by $ALEH shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
I had thought I would take a break from writing poems each morning (as I had done for the past few months) but then a Twitter hashtag pulled me right back in! The #poemsofpresence folks — mostly teaching and writing, and writing/teaching, friends, but also assorted others — were writing some interesting small poems that captured a single moment in short verse, as a way to battle the anxiety of the times.
So, I have dipped in a bit, with no obligations in my mind to do anything more than what inspires me, which frees me up to write each day or not.
Walk gently
through white –
the discards
of night —
whether blossoms
or snow, or both
Nothing breaks the quiet
with the urgency of
the Pileated Woodpecker –
its hammering head on
the tree like a snare,
a syncopated jazz jam
of the wood – channeling Blakey, Krupa, Williams, Rich;
scratching the itch to find rhythm in anything
When walking
towards the full
morning moon,
lingering as it is
like the first notes
of your inner song,
it’s best to slow
the pace, to gaze
into the wonder
of the moment of
soft radiant light
Even trees
seem at rest,
our engines
sputtered to a stop,
as forest nymphs
and bored children
take over what’s
been abandoned
by the times
This strange universe
sings, a night melody
of starlight, empty
only in perception;
Instead: listen
Time forever
reminds us:
nothing lost
remains forgotten
Peace (make it present),
Kevin