Memories

July 17, 2023July 17, 2023

BEGINNINGS IN FOOTSTEPS

Beginnings sounding of arid days with days too many
of sweltering sun, searching for shade, waiting for night
and the coolness setting in softly touching skin in relief

where stepping lightly on asphalt cushioned the burn
until calloused feet screamed less wanting ever only
to walk the sands of beaches and to soak in a saltwater
ocean and close eyes to the brilliance and drift away

to step in life’s millions and millions of footprints
each made with tenuous and anxious anticipation
hands always reaching out trying to touch the future
new beginnings are filled with Nature’s pine and fir

each day more precious than the day before the one
woke up to where quiet is profound in whisperings
and the boughs of trees tremble as the wind touches
each leaf to the tiniest pine needle shouting a presence

that only ever rivals the ocean waves distantly breaking
upon the ocean shores you once trod in the beginning
but never truly the beginning of where those footprints
would lead to another place and new shores not distant

where dreaming in another star filled night only shines
a light on memories old and new that are your life
woven together upon land and sea beginnings

Photo is My Own Digitized As Art

August 12, 2019August 13, 2019

New Impressions

Wide open spaces of endless miles
of fields, farms and tracks of homes

stand in stark contrast to cities
choked with factory smoke stacks
with the polluted exhaust of traffic

that rise up to collectively gather
in visible, relentless chains
of greenhouse gases choking
off life giving

oxygen the memories of a lifetime
of living growing accustomed
to cacophonic decibels
of noise
now silenced

replaced with nature’s music
a symphonic aura of colorful
notes

blue skies redolent of wind &
breezes filled with the green
chattering of crickets

sunsets sweeping the horizon
in pink and purple hues
akin to stringed instruments
playing

where a night is lit dazzling
with lightning and thunder
fire bright yellows and orange
an orchestration of astounding
proportions

there are new impressions
waking all my senses, increasing
my awareness

to add to and multiply memories
creating the complexity
& beauty
of a life

Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017

Pots of Coffee Brewing

Morning coffee reminds her of years gone by
when she hustled to clean & tidy up the house
so untidy with five children running about
so she would be in readiness for parents
knowing that several pots would brew of a day
to give her the energy to persevere, strength
to be patient while her mother scrutinized,
criticized and ultimately laughed with her
but she knew as their car left the driveway
she would settle into a comfy spot dozing as
her caffeine high evaporated, energy waned
leaving her thinking of only the one cup
setting before her swirling, inviting to
remind her the pots of coffee that brewed
are but a memory no longer required, no
longer needed to get through parents visits

This is in response to Jamie Dedes’s Wednesday Prompt. You can read other poet’s responses at https://jamiededes.com/2017/06/28/over-his-morning-coffee-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The photo here was taken from the Morgue File and digitized by myself.

Beans and Coffee

June 17, 2012

Inhale

your footsteps
travel
upwARD
held upon
SpIrAlInG
railroad ties
on the forest path
a HEAVY scent of
lichen, moss,
soil HoldinG years
of memories
held within
pine trees’ leafy
umBRELLas
WAFTing up as
you inhale DEEPLY
the smell of
canvas beneath
a star StUdDeD
sky you fall
asleep in a
noiseless
forest except
for the breeze
of gently
SwayIng
branches

April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Pondering a Panacea

Setting her lamp down cautiously
she makes her way to the center of
a bridge created from the giant
roots of seemingly prehistoric
trees designed as if gone rampant

looking at the sunlight spilling
out between a mountainous crevice
life calmly emulating complacency
speaking to her words in the distance
she but a fragment in time incredulous

hanging onto a cord of smaller roots
while mossy thyme and lichen provide
soft green carpet for feet so as not
to catch on peeling bark reminiscent
of reptilian skin shedding memories

she ponders the plethora of anomalies
called the “outside world” wondering
if ever there will come to exist a panacea
come to rectify the horrors she perceives
as real but in her world only a fallacy

October 9, 2011October 9, 2011

Fragrance of Words

Words fragrant with meaning, layered
edges sometimes jagged enough to cut
leaving wounds behind nearly visible
edges sometimes smooth as glass open
to reveal emotions wrought infinite

Fall leaves piled in driveways and
gutters smelling of mildew and the
mustiness found in old homes years
neglected left with windows shuttered
leaving stories behind collected, untold

Dried flowers still hanging upside down
pressed inside the pages of a forgotten
book with the scent of roses given from
a beau timeless or a casket life ending
riding waves of memories love and loss

Candles burning the aroma of vanilla in
baked goods a reminder of families in
celebration of holidays or the acrid
odor of sulphur the match blown out and
the candle snuffed ending another era

September 11, 2011September 12, 2011

Ignited Images

Memories best left
forgotten shredded
and filed in my mind
ignited by a simple
piece of mail flooding
the late night screen
of images remembered

Sometimes it is better to remember and move on even though the memory remains. In remembering we will learn from our experiences in life. This is only my own observation as a single piece of mail I received caused me to re-examine a memory of my past and gave rise to this post.

June 25, 2011June 26, 2011

Bittersweet

photo courtesy of http://www.beautifulfreepictures.com

Penultimate visions of time
swirling as particles of
sand through an hourglass
capturing but unable to
hold youth’s victory over
age as the pendulum swings
keeping years in motion
forever capturing the sweet
smell of a rose’s passion a
memories bittersweet gift
while the petals wither to
vanish and die forgotten

June 19, 2011June 26, 2011

Recuerdos

Strands of hair as silver threads
shining dimly in the light as
hazel eyes peruse photographs of
children, grandchildren, those
great-grandchildren looking
back with smiles frozen, another
time, other places in the past

Mi padre recuerdos en la luz del dia

Strands of hair as silver threads
shining soft as silk on ears of
corn her eyes treasured memories
held in photographs, giving back
years stolen in hands frail aged
with spots, he sees framed the
importance, a families life shared

Mi padre recuerdos en la luz del dia

June 1, 2011April 17, 2013

Invisible

Sitting still cloaked in a
dewy mist covering her
body as a safety net of
tiny droplets settling on
each tiny hair, on the
lashes of her eyes

Listening intently trying to
hear sounds…of what, of
anything beyond her
soft breathing captured,
held within the mist, let
go in heart beats

Timeless memories to
tinder igniting emblazoned
parodies of countless
choices left as discarded
remnants scattered beyond
hands clasped tightly

Sitting still the mist begins
dissipating, embarking to
distant places, unknown
others, abandoning her
efforts to become invisible
within its’ embrace

This is an older post but thought to put it here for dVerse.

http://dversepoets.com/category/openlinknight/