The Earth Spinning Blue

The world is filled with anxiety, stress
& anxious people walking a tightrope of life
the earth spinning blue in a universe of black
turning endlessly in timeless beginnings
with barren landscapes screaming dry with thirst
deforestation stripping away the green of trees
within the reality of nature’s bitter tears

walking with careless abandon toward free falling
drifting slowly as Alice did down the rabbit hole
turning, slowly spinning while the earth spins
aimlessly, screaming at the unknown fast forward
on the tightrope of life a kaleidoscope of color

holding out hope for humanity looking for quiet
for the calm before each storm black and dark
as Dorothy is caught in a twister in a dream
hurling past the real and unreal in imagination
will a net be there to break their falling

as anxious people continue walking a tightrope
the earth spinning blue in a universe of black
turning endlessly in timeless beginnings
a universe unable to reveal any answers
even though answers may never come

© Renee Espriu

Image Taken From Public Domain Photos Digitized as Art

Guns Are Not The Path To Peace

The child found what looked like a toy
but when a way was found
to fulfill curiosity

found their friend
lying dead at their feet

guns are not the answer to feeling secure
left lying within the reach of
innocence

she was about her morning
preparing breakfast
on yet another Valentine’s Day

when she heard a gunshot
fill the air
and looking ’round

found her husband
of many years crumpled
in the doorway

dead…a gun in his hand

guns are not the answer to depression,
to problems seemingly
having no answer

Leaders of the world always disagreeing
make plans for larger armies
to carry more guns

to kill more people who are caught
in the cross hairs

guns are not the answer to solutions
for forcing others to agree
to another countries’ ideas

guns are not the path to peace

© November 2017 Renee Espriu

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Writing Prompt. Read more responses at https://jamiededes.com/2017/11/01/dueling-with-words-to-stop-gun-violence-wednesdays-writing-prompt. The photo below was taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered.

Path To Peace

New York Hamlet

grandma-moses-e1274766463590-1024x798

Google Image/Grandma Moses in Eagle Bridge, NY

i am traveling the byways of
new york reaching deep
into antique shops and
2nd hand stores looking for
nothing in particular and

there by the side of the road
in a small new york hamlet
i see  posted neatly out front
a sign “Homemade Preserves”
so i stop and park as i am

intrigued and so i walk
to the front door of a
well-appointed house knocking
so as not to disturb and
who should answer but you

i’ve read about your rising
fame and as newspapers tell it
you are ‘never too old’ to
try something new and you
certainly did as you’ve shown

i feel at ease as you smile
at me inviting me in for
biscuits and jam with tea
your eyes twinkling so as
though we’ve met before

and i so want to know why
you never painted before
when you were young..not
that eighty something is
not…and so you answer

without falter that there
never was time with children
to raise and a farm to run
and happiness comes from
where it comes and i see

now that your life’s been full
so when i leave, on that
my traveling day and see
images of all the surroundings,
it is like i’ve seen it all

before on the canvasses where
you captured them in the
snow and sun, the church and
the town, the farms where
people live and i see then

that it really is ‘never
too late’ to do something new
when there is time and yes,
‘happiness comes where it comes’
in the byways of a NY hamlet

© March 2013
Renee Espriu

Please do go to Wikipedia to read more about this famous artist American Artist whose folk art style of painting became known and loved around the world. She began painting when she was in her seventies. You can find the link at http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses/

http://dversepoets.com/category/a-cup-of-coffee-with-a-famous-person/

Books Aged by Time


Books bound by leather tooled, marked, aged by
someone’s hands, many hands holding each
one with care, admiration, passion for
words written within each volume telling
stories, bringing to life other lives of
other people, other times

Pages edged with yellow, brittle with time, heat a
winter’s day indoors warmed by a fire a
summer’s day outdoors laying on a blanket
always stretching but never leaving the words
that beckon, calling, teasing you into one
more sentence to embrace you

Books bound by leather tooled, marked, aged the
pages edged with yellow, brittle with time like
an old friend doling out love in descriptive
words, images brilliant to behold, tantalizing
fiction, mysteries to unfold, history in epic
proportions more than a home

© April 2011 Renee Espriu