youth

August 17, 2018

Art Mercurial

reminiscent of an Ansel Adams photograph
the waves of the Pacific break
against the sandy shores

layers upon layers of ruffles
stitched with foamy lace

an imitation of art mercurial
each white foamy layer
a year in the life

a depiction steeped in feelings
of all that is perpetual
as if years will continue
ad infinitum

youth and memory captured and held
within the taste
within the smell
of sea salt

until another wave crashes
wind driven upon
the shore

wiping clean the slate like sand
without even a touch
you simply
let
go

Image Taken From Public Domain Pictures & Re-Imagined

Foamy Lace

Another visit to a place I will always love but is forever changed in many ways. I have left there knowing that change is imminent and this year finds me swept away within its’ embrace. What places are and will forever be held in your heart even though you call another place home? For me it is California.

May 20, 2018May 21, 2018

Before My First Breath

Image Taken From Morgue File & Digitally Altered

Dragonfly Blue

Dragonflies are timeless bold creatures
found in the amber fossils of millennium
as is innocence secured wonder cocooned
in everything I saw around me
whether it was earthen brown
or flowers christened
by the sun

I drank everything in endless thirst
always yearning to understand
and to grasp all the words
to weave into life
even when threads
were frayed

So the years did not diminish
my questions nor
bring solace
to answers

There is youth no longer here
when reflections are
made of wrinkled sagging skin
but youth only rests
within the perimeters
of my mind

So that there will yet be a moment
where the light shines bright
and the fire burning glows
revealing the happiness and joy
I felt in being aware

That there are those things timeless
like questions and answers
held within my mind
not loved nor cherished
with my heart

I know now without pause for doubt
there will always be
dragonflies

January 8, 2018

Dreams of Flight

i-will-be

Closing my eyes dream like synapses
coalesce images of youthful fears
tainted by mountain high and
valley lows of emotions

feathered wings in flight I fancied
releasing me from my humble dawning
with the smell of lemons and lilacs
growing against a backdrop of cement
tainted with the odors of asphalt

on the other side of town peppered
with factory workers, shop owners
life ached for gleaming upscale as
housewives tended children crying
dutiful lives of status quo

but only dreams took me flying
into the darkness of night
smelling of sweet honeysuckle
scaling walls of rising freedom

as now all dreams of tender youth
have left me I no longer fear
nor struggle from whence I came
for the spring of my soul
bubbles forth a peace within

December 23, 2017December 23, 2017

Ethereal Notes

Melodious Notes

The piano notes not my own

floating ethereal around me

speak of lullabies played

soothing tiny souls to sleeping

vestiges of the golden moments

when a youthful heart dreamt being

bright-colored fancied whimsy

silver spun silken blossoms

to be woven into a shining dawn

in sun rays spilling rainbows

resplendent new and undone

for as the notes dance before me

the hours softly melting away

reiterates life’s fluctuations

not crafted to make my own

Image taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered by myself.

October 16, 2017

A Magical Dance

See the youth that resides within me
mirrored dark curls framing a woman’s
face who now breathes easier

not often the case when questions curled
like a hazy halo of smokey confusion
within my days and nights

watch me convey knowledge soul filled
now a sign of experiential vibrant color
a glowing gold not in the guise
of youth’s vanity

see my spirit soar within mirrored eyes
clear as mountain spring waters
seeing deep as ocean valleys
thunderous as waterfalls

filling crystal clear rivers running swift
choreographed with a magical dance
of a sprite or fairy or two

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at her site on
https://jamiededes.com/2017/10/11/once-upon-a-time-when-they-were-old-a-poem-and-your-wednesday-writing-prompt. The image was taken from Public Domain Pictures and digitally altered by myself.

Dance of a Fairy

October 1, 2017October 1, 2017

A Life Betrayed

She lives the only life
she has ever known
inside someone else’s home

she wonders how she came to this
miles of fields and distance
a breeze touching her
now frail being

did someone leave her here
without her knowing and
will she wake one day
to find she’s dreaming

for she loved him so in her way
but was he a mirage or
just a ruse she wrote of
in her own knowing

before her body did betray
and stole her life
and youth

This is in response to Jamie Dede’s Wednesday Prompt. Read more at

“Archaic Torso of Apollo” by Rainer Marie Rilke … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

Christina's World

This painting rendered by artist Andrew Wyeth will never be able to access the mind of the young woman who gave rise to its’ inspiration. Christina Olson is the subject of this mysterious and haunting painting called ‘Christina’a World’.

August 16, 2016

THE RAPSCALLION

He once had the stealth of youth
hiding in all manner of places
walking down a dark hall
might leave a trace swipe of claw

We had a difference of opinion
I felt it was my own domain
it was I who owned the turf
he glared at me with disdain

His yellow eyes and red brick nose
his white socked feet dancing
he drank with his paws
reclined royalty struck a pose

We did not ever become close
until he became frail and thin
I became his only caretaker
the rapscallion and I friends

Resized Kippy

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Dissolving Pearls

adrift on the tide of time
ebbing and receding quickly now
dissolving pearls seen
as minutes of time
becoming particles of sand
an hourglass known
to be tailored to each one

recognition briefly still here
the brightness of a smile
a twinkle in the eye
checking memories each one
to know they do remain

a lucky penny catches the eye
it is quickly snatched up
deposited in a pocket
a mockingbird song entertains
sun up to sun down
each note a suggestion…
of something

the sadness finally dissipated
as a rain now a fine mist
settling but only briefly
the sun always bringing
a warmth to the soul
a new day beginning

looking around for the familiar
knowing it is there
just beneath a hazy morning
burning off in the heat of day
where all is now clear
the years only an illusion
and youth just beginning

Visiting dad always has the variable of “what if” involved. Now at 90 plus years of age and due to mild to moderate dementia, dad has good days and not so good, and through it all he still perseveres and manages to get through every day no matter what.

Image Taken From Morgue File