After the Chicago Blizzard

A young woman presses her way under entwined branches, through thin air and over sheltering snow - I don't know where she was going to or coming from but it didn't matter. In passing she offered a smile in that way that people surrender when the obvious is apparent.

The day was painfully cold offering warmth only in the form of a photograph.

After the Blizzard of 2011...

Drazzilb’s Small Blessing

-Groundhog Day 2011

The window view is white
Scattered fat specks speed by
blowing horizontally to whistling wind
Accumulation appears soft, pillowed
four foot drifts, waves and rolls
blanket yards and streets
Attempts to tackle Drazzilb
must be deferred.

Chicago radio announces world news
but its own white blight interferes
Heat in Egypt calls to
Mubarak for a step down
Yet, that heat is too far
to melt the snow.

Natural light today, very bright
Chicago fireplace blazing homes
colorful comfort contrasts
lake-effect white-ed
window sights

Twelve hours have passed
Drazzilb, you are persistent
Phone systems are down
Utility companies staffed
short, watch the town
closely for emergencies

Like Lake Shore Drive
closed is my home door now
But, warmth where I write
is locked in.

Above Pikes Peak -January

Snow speckled

tundra sloping
shadowed crevices
cloud suspensions
pink glazing
rocked soil

Colorado's
neatly pinched
peaks aligned
majestically capped
white icing
displayed below
cold blue light

The place
to escape
from self

Forever
hardened.
_______________
Pikes Peak

Home of Yesterday

Lovely

Warm
-early morning gold
slowly bleeds through
draped windows

Fluffy
-down comforter
supports small arch
above buttocks

Oasis
-walls muralled
asian mountains
escape to calm

Carpeted
-mahogony bannistered
staircase soft
quiet underfoot

Coffee
-aromas travel high
senses levitate body
from bed to kitchen

Alone
-all but one
abandoned this

Home
-of yesterday

Now
-meaningless shell
memory hurts

Time
-has come
to leave

Empty.

Purifying Path

transitioning into the what, the when,
sinking into my uneasiness while traveling in this path,
considering the first law of thermodynamics:
'energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed'

in this transformation,
my doubts swell constantly asking 'what if'
the gap is what makes me uneasy,
but then again, we only get one shot,
we don't get to experiment with multiplicity.

i consider the possibility of being one
with a cloud, or a flower,
or the shining rays of sun cutting
through a rain drop
in the magic cloud forest.

I did not know this was 'the' path
until I was well into it,
the way back is as difficult as the way forward,
so there's no turning back.

this purifying path, does not take away
the stickiness of my humanity,
does not take away the suffering,
does not provide a 'spiritual high',
but succumbs in humility to the ordinary,
the sisterhood, the least common denominator
with my fellow suffering beings.

'a broken heart is an open heart'
i heard someone say...

hypnotic, the trek and the mountains swell my knees,
up, down, winding, unyielding,
sun, rain, mist, creatures,
insects, flowers, calling songs, magic,

-all that seemed glorious the first day came to hurt me next,
and seemed quite a nuisance by the third...

just like life - it was a struggle to see it all new again.

just like life - when it was nearing a close, i did not want it to end.

but the changing thread of events in this fabric
-one woven, another one torn-
are the endless opportunities
given to me in order to grow.


dear God -if you exist-
i shall stop making demands of your proof
i only ask that i be brought down
to understanding who i can be
and i ask that I can believe in me,
give me swords, help me fight my ghosts.

i believe in me, i believe in my power to transform.

Place of Thanksgiving

Midwest.USA

Greetings of chiming carillon
burning sage blessings
drumming to elders
who have passed
Remembrance

Among us there are hungry
People have come together
to awaken thoughts
of the needy, and
to help them

As we are gathered
remember our good earth
with all of its bounty
Let us learn to share

Cherokee drum and chants
lend all to come
with new prayers

Come Hindu chanter
hymns of peace

Come Hebrew brethren
for all chant prayer blessings
on our land
our good land

Come Buddhist
share your consciousness
for enlightenment

Come Muslim brothers and sisters
Remind all worlds
of the sea life
of those who take to sky
of those who walk on land
of those whom we don't know.

Come message from Japan
"You who sow sparingly will reap the same way"
Generosity to others
keep all blessed and strong

Come Sanctus, sanctus
Come benevolent Congolese
Share love and happiness
in excelsis

Let friends and music come
Together in thanks
we share blessings

Let bald babies bounce on
laps of loving parents while
children's voices sing

Sun thawed frozen leaves
and warmed morning grounds
Gratitude and appreciation
honor this day's
Thanksgiving.

jfb.2010

Poetry Foundation presents...A Night of Poets Theater

A Night of Poets Theater: "Poetry magazine collaborates on a unique experiment in which six local poets have 48 hours to conceive, rehearse, and perform a program of Poets Theater. The poets’ only tools are a copy of The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater: 1945-1985 and light technical support."  Click title link for more details.  

Oracle Theatre
3809 North Broadway
Free admission    Reservations recommended
Poetry Foundation