Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘light’

Talking with My Daughter about Grief

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on November 2, 2021| 8 Comments »

We lie in the dark
and speak about anything
but what I ache to speak about.
Some part of me longs
to find the words like search lights
that will help us find
what we don’t yet know
we are looking for.
Or a black light
that might help us see
what is valuable right here,
but invisible to our ordinary eyes.
I try to infuse my words
with candlelight, but somehow
even this feels too brash,
too aggressive, and so
we lie in the dark
and I let the moon
do all the talking,
oh waning crescent,
you know when to shine,
when to simply be held
by the dark.

Read Full Post »

Ode to the Bic Lighter

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »


 
 
My first lighter I found in a parking lot—
a smooth red plastic tube that fit
in my pocket. I knew playing with fire
was dangerous. I knew I wanted
to learn how. I remember trying again
and again to get the right purchase
with my thumb on the serrated sparkwheel.
I rolled and rolled until my skin was raw,
until at last the brief flame sputtered then died.
It wasn’t long before it came second nature—
the smooth flick needed to produce a spark,
the slight pressure on the red tongue
to maintain steady flame.
I learned how it burns
to be lit up too long,
but once you know how to make light,
how easy it is to bring it with you
everywhere you go.

This poem is published in the wonderful ONE ART Poetry Journal

Read Full Post »

One Devotion

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

these darkest days

teach me

the light of you

Read Full Post »

When the Interviewer Asked Me What I Most Wish for the World

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 8, 2020| 2 Comments »

“We have a lot of things we are in the midst of. What do you think this moment is inviting us to understand? Where would you like to be in spring? Where would you like to see us as a world be?” 

—Kara Johnstad, Voice Rising Host, Om Times Radio

For a sliver

of a moment

I cradled

the whole world

in my thoughts—

every president,

peasant, seamstress,

beggar, businessman,

acrobat, child—

every one of us

a vessel

and I knew

in that instant

the power

of a wish—

as if hope

has a foothold

in reality,

as if a slim glimmer

is inevitable

foreshadowing

of unstoppable radiance.

With quiet clarity

I knew exactly

what I wish

for each of us—

I told her, too—

but I will refrain

from telling you.

Instead, I’ll hand you

the question

so you, too,

might make a wish,

so that you, too,

might glimmer,

might beacon.

Read Full Post »

One Every Day from the World

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 26, 2020| 2 Comments »

making you a bouquet

of morning light—

leaving it at your doorstep

Read Full Post »

Sitting Quietly, Asked to Consider My Inner Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

Any light I carry

is nothing I

have manufactured.

It’s entirely unearned.

It is easiest to notice

in the dark.

It cannot be faked.

Perhaps I wished

I could control it.

Instead, I marvel,

ask it, how

can I serve?

Read Full Post »

A Change in the Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 8, 2020| 5 Comments »

 

 

 

Now while the moon

is hiding behind the clouds

now when the rain

is falling midwinter,

and now that they’ve told us

not to hug or kiss each other

for fear of contracting

and spreading disease,

yes now is the time to find

whatever light we have

been hiding inside us—

whatever measure of brilliance

we’ve managed to conceal

from each other, from ourselves—

now is the time to bring forth

that luminescence and offer it

freely to the world, now

when light matters most.

 

Read Full Post »

Too Close to the Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 31, 2019| 3 Comments »

 

 

Just for a moment

my hair was on fire

and just for a moment

orange flames

rose from me

and just for a moment

I knew what it was

to be candle—

even now I can see it

beside my face,

how before I was afraid

I thought, how beautiful.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Surprise Grace

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 21, 2019| 4 Comments »

 

 

 

And this is the chapter

when it just feels

too much too much

to turn on the light

and so you sit

in the dark.

 

This is not a myth

in which you are punished,

turned into a tree or a kingfisher—

nor is this the story

in which you discover

your own light.

 

No, this is the night

in which you are simply

a lifetime of tired

and unable to turn on the light.

And so it’s you

and the night.

It’s you and the night.

And then it’s just the night.

 

Read Full Post »

One Reveal

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on December 20, 2019| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

long bright meteor

unzipping the night—

now the dark so naked

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »