Walk Softly Live Gently

As soon as I saw the prompt for Poetry Thursday I knew exactly the poem to submit. This is an oldie from the archive. See if you can guess the artist. If not from the words, certainly the picture at the bottom will be enough. If you still aren’t sure I put the original title at the bottom.

What if this day brought with it colors

wrought in tear-stained stone. Would it

be a remembrance to dally on? What if

the sun were blotted out and the light became

awash in shadow? Would the day then be

a waving, rolling wheat field for you to

drown in? “But” you say, “that is not my doing.

I am only, after all, one who tumbles

with the wind and I thought I could respond

with grace and thus brighten the day by

stroking it with ochre and azure as if the sun

came out of my belly, and fields of poppies

came from my heart, like the love that is hidden

in skies of vermilion and French sidewalk cafe’s”

Oil on canvas 81.0 x 65.5 cm Arles 1888

Sonnet To Van Gogh

“The mystery of life is

not a problem to be

solved

but a reality to be

experienced.”

– Aart Van Der Leeuw

This watercolor is from Heron Dance

(One line haiku for this weeks “One Deep Breath” writing prompt)

Lifting a rock in the stream, sexy crayfish!

“Photo courtesy of PDPhoto“

If all of the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose (sorry, you can only pick one!)

Do not cheat on this one, go with the first dessert you picked.

Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you.

Put your choice of dessert in the title or at the top of your post.

Here are your choices:

1. Angel Food Cake

2. Brownies

3. Lemon Meringue

4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing

5. Strawberry Short Cake

6. Chocolate on Chocolate

7. Ice Cream

8. Carrot Cake

No, you can’t change your mind once you scroll down,
so think carefully what your choice will be…………..

OK - Now that you’ve made your choice this is what the
research says about you…

SCROLL DOWN—No Cheating

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE — Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love
all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times.
Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the
day. Others perceive you as being childlike and
immature at times.

2. BROWNIES — You are adventurous, love new ideas,
and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of
dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your
saber. You are always the oddball with a unique sense
of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.

3. LEMON MERINGUE — Smooth, sexy, & articulate with
your hands, you are an excellent after-dinner speaker
and a good teacher. But don’t try to walk and chew gum
at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, but you
have many friends.

4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOL ATE ICING — Fun-loving,
sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very
indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoys being
around you, but you are a practical joker. Others
should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are
a friend for life.

5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE — Romantic, warm, loving. You
care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch
and expect the same in return. Intuitively keen. Can
be very emotional.

6. CHOCOLATE ON CHOCOLATE — Beautiful; always ready to give and
receive. Very creative, adventurous,
ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a
cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid
to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life.
Love to laugh.

7. ICE CREAM — You like sports, whether it be
baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. If you
could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy
watching sports. You don’t like to give up the remote
control. You tend to be self-centered and high
maintenance.

8. CARROT CAKE — You are a very fun loving person,
who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People
like to hang out with you. You are a very warm hearted
person and a little quirky at times. You have many
loyal friends.

this place

This is a small part of a larger area. It is the place where significant healing happened for me after the divorce ended 24 years of marriage. I did a great deal of writing here. It was the start of a new found love of poetry and writing in general.

It was also the start of a new life of love a few years later when I asked my best friend to marry me.

We are now about to celebrate our 11th year together next month.



It is also the place I want my ashes to be scattered, to be allowed to flow down the mountain to the ocean a couple of hundred miles east of this spot.

This is my most cherished inspiration.

She Said Yes

We laid our bodies flat on the rock

looked up at the sky through

the branches as light streaked

down upon us.

She said, this is so peaceful. I love it

here. I said, yes it is (feeling

nervous). We spoke of many

things.

Then…silence.

I turned my head

She turned to me

I said…will you marry me?

______________________________________

(Aside)

Time and AgainTime and again, however well we know the landscape of love,
and the little church-yard with lamenting names,
and the frightfully silent ravine wherein all the others
end: time and again we go out two together,
under the old trees, lie down again and again
between the flowers, face to face with the sky.

Rainer Maria Rilke

My contribution to “One Deep Breath” Haiku blog:

there is just one breath

cosmologically speaking

do you know of it?

the earth knows of it

the green and yellow of it

blazed across the sky

Sun pulses its breath

gives its life to all who care

do we not love it?

Just a humorous interlude

These came from an email making the rounds

Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to “put your two cents in”.. but it’s only a “penny for your thoughts”?
Where’s that extra penny going to?
Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be
a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake uplike every two hours?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They’re going to see you naked anyway.
Why is “bra” singular and “panties” plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat? .
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!
If Wiley E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

And my personal favorite:
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride; he sticks his head out the window?

My Poetry Thursday contribution

The word is: Amative

If it is a falling in love
it was most amatively
a thing later to be regretted
since such preoccupation
of body and soul taxes…
body and soul.

Thus a falling it was
one night when the moonlight
etched its verse across
your mind leaving a mark
on your heart, indecipherable
script…soul words.

Words read when mouth
gently touches a mouth
and becomes a thunderous
shout in the brain, boundaries
given new meaning in
mis-firing synapses

RonRusso

He thought he saw it!
It was that fleeting moment
of revelatory bliss
when the universe opened
in his mind and he saw,
perhaps for the first time
the beauty of being one.

She was he in her form.
another expression in the sublime
union of all.
When she saw it, it became so clear.
No separation. No distance. No time.
Looking into his eyes she saw herself.

He was she in his form.
Thus expanding the horizon to….
to the infinite intimacy
ablaze in his brain.
The fire of compassion
thus lit cannot be extinguished
since it is the nature of being.

She, one with he
saw them all standing there
in the street and they marveled in wonder
as all space collapsed into itself
till all that was left
was the warm glow of
emptiness.

© 2007 by Ron Russo

Week 41; Haiku at One Deep Breath

All is still
when illusion is known
truth a green leaf

Sitting in silence
Ten toes dangle wet
Golden fish tickle

Awaken seed to the Sun
love shall bear it’s fruit
sad hearts rejoice!

My contribution to the haiku poetry blog

(Click here for large image)

Oh, the earth, dirt, mud

Amazing taste on young lips

How it made us spit!

(Submission for Poetry Thursday)



My face when I say-do embarassing things.

Is it red, or is it my projection?

That tail light is definitely red.

I feel that in my face too.

When it shines suddenly.

I painted our living room red once. Everyone loved it.

No one wanted it in their house.

Red. Bold as a bitch.

Hot as volcano vomit,

As a poets anger.

It takes red to start a universe;

Big Bang red.

Bam! Existence exists.

Billions of years and we

wallow in red mud, our cooling.

This time, not knowing

if the sun that birthed our center

can resist gods breath,

the red light of life

extinct.

Infinite love is who we really are

and who we refuse to be.
This refusal is our most essential

tension.

David Deida

My contribution to the haiku poetry blog

The colors of life

fall bright as Autumn to us

I pick up pieces