Drops of Color On my Way… said the Pilgrim to the Mountain. The Summit packed with snowfall —countless feet in thickness. Like goose down feathers stuffed into a pillowcase… the mountain stands. The clouds encompassed her in the early dawn of the day but, as light rose —the clouds moved in unison like dancers whose […]
Holding Hands with Time Does time really change things? Or do we change as time ticks on by? Do seasons really change? Or does change turn the season’s landscape from a blanket of fluffy white snowflakes to tiny green buds exploding into colors like the ones found on an artist’s pallet only to fade waiting for […]
Drops of Color …brought to the Bridge Many ‘things’ I have learned over the years and, I, brought all those ‘things’ to the bridge and tossed them over into the waters below. And… as i gazed over the edge, I saw the reflection of all those ‘things’… thoughts, beliefs, understandings, etc. and I moved on […]
Monet’s Brush It was night, and a sea of clouds hung like a marina of vessels bedded down, held in place. Yet, it would not be so. The wind struck a tune. It gave a sequence of trumpeted ‘blasts’ until each anchored cloud gave way. And, drawing back, there she hung, nothing could out shine […]
Drops of Color A Simple Flower I picked a single flower from a meadow laced with buttercups. One vibrant yellow flower— I placed it in a jar —for you. I was going to pluck another and make it two, but the scope of the jar’s circumference became the sun. The beams of light ‘cupped’ the […]
Thank you for walking with my ‘words’ through the vast country side of Switzerland. My wings are preparing for another flight, a NEW Pilgrimage. I will connect when I land again on home shores. Till then… ‘Ring the Bell that still can ring, there is a crack, a crack in everything—that’s how the LIGHT gets […]
Drops of Color Sculpted Swans The night sky was a sea of black twisting licorice draped with clouds like crepe paper. A wrinkle formed, another followed, and the moon revealed itself —the light within her beamed from her hid-den craters. Below, chiseled swans stood balanced on a bed of green grasses —slivers of fine threads […]
Switzerland 2022 July 17th, 2022 Wallbach Gorge A storm found its way into the gorge —it left an aftermath of damage. What does this mean? Simply…YOU create your own path. One never ‘leaves’ the path… life’s lessons have opened doorways and NEW doorways as a result of a whirlwind of changes throwing ‘everything’ out of […]
Understory (Inspired by Dave Smith: “The Spring Poem”) Beneath all sediments, in theory, I’m a poet. So this piece is about Spring in all its hidden verities coming to blossom. I have lived through a lifetime of Springs AND not one was ever the same. THIS Springtime —before its arrival —I was a naked branch […]
Switzerland 2022 Dearest Mid-wife, I greet you with warmth, kindness, tender affection and ALWAYS gratitude. When first my pen touched these pages, ‘YOU were.’ Lines ‘mentioned’ your presence. You were the ‘ink’ flowing from the tool allowing consonants and vowels to open doorways. As each day rose like the sun, it closed with the stars. […]
Drops of Color In Your House… (adapted from Psalm 84) Blessed are they. In silence, the sound of a match struck. The flickering candle sets off the beauty of the flame. The slits in the wood allow a soft yellow tapestry to dwell on the fixed two-by-fours. A family is gathered around a table —the […]
Switzerland 2022 July 15th, 2022 29 peaks… Stood together and vastly apart. Many held thousands upon thousands of feet of snowpack. From a distance beyond measure, the rushing of a waterfall followed by another found a way into a river moving with speeds almost as great as sound. Many peaks revealed their sharp, distinct natures. […]
In loving memory of William Kinney (9), Evelyn Dieckhaus (9), Cynthia Park (61) Katherine Koonce (60), Mike Hill (61), Hallie Scruggs (9) Black and White The words on the page —ink splashed in a sky draped in clouds. The written message turned into shadows. Faces appear. At one time these faces would have been […]
Switzerland 2022 July 14th, 2022 The Body of a Mountain Slabs of rock. What appear to be plastered in place, these towering peaks drizzled with the abundance of snow capping the mountain’s head. So many times, in a single day, the head ‘lost’ in the clouds. What are its thoughts? The face of the mountain […]
Drops of Color Oh, so Grand Like a snake, weaving itself through a dry, barren terrain, its skin blue, shedding itself. Brown…its milk—embryonic fluid. A womb— its cervix walls, solid layers of rock fashioned, becoming before a single word of testament etched in stone. The canyon…Grand. Alive, its breaths beholden to a sky, a ceiling […]
Switzerland 2022 July 13th, 2022 Jungfrau Summit You stood expectant waiting for the night’s watchman to extinguish the last embers that dusk consumed. What was that? An avalanche? Your breath? I saw you, indeed, I did! Like drawing from a well, you pulled & pulled, yanking an invisible rope, until alas you splashed the Moon […]
Drops of Color Four-legged Friend It was not a chair placed in some corner for an unruly Soul. It was a seat set in an unknown place —no on lookers. The chair was rickety, wobbly. The cushion frayed and sat upon innumerable times. By whom? It matters not! Sitting, the rush of a million voices […]
Switzerland 2022 July 11th & 12th, 2022 The mountains spoke softly to a solitary star glistening above its jagged peaks. “Come, come my friend, rest awhile, Let me hold you.” The star responded, “Here I come, and I shall illuminate your brilliance under the night’s sky.”
Drops Color Eden A field laid open. Every direction unmarked for miles. A wisp of wind strummed its way through the tree holding a center like a point of nothingness. Chimes rang like a bell-tower —a rope pulled an invisible thread by an unnamed ‘Who.’ Each ‘gong’ set off pairs of hidden wings draped between […]
Switzerland 2022 July 10th A Bridge, A Lion and A Monastery First, a bridge whose history is etched into its painted wood beams —stories of a people who refused to renounce or bow down to unknown gods —lives sacrificed. Second, a wounded Lion. Massive paws cradle the shields of lives lost —the Lion’s sorrows… its […]
Drops of Color Miracles… Happen ‘every’ day. Look…really look. Listen…quiet yourself…hush! Touch…the invisible, pouring itself into your hands. Taste…the sweet abundance —the savory juices even after 2000 years —the jars filled with the freshest wines. The vineyards are ripe. We are all laborers ‘faith-filled’ becoming the miracles endlessly creating.
Switzerland 2022 July 9th, 2022 A walk in a womb Embryonic fluids filled the center. The sound of its current dangles between enormous slabs of uterine walls on both sides. Walking in Oneness beside the river, I was pushed, pulled, held, let-go time after time. The sun shielded its face, the rays lifted the clouds. […]
Drops of Color And…for the next performance Mesmerized —waiting with wonder. The wand…was it the wand, its wave, or the hand? Was it the spell spoken aloud? I ‘believed’ the furry little fluffy-tailed creature would appear out of that hat. So simple…so magical! When I was a child, I thought everything could be solved by […]
Switzerland 2022 July 8th Pause Rays of light, like a winnowing fan, unfold like fingers pointing in all directions. I pause and offer thanks. Luminous vapors come together forming a pack of puffy white cotton candy clouds. They hold the mountains before floating by. I pause, filled with gratitude. Stepping on earth’s bed, roots stretch […]
…in the rubble (Inspired by Joy Harjo’s poem: Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit) Is there a ‘spirit’ alive in the rubble? The quaking Earth moved with a rhythm of a musical piece —high pitched. She carried the fragments of her ‘soils’ —devouring whatever lay in her path. How long, how long did her lament last? […]
Switzerland 2022 July 7th May I have this dance? Presenting itself, well past the mid-night hour, a ballroom became visible. I held my position, and observed hundreds, thousands, no, millions of descendants. Stars glistened in the Universe joining hands from their illuminated orbit. The deep ensuing silence was the music to which they danced. More […]
Drops of Color House of Stones One by one they took turns telling stories. Sometimes, they rolled over one another —they ‘crumbled’ laughing aloud. Holding in place, they recalled the youngsters rushing to the river each one discovering what they believed to be a perfect fit. The women folk created a mortar while the men […]
Switzerland 2022 July 6th Who moved the mountains? What pulled the peaks into the swirl of clouds expanding, hovering, disguising the rugged silhouettes until they reappeared and are made new over and over again? When, how did the colors spread themselves? Vibrant green paths, soaring pines, yellow, purple and orange wildflowers growing from rocks…Edelweiss patches […]
Systemic (A few drops from a Memoir) Blue. I wore the uniform. I swore to protect and serve. I pulled over a vehicle driven erratically. I explained to the driver why he was stopped. The auto was filled with the aroma of alcohol. I performed standard tests before asking the driver to step out of […]
Switzerland 2022 July 5th What lies in this unexpected place? So fitting has been the night wrapped in a blanket of dreams. The images, already fading like the stars, tuck themselves into dawn’s vast array of colorful petals. Awaiting your greeting, I pause here. Time after endless time, it is you awaiting my greeting. Your […]
Drops of Color The Curtain Sways Waiting for an ‘image’ to appear. Holding a timeless gaze. Suddenly, a window emerges. It’s open. You have been here before… Perhaps, You have been all along? This time the tempest seeping through PLAYS a new kind of song… it begins from the ‘inside.’ Like the Pied Piper, a […]
Switzerland 2022 July 4th Prayer Rain falling upward as clouds loom beneath me. Mountains moved the sky as the sun began its search for a doorway. Silence played itself so longingly, I covered my ears. Is this real? Is this a fantasy? Is this___________??? This is prayer…yes, it is what words no longer invite in […]
Drops of Color Poem Hidden beneath a quilt —patterns of colors warming a poem. Words blanketed in stitches looking out for unruffled moments. A window gives way to stars. A poem breathes —a soft rise of blues, greens, oranges, and yellows fanned out highlighting the room. The sun found its way adding rays —a blending […]
Switzerland 2022 July 2nd & 3rd The Doorway of Yesterday —opens like a film. A sequence of slides creates windows held in one elaborate pane —no specific storyline being written. Within the womb of the plane, the descent began —a shade lifts…a first glance. I see a blanket of white linens. Underneath appear points of […]
Drops of Color The Sea and a Light House The sea said to the light house, “Cast your radiance and we shall carry it outward upon our waves.” The light house said to the sea, “You stretch beyond any conscious reach where light and darkness come together and bridge any thought of a divide.” […]
THIS day I begin the sharing of my Journal as I traversed the landscape of Switzerland’s Alps in 2022. Enjoy the walk in the upcoming Thursdays of 2023…pray you’ll ‘fall’ in love with the scenery that has planted its ‘wild’ flowers in my being. Switzerland 2022 July 1- July 22nd, 2022 The Via Alpina […]
Drops of Color The Wild… A soft ‘yip’ met with a cajoling purr —so nurturing, far from fierce. Her paws, their tender pads —the size of a catcher’s glove. She nudges, prods, cradles the kit closer and closer. She draws her into the delicate blanket of her laced orange fur. Mother and child so affectionate […]
Strange Moments Strange, the moments —that cling to us —that lure us like bait dangling from a hook, ‘come, taste, it is right here.’ Seeing, yet not seeing —something, someone approaches. Hearing a subtle bending of leaves —A crisp cackle followed by a calming silence. Rising like smoke from a fire, a stately being appears […]
Drops of Color Open Heart Page after page, words placed like canned goods on shelves. You choose the aisle filled with chapters delighting your appetite. At times…a certain shelf holds a paragraph. It becomes a sheet of music —You listen for a sound. You read the sentences over and over again. Now, like a song, […]
There’s a poem in this place— I cannot find it! Please, help me discover where it has gone! It has vanished like a magician running a wand over this empty page. Abracadabra— How did I lose the words? How did they slip from this paper waiting, waiting, waiting to be filled? […]
Drops of Color …to Love Opening like a drawbridge, a lever releases a chain. Each timely guarded notch pulls to lift the mighty arms of its structure ‘open.’ A lowly vessel below begins to make its way. The flow of the waters lead… A door, like a bridge—‘opens.’ Hinges allow a sway like the magic […]
At night I hunt the sea for you… Quietly, I creep down to the shoreline— my footsteps meeting the incoming tide. On the dock, my vessel, ready to set sail— the water is a black sheet of glass. I paddle out, caressing the waters… my oars, like lips, softly kissing the sea. Do you hear […]
Drops of Color The Center Kwanza Hanukkah Christmas AND from this post holding this center, each celebration moving within its own direction, —tradition… The gift —when we all return back to the center, realizing we are ALL One… Blessed Holidays
A Litany of Survival For those of us, each of us… In your ‘image’—we designed. Fashioned from clay, You the Potter…turn the wheel —“we,” the work of your hands. Look upon what you have made. If we break, gather the pieces —make us new again & again. “We,” the work of your hands. Set a […]
Drops of Color Painting Faces How is it we choose the colors we do? Perhaps, the colors choose us? When I dab a drop of blue, I become the sky —eternal my reach, like wings spread east to west. An array of red hues becomes cardinals —their song gliding with each stroke of the brush. […]
IS this prayer? Word made flesh Alive on this page…prayer forming like sweet incense engulfing the vowels leaving only consonants resounding through lips parting. THEN A phrase dabbed speckles of ink splashing like drops of rain drenching my hair. I shiver not because I’m cold. You pour Yourself from the well of my being. There […]
Drops of Color “If…I only had a heart“ I would lift the window inviting you into the ‘room’ where its soft essence rhythmically drums. I’d ask, gently of course, for you to ‘Please, lift the latch, crack open the pane of your treasure chest’— I’d whisper a prayer. ‘Please accept this invitation’ so we might […]
Unravel Woven in place and, when the time be ‘ripe,’ they will unravel setting sail into the unknown.
Drops of Color Tight Rope Slender pole in hand. A sliver of a thread called a rope holding feet. Movement, S L O W— precise. Wind burst pushing the walker. Slanting into the wind, not looking down nor up. The elongated toothpick gripped by fingers —knuckles white holding life. Balanced. This is NOT an ACT. […]
In Thanksgiving It was a banquet —the plastic table cloth festive with colors. Underneath, painted boards —a ‘dining’ room table. Dirt floors steadied the plastic chairs. The walls painted in gold —the window nailed shut to hold back the cold. The meal served —hot from a brick outdoor oven —the food set on the table […]