Category: 108 Poetry Challenge!

Canoe Trips

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and we’re off!
a pack on my back
a canoe on your head
we are travelling

we are going to nowhere in particular
except for you have a specific campsite in mind and a map

i have my book
you have your headphones
and we’ll lie in the dirt
beneath the trees
blissful

I can only write poetry at the side of a lake
I can only be free in the mountains

my mind is the lake
my body the mountain
and i can find freedom with you

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.  All proceeds go to the Young Adult Program at Yasodhara Ashram.

Animals

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baby geese on the beach
who doesn’t love their cuteness?

and can I be cute in my poetry?
will anyone care if i’m not clever?

if I claim to love
will you laugh at my story?

if I cackle and wit
will you think I’m brilliant?

and what if they don’t love my poetry?
and what if they don’t love me?

what if its cute?
and plain jane?
and there’s no edge?
will my world wither into nothingness?

and will you love me as i am

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Beach Stones

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lying in perfect patterns
you crunch beneath my feet
and she knows that i am coming

i walk slowly
listening as the waves lap against the shore
shading the sun from my eyes
it is hot
and sweat rolls down my back

are you reading?
she shakes her head
and i sit beside her in the shade
are you still singing?
sometimes, she answers
not enough

what would make it enough?
i ask
freedom, she answers

we stand together
and walk slowly into the water
up to our necks
wearing our clothes

i look up
a bird flies overhead

do you think the birds are free?, i ask
she looks at me
and answers
yes.

 

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Singing on Rooftops

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Getting out of the window is awkward
Pass the guitar
The bottle of wine
The cool breeze makes its own way over

When we were young
we sang on rooftops
When we were young
we knew what was in our hearts
When we were young
we held hands – just to experiment

You make it out too
We look over the garden
And out to the lake
And we sing

We sing what is in our hearts
We sing the songs of our childhood
I sing my mother’s songs
You sing your’s
And we sing our history right back into the present

I don’t know what’s in your heart
But I know what’s in mine
And we sing.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.  All proceeds go to the Young Adult Program at Yasodhara Ashram.

Wind

who has seen the wind?
the wise ones ask

and i have felt it
sweep over my skin
warm my heart

and i have felt it
shake me to my bones

I have not seen the wind
but I have fought it
peddling downhill
as it sweeps off the ocean
and asks me to question
do I really want to go over this hill and through these woods?
and does it have to be a fight?
and who is this wind off the ocean?
what does he stand for?
why are some days so hard?
and why does he blow?

who has seen the wind?
the wise ones ask
and i can’t stand it

who has heard the grain of sand speak?
and who has climbed the plains?
and who has touched the drifting melodies escaping from your lips?

who has seen the wind?
the wise ones ask

and I listen.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Garden Crew

garden crew
a muttley crew
who love dirt
and worms

blood sweat and tears
they pour into this earth
to answer the simple question
how does your garden grow?

when asked
they shovel harder
weed faster
dig deeper
into their souls to find the answer

and what is life without a garden?
they ask the business people
what is life without a connection to the rhythm of the earth?
and what is life?

and the business people
plug the question into their iphones
promise to send a printout in the mail
and walk on.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Petrichor

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i breath in deeply
do you smell that?
breathe!
no! really breathe!
fill your lungs!

we stand
hand and hand
barefooted
at the edge of the forest

we step forward
the moss soft beneath our feet

I drop his hand and run
hair blown back

free
laughing

turning a corner I trip
and end up lying in the moss
looking at the tree tops
with the smell of rain

alone.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Peach Season!

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The juice drips down my chin
As I look over at the man I just met in the orchard
I smile, wipe the juice off
Climb back up my ladder

The orchard reminds me of my grandmother
Her rhythm of hard work
peach jam and apple pie

Peach season and it is hot
The sweat drips down my back
My t-shirt plastered to my body

I feel rung out
Rung thin
There’s no hiding in this heat

Peach juice drips down my chin
I look over at the man I just met

I smile.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.

Barefoot Adventure

White dress
White purse
White scarf
I am walking home barefoot

Misplaced my shoes in the department store
Took them off to feel the white shag between my toes
Looked back and they were gone

The wind blows my hair
A man with a briefcase squints at my feet

Where are my shoes??
Where is my shame?
Who have I become?

I pause – feel the wind, the warmth of the pavement beneath my feet. Then,

Chin up
Eyes bright
I walk.

 

To learn more about my 108 Poetry Challenge or to donate click here.