No Parlez Vous Francais

Blue.
The Blues.
Blue Cheese.

I feel blue.
I can listen to only a minimum amount of
The Blues.
I like Blue Cheese.

I prefer "bleu" to "blue."

But I don't speak French.

Broken

A child cowers in the corner
Her spirit broken
Silenced by the noise
Of self-righteous disapproval
Unsolicited consultation

Words of pseudo-wisdom
To mold toward holy thought
Corrals the wild at heart
A fence unlocked only
By the self-appointed sage

~carolwelch
january 27,2008

Vanity - High & Low

Shoo, shoo, dear one
Leave
Fly away
Gather sticks and mud
Weave
Place your regal nest
Atop the cliff dwellings

Regal
Because you far
Outweigh
My worth

Seated high
You can look down
Upon me
As I grovel
Wondering
Am I good enough?


february 20, 2014
carolwelch

Cryopreservation

Stasis.
Like before.
Nothing new.
Uncertainty.

This time
there will be
no more initiation,
no more transparency!

But is that really me?
Caging my heart?
Restricting flow?
A thickened
outer layer
of callouses?

Such, I cannot allow.

Otherwise,
my heart
mutates
closes
morphs into
rigid
linear planes.

Stasis,
like a deep freeze
with layers of
translucent ice
distorting views.

Perhaps in another life
the ice will thaw
allowing transparency.

There will be
no icy layers
no callouses
no cages
no scars
no fear
no need to protect.

But for now
I squint, peering
into the milky white
trying to delineate
evidence of a
pulsing heart.

My frosty goggles
require constant cleaning.


carolwelch
february 17, 2014

Revelation

A ball of yarn
rainbow cords
each color a season
of life

All wound up into
one big orb
hiding the central
core

It takes time
to unwind
to lay straight
to notice the patterns
of colors

What lies at the center?
Only the other end.

And I was hoping for a
revelation

~sigh~

Ahh...
perhaps that is
the revelation

The process of
grasping that the end
and the beginning
look the same

That the discovery
is in the
unraveling


carolwelch
may 20, 2009

Our Times

Irrelevant

So many perceptions
escape the keyboard
from so many coves
around the globe

rooms, closets
forests, beaches
desks, tables
cars, trucks
palms, laps

So many perceptions
have always existed
from so many caves
around the globe

dirt, sand
stylus, rock
papyrus, stone
ink, coal
hands, fingers

Each living being
from every generation
battles feelings
of irrelevancy

Fossils imprint
Cave drawings linger
Pyramids stand
Scrolls unroll

Relevant

Handheld works
of bygone times
cause me to question
the illusionary element
on this information highway


~carolwelch
2/10/2014

ever returning themes

I hope to
never quit dreaming
watch wild ponies run
sleep in the open
greet morning sun
cast pebbles on water
embrace heron's flight
betwixt & between
tall buildings of life

~carolwelch
september, 2013

*******

"Goin' to Work in Tall Buildings" ~John Hartford

 

Someday my baby, when I am a man, 

and others have taught me the best that they can 

they'll sell me a suit they’ll cut off my hair 

and send me to work in tall buildings 

So it's goodbye to the sunshine 

goodbye to the dew 

goodbye to the flowers 

and goodbye to you 

I'm off to the subway 

I must not be late 

I’m going to work in tall buildings 

When I’m retired 

My life is my own 

I made all the payments 

it's time to go home 

and wonder what happened 

betwixt and between 

when I went to work in tall buildings 

~Music & Lyrics: John Hartford

*******

"Michelle's Song" ~Elton John

We learned to be so graceful
Watching wild horses running
And from those agile angels
We knew the tide was turning
For we watched as on the skyway
The herons circled slowly
While we mere mortals watched them fly
Our sleepless eyes grew heavy

Cast a pebble on the water
Watch the ripples gently spreading
Tiny daughter of the Camargue
We were meant to be together
We were made for one another
In a time it takes to grow up
If only we were old enough
Then they might leave us both alone

So take my hand in your hand
Say it's great to be alive
No one's going to find us
No matter how they try
No one's going to find us
It's wonderful so wild beneath the sky

Sleeping in the open
See the shadows softly moving
Take a train towards the southlands
Our time was never better
We shall pass the sights of splendor
On the door of a new life
It had to happen soon I guess
Whether it is wrong or it is right


~Lyrics: Bernie Taupin
~Music: Elton John

Elliptical Enchantment

Stately magnolia
Regal, splendid, statuesque
Lush open flower
White cradling pink
Among green and mahogany

Beneath her eloquent boughs
Pillows of moss and clover
Scattered boulders among pine needles
Harshness of life's survival
Seeds awaiting birth

Gracefully she sways
Earthly rhythms serenade
Sweet fragrance envelops every sense
Bathed in warm breezes
Swaddled in elliptical enchantment

She stretches toward the heavens
To glimpse the soft horizon
Setting of the celestial sphere
Moonlit stars, nature's graffiti
Trundling the cusp of the Milky Way

I behold your form
~magnolia's blossom~
I gaze into your eyes
~rivers of mahogany~
I feather your flesh with fingertips
~more delicate than moss and clover~
I drink in your fragrance
~intoxicating sweet breezes~

Sensuous lyrical whispers
~rhythm rocks our souls~
Luminous hypnotic aura
~immersed in celestial shadow~
Enticing flower opens
~ripples of desire~
Elliptical ecstasy
~horizon of nativity~

Entwined in delicate symmetry
Cradled in the afterglow
Breath's survival, awaiting birth
Circle of life
Riding the cusp of the Milky Way

~carolwelch
November 6, 2007

****
Elliptical Enchantment is a poem I wrote for an online poetry challenge in November, 2007, at Poetry Pages.

The challenge criteria was:
"Anything remotely considered a poem is acceptable as long as the phrases and selected words are used.

Phrases:

soft mahogany/warm mahogany (or another phrase dealing with mahogany, doesn't have to be skin related, maybe furniture)
rhythm and blues/rock and roll/half step (or any music theory or general music reference)
A perfect square/Axis of Symmetry (or any math reference)
I hope you feel the same way too (or any reference to heartbreak or unrequited love or pursued love)

Words (Can change tense, make plural, etc. just use the root word):

Magnolia
horizon
serenade
luminous
lyrical/ lyric/ lyrically etc.
statuesque
moonshine/moonlit/starlit (any moon or star reference)
graffiti

Bonus:

End the poem in a cliff hanger"

The Entries:
Entry: Brief Dance in the Moonlight
Entry: Last November
Entry: Unrequited Love
Entry: Kiss me Satan
Entry: a widow stands in heartache
Entry: ~ lovie ~
Entry: Elliptical Enchantment (Final Pick)
Entry: Adoration Foncée

Drifting

In my boat
upon the water

I observe
life
on the shore
as landers
play
work
eat

The landers
momentarily pause
to look
at the lady
in the boat
as it lazily
drifts by

Then
the landers
return to life
play
work
eat

There are duties
about the boat
that cannot
be ignored
as she drifts
alone
wondering if
the landers
have a better
life than she

carolwelch
february 2, 2014