Saturday, April 29, 2023

In Synch

Visited the Yadkin River yesterday
Her waters were high
Rapid and muddy

I witnessed nature-flotsam
Trees, logs, branches, debris
Being swished along by unseen currents

One giant tree
Got caught sideways 
Under the bridge

Rapids rolled her round-and-round
As if a lumberjack was atop
Spinning her

Another giant got caught
Perpendicular 
With the giant roller

Moments later WHOOSH
Both set free! 
To continue their journey
Down the river

This same day one year ago
My veins would soon feed on heparin
Two "good-sized" blood clots had landed
One in each lung




Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Shorts: Introduction & Index

Due to additional ongoing health adversities since May 2022, journaling/writing, drawing/coloring slowly took a "back seat" in my life; not to mention an abundance of other activities. As far as personal writing, I have mainly charted symptoms and different modalities I experiment with to find what helps my symptoms and what doesn't; an arduous task. 

Beginning January 2023, I began journaling what I came to call "Shorts." The idea came from this article, Opinion: How 17 syllables a day can change your life by Tess Taylor. In the second paragraph Tess states: 

...I wanted to share a practice that’s been useful to me, as a writer: To write a haiku, or a loose haiku, every day. For me this habit began in a dark phase, when I realized I just wasn’t getting much creative time. I was feeling depleted....


Well, that pretty closely described me, and still does: depleted, dark phase, lack of creative energy [time].  So, I gave the "loose haiku" a whirl. I started out with 15 to 19 syllables which then evolved into anywhere between 10ish to 29ish syllables. The loose haiku got really loose. 

In the past month or so, I started calling them "Shorts." I could call them "Briefs," but they cover more than "Briefs." [I guess then, "Nudes" would look like this:               . (haha)]

My "Shorts" have become a type of simple journaling for me. But I can't write them every day. 

Last night I read many of them to Hubby. He said something like, "Wow. The suffering really comes through. But I witness the suffering every day, so to me they are very poignant. A lot of those are publish-worthy." 

I responded, "Does hope come through too? Glimpses of joy?"  He responded in the affirmative. 

So, I'm gonna publish some/most/all. Many (most?) are not cheerful. All are simple; one can't get too analytical in 10 to 29 syllables. Some come from inner visualizations, of which I have a-plenty. If I knew how and had the energy and inclination, I could maybe put together some decent and colorful animations from my visualizations. 

My plan is to post them in the order I wrote them and entitle them accordingly, ie: Shorts: January 2023 and continue chronologically. Time will tell if I stick with the plan. :)   

I write the shorts one at a time. But sometimes, they turn into multiverse poems. 

For now, I am posting some (but not all) of these "poems from shorts" separately, with a link to each within the stream of shorts for the month they were written. (Hmmm...that sentence needs some work, but hopefully it's understandable?) It's like some call to be given their separate space, and others don't.


Dedicated to all who suffer in silence...
Which isn't silent at all...
The torment is a far scream from quiet...
You are heard...
      You are not alone...
      We are not alone...
~~~~~~~
Links to Shorts:



Poems from Shorts:



Shorts: January 2023

To read an introduction and access the Shorts index, click here: Shorts: Introduction

Dedicated to all who suffer in silence...
Which isn't silent at all...
The torment is a far scream from quiet...
You are heard...
      You are not alone...
      We are not alone...

Sunday, 1/01/23

Tears here, cheeks damp
Suffering, relief, resonance
I am not alone

trees reach out with naked limbs
speaking to the sky
and to whomever will listen

insane insomnia
innate intelligence, my body
she knows how to heal



Monday, 1/02/23

I took his last name
So glad that I did
Husband, provider, hero

Contemplating: Do I swallow
Something to help with 
Sleep? Yes or No?

I feel the nothingness
So feel it fully
Where else does nothing exists



Tuesday, 1/03/23

I just thought of a 
haiku, something about
sleep, and now I forget



Wednesday, 1/04/23

Breathe in, breathe out, let go
Headlamp provides light
So that I can write
No shorthand

Carol have great compassion
for youself
and for Andres


Thursday, 1/05/23

Fabio, beauty and grit
Horses sleep standing up
Sleep will come, be at peace



Friday, 1/06/23

And then I tell myself
Carol, you have nerve damage
And chronic insomnia

And a prednisone 'addiction'
which you are 
coming off of

Not to mention pulmonary embolisms 
last year
and anxiety and depression

Headlamp shines on page
Lines straight and loopy, neat and messy
Breathe now -- in, out



Sunday, 1/08/23


Tonight I will sleep restfully
Yea, I will lie down
My sleep shall be sweet



Tuesday, 1/10/23

I want to write haiku
but too tired from my work of
bathing and moving my body

That's 21 syllables
But I wrote  



Wednesday, 1/11/23

What do I do next?
Carol, bask in all your body
has accomplished, thus far.

Bask in its continued ability
to the best of its capacity
to heal itself



Thursday, 1/12/23

I ventured to
the post office today
It was a surreal experience

I love you Body
You have serviced me so well
And will contine
Until its time to stop

How many times have I
told my story to these walls?
One thousand? Ten thousand?



Friday, 1/13/23

Thirty-five years ago tonight
I was in the hospital
The next day, I birthed new life



Saturday, 1/14/23

The sun came out today
And the cold wind blew
And they kissed my face



Monday, 1/16/23

Wearied Body, Pain Shoots
Scrambled Brain, Thoughts Gobbly-gook
All in a day's work



Tuesday, 1/17/23

People pass before my eyes
And other creatures too
To each, I send love

Gratitude brushes my cheeks
As the other
Smiles back at me too



Wednesday, 1/28/23

I love the days
when I'm in the flow
All that is needed
I will know

Empty coffee pot
Sits on table
Awaiting liquid



Friday, 1/20/23



Sunday, 1/22/23

What of today?
It came. It went.
Tomorrow will do the same.

I pray to God
Please bring me healing, relief
Teach me how, Oh Lord

Feldenkrais
The name has the same magic to me as
Shackleton



Monday, 1/23/23

Pill bottles so many
100s & 100s, 1000s & 1000s
Of pills

Comfy bed
Supportive pillows
Sweet Unicorn
What else is needed?



Tuesday, 1/24/23

I know not what to write
So I draw letters on the page
Anyway



Wednesday, 1/25/23

Imagine a day
Free of pain
And don't stop imagining

Thru the water within the ocean
Symbiosis
And the moon plays too



Thursday, 1/26/23

My reflection in the picture
on the wall
sunset, quiet seas



Sunday, 1/29/23

Carol, scrolling your phone
will not  help you 
feel connected.
So, back away. 

I can't keep up
With all the tasks I think
I need to do
So stop

Yes stop
The cream rises to the top
And that is the most needful

O dear Body
I love every cell of You
Thru and thru
Rest, rest



Monday, 1/30/23

How did life become 
so complicated?
Possessions. Possessions. Possessions. 

I cannot control the future
I cannot change the past
I can breathe
In, out

I can no longer breathe
underwater 
Since emerging
from the womb



Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Recall the lilies and the ponies...

This anxiety
A feeling I will not have energy
To accomplish the tasks
Which I perceive as needful

Let go, let be
Recall the lilies of the field
And the ponies of the mountain

God, I'm sorry 
I was psychotic 
tonight

I breathe in the suffering
of all
in like condition

I breathe out lovingkindness
to all
who suffer

If it be Your will
May I sleep tonight
May I surrender

May I somehow
turn this suffering
into gold

Along RR Grade Road, 2020



Pony and Foal, Grayson Highlands, 2017





Thursday, April 6, 2023

Instead...

Instead of rehearsing Her words
think of goodness, of light
of all I have to be thankful for

Such as rain, sun, trees
John, Sarah, Josh
My Parents, Kate

Todd, Michele, Clark, Julie
Dorothy, Larry
April, Susan, Denise, Norm

Jeff, Abby, Herb
Tom2, Katelin, Robyn
Ted, Becky, Loved Ones

The locksmith
who was 
an angel

Don't let one person's judgement
steal my joy
and negate the serendipities in my life
all that goodness 





Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Yellow Court

Today from my Yellow Court
A smokey cloud emerged
Though it wasn't smoke

It was dark-gray
Pain, decades old
Held by a cord

Then
Golden scissors 
Cut the cord

And the cloud ascended
A deep golden-yellow
Shone upon it

"I don't want to be forgotten
I don't want to be abandoned"
Said the trembling dark-gray cloud

"We aren't abandoning you"
Replied the golden-glow
"We are setting you free"

Light of golden-yellow
Warm like the sun
Gently penetrated
And shone inside the cloud

The light soothed the cloud
For the cloud had been hiding
A long time in darkness

And now the cloud was free!
The darkness turned to light!

Gentle rain fell from the cloud
Drops like tears
Tears of acceptance, of transformation
Purified

The Insiders danced for joy!
Pog and It and I witnessed
We smiled and felt 
YES!