*

*
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Saturday, March 31, 2012

It Is Time

You are not your bra size, nor are you the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress. You are no amalgam of these things. You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words that you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your life a full and meaningful one. You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.



I believe it is time
to stop mourning the body of youth
Even in her dewy verdancy, we held
a conflicted relationship
She never quite lived up
to her air brushed sisters. They had
melon breasts 
while she had cottage cheese thighs

I believe it is time
to embrace the fragrant dumpling body of middle age
It is more yielding
more willing to both give and
receive
Within its folds are secrets
gained only through time and
experience

I believe it is time
to drape my body in its finest linens and loveliest decorations
Why save them?
Why not now?
It is time to stop mourning the body of youth
and celebrate
Set the table for a feast.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Take a Sad Song

I didn't know who Jude was
but I remember thinking
there were a lot of instructions for him to follow
and some I didn't understand
like "let her under your skin"
but still
when I heard that song
from the back seat of the car
I knew
it was my favorite
I had never paid much attention
to the radio before
I was only about five
but when that song came on
I listened
Somehow I felt like it was telling me something
important
Maybe it was coincidence or
maybe it was synchronicity but
I have spent much of my life
trying to take sad songs and
make them better.

submitted for Poets United, Thursday Think Tank #90, Music


Supplicant to the Moon


source
The milk moon sits in the night sky
like a glowing pearl.
Wolf rises
scents the air for blood
and bays a song of seduction.
Artemis,
guard well your nymphs
flushed pink with spring
and wild as the violets
braided in their hair.
Send music from your lyre in Zephyr's
hands. The beast will be hushed
as raindrops fall on his dreaming eyes.
Come dawn
the scent of musk and
petrichor.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Poem Sketching
(my word group was violets, petrichor, nymph, flush, milk moon)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Don't Silence Students Over Day of Silence

Carroll County Public School Board: Allow students to make announcements about the Day of Silence

My daughter requested that I post this petition on my blog(s) to support these students. They wish to make announcements at their school in Carroll County, MD about the Day of Silence on April 20. The Day of Silence is a student-led national event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Students from middle school to college take a vow of silence in an effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior by illustrating the silencing effect of bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.  The problem is that the Carroll County Public School Board has instituted a new rule that says schools within the school district cannot use words such as "gay", "lesbian", or "bisexual" (or anything pertaining to the LGBTQA community) on their announcements, which could prevent students from making their announcements. 

One of these students started an online petition to allow Day of Silence announcements. If you support these students' rights to free expression, please click on the link to sign the petition. And a big "Thank You" to my daughter, Baby Mouse, for bringing this to my attention. You go girl!

http://www.change.org/petitions/carroll-county-public-school-board-allow-students-to-make-announcements-about-the-day-of-silence

                             

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Gone Fishing

photo by Kat Mortensen
There they are
the two men
at their private spot
(or what each thought was his private spot)
Each is too proud
and too stubborn to move
so they feign apathy
for the other's presence
But a casual observer
might see
a well rehearsed dance
mirrored males
See the straight backs?
the necks elongated just so?
the legs bent with feet nudged
toward water's edge?
Look at the pointy beaks and
intent expressions
This could be a rivalry or
just two pals
Gone fishing.


Saturday, March 24, 2012

Life Preserver

photo by James Rainsford
So nice to know
that Mom's in good hands
especially now
that her health is failing
Wish we could be there
but life is so busy
maybe at Christmas
or her birthday
Please keep her comfortable
sure, sedatives are fine
if that's what she needs
to help her
RELAX
Replace the broken hip
Remove the cancerous breasts
Take out the cataracts
Repair the blocked artery
Make it all new and
BETTER
Give her more medications
to fix the side-effects of her medications
Flood her with
RADIATION
and
CHEMO
if there's any chance
Feed her with a tube if she won't
EAT
Stick another down her nose if she won't
BREATHE
Make her heart pump if she won't 
LIVE
Do EVERYTHING 
you can
Don't let Mother
DIE.

Fire/Light

source
Now I know
the brightest light at night
isn't a star
It's the light that dances in your eyes
that sparks the flame within me

Kindling kisses
We burn through the night
throwing ourselves on the fire
to fuel more
and more
until the last glowing ember has
extinguished itself
with itself

In the morning light
we drink our coffee
In the sugar bowl
are ashes.

Friday, March 23, 2012

20/200+

Near Sighted by IMustBeDead
Every morning
I am born again
blind as an infant
the world a gauzy, milky
Impressionist painting

Before my first breath
fully escapes my lungs
I've already lunged
for them
It's innate
instinctual
a survival behavior, really

The movement is one
The pattern the same
lunge, grab, grasp, pull, open, place, adjust
Even in the dark
it must be done
before I arise
The behavior is a part of me
a reflex
(try not kicking out when the knee is tapped just so)

Contact lenses 
make for clearer vision
but blurrier behavior
To wit:
my index finger pushing up upon
the bridge of my nose finds
nothing
and at bedtime
a slight pinch and pull of my thumb and pointer
atop my ear finds 
nothing
The feeling 
is quite bothersome
a sort of phantom limb

Though I curse the need for them
I miss them 
when they're missing

Let there be sight.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Cactus Flower

Cactus Flower (Chile) by Leon Calquin

Prickly as a cactus
but you bloom so bright
Get a thorn through my heart
if I hold you too tight
Your blood runs hot
your words do too
It can be sorta scary
gettin' close to you
You're strong; you don't wilt
with a little heat
Your head runs with ideas
You think on your feet
Girl, your wit's needle sharp
and no one is spared
Whoever loves you
had best be prepared
Babe, I wouldn't change a freckle
You have got such power
and you make me smile so bright
You're a perfect cactus flower.

Lament to Chronos

"Turning To Spring" Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
They say time heals
but these days
they creep by so slowly
and the nights
the nights are torturous
I am a tourist
in my own life
a visitor
in the museum of my mind
I'm bleeding
I'm dying
and the minutes tick by
Time doesn't care.

submitted for The Mag, Mag 109

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

You Love the Rain

source
Anyone can love a sunny day
but you
love the rain
While I grumble
at the grey
the morning mist
makes you smile
You come alive
a neglected houseplant
that's finally been watered

This morning
you ran outside to play
a puppy in the puddles
When you came back inside
you smelled of fresh mowed grass
and had cherry blossom petals
clinging to your dark hair
like tiny wedding veils
I lifted each one
and kissed beneath it

I love you because
you love rain clouds
I looked up
and saw them
heavy
and pregnant with portent
You looked up
and said
That one looks like
a lazy manatee
floating across the sky.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Water Lilies

© Shanyn Silinski
Gather 'round and hear my story 
Though it's sad and filled with woe
'Bout a Fairy Princess on a 
hill and her love down below

Wizard king would not approve of 
mixing mortal blood with kin
Told his daughter that to love this 
man was nothing but a sin

Fairy Princess wept so hard
the skies they rained for days on end
and her love, he heard her wailing
vowed to go to her again

Upon entering the kingdom
he did find a fence so high
Wizard King had built it up to
reach the clouds within the sky

Come next morning an alarm
was sounded 'round the kingdom wide
Caught beneath the kingdom's fence
a man was found who'd drowned and died

No one ever knew if her love
drowned on going out or in
and the Fairy Princess in her 
grief was never seen again

She had turned them both to water
lilies floating in the pond
They'll forever be together
not in this world but beyond.


and dVerse Poets Pub, Open Link Night 36(because, as usual, I'm too late for Poetics, Once Upon a Time)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Trio of Tanka

source
Snipping back dry sprigs
Dirt under my fingernails
Scent of rosemary
Winter's unruly blanket
Shelters spring's tidy green growth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great blue heron prints
Raccoon trails under boardwalk
Deer hooves pressed in mud
Hieroglyphics of the wild
What is lost in translation?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tiny white flowers
Paint over winter's canvas
Pure as spring snowfall
Come summer, white becomes red
Innocence becomes passion

Signs

© Shanyn Silinski
When I first saw you
little wings 
started beating inside my heart
When we walked side by side
holding your hand
was as easy 
as breathing
And when the sign said
No Through Road
we took off our shoes
and ran in the mud.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Amber

source
 You
oozed anger
out of every pore
Seething
Burning
Hot
Trapped everyone 
in your path
of caustic destruction
But time
tempers
even the whitest flame
Anger hardens
fossilizes amberlike
You 
polish your distortions
hoard your resentments
like precious stones
string them
on a necklace of self-righteousness
so heavy
You
can't even
breathe.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

You May Ask Yourself

image: Uzengia Aleksander Nedic
Did you ever wake up and think
"Where am I?"
Not "Where am I?" but
"Where am I?"
It's an entirely different question 
profoundly more difficult
to answer
because
the one doing the seeking
IS 
the one being sought
(or perhaps not)
It is therefore understandable
why those who find themselves
(that is, lose themselves)
in such circumstances
often may consider it easier
to just go back to
sleep.

submitted for The Mag: Mag 108


                           

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Love Song

When I met you, boy
You were so young and sweet
Didn't give a damn
'bout the life I planned out neat
Said drop the pilot
I'll fly your plane
Took me so high
thought I'd never touch ground again.

Love or lack of oxygen
Maybe they're the same
Followed your course
and I took your name
We were flyin' high
then the nosedive came
looked for you to hold my hand
but you were jumpin' out the plane.

Baby, it could have been better
but it could have been worse
We got the chance
to write another verse
The landing hit you hard
Now it's plain to see
You want love and affection, boy
no one's better than me.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Music With Marian, Love and Affection

with inspiration and a couple of lines stolen from Joan Armatrading's "Drop the Pilot"
"It Could Have Been Better"
and "Love and Affection"

Friday, March 9, 2012

No Limits

“Every 47 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States."
 
How limited is your compassion?
How can you judge another's worth
as if they were a piece of fashion
How limited is your compassion?
Your love and care you need not ration
The more you give, the less the dearth
How limited is your compassion?
How can you judge another's worth?



Thursday, March 8, 2012

Of Moonlight and Thieves

photo by Mariya Mileva
If locked doors make for thieves
I will lock every door
in the world
so you will steal me away

The moon is too bright
 I can not sleep
for the Man's staring
Let the owl pluck out his eyes
so I can fly away with you
unseen
The nightingale
will tell no one
but the stars

Little fox
come raid the hen house
                                             I will be waiting for you
                                             my feathers red in the moonlight
                                             No bounty for the hunter
                                             no eggs in the morning
                                             Just the gossip and squabbling
                                             of sisters left behind
                                             wondering
                                             whether to be sad or
                                             envious


       submitted for


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

You

image by Sarolta Ban
 You're a little, little man
Trying to play me for the fool
Did you think you had a plan?
What an idiot you are!
Just a worthless, paltry pissant, and an
utter trifling tool.

You're an itty bitty boy
And I really hate your hat
Try to treat me like a toy?
See what happens to you now
Go away and don't annoy
me anymore you rotten rat!

You're a small pathetic loser
and a parasitic tick
You know that it's all true, sir
I am looking down at you
Come on, face me, your accuser
Jeez, you really make me sick!

submitted for The Mag, Mag 107

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I'm Bored

Boredom by Kenia Cris
I'm bored
Let's play
You be Queen
I'll be Princess
No, we'll be angels
with sparkly wings
I'm bored
Let's play
I'll be a butterfly
pink and purple
Now we'll be brides
and marry kings!
I'm bored
Let's play
We're magic fairies
We're flying horses
with golden mane
I'm bored
I'm hungry
I'm tired of playing
When do we get off this train?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Hello


The dogs start yapping
before the doorbell even rings
I open it 
about a foot
and there they are
the elders
twin penguins
(minus the tux jackets)
standing at attention on my doorstep
hair neatly combed
smiles in place
Bibles in hand
and I think
Damn why didn't I look out the peephole first?
Hello
We'd like to talk to you about
why out god is better than your god
why our church is better than your church
(oh, you don't go to church? 
well, maybe you'd like to visit ours!)
why you should believe what we believe
why you will burn in hell if you don't
why
why 
why
Why didn't I look through that damn peephole?
I send them away
and toss their tracts on top of the newspaper
Headlines 
shout 
religion and politics
politics and religion
and when did this country become
a theocracy anyway?
Those who don't fit 
better get with the Christian agenda real quick
cause the men are coming
with their probes
(if I'd wanted the government up my cunt
I would have fucked a bureaucrat)
and I have no need 
to be born again
cause I was born just right 
the first time, thank you
So maybe I'll just hide here
behind my door
and be sure
to check to damn peephole
and not open it
until Santorum 
is a dirty word again.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

This Is Just To Say...


William Carlos Williams died onMarch 4, 1963. In his memory, I have reprinted his poem and then 3 of my own "tributes" in his memory. No disrespect intended-I love his plum poem!

This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
**************************** 
I have drunk
the wine
that was in
the fridge

and which
you were probably
saving
for dinner

Forgive me
it was there
and I'm
an alcoholic
****************************************
I have copied
the term paper
that was on
your computer

and which
you were probably
going to turn in
tomorrow

Forgive me
you're so smart
and I need
an A
****************************************

I have stolen
the poem
that you posted on
your blog

and which
you were probably
saving
for publication

Forgive me
you're so creative
and have
no copyrights

 

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Arting Again


Trying my hand with the acrylics again. Better luck this time (thanks Rabs!) This one, I think, is going to be for my Mom's birthday this month.  Bird of Paradise is her favorite flower. She's also getting a Roux original by Rabbit (thanks again!) that you can see on the website. Her name is Gail and she's playing mah jong. If you haven't checked out the Roux site yet, definitely do-it's full of adorable Roux bunnies (Easter gifts anyone?) that you can have designed however you want!

Happy Arting and have a good weekend!


Thursday, March 1, 2012

Love Brings

West path, grey morning (2009) by Thomas Robinson

On dove grey mornings Love brings me the hues
He lends the day its colors from his eyes
The ashen sky is painted shades of blues
I turn to him and smile as I rise

On tuneless mornings Love brings me the song
The day begins with love notes soft and clear
And in his voice the words are never wrong
A harmony so gentle to the ear

On jagged mornings Love brings me the balm
He smooths my edges til they're not so rough
He touches me, restores my sense of calm
But knows that nights are made of different stuff

Where Love brings days of color, song, and light
In dark mystery and quiet, rules the night.