Joy Comes In The Morning, The Wind Is A Gentleman, I Seem To Remember (A Triology)

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 ~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 1 Comment

Welcome to Day 8.
Welcome to Poetry.
Today my offering is A Triology. Thank you for riding through October with me. The pleasure is all mine.

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I.
Joy Comes In The Morning

Like the morning tube of bad news
Rolled and stuff in cellophane
To protect us from it
Or it from the rain
Count on it, the wad of this and that
Thrown in haste at the end of the driveway
We can count the number of times it
Has failed
To find its way into our breaking hearts
With news of the day

But Joy comes in the morning
On the magic carpets wafting to
And fro, in currents of wind
The limbs
Their launching pads
From which they are sent
Couriers of beauty
Bearers of good news
Fragments of whimsy
Stuck in the autumn’s wind
Draft, their fuel

The next piece
Looks like a Monarch
Lost
And the next confetti
Autumn celebrates its peak

And we leave the paper
In the drive
And choose to let it rot and dry
Become yesterday’s news

Because joy comes in the morning
When we set our eyes on
The beauty of it all
One leaf, two leaves
I cannot count them all
But each one marks
Gratitude
As
On my lawn
They
Fall

II.

The Wind Is A Gentleman

Gentle in his ways
Caressing the wind chimes
With his fingertips
Like a lover on his beloved’s
Cheek
Blows a kiss
Gently touching
The soft and blue veined skin
On the nape
Of her nearly
Octogenarian
Neck
Saying goodbye
Soft and sweet
But just
For now

A gentleman always returns

III.

I Seem To Remember

I seem to remember
She said to me
After the poem was read
Twice
Aloud

We’d ingested every word
Sucked the beauty from the bone
Like marrow on the leg of lamb
Left ravenous with remembering

Poetry, bone-digger
Excavater

Of the buried past

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Thank you for joining me. See you tomorrow, Day Nine.

In Just A Moment

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014 ~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 2 Comments

Thank you for joining me.You breathe life into this space and into this series. Your presence here is a tremendous gift.
Today is Day 4. To catch up and read the series in its enirety, click here or click the tab at the top of this home page marked #write31days2014-Postcards From Me, elizabeth w. marshall

In Just A Moment

The earth will tilt and lean
Press her face against the foggy
Glass
Look at us
As we at her
We play a game of stare
Poker faced, straining
To not look away and miss
The micro moments
She presents

What if every moment
That we see
Capture with our glassy pupiled lens
Was meant to savor
Fragrant earthen soil
And well-lit canvases
She lends

To gather up the
Remember when’s
In just a moment

She will tilt again
Continue
On her race around the galaxy

Each moment that she gives to me
In fractured minutes as I blink
To tuck into my memory folds
Filled with all the grainy, dull and fading
Remember whens
But
I will still say

I remember when
The sun rained down on the precipice of stone-grey rocks
Magnificent
And magnified by a gurgling
Rushing mountain stream
That perfect October day
Destined to meet
The beauty of the earth and I
For I was there
Gifted
With a front row seat

And in just a moment

We were gone
Fragile is life’s middle name
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Joining Sandra Heska King for Still Saturday

Joy — The Beauty Of Surprise

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 ~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ 1 Comment

Your visit breathes joy into this series. Such a pleasure to have you here. To read this series in its entirety click on the page tab on the home page entitled #Write31days2014-Postcards From Me – Elizabeth W. Marshall

Thank you for choosing to spend a moment here.

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Joy – The Beauty of Surprise

Joy, multiplier of Surprise
I cup my hands and close my eyes
For when my soul has written every
Line and verse
And ended stories,
Blinded, my own way
You step out
From behind
A dark and shadowed
Hiding place
Hidden under beds of dormant bulbs
Blanket mulch, a cover for
Your loveliness
Quilted warmth, a shield
Made of
Fallen parchment maple
Royal veiny oak

Leaves,

From gradient golden guilted shades
Paprika, hydrant red, yellow of
A yielding sign
Pantone’s infinite color wheel

The ending is no longer mine
Joy is colored
By Surprise

Wave on wave of Joy
Crashes like a tidal wave

Carves out the old
The former things
With steady surgeon’s hand

You parse and peel
Remove the dead

Redemption’s steady hand
The tool with which you operate

Mercy, signs the Artist’s work

The Beauty of Surprise

Dear Ones, Chiaroscuro

October 2, 2014October 2, 2014 ~ Elizabeth W. Marshall ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to Day Two.

Dear Ones, Chiaroscuro

Outside
Heel, then toe
Slow
As you begin, again
The bend
will widen,open
as you go

Step, as a child
Eyes wide with wonder
Framers of the outside
Art
Chiaroscurro

Then dance among the shadows
In the road
The first step, forward
Is now well behind
Walk, steady, brave one
Regard the spectrum
Shading, bright
To light, then dim to effervescent shades of
Gold
Yesterday’s darkness is well behind
Look under every leaf and twig and vine
Smell the cedar and the pine
Encouragement, these whispering scents, to carry on
Aromatic shades of forest green
Tilt your foggy lens
Wipe it clean, until the faded yellow
Dull and pale
Returns to shades of smoky amber glass, shades of autumn
There
Right around the crooked bend

Wrapped in barely hidden places
Creation
Waits

What glory
Chiaroscuro
See the beauty in the shadows
Lying there, in quiet
Wait
Fear has faded
Now, dim and faint

I will walk with you
Be your sojourner
Friend
There is beauty, still
In every shade of dark
And light
Woven

Tapestry of life

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To read the series in its entirety, click here. #write31days2014 – Postcards From Me – Elizabeth W. Marshall

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