tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22753989327297420602024-03-20T22:27:38.128+02:00Skylover: Collected Works of Kerry O'ConnorKerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-56937504494263585442023-12-06T12:00:00.000+02:002023-12-06T12:56:05.275+02:00About the Poet<h2>
Collected Works</h2>
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2009 - 2024</h3>
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About the Poet</h3>
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Kerry O’Connor has been writing poetry since 2009. Her themes are existential and she draws inspiration from art, nature and philosophy. Her poetry and art can be found on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/skylover.arts/">@skylover.arts</a> . </div><div><br /></div><div>Kerry's poems have appeared in several editions of <a href="http://nicecage.com/issues/001/index.html">Nice Cage</a>, a literary e-zine; the online publications, <a href="http://www.versewrights.com/oconnor-kerry.html">Verse Wrights</a>, <a href="https://visualverse.org/writers/kerry-oconnor/">Visual Verse</a> , <a href="http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/contemplating-people-i-have-observed-by-kerry-oconnor">The Ekphrastic Review</a> and <a href="https://bornonadarkmoon.substack.com/">Born on a Dark Moon</a> as well as the anthology: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M577SLL?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzsundaymo-20&creativeASIN=B09M577SLL&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.270BJGQBIIPSV&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_d_asin">365 Days of Covid</a> published in November 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kerry was the Creative Manager of a communal blog, <a href="http://withrealtoads.blogspot.co.za/">imaginary garden with real toads</a>, from 2011 - 2019. This group project provided a forum for on-line poets, but has since been repurposed as an archive and reference site, of which she is the curator to the present time.</div><div><div><br /></div>
During working hours, Kerry is to be found in a South African high school, teaching English as Home and Additional Language. Education is both her passion and her life’s work.<br />
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The Beauty Of It</h3>
<i><b>‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all</b></i><br />
<i><b>Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.</b></i><br />
<b>John Keats (1795 – 1821)</b><br />
<br />"I have spent years pondering the way in which people assign worth to art. It is non-functional and, thus, worthless by definition. This is a basic truth of poetry – can this truth, therefore, be construed as beautiful? It is the one sustaining grace of humanity that we may conceive of truth as identifiable with beauty – both pure, both ideal, both almost impossible to obtain beyond our own willingness to accept that art is not made for criticism. If we allow it, art becomes a thing beyond purpose, the quintessence of human creativity."<br />
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<b><i>K.L. O'Connor</i> </b><br />
<b>June 2013</b><br />
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Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-6373982432874538502023-04-30T15:23:00.000+02:002023-12-06T12:37:08.347+02:00Unfinished ~ Four Sonnets<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Asunder</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is a space for my body here.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I move aside the oxygen, or breathe</div><div style="text-align: left;">it in with many other atoms I never see</div><div style="text-align: left;">and for the briefest moment, feel here.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The remainder of me is dream space.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Beneath my skin, I assume is flesh</div><div style="text-align: left;">mixed with a few elements, a wish,</div><div style="text-align: left;">but I consist mostly of illusory space.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Then why does it feel like I am breaking?</div><div style="text-align: left;">Behind me is a trail of fragments, bits,</div><div style="text-align: left;">of myself, words that broke from my lips,</div><div style="text-align: left;">a line I drew in the sand, still breaking.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Am I, thus, an absence altogether</div><div style="text-align: left;">only waiting to be wrested asunder?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Unfinished</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not once have I lost an unposted letter</div><div style="text-align: left;">nor forgotten a book nor thought better</div><div style="text-align: left;">of those who leave things undone - </div><div style="text-align: left;">Never cursed water for being no wetter.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I expect little from friends, less of lovers</div><div style="text-align: left;">who whisper and touch, all under covers</div><div style="text-align: left;">but hasten away, buttons half-done - </div><div style="text-align: left;">I doubt promises and mistrust others.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Why ever, then, should it fall to my hand</div><div style="text-align: left;">to keep failed desire afloat? Or disband</div><div style="text-align: left;">my memory of all you have not done - </div><div style="text-align: left;">I have no motive to contrive or demand.</div><div style="text-align: left;">let's finish with whatever remains unsaid</div><div style="text-align: left;">and leave drowned love n its riverbed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Episode</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Frankly, I had expected more</div><div style="text-align: left;">from karma - righting wrongs - </div><div style="text-align: left;">but I've seen this episode before:</div><div style="text-align: left;">a sun that sets, an open door,</div><div style="text-align: left;">walking away, the same old songs - </div><div style="text-align: left;">Truthfully, I expected more.</div><div style="text-align: left;">An oath, a sigh, a heart made sore,</div><div style="text-align: left;">a feeling that I don't belong - </div><div style="text-align: left;">Yet I've seen this episode before:</div><div style="text-align: left;">It will start well, we'll both adore</div><div style="text-align: left;">and search for meaning all day long - </div><div style="text-align: left;">One true, one false; one weak, one strong.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Why, then, had I expected more</div><div style="text-align: left;">when I'd seen this episode before?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Memory</h3><div><br /></div><div>When memories are torn apart</div><div>they leave a trace of fresh woodsmoke:</div><div>inhale the essence, but don't choke</div><div>on fragments that will break your heart.</div><div><br /></div><div>What is done is done and in the past</div><div>though troubled times may yet evoke:</div><div>as memories, when torn apart,</div><div>will leave a trace of old woodsmoke.</div><div><br /></div><div>In time you will ignore the smart</div><div>of all that's lost and what you broke,</div><div>even dull the pain with positive strokes:</div><div>Living for today is a mastered art ...</div><div><br /></div><div>Still memories are torn apart</div><div>Leaving a trace that smells of smoke.</div><p><br /></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-66500240035432984292023-04-20T12:17:00.000+02:002023-12-06T12:36:19.501+02:00Ghosts Come and Go<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Ghosts Come and Go</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ghosts come and go through my back door,</div><div style="text-align: left;">a waft of earth, a creaky floor</div><div style="text-align: left;">like guests who never leave but live</div><div style="text-align: left;">in this house and will not forgive</div><div style="text-align: left;">my intrusion - I am a bore.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I do not jump, barely abhor</div><div style="text-align: left;">their whimpering moans galore</div><div style="text-align: left;">since they are dead and can't relive</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Ghosts come and go.</div><div style="text-align: left;">They throng around me more and more</div><div style="text-align: left;">I think they have a plan in store - </div><div style="text-align: left;">perhaps an afterlife missive</div><div style="text-align: left;">I might find transformative:</div><div style="text-align: left;">a glimpse of God's golden shore?</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Ghosts come and go.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mercy</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Haunted by ethereal eyes,</div><div style="text-align: left;">I trust they look upon mercy.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Here is much to forgive or despise</div><div style="text-align: left;">Haunted by ethereal eyes.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It might be considered unwise</div><div style="text-align: left;">To see my soul and not curse me</div><div style="text-align: left;">Haunted by ethereal eyes</div><div style="text-align: left;">I trust they look upon mercy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is little in heaven or earth</div><div style="text-align: left;">Troubles the celestial mind:</div><div style="text-align: left;">These woes are simply my dirth.</div><div style="text-align: left;">There is little in heaven or earth</div><div style="text-align: left;">That would incite divine mirth,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Discerning the masks I hide behind.</div><div style="text-align: left;">There is little in heaven or earth</div><div style="text-align: left;">Troubles the celestial mind.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3>I Can't Pray</h3><div><br /></div><div>Instead I look up and name the stars.</div><div>I let the moon rock me to sleep</div><div>in its gentle constellations.</div><div><br /></div><div>What more do you want as a blessing</div><div>with your praying grasping hands?</div><div>The universe is inside your fingers.</div><div>You are always in touch with Infinity.</div><div><br /></div><div>These atoms of flesh are not mine.</div><div>They are pieces of time</div><div>that Earth decorated as me.</div><div>I am not going to heaven. I am heaven.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-74789943197327093962023-04-19T12:08:00.005+02:002023-12-06T12:16:37.144+02:00I am Haunted<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Sevenling (I am haunted)</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I am haunted by three things:</div><div style="text-align: left;">The sense of lavender, the mood of willow</div><div style="text-align: left;">and the theme of chimney smoke.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Phantoms pass through me:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Dark divination with fog siphoning</div><div style="text-align: left;">the star-woven river reeds.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I wonder if you will cry at my funeral.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sevenling (My heart tumbles out)</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My heart tumbles out of my chest, spilling</div><div style="text-align: left;">dark materials: it is a pulsar star's rotation,</div><div style="text-align: left;">an Aurora spiralling my southern lights.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I scoop my heart up carefully and contain</div><div style="text-align: left;">it in a firefly jar, along with all my hidden</div><div style="text-align: left;">terrors, distillations of dejection.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These dreams, which weep until morning ...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sevenling (Something occurred to me)</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Something occurred to me minutes ago</div><div style="text-align: left;">as I read that 98% of our DNA is dark</div><div style="text-align: left;">matter, because I have always suspected</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">there was as much universe inside me</div><div style="text-align: left;">as without: I am a rogue planet, less than</div><div style="text-align: left;">a genome and more a part of entirety ...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I an made of nothing but everything.</div><p><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-14678093888061995872023-04-03T15:24:00.020+02:002023-12-03T15:33:35.533+02:00April Fool ~ National Poetry Writing Month<h3 style="text-align: left;"> April Fool</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is all illusion, you said,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Admit to your self-deceit.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What you want is how you see</div><div style="text-align: left;">Reality. Distorted, you said.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These are my mysteries, I replied,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Don't take advantage of me.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What you know is self-defeated</div><div style="text-align: left;">Intuition. Blinded, I replied.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You have hidden your dark side,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Reveal a meagre reflective beam.</div><div style="text-align: left;">No, I believe my confused dreams,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Real as rock with nothing to hide.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dark Matters</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The colour of sky is night.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Only under its weight do I feel</div><div style="text-align: left;">fully the expanse of lonely</div><div style="text-align: left;">spaces in my bones unearthed</div><div style="text-align: left;">and tethered to a galaxy's whim.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Walk with me and I'll name the stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">as if I know them and they care.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Let us talk of all things relative</div><div style="text-align: left;">to nothing but a photon of light</div><div style="text-align: left;">and all the dark matters between us.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Outstanding</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I found an old library book</div><div style="text-align: left;">I had forgotten to return</div><div style="text-align: left;">about a decade ago</div><div style="text-align: left;">the pages have yellowed</div><div style="text-align: left;">and three are dog-eared together</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I do not remember this story</div><div style="text-align: left;">or why a bookmark</div><div style="text-align: left;">is two thirds of the way through</div><div style="text-align: left;">yet wonder why it has been with me</div><div style="text-align: left;">all these years ... why it has waited</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-83309500438771889082023-02-27T14:48:00.003+02:002023-12-06T12:34:51.161+02:00If You Are reading This<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Old friend,</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You may not remember me. </div><div style="text-align: left;">i'm the person you once called on,</div><div style="text-align: left;">late at night when the lonely stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">weren't replying to your messages</div><div style="text-align: left;"> and the moon slipped through</div><div style="text-align: left;"> your fingers like ice melting</div><div style="text-align: left;"> in the dregs of whiskey.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We spoke for many hours</div><div style="text-align: left;">But I don't remember what we said.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Box</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I pray to something</div><div style="text-align: left;"> outside your box</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Beyond</div><div style="text-align: left;">the simple contemplation</div><div style="text-align: left;">of your four-sided safety</div><div style="text-align: left;">your surety of ruled lines</div><div style="text-align: left;">unquestioned patriarchy</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I converse with deities</div><div style="text-align: left;"> unpersonified</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Between</div><div style="text-align: left;">here and there</div><div style="text-align: left;">vibrations only no centre</div><div style="text-align: left;">no edge ancient forces</div><div style="text-align: left;">neither Good nor Evil</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Undefined</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Self</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You ask for me to share my life</div><div style="text-align: left;">I hand you a fistful of iron filings:</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is my blood.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You ask for me to reveal my body</div><div style="text-align: left;">I pass you a nugget of limestone</div><div style="text-align: left;">Touch my bones.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You ask me to show my emotions</div><div style="text-align: left;">I offer you a drink of rainwater:</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is my source.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And still you refuse to understand</div><div style="text-align: left;">or simply can't accept the obvious,</div><div style="text-align: left;">when the Cosmos explains itself.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">If you are reading this</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I lost myself in the dark hours</div><div style="text-align: left;">And morning never came</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am still out there somewhere</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the fog and dust</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the time that comes after yesterday.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I try to forget like you can</div><div style="text-align: left;">And lose my trail in the woods</div><div style="text-align: left;">because lost is better than found</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the mud and gore</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the happily never after of tomorrow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-13628025681104753752023-01-15T14:33:00.020+02:002023-12-03T14:47:14.635+02:00Kintsugi<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Kintsugi</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is an art to embracing imperfection:</div><div style="text-align: left;">If something cracks,</div><div style="text-align: left;">fill it in with gold and find delight</div><div style="text-align: left;">in joining things together.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Aging is the art of embracing depletion:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Each loss is a fine line</div><div style="text-align: left;">of the slowly shattering decay</div><div style="text-align: left;">held together with gold.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Time-lapse</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I remember my mother cried</div><div style="text-align: left;">the day Elvis died</div><div style="text-align: left;">and I thought it strange</div><div style="text-align: left;">because she didn't know him.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stranger yet these loops of time</div><div style="text-align: left;">spinning twenty years</div><div style="text-align: left;">since she passed away</div><div style="text-align: left;">and grief is a lapse of memory.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Blue</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The sea is still just as blue</div><div style="text-align: left;">and so is the sky</div><div style="text-align: left;">and blue is the dune flower</div><div style="text-align: left;">as yesterday, when we said goodbye.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today, the moon turns the tide</div><div style="text-align: left;">and sand blows high</div><div style="text-align: left;">and blue is the lonely note</div><div style="text-align: left;">as I hearken for the seagull's cry.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Last Seen</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last seen, heading out</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the direction of the Snow Moon</div><div style="text-align: left;">following a comet trail</div><div style="text-align: left;">to the north east.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last seen, tracing</div><div style="text-align: left;">the shape of Orion's Belt</div><div style="text-align: left;">where it sets in an ocean</div><div style="text-align: left;">to the south west.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last seen, climbing</div><div style="text-align: left;">too high in the Avocado Tree</div><div style="text-align: left;">and reaching for home skies</div><div style="text-align: left;">miles ago, direction unknown.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><p><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-89134412242682804532022-12-08T15:08:00.002+02:002023-08-05T15:32:20.369+02:00Survival Guide<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Survival Guide</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Remember your atoms</div><div style="text-align: left;">were made in the stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">but do not look directly into the sun</div><div style="text-align: left;">not even eclipses are entirely trustworthy.</div><div style="text-align: left;">But the moon is your saviour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Remember you are a being </div><div style="text-align: left;">of a water planet</div><div style="text-align: left;">but do not hold your breath underwater</div><div style="text-align: left;">your molecular structure won't save you.</div><div style="text-align: left;">But the land is your home.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Saving yourself wholly depends</div><div style="text-align: left;">on your willingness to save Everything.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Free Passage</span></h3><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we fall through the cracks in the floor<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">we may become separated<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">(Hands slipping through fingers)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">with nothing to hold onto<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">we may feel lost for that iota eternal.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We may lose our grip on the air as we fall<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">we may experience the void<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">(Either inside or beyond our bodies)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">of free passage and struggle for breath<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">while experiencing a loss of foundation.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I want to reassure you that I will be there<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">with you when we gravitate<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">(Coagulate and particular)<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">towards the brink of immolation.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But there is no guarantee we will meet again.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Frozen Summer</span></h3><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Remember that Summer</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">the one before the one</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">we had about two years ago?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was sunny all day</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and rainy all night</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and we slept naked under mosquito nets</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and laughed much more</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and opened up to one another.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now Summers seem to be frozen over</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">or simply weighed under</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">by the mere act of thinking our way</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">through the turmoil</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">while ignoring the sunshine.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I can't recall when seasons turned</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">us against each other.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Was it the one before the last?</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-8562631144367415142022-11-19T14:57:00.006+02:002023-12-03T14:48:00.101+02:00Envelopes<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Envelopes</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I have a list of envelopes to transform my mind,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Each with a different address.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To the peach tree with 3 pink blossoms,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Back of the garden;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To the striped cat with white paws,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Asleep on my bed;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To the half moon at 7 in the morning,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Rising north east;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To the spotted dogs, brother and sister,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Waiting at the gate;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To you, dear reader, where you rest at night,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Gone but not forever.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Devil is in the Details</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When the devil knows</div><div style="text-align: left;">your name,</div><div style="text-align: left;">you learn to sidestep.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You say, I see you coming.</div><div style="text-align: left;">He says, Me too.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When the devil winks</div><div style="text-align: left;">your way,</div><div style="text-align: left;">you close both eyes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You say, I know the details.</div><div style="text-align: left;">He says, Me too.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">One Day</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I woke, one day, and heard</div><div style="text-align: left;">a bird laughing like an aged woman</div><div style="text-align: left;">because she knew my dream</div><div style="text-align: left;">had flown away.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One day, I woke and watched</div><div style="text-align: left;">a branch unlatch my window with its leaves</div><div style="text-align: left;">because it wanted to let the cold rain</div><div style="text-align: left;">inside my head.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I cast off the old hope</div><div style="text-align: left;">like a bedsheet, opened my eyes</div><div style="text-align: left;">so clouds could blind me</div><div style="text-align: left;">because the truth was hard to take</div><div style="text-align: left;">on that one day, I woke.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Siren's Apology</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It was your darkness which drew me</div><div style="text-align: left;">It cried out to me over the midnight sea</div><div style="text-align: left;">It washed over me with the ink of deeps</div><div style="text-align: left;">And I could not let you go</div><div style="text-align: left;">Could not stop singing to you</div><div style="text-align: left;">Calling you back</div><div style="text-align: left;">to where your darkness fit in the void of me</div><div style="text-align: left;">So please forgive these lyrics</div><div style="text-align: left;">Forgive the drowning</div><div style="text-align: left;">Remember how we both drowned</div><div style="text-align: left;">Submerged as one in the infinite nothing</div><div style="text-align: left;">Unknown by human kind</div><div style="text-align: left;">And still I cannot let you go</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-52051434989854760692022-09-01T12:08:00.004+02:002023-08-05T14:55:55.797+02:00Elegies in September<div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"> Grave of an Unknown Cat</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>When I found you – you were gone.<br />And still I stroked your stripes<br />as if to remove the hurt<br />from your passing,<br />dear cat,<br />who meant nothing to me.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Yet you came to this place of mine.<br />And lay down to die a safer death<br />than the one beyond<br />my garden, too close,<br />dear cat,<br />to the thing that mauled you.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>You needed nothing from the world.<br />And you belonged to no one<br />so I turned over the earth,<br />and this flowery bed<br />dear cat,<br />will be your unknown grave.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">On the Death of my Dog</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sirius howled amid the spheres</div><div style="text-align: left;">calling the wild hunting hounds</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Those shadows of matter,</div><div style="text-align: left;">dark and light, that cry to moons</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And cast in coverts of cosmos,</div><div style="text-align: left;">so your spirit gave chase while</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Your body went to ground.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Holloa, my noble Dane!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I call to you in the night sky</div><div style="text-align: left;">As you race among the stars.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Elegy in September</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">September is the place</div><div style="text-align: left;">I go to hide,</div><div style="text-align: left;">especially from the moon,</div><div style="text-align: left;">all-seeing blind eye</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">and the bare branches</div><div style="text-align: left;">twisted by drought-dry rigours.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">True, this is Springtime.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Still I hide under the dusty dregs</div><div style="text-align: left;">of former seasons,</div><div style="text-align: left;">unwilling participant in rebirth</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">and pile the earth over my face</div><div style="text-align: left;">with bare, cracked hands.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Elegy on the Death of the Queen</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Colours run down a pall of clouds</div><div style="text-align: left;">and coalesce</div><div style="text-align: left;">as light slips through</div><div style="text-align: left;">every droplet, every hue,</div><div style="text-align: left;">even those between</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">like loose paint on wet paper</div><div style="text-align: left;">there is a blooming</div><div style="text-align: left;">a bending</div><div style="text-align: left;">an arc across the sky</div><div style="text-align: left;">above the heads</div><div style="text-align: left;">bowed or bent</div><div style="text-align: left;">the tears shed</div><div style="text-align: left;">the iris beds</div><div style="text-align: left;">and in the running is the dying.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A rainbow is not a sign.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It is safe passage.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Solace</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A painful pleasure imbues 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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-29150435793484396212022-08-05T14:40:00.004+02:002023-08-05T14:52:46.037+02:00A Ghazal<h3 style="text-align: left;"> A Ghazal on the Importance of Breath</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br />A cloud-filled sky, drama behind the scene<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The star awaits his cue, behind the scenes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Winters here are dry and blue, coldness</div><div style="text-align: left;">A touch of frost, a lull, remind the scenes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Remember to breathe, on days like these</div><div style="text-align: left;">Remember to live, despite unkind scenes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Life may hasten me towards fallen trees</div><div style="text-align: left;">But my roots still cling, below the scenes</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Ghazal in the Acceptance of Karma</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Circles within circles, dead then alive</div><div style="text-align: left;">Grimacing fiercely, I laugh when alive</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cause and effect are ever entwined</div><div style="text-align: left;">I know who I am once again alive</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I unravel the knot to the beginning</div><div style="text-align: left;">The origin is also the very end, alive</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A spiral return, my personal Samsara</div><div style="text-align: left;">Let me embrace every death when alive</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Ghazal on the Importance of Speech</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In absence of speech, nothingness lives </div><div style="text-align: left;">The silent demise where nothingness lives</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Throat fastened tight, lips never part</div><div style="text-align: left;">Hiding the problem that painfulness lives</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Choke on the sound of an honest sigh</div><div style="text-align: left;">Or give voice in spaces where wordiness lives</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Speak of the hurt, the terror, the love</div><div style="text-align: left;">Inhabit a world where truthfulness lives</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-22329331262090044002022-07-30T17:24:00.000+02:002023-07-30T17:38:29.258+02:00Lyrics to Songs Unwritten<div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"> Moving On</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>I am more alone than ever<br />But it’s starting to feel right<br />You’ve torn me all to pieces<br />It’s starting to feel alright<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>I cannot find the meaning<br />In every word of this song<br />You’ve scattered all my ashes<br />In every word of your songs<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>But it’s starting to feel right<br />In every word of this song<br />It’s starting to feel alright<br />In every word of your songs<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>I don’t like to fall asleep<br />But I know I’m moving on<br />You’ll slip out of my dreams<br />Then I’ll know I’m moving on<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>It’s starting to feel alright<br />In every word of this song<br />You’ll slip out of my dreams<br />Then I’ll know I’m moving on</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Days are Dark</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>Living on the dark side of the moon<br />My soul has turned to dust<br />Weeping with anything but tears<br />My eyes choose to remain shut<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And the days repeat without names<br />And the days are dark as night<br />And the nights go down in flames<br />And nothing is always the same<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Hiding on the dark side of the moon<br />Crater where my heart should be<br />Beating with anything but love<br />Or longing to be free<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And the days repeat without names<br />And the days are dark as night<br />And the nights go down in flames<br />And nothing is always the same<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Waxing moon may grow to fullness<br />Somewhere the sun still shines<br />But I’ll embrace this darkness<br />Waiting to be spared by a star<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And the days repeat without names<br />And the days are dark as night<br />And the nights go down in flames<br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And nothing is always the
same</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hard to Say</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It's hard to say what dawn</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May mean - if anything at all - </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When sun revisits one</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">More day - that never should be born -</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It's harder to forget those</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Other years - that have fallen</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the dirt behind us - </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Than to remember why we wake - </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It's hardest to believe</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In today - and today - again -</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">While heart still beats in love</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">With life - in love when death comes soon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></h3></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-55465684467894376022022-05-29T12:02:00.000+02:002022-05-29T12:02:04.940+02:00Aftermath<h3 style="text-align: left;">Casualty of War</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Do you know there’s an on-going fight<br />in your neighbour’s garden<br />behind the fence with peeling paint<br />and on your doorstep too?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Do you see the muddy bootprints,<br />the tears smeared on the walls<br />and every rose with its throat slit<br />lie bleeding amid thorns?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The battlefield is right next door<br />you’ll be a casualty of war<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>You’ll bury bodies in the rain<br />in shallow graves of hope<br />that death is not always in vain<br />as you’re turning over dirt<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>You will search the sky for answers<br />look for a place to hide,<br />crying out loud, curse, beg, swear<br />and wait, praying for Spring<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The battlefield is right next door<br />you’ll be a casualty of war<br />The battlefield is at your door<br />you are a casualty of war</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Aftermath</h3><div><br /></div><div>seldom do arch-angels<br />risk the sunshine<br />of their bodies<br />in the no to no-fly zones –<br />instead they watch as air <br />ignites the dew<br />and souls of brother enemies<br />disintegrate the no to hereafter –<br />there is no glory<br />to spare and nothing to prove<br />in the aftermath of annihilation</div></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-27682729972629677762022-03-15T11:47:00.001+02:002022-03-15T11:47:00.196+02:00Leaves of Bone<h3 style="text-align: left;"> 1</h3><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Pomegranates bless<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">the boughs, doubting in silence<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">my expectations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">What hope will I relinquish<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">on the day when truth unfolds?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">2</h3><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Titian streaks so bright – <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Radiant guidance towards<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Self-discovery:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">A source beyond dimension,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">I am a prism of light.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">3</h3><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">The cycle unfolds<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">despite drought or hungry heart’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">humiliation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Leaves of bone turning to light:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Prayer, passion, dream of respite?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-9011650214699772292022-03-13T11:47:00.002+02:002023-07-30T17:07:32.229+02:00Axioms<h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: 11pt;">1</span></h3>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">+<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Do<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">you<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">know the<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">theorem<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">of simple fractals?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">patterns repeat;
conversations<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">between me & the sky
are axioms birds recall<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2</span></h3>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">/<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Thought<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">fits <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">between<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">angles of<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the obtuse and long<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">division in reality<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">where I reside haphazardly
on my bulrush throne.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">3</span></h3>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">x<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">If<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">this<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">fraction<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">never ends,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">how do I solve these<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">variables – am I left to<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">conclude resolutions are
admissions of defeat?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">4</span></h3>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Here’s<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">what <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">happens<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">in the end:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">after we have torn<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">our painted wings apart,
buried<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">love’s formula underneath
our feet – there’s no plus side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">5</span></h3>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">0<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">You <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">died <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">before<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I even<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">met you, still, you’re on <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">my mind, subtracting loss
down to<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">zero feels like cold water
is filling up my shoes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>6</b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">*</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Live</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">off</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the cuff - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">let instinct's</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">invisible chains</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">free you from time, manner and place - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">manifest your own reality: Normality</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>7</b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">*</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What's</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">in</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">a name?</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Syllables</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">to stitch a smiling</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">patch onto the back pocket of</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">your torn-apart heart, so you will</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">turn back silently</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">screaming: No</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">name makes</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">me</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Me</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">?</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>8</b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Leaf</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fall - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Certain</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Quality</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Of silent singing - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Resonance of dormant tree-trunks</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Giving up the ghost of summer - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Innumerable</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Detritus - </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Brown</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Gold</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-57495071704711271112021-11-13T10:41:00.001+02:002021-11-13T10:41:24.281+02:00Elegies of Spring<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>1.</b><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><!--[endif]--><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #202122;">Memory</span></span></h3></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #202122;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #202122;"> <br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">Coldest rain slakes the dusty throat<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">inevitable, neck askew<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">of every songbird in a wildcat’s jaw<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">yes – brutal is the beloved toll of
spring.<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;"> <br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">Youth lies buried in seasons’
windfall<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">hollowed out, spent<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">but the sprouting blade pierces<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">yes – through breast and bone anew.<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;"> <br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">There is something vivid which
trembles<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">too greenly, humane<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">terrible in mulberry leaves’
wilfulness<br /> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;">yes – each memory refreshes the
wound.</span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <br /><span style="color: #202122;"><b>2.</b></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #202122;">Past</span></span></h3></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #202122;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #202122;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="color: #202122;">We buried the past<br /> </span><span style="color: #202122;">in a barren grave<br /> </span><span style="color: #202122;">unmarked by cairn or cross,<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">being unbelievers<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="color: #202122;">being of the belief<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">that bygones should<br /> </span><span style="color: #202122;">not be embalmed or sealed<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">in canopic jars<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="color: #202122;">but left to disintegrate<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">and amalgamate<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">with history or repeat forever<br /></span><span style="color: #202122;">in fractal dimension</span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #202122;"><b>3.</b><br /></span></span></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Isolation</span></span></h3></div><div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 1.2pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>they cut the cord too
soon<br />and leave us gasping<br /> unable to breathe the
rarefied air<br />of our singular
isolation<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>severed from the
universal home<br />we devote our journey<br />to the illusive
reconnection<br />lost in nostalgia of
repetition<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>forgetting that what is
humane<br />is our true nature<br />we continue to fight for
space<br /> devoted to our own acre
of alienation</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 1.2pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #202122; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"></span></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-64415833803835627152021-07-23T13:02:00.002+02:002021-08-08T12:59:53.332+02:00'Seven at the Golden Shovel'<div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;"> 1</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Summer grasses -<br />all that remains<br />of warrior’s dream.</i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b><i>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</i></b><br /><o:p><br /><br /></o:p>
Next summer<br />materializes in wild grasses<br />grainy filaments<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<br />and green all<br />all golden so that<br />what remains<br />of<br />my mind, my warrior’s<br />heart is a forgotten dream.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p><br /></o:p><h3 style="text-align: left;">2</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>With every gust of wind<br />butterfly changes its<br />place on the willow<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</b></i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><o:p> <br /></o:p>What will you do with<br />my despair? Cut it up in every<br />colour of dis-gust<br />and make a string of<br />flags to beat the wind<br />like a shredded butterfly<br />and hope it flies away? Changes<br />are the order of its<br />day; a concerted effort to re-place<br />dismal with daring to carry on<br />until we arrive at the<br />in between world, weeping like willow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">3</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Walking along<br />my shadow beside me<br />watching the moon<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Sodo Yamaguchi<br />(1642 – 1716)</b></i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><o:p> <br /></o:p>And once, in some dry land, walking<br />there, I felt a cold dread follow me along;<br />though grasses flamed, my<br />heart was aware of a shadow<br />lost beside<br />the dirt track, trailing me,<br />a remnant watching,<br />and I could not quell the<br />need to hide myself behind the moon.</div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> <br /></o:p><h3 style="text-align: left;">4</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Come, see real<br />flowers<br />of this painful world.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</b></i><br /><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p><br /></o:p><i>You said</i>, Come,<br />take my hand. Can you see<br />that time is not real<br />and every little nook is meant for flowers<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Nothing you knew of<br />memory is quite like this<br />brutal honesty, nor as painful<br />as losing your whole world</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">5</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>You song sparrow, you<br />naked fish and eye’s old tears.<br />Me, nostalgia…</i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b><i>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</i></b><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>I ask you<br />to write me a song<br />unlike the self-same sparrow,<br />unlike anything you<br />ever sculpted: more naked<br />more like a silver fish<br />swimming in the sky and<br />one that speaks to my eye’s<br />dark centre, not an old<br />hymn heavy with tears.<br />Sing it to me,<br />so I may be unbound from nostalgia…</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">6</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>On this road<br />where nobody else travels<br />autumn nightfall<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</b></i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Faith is broken open on<br />my unmade bed; somehow this<br />rueful debris frames the fragile road<br />between now and where<br />ever you and I and nobody<br />really knows who else<br />contemplates these travels<br />through dream pastiche of autumn<br />smoke, cut-out of nightfall.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">7</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Tattered trees in rain<br />tombs in watery groves show<br />dreams that call to you.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Matsuo Bashō<br />(1644 – 1694)</b></i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>This is not me, tattered<br />as the dying trees<br />you see in<br />your mirror and no rain<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>When eyes open on tombs<br />they are dry in<br />spite of watery<br />blues and icy groves<br /> <br />What will you show<br />when your youthful dreams<br />ask for proof that<br />you embraced my call<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>This is not me, to<br />oblige by forgetting you</div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-85731232512836941902021-07-12T11:57:00.002+02:002021-07-12T11:57:00.275+02:00Into Obscurity<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Blood of Immortals</h3><div><br /></div><div>It remains a mystery to me, </div><div>now we are living among the dying</div><div>with an incurable plague,</div><div>why we beseech the gods for a miracle </div><div>and still believe in the holy grail.</div><div>Every organ is a leaking chalice</div><div>of phlegm and spit and slime</div><div>and the tears of angels </div><div>cannot deliver us </div><div>from the terror of these times.</div><div>How immortal is this ichor of blood</div><div>how ethereal is bile;</div><div>how sacred the wasteful semen</div><div>when it is sluiced from mortuary tiles?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Coals</h3><div><br /></div><div>We are collecting coals</div><div>from the pit bed,</div><div>letting the ashes grow cold,</div><div>the bones of the dead.</div><div><br /></div><div>We are counting them</div><div>as they glimmer</div><div>in our palms like gems,</div><div>or lives grown dimmer.</div><div><br /></div><div>We are carrying coals</div><div>to the pyre</div><div>in heaps upon our souls.</div><div>We feed all else to fire.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Theme Song</h3><div><br /></div><div>Here is a blossom</div><div>blue as the sky</div><div>empty as the socket</div><div>of a dead bird’s eye.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a tomcat</div><div>climbing a tree</div><div>when he reaches the top</div><div>will he think he’s free?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Into Obscurity</h3><div><br /></div><div>Let us end on a note of hope </div><div>as restless as an ocean’s sigh</div><div>as lonely as the dreamer’s plan</div><div>that won’t lie down and die.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let us give endless blessings</div><div>to this day, which beggars belief,</div><div>as poets of the obscure last line </div><div>relinquish their pens with relief. </div><div><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08963325944091034585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-48242457104266699452021-07-11T12:03:00.009+02:002021-07-11T12:03:00.259+02:00Absolution<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Absolution</h3><div><br /></div><div>When we made love</div><div>in the shadow pool of the moon’s</div><div>mulberry hallows,</div><div>when our minds coalesced</div><div>within my body’s sweet haven</div><div>of purple fruit,</div><div>I wondered if the gods</div><div>would think us craven</div><div>or unblessed</div><div>to steal from them</div><div>this power of the absolute.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Love Song</h3><div><br /></div><div>Sepia at dusk</div><div>the landscape of your face</div><div>and contours of my lust – </div><div>Inalienable terrain</div><div>the barrenness of beauty</div><div>where lips descend as rain – </div><div>Hillside of breasts </div><div>eyelashes dark as moths </div><div>when lovers come to rest – </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strike>Untitled</strike></h3><div><br /></div><div>But I can’t believe you</div><div>or even me – </div><div>we may want to evolve</div><div>but change is an illusion of ego</div><div>and we haven’t erased </div><div>the past, the indelible facts</div><div>and half-truths we told ourselves</div><div>of each other – </div><div>Even our newest resolutions,</div><div>I don’t believe.</div><div><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08963325944091034585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-68736097972280234042021-07-10T11:51:00.007+02:002021-07-10T11:51:00.277+02:00Self-Medication<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Self-Medication</h3><div><br /></div><div>My indecision stirs</div><div>contradictory flavours</div><div>some burn</div><div>some brighten</div><div>some turn</div><div>my stomach over</div><div>with the tang of dread.</div><div>Yet I scroll them</div><div>between my fingers</div><div>bring them to my tongue</div><div>with a pain akin to pleasure</div><div>when all is said and done.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Signature</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>I once knew who I was<br />but now I’m not so sure.<br />Who is this woman<br />with her hollow eggshell heart<br />and fractured bones?<br />I think she can read the signs<br />but prefers the pretence<br />that she is someone<br />in this world but I don’t<br />give her the satisfaction<br />of a second glance.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Disentangling</h3><p style="text-align: left;">I would cut my own hair<br />down to the roots<br />and purple the leaves of my eyes<br />but how will I cross<br />the bridge to Freyja’s Field<br />to taste solitude again<br />when all my braids<br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">lie disentangled at my
feet?</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Melancholy</h3>A raincloud has broken<br />into my bedroom<br />and grips my throat too tight<br />but he smiles against my cheek<br />and threatens to tear me open<br />determined to find where I<br />have hidden away my light.<br />Though he probes my teeth<br />with his fingers<br />my words are like grit<br />on my tongue.<br />You are already inside me<br />I tell him. It is you<br />who violates the sun.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><br /></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08963325944091034585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-43732735792157841942021-07-09T14:21:00.002+02:002021-07-09T14:21:00.252+02:00Heartland<h3 style="text-align: left;">Repertory</h3><div><br /></div><div>Maybe you’ll remember</div><div>when you plucked the strings</div><div>and played a solo under the stars</div><div>that long ago night,</div><div>while all the shadows lay brown</div><div>beneath the trees, themselves hushed</div><div>to hear your notes rise.</div><div>I rested my head against your knee,</div><div>like a long-necked lute;</div><div>you brushed your fingers over</div><div>the rose at my waist</div><div>and strummed down my spine</div><div>until suddenly I began to sing beyond</div><div>the rich repertory of words</div><div>we had both forgotten.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Love Song</h3><div><br /></div><div>Sepia at dusk</div><div>the landscape of your face</div><div>and contours of my lust – </div><div>Inalienable terrain</div><div>the barrenness of beauty</div><div>where lips descend as rain – </div><div>Hillside of breasts </div><div>eyelashes dark as moths </div><div>when lovers come to rest – </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br />Heartland</h3><div><br /></div><div>There is someone I must tell</div><div>I am leaving </div><div>from my heartland</div><div>which was once my home.</div><div>If you look from your window</div><div>late one night</div><div>and happen to see</div><div>the bitter lemon moon,</div><div>remember me.</div><div>I know gratitude is a thing</div><div>we never talked about.</div><div>But you know how it is with us</div><div>even now I am already gone.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Indigo</h3><div><br /></div><div>How do I know these things? </div><div>My fingertips </div><div>can read the cosmic braille </div><div>or my eyes open wider </div><div>in the undercurrent </div><div>where all souls flow as one</div><div>whatever the rift, </div><div>the continuum, the silence of space.</div><div>Your thoughts</div><div>before you think them </div><div>are already mine; </div><div>your wounds are my pain.</div><div>When you call to me in sleep, </div><div>I dream my reply.</div><div>I know because I am Indigo.</div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-2360833684736154382021-07-08T14:15:00.001+02:002021-07-08T14:15:00.263+02:00Stasis<h3 style="text-align: left;">Equilibrium</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Molecules of water permit<br />a drop to balance upon an eyelash<br />or roll down a cheek<br />without breaking apart.<br />I wonder at this equilibrium,<br />at the way water wants to cling<br />to the surface of peach skin<br />with a cohesion I seem to lack <br />and every particle that is me<br />seems anxious to tear itself away <br />in anticipation of my own evaporation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Stasis</h3><div><br /></div><div>The static makes me</div><div>shiver/whine for </div><div>the sound of the sea</div><div>in my ears</div><div>to cease/ to cease</div><div>I want to be </div><div>here/somewhere else</div><div>so when you say</div><div>I am exactly </div><div>where I am meant to be</div><div>I feel the edge/precipice </div><div>making way for me/</div><div>pitching me headlong</div><div>into the void of no.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Widow’s Lament </h3><div><br /></div><div>If I wake up crying</div><div>it is for the way your voice</div><div>dissolved at the edge of a dream</div><div>I clung to, as a widow clutches</div><div>at the cloak of shadow</div><div>that settles on her shoulders</div><div>and drags her back to blind oblivion</div><div>where all is lost but memory. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Aftermath</h3><div><br /></div><div>We expect to finish our stories </div><div>with an envious conclusion, a death knell</div><div>yet when that line is crossed or erased</div><div>we are vaguely dismayed – </div><div>Where is the tolling of a solemn bell,</div><div>the burial at sea, the seismic aftermath?</div><div>There should be more than this!</div><div>But, no, the sky is every bit as blue</div><div>and birds sing their melodies</div><div>in every moment’s passing that falls </div><div>between me and you.</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-16495439424979998432021-07-07T14:09:00.005+02:002021-07-07T14:14:23.278+02:00My Conjuration<div><h3 style="text-align: left;">My Conjuration</h3><div><br /></div><div>‘No one knows I love you.’ </div><div>Mimosa, you whisper innuendo</div><div>in fragrant proliferation,</div><div>chartreuse shine</div><div>of every hidden sensitivity</div><div>and my whole being</div><div>responds to your secret language.</div><div>This is my conjuration:</div><div>‘No one knows, but you.’ </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Intimation </h3><div><br /></div><div><div>The one who teaches you</div><div>the simplicity of surrender</div><div>will offer her wrists to your mouth</div><div>without quaver – will show you</div><div>how flesh was made to be parted</div><div>as the wild goldenrod sows</div><div>even as it is reaped.</div><div><div>The one who loves you</div><div>with the naked patience of sunlight</div><div>gives you the sacred day</div><div>that spares you from the grave.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">No Moon</h3><div><br /></div><div>The moon is a hollow chamber</div><div>without an echo</div><div>now we have parted, crossed</div><div>the grey divide between awake</div><div>and asleep, the smoky vale </div><div>of detachment, the pale</div><div>beyond which only fools seek return.</div><div>Is it profundity or profanity</div><div>that I must witness</div><div>all most beloved fragments</div><div>wither and die?</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h3>Sufferance</h3><div><br /></div><div>You are as the wind, at one</div><div>with the silken fields, </div><div>a whisper in the tall reeds </div><div>that bend but never speak their pain.</div><div>Now passed, your spirit stirs </div><div>the sunlight through the clouds</div><div>and sufferance is ours alone to bear.</div></div><div>
</div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-18819049425292974772021-04-10T10:20:00.004+02:002021-07-07T14:02:33.738+02:00Fifth Force<h3 style="text-align: left;"> Fifth Force</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Among the mysteries<br />that remain unsolved is the way<br />love refuses to obey the laws<br />of the cosmos –<br />How the soul creates<br />this elasticity of time in particles<br />smaller than the atomic<br />building blocks –<br />This antique world<br />is one we barely comprehend<br />and yet, love and its refusal<br />to dissipate holds us together - <br /><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">no matter that life has
blown us apart.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Honeydew</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Honey, your voice is a singing bowl<br />of your rich and deep desire.<br />The dew upon your lips tastes<br />of the wilderness; sweet grasses<br />grow in your eyes, their green tale<br />a secret known only to the wind.<br />Ah, my love! I praise this bitter earth<br />that gives life to you, life to me.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Tutelary</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>You have lost your twin flame.<br />Her immolation found you<br />otherwise occupied<br />(a gross oversight<br />and personal mismanagement)<br />unprepared for the dread<br />you are feeling now as you stir<br />the mahogany embers with a stick.<br />Tragic that you can no longer<br />decipher her name.<br />Or remember your own.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">World Tree</h3><div><br /></div><div>Here are the roots, the trunk,</div><div>the boughs and leaves,</div><div>the bud, blossom and fruit</div><div>of the burly ladder between worlds.</div><div>Here is the sacrament, the sapling,</div><div>the vine, the bread of earth</div><div>and branching realm of divinity.</div><div>Here is the fire of every hearth,</div><div>the ash upon sorrow’s brow</div><div>and primitive ink to inscribe</div><div>the myth which is man.</div><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-ZA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
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<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p></div></div>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2275398932729742060.post-2503106319383542962021-04-02T12:22:00.004+02:002021-04-04T13:18:05.804+02:00Unwritten<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Unwritten</h3> <br />I don’t want to write<br />a poem today –<br />No love-letter sonnet<br />no half-baked rhyme – <br />I don’t want to subdue<br />my thoughts between<br />unpalatable lines<br />of intuition’s leftovers.<br /> <br /> <br />I want to tear the crust<br />off a rosy loaf<br />and swipe the gravy<br />from this plate –<br />smack my lips and savour<br />the tang of truth<br />upon my silent tongue –<br />where words and wonder<br />are unwritten<br />devoured to appease<br />my hunger. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">In Ignorance</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>It was easier to write of love<br />when wild orchids were in bloom<br />before the pillage began<br /> of every last delicacy:<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>the moistened lip<br />and petals softly parted<br />the rarity of colour darkly<br />fragrant as heart flesh.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We did not reason then<br />that we were poachers,<br />as we stripped the wilderness<br /> of our emblazoned passions<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>and sank through acres of mud<br />in ignorance that joy could taste like blood.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Natural Detritus</h3><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This is the shell of my former self,<br />I tell you. Life has unravelled<br />the Fibonacci spiral<br />of my mollusc brain and starved<br />my gastropod sensibilities.<br />Do not be alarmed;<br />every pungent whiff of inner decay<br />has dissolved upon the tide.<br />The animal in me has already died.<br />What remains is pearlescent.<br />I am empty. I am clean.</div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">Quinacridone</h3><o:p> <br /></o:p>Welcome to the limbo<br />of my temporary insanity,<br />this curlicue amygdala<br />where dreams refuse to die. <br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Quinacridone magenta<br />Quinacridone rose</i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Meaning has shifted clarity<br />of this afterlife refrain:<br />a deprivation of joy does<br />nothing to palliate the pain.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Stained glass windows<br />Refract my sweet repose.</i><br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>I am ensconced on<br />the precipice, the ideal win-win<br />recalcitrant but ready<br />to reclassify original sin.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><i>Quinacridone magenta<br />Quinacridone rose<br />Stained glass windows<br />Shatter my sweet repose.</i></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p>Kerry O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00720862912375945249noreply@blogger.com