Words

I will try on writing styles

Like I try on shoes

Slip them on

In silky comfort

Ease of mind

Like it's natural

Every time 

I lift a pen

Words will blossom

Like a new spring

Writing me into

My summer

Integrity

The Dream

At night I go to sleep

And dream of a black-faced beaming woman

Who is better than me in every way

And in my dream I post a picture of me holding an eagle feather

To cheer up a good friend

And I get called a racist

But then I go to my friend and both of us wrap ourselves up in a star blanket

To dance under the northern lights

Meanwhile, all is not well in Gotham city

A villain has plans to ruin some political bigwig's media circus

By wiring the area with a dangerous electrified explosive

Luckily I have done some fancy legwork

And the authorities were called

Just in time to "diffuse" the situation

And I wonder why I am a teacher when clearly I should be

A private eye

I also have a dark secret

I steal away to public washrooms

To try things I've seen on YouTube videos

Like putting water on ultra absorbent disposable diapers

To see if they really swell to 4 times their regular size!

And then I wake up

And my mouth is dry

To a darkened sky

And I wonder why

And my thoughts drift

To the black-faced beaming woman

Who is better than me in every way that counts

And I wonder if I could ever post a picture holding an eagle feather

And not be called a racist

Or is that not something a Métis should do?

And I wonder if anyone else at 2am

Is wondering about fantastical things from dreams

And wishing they could be wrapped up in a star blanket

Dancing beneath the northern lights

Because crime doesn't pay

We need to learn to build peace

And do what makes us happy

Even if it is diaper experiments

In public washrooms 

Or making someone smile

At the cost of your reputation

If we cannot dance in star blankets

Perhaps we can weave a hammock out of starlight

To rock us back to sleep

So we can dream fantastical things

Until the morning's rays come to warm our face 

Ghost Eyes

White man wanders over the land and seas like a pale ghost
So why
Do I look into the eyes of children
And see that they are ghosts too
Lost like me on the winds of change
Stuck in a time almost forgotten
Wild hair
Soulful eyes
So wide
So troubled
Wandering with the wind
Ghosts of a place long forgotten
Thrown away
Like a tattered kite
Left to the devices
Of the harsh North Wind

There are no secrets here
Where big brown eyes
Tell no lies
Burn with insatiable hunger
Search for a cure
And all I have is this tattered broom
Trying to sweep away
The scars of history
Which re-tracks mud
Faster than I can sweep
Ripping dust from the Earth, herself
Plastering it on floors, and walls, and windows
Under the cloudy sky

There is nothing here
Except ghosts
They plague my dreams
Waken me each morning
Moaning
Things I'm not ready to understand
Lashing out with tongues
As harsh
As the North Wind
Plastering my face with frozen tears
There are no secrets here
Only
Ghost eyes
Haunting me

Size

When the problems of the world seem to large

Just remember we are like specks of sand in the solar system

We are like electrons in the galaxy

But so are our the trials each day

And even a mosquito can annoy a deer

And even a mouse can scare an elephant

And even a virus can affect millions

And even a child can change the world

When we feel like we need more recognition

Just remember we are like giants to rabbits

We are like mountains to ants

We are like the galaxy to mitochondria

The universe to quarks

But even mold can make us sick

But even bees can make us cry

But even molecules can poison us

But even a child can change our world

Perspective

A quiet Monday

Watching ants amid seeds and grass

Feeling warm sun

And cooling wind

Hearing rustling trees

And distant traffic

Songbirds and crows

Smelling the sweet freshness of Spring

Tasting growth and stagnance

Birth and death

Upon the air

And pondering silently

I could just fade away

Bridge time

Sitting here

With bare feet among the dandelions

Every worry and concern

Could fade away

I can dream under the same sky

Where dreamers sat for centuries

Until pulled back into this moment

Upon the air

Birth and death

Tasting growth and stagnance

Smelling the freshness of Spring

Songbirds and crows

And distant traffic

Hearing rustling trees

And cooling wind

Feeling warm sun

Watching ants amid seeds and grass

My world goes topsy-turvy

Once again

Just another quiet Monday.

Timeless

Grandmother

Here I am back on this land

Bones strewn beneath the earth

Where the wind speaks in whispers

Stories of long ago

It can be hard to imagine

How things once were

While we live in carefully constructed

Straight rows

But I know our feet touched the same earth

Our faces felt the same sun

We listened to the same wind

And looked skywards

With dreams spanning generations

Our hearts drum the same beat

And someday I too

Will be just bone and wind

Go Beyond

I'm sorry 

He said

But she frowned in response

Why are you sorry?

It doesn't mean much to your life

And why do people

Always compartmentalize

Each other?

We are sorted by our circumstance

Given over to the expectations

That one part of our lives

Will determine the whole. 

We dish out sympathy

But do we have empathy

Enough to just be there

With an outstretched hand

To help each other?

The best people are the ones

Who don't say a word

As they watch us fall

But help us climb again

When we are ready,

Soar to new heights

Release our own shackles

Because circumstance

Never should determine our possibilities.

We aren't limited by our lot in life,

We are limited by sympathies

Eating in on us at every turn

Squashing us like a bug

Because there is no time to forget

If people serve as reminders of our shortcomings

Every moment

Of everyday.

Don't be sorry.

Just smile.

Be the shoulder to cry on,

The helping hand,

The light in a dark place.

We'll both benefit

If you chose to live

Beyond the norm.

A Warning from the Wind

The wind has always whispered to me

In dreams and visions,

Voices guiding my path,

Lighting the way,

Securing my destiny.

And I have always followed,

Sometimes joyfully,

Others with dragging feet

Like a stubborn child.

It blew across fields,

Heads of golden wheat bowed,

Scaled towering mountains,

Crossed choppy seas

To tell me stories of time tangled prairie towns,

Exotic towers of steel,

Smiling lovers,

And now I must learn how to make 2 into 1,

And still the wind whispers urgently

Of desolate northern places,

Children forlorn,

And how can I make 2 into 1,

And still follow the wind with the same gypsy cadence

I once had?

But when I consider making compromises,

Deviating from the destined path,

My dreams become nightmares,

And how can I sleep?

I perched high in the pines,

And below an old woman with hair braided,

Silver with the wisdom of years gone by,

Carefully treading a familiar path,

Wrapped in a shawl, and in her hand

A raven feather held up in reverence,

And me in my foolishness of defying the fates,

I squat unceremoniously

And defecate on her from my sky-view branch,

And she looks up at me with eyes that have seen the ages,

Sad eyes, disapproving,

Never speaking a word,

And in that instant

I awake in a sweat,

Wondering how I can make 2 into 1

And still follow the wind.

The Song of the Once Winged

I am the bird with the broken wing

Wishing to be free

But it's more than just a cage that stops me

Flutter, flitter

Flight turns to falling

Down, down

Each time I try

Sing a sorrowful song

Of flightless days

Restless nights

This is the song of the once winged

I am the bird with the broken wing

Wishing to be free

But it's more than just a cage that stops me

News

Green screen

Blinking

Emotionless

It's news

Or acting

"Words cannot express our grief"

I can sure see

How you grieve

People you never met

I find myself sometimes

This dispassionate

So numb from bombardment

Of bad news

The stress is so much

We are all ticking time bombs

We were never meant

To do more than live in small communities

This is the disease of living beyond our means

Technology making the world too small

We are all Atlas

But being still human

Have an Achilles heel

Observation

I howl to the moon
In sacred feminine energy
Yet I am bound by this world
This patriarchy

I found myself watching The Hobbit
And wondering
Where are all the woman goblins?
There are so many goblins
Thousands
But you never see a female

Such is life still
That women fall through the cracks everyday
Still living in the shadows of men

I don't have answers
Only questions

How can this keep going on?

We cast the same blind eye on war and famine
What world will we leave our children?

I can mutter the dark tongue of Mordor
Or Old English, cast it out in Norse runes
It doesn't matter

I could speak plainly in modern English
And the response would be equally as uninspiring
We are a society lacking passion
And worse, we look down on the passionate

We throw artists, scientists, astronauts, philosophers
Into the flames of a heartless
Dispassionate furnace
Leave for dead our true leaders
Raise up instead the foolish and uninspired

And as we slowly poison ourselves,
Bathe in the rot of a crumbling society,
We cry out "why me?!"
As if we were unaware we are responsible
For our own demise

In Limbo

It is this terrifying experience

Knowing I'm delirious

And yet these emotions run amok 

There is nothing to do

But out wait the torrent

So sorry

I really realize that I'm crazy

But I'm too big for my shoes

I'm trying so hard to fit

But I know the stitching is coming loose

A toe is sticking out and given time

Much more might make itself known

I understand just how frustrating it is

I can see it all from outside myself

But I feel very much like a bystander as it all unfolds

There is a hole in this bucket

I'm trying to plug if with my finger

But the water continues to trickle out

Still I am afraid to give up and just let it all go

The bucket is filled with blue paint

Could I look down I would see

It spills out below me, colouring the sky

And if I were aware

I could spread my wings and fly

But instead I am falling flailing

As though in some outlandish dream

Larger Than Life

I feel like a strangled cat

I know

You don't want to hear that

But here I am

I find a lot of times

I am too big for my own skin

Quite bursting at the seams

With exuberant energy

I need to be creative 

But there's no space for creativity

In this claustrophobic lifestyle

Stifled

Dripping taunting irony in this ceaseless rain

And I know you say I should be myself

But sometimes MYSELF is too big for this mould

And with no room to grow

I am like a plant in desperate need of a new pot

The ghosts of my now shadow self

Keep me up at night

Shrieking and wailing the dirges of a hollow shell

Passion is gone

Broken

Suffocated

But there's no one to blame

Because this is how adults live

And while you still drag me around like a distracted child

These eyes are dulled already with the unmovable weight of helplessness

The world keeps turning

And we keep loving in that constricted space allotted by a broken system

But each night I am haunted and each day I am praying for any kind of alchemy

 Rescue me from this icy pool of shattered dreams

It's unfair because you and I are both porcelain dolls

Cast together with faults

Faces cracked

Fragments fallen away

And while I crave space

And intimacy

And purpose

And freedom

I feel the crushing weight of destiny

Cry out in the night when I alone can hear

I am still tormented by devils of my own making

I hope somehow I seem less broken 

Cradle you in my love

Shine outwardly with more light than I feel within

None of this is of your making

Little of it wrought by me

But both of us are puppets

The strings not cut away

Willing we dance together entangled

And like Pinocchio, the strings fall away

Possibilities

I like to think and question
I love to ponder and explore.

It may seem
I am
irRATioNal,

But the truth is
I am just

OPEN

in a closed world,

a CIRCLE

in a square world,

a PEG
that doesn't fit the hole...

But I am whole
And I embrace HOLISTIC
because it is pure,

And I may not be HOLY
but I'm DIVINE

and that's just fine!

I am open
But I question
and I change.
Grow.
TRANSFORM.

like a butterfly
I take flight,

Because I embraced
POSSIBILITY
in my quest for light.

I want truth.
I am a scientist;
I cast off what I disprove!

I am an alchemist;
I transform my reality,

And you may think I'm crazy
But that is to me
DIVINE COMEDY.

the secret is

all this time you were a square peg
Thinking it fit in a round hole,

And all that empty space
is just
missed POSSIBILITIES.

Conspiracy Theorist

Don't be such a conspiracy theorist!

In the magazine I read
A person who believes in one conspiracy
Is more likely to believe many

This is a serious illness
Of the Mind,
You should seek treatment!

But as a subtext...
It reads
That this mindset would not exist
In a world without real conspiracies

Now that is a conspiracy!

Forgive me while I put on my foil hat
Cover my face from the cameras
Question
Ponder
Explore

These conspiracies exist
Because we are still not free
To be
Who and what we desire
Always bombarded with images
Of what we should become

Never satisfied
We eat and don't feel full
We do and still feel bored
We live in instant gratification
But when was the last time you truly felt gratified?

Deep inside
There are hollow places, never filled

So yes, I'm ill

I am so sick and tired
Of feeling disconnected
Feeling isolated
Overstimulated
But still not gratified

I need to simplify

Go back to my roots
Stick up new shoots
Question
Ponder
Explore

That is what life is for
We are constantly shifting
Learning
Changing

If that makes us conspiracy theorists
I wish there were more

No Small Feats

As a child I was never amazed by feats of skill,
Because I knew we all are capable of these and so much more.
We are boundless energy in human form.
Now what impresses me are feats of human will,
How we dare to press through life's great storms,
The fiery light that shines out from our core.
Let go of doubt to figure out
We are all spirit,
And spirit has no limit.
Reach for Mars!
Reach for the stars,
And soar!

Being Divine

People think strange things about their gods

Jehovah created the world in 7 days
He let his only son die on the cross to forgive our sins
You know Bumba vomited out the Universe
And all his son did was create ants

Ra was the sun,
I know bad pun,
But it's true
And Apollo drove the sun across the sky in a chariot
Raven stole the sun and threw it into the heavens

If you look down the throat of Krishna you would see the Universe

People follow all sorts of rules to appease their gods,
Give up certain meats
Go on pilgrimages
Remain chaste
Wear certain clothes
Self-mutilate
Give money
Pray or meditate daily
Shave their heads
Climb mountains
Build pyramids
Make sacrifices

Perhaps our gods are just that amazing
So worthy of our love and adoration

Forget for a moment
That they
Send plagues of locusts
Start floods
Allow plagues
Allow killing in their names
Let the poor remain poor
Let people live in the belly of whales
Watch women get stoned
And burned at the stake

Just because someone questioned their love of a god, their intentions, their heresy

When faced with all this most of us still bow our heads
Our gods are divine
This is all part of their plan
We believe, we trust, we pray

Others are more skeptical
They realize that just maybe
Gods are much like men
They are capable of good and evil
Love and hate
Joy, serenity, anger, jealousy
Chastity, lust

And in our gods we trust

But perhaps
We are divine too
Capable of amazing feats
Of fear and adoration
Like the Virgin Mary
Round with the idea of perfect love
Like Hercules
Able to walk on Earth and in Heaven
Like Buddha
Capable of right speech

A Matter of Taste

I always expected to experience the world with words
Document each adventure with the scrawl of black ink
But as I was fated, instead I experience with taste
The fresh smooth flavour of uncooked salmon
The savoury delight of spice in the afternoon market
The pungent bite of sewer, or durian, I never quite know,
The dull catching flavour of early morning smog. 
So many variations to dance across my taste buds,
Startling, disgusting, delighting!
The world is just delicious!