The Falcon to the Falconer by Jonathan Steffen

The Falcon To The Falconer

By Jonathan Steffen

Unleash me from your hand
and I will lance the light for you.
I'll cut a swordblade on the wind
and pennant it with flight for you,
to signal I am yours
if you will free me to be true to you.

Unleash me from your hand
and I will mock the sky for you.
I'll pull the anger from the air
and make the breezes sigh for you,
to show that I am yours
if you will free me to be true to you.

Unleash me from your hand
and I will jewel it bright for you.
I'll hunt the treasures of the wind
And pluck them into sight for you,
to show that I am yours
If you will free me to be true to you.

O, cast me from your hand
that I may show my love for you
and throw me to the wind
that I may know my need for you.
All darkness on your hand,
I'm hooded, pinned, and held by you,
O, give me back my wings
that they may bring me back to you.

Some Questions You Might Ask by Mary Oliver

Some Questions You Might Ask
By Mary Oliver

Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
the wings of a moth in the beak of an owl?
Who has it, and who doesn't?
I keep looking around me.
The face of the moose is as sad
as the face of Jesus.
The swan opens her white wings slowly.
In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.
One question leads to another.
Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?
Like the eye of a hummingbird?
Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?
Why should I have it, and not the anteater
who loves her children?
Why should I have it, and not the camel?
Come to think of it, what about maple trees?
What about the blue iris?
What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?
What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?
What about the grass?

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Still having issues with blogger.  I have to post fast and run or it kicks me offline. 

xoxo,
Marion

The Attic by Raymond Carver

The Attic

By Raymond Carver

Her brain is an attic where things

were stored over the years.

From time to time her face appears

in the little window near the top of the house.

The sad face of someone who has been locked up

and forgotten about.

From:  "A New Path to the Waterfall" by Raymond Carver

The Dragonfly By Louise Bogan

The Dragonfly
By Louise Bogan

You are made of almost nothing
But of enough
To be great eyes
And diaphanous double vans;
To be ceaseless movement,
Unending hunger
Grappling love.

Link between water and air,
Earth repels you.
Light touches you only to shift into iridescence
Upon your body and wings.

Twice-born, predator,
You split into the heat.
Swift beyond calculation or capture
You dart into the shadow
Which consumes you.

You rocket into the day.
But at last, when the wind flattens the grasses,
For you, the design and purpose stop.

And you fall
With the other husks of summer.

Love by Roy Croft

I found this poem I'd copied into a battered old notebook I've had since my freshman year in high school.  It's still a favorite and perfect for Valentine's Day.  I'm still in love with love.  For all my wonderful friends here in Blog land!!!!  xoxo  ~Marion

LOVE

By Roy Croft

I love you not only for what you are,

But for what I am when I am with you.

I love you, not only for what

You have made of yourself,

But for what you are making of me.

I love you for the part of me that you bring out;

I love you for putting your hand

Into my heaped-up heart and passing over

All the foolish, weak things that you can't help

Dimly seeing there,

And for drawing out into the light

All the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked

Quite far enough to find

I love you because you are helping me to make

Of the lumber of my life not a tavern

But a temple.

Out of the works of my every day

Not a reproach but a song.

I love you because you have done

more than any creed could have done

to make me good.

And more than any fate could have done

to make me happy.

You have done it without a touch,

Without a word, without a sign.

You have done it

by being yourself.

Perhaps that is what

Being a friend means,

After all.

My Heart by Kim Addonizio

<> 

My Heart
by Kim Addonizio

That Mississippi chicken shack.
That initial-scarred tabletop,
that tiny little dance floor to the left of the band.
That kiosk at the mall selling caramels and kitsch.
That tollbooth with its white-plastic-gloved worker
handing you your change.
That phone booth with the receiver ripped out.
That dressing room in the fetish boutique,
those curtains and mirrors.
That funhouse, that horror, that soundtrack of screams.
That putti-filled heaven raining gilt from the ceiling.
That haven for truckers, that bottomless cup.
That biome. That wilderness preserve.
That landing strip with no runway lights
where you are aiming your plane,
imagining a voice in the tower,
imagining a tower.

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A rare ice storm yesterday.  

Today the woods are made of melting glass, 

shimmering in the morning sunlight.

I am happy.

~Marion

Please forgive the fucked-up formatting.  Still having issues.  :-(

Romeo and Juliet Meet Van Gogh

'The Starry Night' by Vincent Van Gogh, September 1888

"Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;

for thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

whiter than new snow on a raven's back.

Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
take him and cut him out in little stars,
and he will make the face of heaven so fine
that all the world will be in love with night
and pay no worship to the garish sun."


~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, from:  Scene II, Capulet’s Orchard

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I saw a post similar to this one on another blog and realized I've been amiss by not posting Shakespeare.  Romeo and Juliet is my favorite play by the master.  Maybe because I saw the movie as a young teenager and instantly fell in love with love.  Ah, youth....wasted on the young!  :-)

My husband's favorite artist is Van Gogh and he has reproduced many of his paintings and sold them.  We have every letter, book, biography written by or about Van Gogh and many volumes of his art.  I feel as if he's a part of our family.  I have "Road With Cypress and Star" on the wall in my den painted by Ray.  He's a great artist and can paint almost anything (except walls...tee-hee...he detests 'honey-do's').  Our dream is to see one of Van Gogh's paintings 'in person'.  Hopefully we will one day soon.

I hope you all have a wonderful, happy weekend.

Love & Blessings,
Marion

Words for It by Julia Cameron

Rose Petal Heart by Marion

Words For It
By Julia Cameron

I wish I could take language
and fold it like cool, moist rags.
I would lay words on your forehead.
I would wrap words on your wrists.
"There, there," my words would say–
or something better.
I would ask them to murmur,
"Hush" and "Shh, shhh, it's all right."
I would ask them to hold you all night.
I wish I could take language
and daub and soothe and cool
where fever blisters and burns,
where fever turns yourself against you.
I wish I could take language
and heal the words that were the wounds
you have no names for.

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"For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die." ~Anne Lamott, from "Bird by Bird"

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I have no words of my own this week.  I'm January-ed out, blank, ready for February and the promise of Spring.  I love this poem by Julia Cameron from her amazing book, "The Artist's Way" and have it taped on my closet door.  It's exudes love and comfort to me and I hope it does the same for you.  xoxoxo

Love & Blessings,
Marion

Song for Going to the Water, A Cherokee Poem & Moondancing by Marion

I took this photo last night while outside moonbathing under the full moon and admiring the jet stream along side it. I brought my largest cup and filled it until it overflowed with moonlight. I drank it, then howled at the moon. I did. Really.

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Song for Going to the Water
~Cherokee Poem

If your heart is not well,
If your spirit is not well,
These words may help you.

Wake in the hour
just before dawn.
Wake in the hours
before first light.
Wake when the animals of the night
have ended their songs,
when the animals of the day
have not yet begun their songs.

Walk without words.
Follow the path
that leads to the stream.

Then, as the first light
touches the stream,
bend to the water,
speak these words:

"Long Person, I come to ask your help."

Then hold up
a cup of that water
and drink the dawn.

~From an old high school Literature Book.

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I wrote this full moon poem in July of 2009 for my friend, Erin.

MOONDANCING
By Marion

There was I wearing just dragonflies
in my untamed, burgundy hair.
She all glistening, robed only in river silt,
shining just as fair.
Our skin glowing uncannily,
lit from within and without,
arms outstretched, heads thrown back
as we twirled and pranced about.
Faces upturned, filled with rapture as
round and round we whirled---
lost in the moonlady’s ecstasy,
entranced in our own dream-world.

Some said it were fairies dancing
up under the stars that night---
Crazed and drunk from the river reflecting
the full moon’s shimmering light.
But me and my friend knew better,
t’was our spirits’ mystical meeting,
celebrating the poetry of rivers and
the feel of the full moon’s heart beating.

7/7/09

God Says Yes To Me by Kaylin Haught

I've been listening to my record albums today. I have quite a collection, most like new. I made a major haul at a library sale several years back and got almost 100 albums in mint condition for fifty cents each. The one pictured is one of my very, very favorites with some awesome memories attached to it. :-)

I thought I'd share a favorite poem, too. This poem sings right off the page!

Enjoy,
Marion

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God Says Yes To Me
Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

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"Don't let the past remind us of
What we are not now
I am not dreamin'..." ~From: 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes' by Steven Stills


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"Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was." ~Will Rogers

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