Some say imitation is flattery But I see it, sometimes, as survival

A sky of parchment paper A jacket of fog And trees that seem to forever reach to you. A cataract moon watches over like a vulture A corvid calls back, somewhere A call that surrounds your ever-watching eyes. #poetry

My skin still sees afterimages From when it tried to become the mountains And the wind in between the leaves. The clay terrain now holds me, Reborn from the same air that sits in my lungs. #poetry

I am compelled, as if under a spell, to enter bookshops. Consequently my priority metric for books is now tending towards “size”.

Days feel like a masquerade Where isolation wears a mask of confidence And insecurity has a crossbow And a mask of toughness. #poetry

One reason I write poetry is to heal. I wrote this one after an emotionally traumatic episode that opened my eyes to a path of healing. ♥️❤️‍🩹 #poetry

My coat holds me in the wind through my window A quilt of magic, A quilt of warmth That breathes lightly and cool When I forget my scarf on walks. My skin goes numb and I try not to move As I sit in the smallest room I’ve lived in, Low light and soft stories Of a home beyond me. #poetry

The fifty mini-cuts on my hands From the dry air’s teeth Make nebulas And try to claw their way out of my skin.

If the dryness holds my hands, I will bleed a ballad forever And if the humidity holds my hands, I will melt into the ground. There will come a time Where something holds my hands And I feel nothing but the touch of love. #poetry

I noticed the leaf glide to the ground And you were there again Changed, but you. You winked at me in my dream And twelve hours later, You came back, A meteor shower returning to Earth After months of vastness In the quilt of space. You brought back thread You never stopped sewing with. #poetry

Your phantom Quietly, slowly, Follows me Shrouded in silver. You watch me like the Moon watches the night— Silently, but not unnoticeably, And the stars appear when I look around you. #poetry

Eat of me, Let my flesh be your communion And my blood your sweet river. Let my teeth be your jewelry, My eyes your stars, My stomach your warmth; Let my heart fill your mouth and stomach On the coldest winter days. Let my hair be your sheets, My severed womb your treasure. #poetry

#BlueSkyArtShow #Clouds Some more clouds for the artshow🩶💙🤍

The sleep; In the ticking of your heart, A stopwatch.

I hold you, you and everything you are, like the jewelry you gave me that lays around my neck, sometimes caught in the pulsing of my everlasting drum of a heart. #poetry

A change in the humidity Alters the way my hair springs back When I brush it after a comforting shower. My skin, too, Feels a different texture As a caterpillar sheds its skin During each instar. And my lungs adjust to the altitude and cold My body being born again. #poetry

The smell of cigarettes is sweet in my mouth As I’m transported back to Paris, Mornings of banana crepes in a brown and yellow basement Days of thick smoke and the best hot cocoa warming me Evenings of watching the Sun set Well after 10 p.m.. #poetry #paris

Your phantom’s smell Haunts me in my own home. Until the fog in my mind clears, Nothing could make me think you weren’t right next to me.

This hit so fucking hard today.

I like thought-dumping, and I was recently inspired by Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter” poem to make this one about a trip my best friend and I took to Utah in October. #poetry #utah

power outage the stars resume their old jobs #haiku #poetry

I long for gentle weather Of sleepy skies and whispering fog In a still world, One that my peers look outside to In awe, distracted from class Because it’s raining again — A quiet comfort. #poetry

In a world too cold and loud, At least the cocoon holds me

A poem for #bluemonday Check in with the people you care about, ask how they are, #asktwice, and listen to their answer #poetry #poemoftheday #ItsOkNotToBeOk #mentalhealthmatters

The Beach Boys CD I bought with my best friend Plays in soft, warm light As warm as vanilla caramel tea Or the rooibos chai I bought at the farmer’s market, The heat of that day unforgiving. Writing about the night, How the snow fell while I was falling asleep And how the cold feels light. #poetry

Incredibly emotional to hear my poem has been turned into a song of resistance and is being sung in Minneapolis right now. Please do not give up.

Trees freckle the hills, A terrain that I now call my home. Were the trees carried as seeds By the wind, scattered in a storm Or planted by squirrels Preparing for winter? Like the trees, I was scattered To this new terrain by a wind I couldn’t have predicted But love with my whole life #poetry

Cirsium vulgare #poetry

There is a sense of loss right from the beginning of this poem. That hug from an empty shirt. It also reminds us how small, repetitive acts of mundane service can ground us. The poem will be waiting when we return to it #poetry #poemoftheday

The wind gives you a whirl, Shudders your windows, Draws out your ponytail, Pulls your body in a waltz. The Earth is begging, In a whisper, to be heard. #poetry

When the world is falling apart, write poems. The world is gonna keep ending so there's literally no harm in writing fun little escapes while it does that.

Some poems don’t whisper, they warn. The 2nd person address is confrontational but the poet deliberately avoids naming the guilty, meaning 76 years later there is still terrible truth and relevance in this poem. “Do not feel safe. The poet remembers.” #poetry #poemoftheday

In a small way, The clock was full and slightly somber Reflecting the quietness of the blue sky As the Sun set #poetry

It will hurt to unravel myself From the web I’ve spun But I’d rather scramble out Than find you in the web #poetry

The lone goose glides across the pond Singing a song of searching And forever receiving only echos The lone goose is an observer, An adventurer, a navigator The lone goose remains in the pond Silently watching all #poetry

Feeling everything in my body, My bed hugs me in a gustatory cradle, My face in a sunset As fresh poison meets all the sweetness of the Earth. The light that shines in the eclipse I am even grateful for As much as I am grateful for the lack of light. #poetry

Thinking about this poem from Jim Moore today.

This blessing of centuries Our evolution’s fate And yet, it’s still so beautiful For your body to find someone else’s Truly human. #poetry

My camera runs out of film When I come across the frozen lake Geese sit in search of food And two people walk across the bridge While one bikes. And while the Earth sleeps in silent stillness The birds watch over the world And sing a song of light as the Sun sets

A sickening heartbeat, Piercing eyes From one who packs when I leave, And suddenly everything that doesn’t have eyes Is staring at me. Phantoms follow me And the air smells different More thick, more vulnerable. #poetry

Eyes hunting me I feel their weight The shiver of you Next door to whimsy How much do you miss With gaze skyward Stumbling steps Lofty intentions Some claim to be steady Grounded in purpose Afraid to mention They're only bored Being seen is truth Being known is rare Being felt is madness

The poison seeps too deep And suddenly I’m 17 again Wishing I won’t wake up the next morning Sleeping forever, far away From her. She who never bothered To comfort me in my darkest time From him. He who accused me of not trying From them. They who didn’t see my pain And said nothing when I confessed

I want to break the glass box I find myself surrounded in But I’m afraid of bleeding What I’ve always kept to myself It shouldn’t scare me to be appreciated I should find it genuine But poison still runs in my veins. How can I remove the poison Without bleeding out? Slowly, with time and healing

Though they loved me They never danced with me And I danced like a bird trapped in a cage Because I felt more alone outside my cell But now, I’m told to open my door and fly And dance in the wind By new hearts who love me With the feeling of a warm blanket After shivering in silence for years #poem

a thoughtful, interesting sunset 🤍🕊️ . . #ArtistsOnBlueSky #BlueSkyArtShow #WomensArtBlueSky #Photography #PhotographersOnBlueSky #OregonCoast #Ocean #Clouds #Oregon #Sunset

One of my favourite quotes is from Audre Lorde and it reminds me consistently why community is so urgent: “We are, each one of us, intricately woven into the other's existence.”

This poem by Gwendolyn Brooks continues to be an anchor on hard days.

Watercolour painting of some garden pots. #art #watercolours #painting