~
Firmly rooted in the strength of grace
the birds alight on the stiff raised arms of poets
balanced on one foot in the spaces left standing
between the tenuous structures that remain
~
Insubstantial and vaguely reminiscent
~
The flooding waters begin to recede
as the detritus of the displaced
live on in our frightened prayers and their own cardboard hollows
carrying the burden of our collective magnificence
~
The sun arrives late as the dogs and donkeys
shiver in the new light … in the heat
in the washed out fragrance of urine and slowly drying fear
their familiar trails erased how will they find home?
~
Tree limbs with radial fractures leaves crushed
a chaotic maze of leaching chlorophyll
roots holding to rocks waiting for loosened soil
to settle the wail of a child
~
The water heavy with suffering, eddies in wrong places
weary from the seizures of epileptic unbalance
made other and reduced to an inventory of unfamiliar relationship
to wood to concrete to flesh
~
the eye looks for one familiar thing in its place with another
a chair and a table, a table and a glass, a glass and a pitcher,
a single glass and a pitcher the thirsty eye raised
to rest for a moment on a recognizable sky
~
the sun comes up
and the birds continue to alight
on the stiff raised arms of poets
~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artist: Max Ernst
Poetry of Light 
A moving tribute – a kind of prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down by so many natural disasters.
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Thank you Leslie…
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Ripples with insight, Jana. Smiles …
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The world turned upside down…..thank you Bonnie
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This is so well crafted Jana… visual and deeply felt.
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Thank you Chris. I “felt” my way all the way through writing this like a newly blinded person.
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…”Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;…”
However, above the storm I raise my hands and heart for birds and poets.
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Blink… and your whole world changes….Birds and poets. I’m with you there.
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The imagery is so well constructed and deeply moving in this piece. Pure poetry.
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Thanks Audra… smiles
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stretched wings
~
when we
come back to compassion
we regain
our humanity
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thank you Jana
~
for opening
your compassionate heart
cradling and consoling
littered, suffering beaches
of messages in bottles
~
Peace to you
this Canadian Thanksgiving
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Peace to you as well Geo….and to your lovely family. Smiling here….
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Insightful and compassionate.
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Thank you Mark. A momentary landing here on WP. I’m in the midst of much travel and change… shaking up the neural canals. Love to you both!
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And love to you Jana on this and all your journeys – Chris and Mark
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The line – “The eye looks for one familiar thing………”
and then this – “the thirsty eye raised to rest for a moment on a recognisable sky.”
This is very moving Jana. The devastation, awful, but there are birds, poets, and hope.
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Hello Teri… I have been away from WP for awhile now and probably for awhile longer. it is good to hear from you! I hope all is well with you and your ocean.
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Hello Jana, good to hear from you too. I have also been away from WP for quite a while but dropping in now and again.
The water here is beautiful on this morning, hope all your journeys are beautiful too x
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There you are! Thought I’d lost you. I live in the Napa Valley, and the destruction is shocking, especially in Santa Rose. You capture the feeling so eloquently.
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I’ve been watching the fires closely Bonnie, as I have a dear friend who was evacuated from Sonoma during the height of it all. It is good to hear that the fires didn’t effect you directly, although I imagine the smoke was considerable. Forest fires raged over the Blue Ridge a few years back when I was living there. The smoke filling the air while the slopes burned still haunts me. It is difficult to imagine it being the smoke from homes and memories. Here on the east and southern coasts and in the islands it’s been a deluge….quite a season. Indeed…
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Jana, We seem to have stopped writing at about the same time. I’m thinking I might start again. I thought of you and thought I’d just check in and see if you’re still writing….
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Hello Nadia, it’s good to hear you are thinking of “starting in” again. I always enjoyed your site. Myself? I won’t give up my sight…too many extraordinary relationships were creatively and spiritually active during my sojourn here. I learned so much in this community. But creative expression has taken me into painting…abstract painting… and I am seeing another way of communicating other than words. Who knows though?
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