Irrepressible

Some races we cannot win
Though we try and try again,
But we may endeavor to make
Of everything, a thing to take
Away in beneficial learning
Advancing as more discerning,
Improving for the days coming.
Suffering is extremely painful,
But also, can be gainful,
For if we overcome our problems
And even should we not solve them,
We are more resilient in the end,
Than when we did, our trial begin.
Much becomes of having it all,
But along the way, we often fall.
Our failures give us an appreciation
For the moments of approbation
We, in relation ourselves, better know
And realize life is ours always to grow.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Throughout

This hour will not last
The past hurtles forward to
Swallow all the light
Shining lovingly from eyes
Lately discovered, adored.
Still, the music thrills
Into nearly forgetting
These moments passing
Dreamily caressing hope
Convinced time will always wait.
Patience – mythology –
Oblivion draws cuddling close –
Whispers into ears
Prepared to believe minute
Dishonesty if love paints
Itself in bright hues
Beguiling and beautiful
Enough to dispel
Doubt all wants are made to need
Flesh becomes a solution
For uncovered greed
Never expressed, politeness
All fall for such long
Beginnings, story inspired,
With no ending together.
Lives bound shiver, shine,
Entwined with bonds otherwise
Escaped to show one
Burning full ready alone
To search out a safe real home.
All hours hurry fast,
Love lasting, the only thing
Humans past, present,
Tomorrow, evermore woo,
Reality creates romance,
Forever and forever.

This was typed in on the tablet as I sat in bed, so the spacing is off. The lines should not have space between them. I wrote it in my journal first, but it underwent significant revisions...

I may correct the spacing or no. When done with things, I usually let them stand. There is a strong temptation to do like Leonardo and never stop adding, subtracting until all remains incomplete. (I corrected the spacing)

Be You

The bravest of hearts
May lose its way along paths
Insecure, doubtful;
Love’s gifts may lift the troubled
High enough to trust, believe.

Live yourself each day,
If you somehow lost your way
During yesterday
Make today your tour de force,
Continue in taking charge.
Living this one life
Generously given you
To make an impact,
Explore your paths of purpose
Spread love, care, creatively.
Standing in limelight
May never become your fate,
But a difference can
Be made in many moments
Choosing kindness to spare, share.
You are a precious
Child of the Creator held
Eternally in blessing,
Never forget no matter
What occurs, you are valued.

Allegiance

It is not like me
To dwell here inside my flesh;
My mind is often
An aptly chosen abode,
Words my finest furniture.
You, however, call
Me into reality,
My visions react
To your being with growing
Hopes, you may one day love me.
Time beating unkind
Reverts to seeming stillness
When you hold me near;
Better dreams, futures appear,
We, together, display promise.

What you see is quite different from what came out in my journal (in Kindness Pink ink), but I think it serves well. Again, I used the syllable counts for tanka and strung three together.

I keep thinking I will find some other forms, but I have almost always been a Free Verse poet. It is hard to break the habits of a lifetime.

What forms do you like? Can you illustrate one?

If you are another type of writer or artist, what patterns do you see in your work? Can you break with those, change things up?

I went to the library yesterday. Oh, what a treasure trove I amassed. I appeased my dragon self with a horde of books. No zombies though, no, done with those for now, maybe ever.

Beyond Here

Please strap me in, tight,
I am afraid of rollercoasters,
Runaway, lost in time,
Unanchored in the
How, what, when, where, who, why –
It is, I am, belong.
I dream of better days,
But the daze of dreams cannot,
Without concerted effort
Hope to materialize;
Reality is
A making space where things
Become only sometimes substantial.
I have staked my ideas in loamy soil –
Of inked paper, but little traction
My words have created, they slide
As if on brittle ice or hydroplane
Under driving rain, to be read
But seldom, perhaps never, again.
I believe in the Word,
I know nothing except language,
The romance of apt phrases long
Ago seized me taking most,
All the heart, mind, soul of me.
Who am I –
If not a creator, lyricist, poet,
Wordsmith, writer, an interpreter
Of things glimpsed, but rarely seen?
I am the shade of ink spilled,
A shadow in eternity,
Sent to speak, who am too weak
To fight, yet engage in
Extraordinary battles
In the war of the soul,
Continuously going on.
I must not eject injuriously
Now, though the rollercoaster
Sore abrade me, its brutality
Coaches me to fight my fears
Remaining a force for LOVE,
Understanding, in our
Destructively sybaritic world.