Friday, April 30, 2010

My Voice















Image from: www.abearsden.com


I have found my voice.

I am not sure where or when

I lost it,

but I found it

today,

inside me.


I recognized it immediately

as it lifted

from my heart

and resonated

with my soul

and sang

a verse of truths

that are my deepest secrets

and longings.


Thanks,

but I no longer need your words:

Mom, Dad,

teacher,

preacher,

lover,

loyal soldier,

mass media,

passerby,

Mr. President.


Please reclaim the voices

in my head,

at my ears,

behind my back.


I gift them to you

without reluctance

or regret.


Take them in ribbon

and fancy wrappings.


Come join me,

a nice glass of wine

and a porch swing with

a mountain view.

Sit back,

listen.


This is the sound of

my voice.



(c) 2003-2011/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Pachamama's Homecoming
















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser


Women of the Q'ero Nation, Peruvian Andes,
during despacho ceremony honoring Pachamama
(Mother Earth/Cosmic Mother)





Sun Sol rise.
Caress the breasts of the Andes,
warm our hearts corizons,
illuminate
our perch
among the worlds mundos.

Hanaq pacha.
All that is Above.
Kay pacha.
Earth,
Water,
Weighted Beings.
Ukhu pacha.
All that is Below.

Take Love as the llave key,
open the puerta door
to everything and nothing.

Hummingbirds come.

Hummingbirds come
build your bridges,
Colibri Puentes,
across planes of reality,
heart to heart,
make way for our prayers
to travel far.

The power to
heal Her
is in the intent
intento
to heal your
attachments
to Her.

By candlelight enflamed
and breath kissed,
muchos besos,
coca leaves:

Santa Tierra Pachamama.
Holy Earth, Mother of All Things.

Taita Inti.
Father Sun.

Chaskiwayku.
Receive me.

Yanapawayku.
Help me.

Ñanta kichawayku.
Open me.

Pijchuwayku.
Cleanse me.

Hampiwayku.
Heal me.

Little spirit, espiritu,
hovers,
vibrates,
transforms
bones of skeleton
and fear
like stones
rumis into quays.

Radiant feathers, plumas,
turn
into bright brown eyes,
smiles, sonrisas,
plumes of children
in costume
and laughter.

Souls dance their
way home,
nuestra casa,
taking their place
within community.

By candlelight enflamed
until Sun, Sol,
caresses the Andes
twice more
amidst the infinite,
infinito.


~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author

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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Understanding














Image: origin unknown

I had been settled and gleaming
before grabbed and cast
across the surface.

One, skim, ripples
Two, skim, ripples
Three, skim, ripples

A three skipper!

And as I sunk
into the murky depths
all the way to the ancient muck bottom
Life simply turned and
sought another.

Only the serpent coiled in the willows knew
I had been displaced,
and would never return.

Stillness became my greatest longing
as I tumbled,
over and over again,
fragmented,
pushed and pulled
by currents that I could not rest long
enough to understand,
my edges constantly challenged
and defeated.

I grew
smaller.

Forces humbled me at every opportunity.

Interchangeably,

I grieved for the falsely satisfying memory
of who I had been,
I righteously questioned purpose,
faith, and forgiveness.

Then one day,
years well beyond count since
I had passed
before the Witness’ eye,

A young child’s determined hand
drizzled me onto the uppermost
point of a sandcastle,

And I understood
the need for the journey
as it was.


(c)2009-2018/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" 


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Monday, April 12, 2010

Departing Rome



















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

 
Let’s say you took a trip to Rome
and never got to see the sites.
All the places from childhood texts:
The Coliseum,
Arche di Constantino,
Fontana di Trevi,
Vatican,
remained to you as they were,
photos and stories.

But on your way to and from business meetings,
you passed a wall.
And embedded in that wall was a piece of white marble,
nestled there amidst ancient mortar and dreams.
It caught your eye,
again, once more, and again.

And each time you had the opportunity
you stopped,
greeted it,
and memorized something about its features:
The way the light reflects from its crystalline structure
under cover of sun or cloud or moon or lamp,
the chiseled edges and weather worn surface,
the hardness.
Irregularities of cut.
Perfection of being.

Until, it became etched upon your mind’s eye
and you knew,
knew with all the certainty of the Fates,
it would never leave this place.

Would that be enough for you?

To know one rock fragment
in one of the many walls of glorious Rome
in passing moments of eternal intimacy?

Yes.

Indeed.

For, this is what Life offers us in its most generous
of honest truths…

a construction of passing moments
with no guarantee of more
in which we can choose
to be fully present with another,

or not.

To see them so clearly that some aspect of their
essence permanently strengthens our Vision,
gives rise to fantastic works of art
within us,

or not.

So,

know, Dear One, that…

departing Rome,

I shall remember you,

this way.

© 2008-2013/Jamie K. Reaser 
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Parental Advice

















Photo: Meredith McKown
http://www.mckownphotography.com/index.html

Old souls behind
child eyes,
masters of power
in hand-me-downs.

When you reach low to
tie their shoes
remember to kneel in
respect.

Listen at least as often
as you tell.

Learn more than you teach.

Through their missteps, scrapes,
and tears, come to know
compassion.

Joining in their spirited play,
surrender to joy.

You’ve been blessed
with the holy sacrament
of tending –

Midwifing your own soul’s
rebirth.



© 2010-1209/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" 
Deep gratitude to Meredith McKown for sharing her beautiful photography

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