Monday, November 29, 2010

No Fear















Image: (c) Jamie K. Reaser



I don’t want to live in fear –

To give credence to the voices
of other people
that have been circling me

with warnings of
loneliness,
suffering,
poverty,
and annihilation

since the moment
of my conception.

In so many combinations
of words and accents they all say:

“Stay small.”

“Don’t take risks.”

“Never let yourSelf be seen.”

Like cages,
Like ropes,

Their beliefs about the world
entrap and suffocate.

“Life is dangerous,”
say the so-called living.

No more.

No more!

I want to roam and breathe.

I want to dance naked in
a public square
until everyone there
has counted all
of the moles on
my body,
twice.

I want to warble my
True Name
from a branch of
the oldest tree on Earth,

and then I want to ask it
what it has to say
about standing up
straight and tall,

about unabashedly offering its
services to the multiple generations
of frightened humans
who have sat in the
shade it has gifted.

Homo sapiens:

The most self-terrified species.

Ah,

What is this the bold wind
offers?

It is the sound of leaves
rustling in a far off
land.

And in the way that the words
of the wise always out-travel
and out-live their speaker,

I hear the Elder tree say,

“Just keep reaching
for the Light.”

© 2010-2013/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Praise
















Image: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

Touch the puff cloud sky
with child-wonderment.

Lick the raindrops
alit upon your lips.

Praise the miracle moment
that begot you.

“Do you know why you
were given a sweet voice?”

asks Nuthatch.

Do you know why you
are capable of delicate touch?”

asks Wind.

“So that you can say

‘Thank you,’

embody gratitude as a
daily act of reciprocity
for the air you breathe.”

Butterfly, flower nectaring,
knew the answer.

Feel molding leaves under the arch
of your foot.

Tell the coarse oak bark how
beautiful it is using at least
100 words.

Why should Living
be anything less
than Love Making?

Taste the delicious tears
of Truth.

© 2010-2013/Jamie K. Reaser
Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Until We Meet Again















Image: (c) Jamie K. Reaser


The Autumn wind
across my bare cheek

reminds me of your touch,

the smell of leaves being loved
in their death –

your sweet life pungency
after a day of our hill walking.

The old Black Walnut grove
is barren, cadaverous

but in the ancient tongue
it speaks like ancestral Oak

beckoning me
to See.

And in the eye that knows
the lips of mystics and gentle men,

I watch the xylem pressure rise and
buds leaf into prayer position.

In the outstretched herbaceous palms
of the entire forest are written our

Lives lines.

I read the crossings,

knowing The Cross
as a symbol of alignment
of the Realms.

And I exhale from my heart,
mounting intent like a rider
upon the thermals.

I am everywhere,

Until we meet again.


~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author

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Monday, November 1, 2010

Daffodil















Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser


His yellow smock

offers no apologies

for its brazen attempt

to embody the bold cry

that we fear might pass

our own lips.


Even on culturally accepted

moments of

ecstatic inspiration –


Such as the viewing

of spring-time blooms –


So many will remain

wanting of their

expression

of Glory.


© 2010-2011/Jamie K. Reaser