The Puppet Master

Image: Panneau marionette

Up and down.
In and out.
Left and right.
Teeter totter.

For how long have you
been self-employed as the
Puppet Master
of your universe?

There are so many strings
attached,
so many knots
and frayed edges
to evidence your frenetic
addiction to Control.

Haven't you noticed? -
all of the puppets
have worn thin and
will no longer serve you.

Parts of you have gone on strike.

Some of them resigned.

A few got up and left.
People too.

It is time to put down
the devices of
manipulation.

The life your insecurities
have been animating
is an illusion
and the script lacks
imagination.

Sit in the audience for awhile
and watch the acts
of the past play out
in the stage lights.

Your need for control dramas
will cease
when you realize
the identity of
the missing performer.

Do you See it...?

When your heart was absent,
you devised strings
and yanked and pulled.

When you sensed the Other's
heart was absent,
you devised strings
and yanked and pulled.

Oh my silly human -
Could you just relax
and surrender
into the open arms of
the Universe?

Authentic Love
is untethered.

(c) 2011-13/Jamie K. Reaser

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

Courting the Viper

Baba Gulabgir I pray to you:

teach me the magic

of the serpent pot.

The vipers they rise

swaying with lies and manipulations

on muscular stalk,

fastening cold black eyes

on me.

Practiced strikes land upon my flesh

and eat into my soul.

Necroses and bloodletting

commence

as scarlet

pairs of liquid beads -

Droplets of my precious

personed being.

The Wounded One screams

in pain as the toxins circulate

and madden.

Though sitting on my cushion,

I am unsettled by rage

and visions

of retaliatory get-evenings.

Will the body still

writhe when severed

from the head?

I struggle to find my way

out of conflict with

integrity –

but like a rodent that is

already halfway down

the elongated stomach.

No.

I cannot, will not,

embrace a peace

that is declared

by my willing victimhood.

Patiently waiting for me to finally

take a breath,

the Guru gently says:

“Lift your flute.

Play.

Court the venomous snakes

with Life’s most

rapturous music.

Dear One,

It is the alchemy of love

that transforms poison

into medicine.”

© 2011-2013/Jamie K. Reaser

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)

The Candle Snuffers

Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

Be-aware of the Candle Snuffers:

those who wish to diminish,

even eliminate,

your essential flame.

In your presence

their form casts a Shadow

that just might scare them to

your death.

The more they struggle

at the sight of it,

the more it dances

wildly,

erotically,

untamed

and full of dangerous potentiality

on the

Wall of their Psyche.

Primal fears emerge

and are given false-life

like saber-tooth terrors

that flicker into action

before cave-dwellers' eyes.

You have done nothing wrong

by shining.

Please hear me when I say this:

“You have done nothing wrong

by shining.”

Beautiful and bright,

Your light is what evokes awe

in the stars

when they gaze upon this Earth.

You mustn’t rob the galaxy

of the pleasure that it

takes in you!

Dearest Light of the World,

Do not surrender even a

nascent spark to

the oppressive forces

that they wish to

bring down upon

you -

Burn.

Burn.

Burn the holiest of fires…

Pledge your allegiance to

the sound of your breath,

breathing so deeply that

you fuel the fire that burns

within your heart.

The fire that burns

within your heart…

Love.

Lovingly offer the Candle Snuffers

in your life

the sacred flint and tinder

of Mirror and Council,

inviting them to recognize

their own true flame.

There is an eager,

capable wick,

in all of us -

Dignity.

Oh my Flame of Unity,

If you have befriended your

own Shadow,

then in the presence of

their Light,

the only form that shall be

cast is that of

Understanding and Kinship.

The time is coming in which

Homo illuminatus

will finally learn to

to pass

the torch.

© 2011-2012/Jamie K. Reaser (Published in Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out; Hiraeth Press, http://www.hiraethpress.com)