The Totem Pole

Photo: (c) Jamie K. Reaser

Dedicated to Ky Scott with deep 
gratitude for his gifts

Somewhere within you there is a totem pole

yawning and stretching in the first rays of

morning sunlight streaming

in yellows, golds, and blues

through splayed branch-fingers

into a quiet redwood forest glen.

Deeply grounded in plush mossy Earth,

this pole rises eighteen totem faces tall

to convene with the Sky Gods and

your Highest Self.

Ancients carved the pole from

The Great Tree

with intent and ancestral DNA

as fires and sage burned

and prayers that you would

one day understand

were offered

in abundance.

Paints of clay, shell, charcoal, and fish egg

leave little impression,

offer barely a hint

to the eye.

They once gleamed with meaning.

Much time has passed.

But this is a new day

and a new year in the relationship

of the Sun and his beloved Moon.

It is the day arrived

when prayers

will be answered.

Oh how The Great Carvers will rejoice!

It has been written –

the eyelids of even the most

weary-eyed Seer

can be opened by the heart-moistened

lips of Gratitude.

Alternating from

animal to man,

top to bottom,

the totems speak.

Raven, looking below, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Sea Turtle. looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Sea Turtle, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Hawk, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Hawk, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Wolf, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Wolf, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Frog, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Frog, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Hummingbird, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Hummingbird, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Salmon, looking up says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Salmon, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Heron, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Heron, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Bear, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

“Bear, looking down, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

Man, looking up, says:

“Trust that you are supported.”

Man, looking into the eyes

of their Mother, says:

“Thank you, I am honored

by your strength and devotion.”

And She replies with words that

she has longed for you to

truly hear:

“Trust that you are supported.”

And She looks into your eyes.

Now, it is your turn.

© 2010-2019/Jamie K. Reaser

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out." 

Feel free to share

Solstice Moon

Image: NASA

She is there,

moved to western sky

round and red and full

like an areola at birthing

time.

I, on my front stoop,

am riding the planet

that casts her into shadow.

Some would say,

“for but a short while.”

Yet, it feels like the

time has been so very long,

so very long,

already.

I hear the drumming of ancients

in the meadow

by the wood.

Is it a beat of survival fears

or celestial celebration?

I check inside.

Both.

Memories arise

of the annihilations

we have witnessed.

I know where to find

the doorway

to Lemuria.

Memories arise

of the passionate love we

have made with

our heavenly bodies.

The burning bite of the

enthusiastic Sun

is of no comparison

to the patient, delicate

kisses of the stars.

Here now,

I am witness as she

surrenders -

taken and released

by darkness.

And I love Her

in afterglow

so strong it sets

the snow alight.

As the pinking fingers

make their way,

I wonder

if in this new radiant

light

of dawn

even the Creator

will discover something

never before seen.

~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" 

Feel free to share 

Blue Feathers

Holding ever so tentatively the Blue Jay feather

in the casual stream of afternoon sunlight,

I turn it back and forth

contemplating Truth.

No pigment,

only what eye and brain

conspire to See.

Blue.

Not at all blue.

What else is boldly portraying itself

with confident illusion?

Tucking the feather behind my

right ear

draws out the impish, giggling

little tom girl of me.

Oh how she loves to play

with feathers!

And I watch her there

sitting on grass,

twirling plumes in feral rays

and I begin to count

the culturally-refracted fallacies that

she has been bottle fed:

“Silence is rewarded.”

“Boys are more important.”

“Normalcy is a requisite for love.”

“Profit should trump passion.”

“You can only love one.”

When did we all stop suckling

on the nipple of Authenticity?

Why were our rattles taken away

before we could fully embody

our own unique rhythm

into the world?

How come we learned to scream

“No! No! No!”

before being invited to play

in the joy bubbles of

“YES! YES! YES!”…?

I join her on the manicured lawn,

letting my clothed buttocks settle onto

ground that once had a different

perspective on what it was right to grow.

Drawing her into my lap with a smile

and nurturing embrace,

I whisper The Secret of Life into her left ear:

“Hold your beliefs loosely,

and always test them in the Light.”

~ Jamie K. Reaser, Author

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" 

Note: Blue jay feathers do not contain blue pigment. The impression of blue color results from the brain/eye processing of light refracted from the feathers.

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)

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)