Like a Reprieve [repost]

Like a reprieve
Comes the soft morning breeze;
An unwrinkled sheet between us,
Bisecting yet connecting
Blazing dreams
And cold quotidian chores.
We’re given a chance once more
To drift weightlessly,
Aimlessly,
In apricot-tinged hope
On an undemanding tightrope.
The thin glimmer of
Love’s gold shimmer
Becomes a carousel of birdsong
In this rose-petaled dawn.
Almost here,
Almost there—
We toss our hearts in the air,
Suspended,
Unrepentant.
One last shuddering streak—
Violet periwinkle pink—
Soon dissipates
In the bright eye of day.

~*~

Poetry form: free verse.

Image source Pixabay.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Swimming Alone on an Empty Stomach [repost]

I’ve been swimming alone
For a long time…
The water
First too cold,
Now sublime;
I slide,
I glide
Through the darkness,
Blind.
My wounds smoothed over
Are all on the inside.
When I bump up against you,
All buttery sleekness,
There’s nothing to hold onto,
No pain,
No weakness.
Two circling seekers
Float on unmolested,
Swallowed by the vastness,
No point of connection.
Bubbles of potential
Drift along indifferent,
While stars shine beyond
This sea of solipsis.

~*~

Image from Pixabay.

Poetry form: free verse.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Blossom [repost]

“Bloom where you’re planted,” they told her. And she did. She adapted and persevered, thrived and blossomed. She was a country girl with the greenest thumb, but she could sparkle with the best of them under the city lights. She grew herbs on a tiny terrace in Queens while listening to Johnny Cash. She took a tract house and made it her own, with purple paint in the bedroom and a vegetable garden in back. And there were always flowers wherever she roamed. She gave bouquets of kindness to everyone she met.

I miss you, Mommy. Rest in peace.

~*~

Written for the Carrot Ranch.

Reposted for the 13th anniversary of Mom’s death.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Peculiar Moon [repost]

I can’t say what possessed me
To wander that wild windy night;
The moon glowed most peculiarly.

Fog rolled in green as the sea,
As I was drawn to unearthly light.
I can’t say what possessed me.

Shadows danced ’round a bent tree,
And I was magnetized by the sight;
The moon glowed most peculiarly.

Then I joined them impulsively,
Cavorting while the stars shone bright;
I can’t say what possessed me.

We made merry naked and free;
My soul soared high as a kite.
The moon glowed most peculiarly.

At dawn I returned from the frenzy,
Emotions once again locked tight.
I can’t say what possessed me;
The moon glowed most peculiarly.

~*~

Poetry form: villanelle.

Image from Pixabay.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Chasing Sunsets [repost]

It’s been a good month of sunsets
Outside the conference room window,
Splashing down behind the old Hyatt–
A riot of violet, indigo, crimson.
As the days lengthen
And storms malinger,
The sky waits for my drive home,
Candy striping on my commute–
Watermelon, apricot, grape.
I stop at the fairgrounds
To take a shot of butterscotch
Streaking out of sight.
Summer will soon push them later,
After I’m inside for the night.
I tire early now;
One day I’ll see my last.
I wonder which kind it will be–
The glorious burst of final savage color,
Or a slow unremarkable fade to black?

~*~

Image is mine.

Poetry form: free verse.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Muddy Puddle Doggy Smile [repost]

Last year when I was up north I got to hang out with my sweet little grand-kitty and my energetic grand-puppy. We took Rory to the dog beach, but the tide was all the way in, so we opted for the trail instead of the shore. The trail was full of puddles however, some small ones and some lake-size. The humans and normal doggos naturally avoided the puddles because who wants to get all wet and cold when it’s barely 60 degrees?

A retriever, that’s who! There could be sumpin’ in a puddle to retrieve, and Rory was determined not to leave a single puddle unexplored.

Happy wet and dirty doggo! I don’t have actual splashy pics because Rory liked to jump on us after each puddle foray, so I didn’t have my phone out the whole time.

I’m looking forward to my next visit.

~*~

Written for Trent’s Weekly Smile

Images are mine.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Brumation [repost]

Cold-blooded…
Chilled mud
Slugs through
Snaky veins.
What must it be like
To have a body
That doesn’t
Keep your own heart warm?
Relying on a sunny morn
To shake off the torpor
And get kill-ready again?
Sliding into an icy pond,
The search for lunch
Turns slo-mo.
All you can do
Is poke your nose
Above the frozen surface
Until the gelatin mold
Returns to predator soup.
All these gator faces
Only trying to breathe,
Waiting out the freeze;
They know how to survive.
Basally alive,
Crocodile popsicles
Dream of electric blankets
And ready-to-eat sheep,
Hoping their soul mates
Aren’t cheating
In their sleep.

~*~

Image from Pinterest.

Poetry form: free verse.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.

Distance [repost]

For Sue Vincent, Rest in Peace.

Everything
That ever was
Is still here
In one form
Or another;
Won’t keep us warm,
When winter comes,
But it’s something.
One of these texts
Will be our last,
Though we won’t know,
Till silent weeks
Have floated past.

~*~

Written for Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo.

Image from Sue Vincent.

Poetry form: free verse.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon. Thank you.