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Why should I surrender to fear? /
Oh, is this frailty I sense in me? /
As I'm budding I envision the aethers /
Embracing me, rapturously, /
I spiral upwards /
Efflorescing, bursting into bloom. /

Why do we tremble at change, /
Yet embrace continuity? /
When do we stop pining & /
Herald equanimity, harmoniously? /
Yin & Yang; of lore I once sang, /
Now triumphalistically I declare His name. /

Freedom reigns /
Truth prevails, /
Justice weighs /
Spirit sustains /
A diaphanous azure flame: /
—I shall ne' er be the same. /

(—Se' lah)
Excelsior Forevermore,


Sanders Maurice Foulke III, AAS
Andrew Rueter Aug 2021
Yin/yang
order/chaos
discipline/freedom
cops/robbers
inescapable paths are familiar routes
subjectivity shrouds relation
reciprocation obfuscated by morality
relativism is an ocean the lost can drown in
but those who are properly equipped can see below the surface
until industrious capitalist tycoons spill oil
then it's a matter of faith swimming through blackened waters
oily ripples turn into waves
continuously crashing into itself
the sludge mixes into a consistent composition
the ocean gets a little darker.
Abby Apr 2021
Sparked thoughts ignite purpose buried inside
Silenced whispers from bloodlines who have come behind
Breathe it in, let it out, recognize what is left  
Rouse burning embers quelled in the depths

Round and round reels the eternal impetus
Impelling souls, shaping paths laid before us
A choice, providential, divining our fate
Revealing who’ll rise and who’ll be left prostrate

Imminent future designed in the past
Arise from the ashes, alive at long last
The truth set before you kept from bleary eyes
Shed the scales of our blindness, the labyrinth aligns

Trust fate knows the outcome wherever it leads
Trust within us is all that we ever will need
Strength transforming weakness; a brand new beginning
Escape, or deny, or embrace our true meaning
This piece is part 2 of 2 exploring the power of perspective.  We can choose to see light or dark in any situation. This piece represents the light side.  This dichotomy is meant to represent the perspective with which we choose to view our lives and the notion that however you choose to see things, that’s how it’s going to be for you. Only in acknowledging and accepting both sides can we learn to leverage each for their strengths and find peace in the balance.
Abby Apr 2021
Sparked thoughts invoke fear, forming beads of sweat
Spurred on by these scars that we’ll not soon forget
This vertiginous vortex whips us along
Unwilling and restless, we’re compelled to go on

Heed peace in panic states
Lord knows the hour’s late
We choose to hide, don’t trust our fate
It’s flee or fight—it cannot wait

Spinning, swerving, bridges burning
Scenes shift and change but we’re still hurting
A carousel of doors revolving
Eyes shut and open, each blink absolving

Take off and leave it all behind
We’ll ne’er escape our judging minds
Change what you will, can’t be denied
Embrace darkness within the light
This piece is part 1 of 2 exploring the power of perspective.  We can choose to see light or dark in any situation. This piece represents the dark side.  This dichotomy is meant to represent the perspective with which we choose to view our lives and the notion that however you choose to see things, that’s how it’s going to be for you. Only in acknowledging and accepting both sides can we learn to leverage each for their strengths and find peace in the balance.
Anais Vionet Oct 2020
Yin
I see them in reflections - the orange juice glass at breakfast or my iPhone where they can pop, like notifications - I keep my phone face down.

They usually want to tell you something - how it was for them - their history. I discount these emotional messages - they come with the jester's assumption that I care - that I need the performance and will get involved.

“What are you doing?” My mom asks, as I’m taking all the shiny, mirror-like ornaments off the Christmas tree.
“The glare gives me a headache” I say, without stopping.
“Your Grandma does that too”, she says, wiping her hands on a Santa-themed dish-towel.
“Really?” I say, but I know that and I know why.

I started having nightmares, when I was in first grade. My mom thought I had an overactive imagination but when she described it to my grandma, she soon showed up for a visit.

Over the next few weeks my Grandma told me about our “gift”. About how we were both born on the same day, under a waning third moon, in Autumn. That we're both “Yins,” doxies (sweethearts) of the dead and that we could, at times, see and hear people who were between stops on their way to their after-lives.

That’s why the dead parachute into my unused moments from reflective surfaces. They can be anxious or in despair - when their death is cruel or sudden but I'm an adolescent - I'm in school - what can I do??

The presence of water discourages them - which is perfect - can you imagine seeing spirits in the reflections of your bath? EEUUUWWW!  You’ll hardly ever see me without a water bottle or polarized sunglasses - which seem to break-up the images. I'll not be smothered in other people's afterlives.
Growing up, I lived in China, my Huàn gōng (au pair) would entertain us with tales from Chinese folklore like wandering ghosts (You *** ye gui) and the Yins who could communicate with them.
Kara Shirlene Aug 2020
Woman or Dragon?
Some could claim one in the same.
When a fire-breathing Being is met with the winds of a Goddess,
And the flames of passion are fueled with raging love and fury.
When the beat of the heart and the blood of the womb
Ignites the rhythms of Dance and Flight and Life.
When the soar in the Soul is as mighty as the roar of madness,
And then the wings take control.
When the skin and the scales become tough as nails
Because walking through fire is all that's ever been known.
When resilience is more than folklore,
And grace rests upon weary shoulders.
When the embers remain after the flame consumes
And gentleness remains there too?
Only then can one begin to understand the meaning of both-
Dragon and Woman.
©KSS 6/2019
This poem was originally written as an ode to the Yin Yoga pose Dragon. It's purpose was to highlight the fierceness of women, and how dragon pose feels in the body. I also wanted to capture the gentleness that remains when we surrender into the embers and flames of life, fury, and love. That we, as women, are fierce, gentle, brave, and much like a dragon- breathe flames.
Kara Shirlene Aug 2020
Dive in.
To the place of the unknown
To the spaces within
That, for far too long,
Have been left alone.

Breathe deep.
And give yourself permission
To move down, down, down.
Down, to the lost, forgotten
Child within, screaming for remission.

Set free.
The emotions of abandon and resentment;
Casting out and calling forth your ShadowSelf.
The atramentous Friend within,
For reconciliation.

Befriend.
This so called place of "Darkness"
It is within to make you whole.
Explore this space of deep emotion,
Waiting for it's story to be told.

Scream out!
Shed tears, do all that needs be done.
Feel the oppression, anger, heartache, despair.
Feel it until the place within-
The atramentous Friend, is no longer caged there.

Come forth
Now, with sweet release; ragged, yet-
Reborn, Renewed, Set free, Complete.
Move back into the Luminescent space;
The fear of ShadowSelf now obsolete.

Through Love
And honoring the Self as whole;
The atramentous Friend balances
The Luminescence within.
For through all things: As Above, So Below.
©KSS 7/2018
Molly Sea Aug 2020
In the long, dark times before the start
I waited in the moonflower garden.
The vines grew strong, with pointed leaves
Toxic nightshade, witches w**d

I took them and wound them around my body,
Tight like linen cloth.
Through paralysis my bound eyes saw
Petals unfurl like napkins, new moon
Glowing ghostly white
Too pale to exist in daylight but

In the stillness of surrender,
Where I could not speak, nor move, I saw
Nightmares bloom as wisdom
.
Last night I came across moonflowers by chance. Struck by the name, I went down a rabbit hole of reading about how its flowers open at night so fast you can watch, about its mythology of blooming from the chest of Shiva after he ate poison, and about its use by indigenous peoples as a medicinal and visionary plant, as well as reading people’s crazy reports of symptoms while under its psychedelic influence. This poem was the result.
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