wearing her tears
on my shoulder;
a badge of honor.

Went  down  to  the  lake  today.
The  vast  expanse  of  water
shimmering  under  the  baking  sun.
Had  some  food  and  drink
sat  on  a  bench.
The  swans  came  up  from  the
water  begging  for  food.
Truly  amazing  how  they
cope  on  dry  land.
. Slender  legs  supporting
a  bulky  body  mass.
They  certainly  belong  
in  the  water.
Crowds  of  people  about
mainly  Chinese  tourists.
Really  warm  day.

Keith  Wilson.  Windermere.  UK.  2016.

It's another day
The minutes tick away
You sit and knit
I sit and sketch
A flower
In a vase
On the table.

We are but two
Doing what we do
There are very many
Doing too.

It' s another day
The minutes tick away
You nurse the baby
I sing a song
About us
In a day
Passing time away.

Jet black full of venom
It's small but a bomb
Hold back it's not a Adatom
If you go close then meet you at your tomb


Swift walk
Like a snakes mock
Hidden eyes
Like parasites

A scorpion


Full of treachery
Like a mercenary
Scorpios got a hard thing
Well yeah it's sting.!


Measured movements
Attacking improvements
Agile cruelty
Scorpios brutality.

No more little girl frightened
Trying to stay quiet as a mouse
No more frightened
In a place she once
Thought of as her house

No Lucy has found solace in one of God's
Most smallest creatures the ~ Lightning Bug
but it does not make this any less extraordinary

The lightning bug is unassuming in the daytime
but lights up with its own night light at night
The darkness brings out its best gift

Lucy is also a light in the dark
For she has overcome unfathomable pain
Her house is a shadowy womb of horror and crime
But that is a story for another time

This is a story of hope and of Lucy
Darkness has plagued her long enough
Lucy identifies with the little living being
and she needed something to believe in

The best way to get rid of all that scary darkness
Is to turn on the light
Lucy's new friend has shown her this
Now she is able to smile through the pain
Like sunshine in the rain

I want nothing more
Sea floors where we find the remnants of ancient merchants
Sunken while simply searching for profit
Soul entwined in sand and phosphorus
Body becoming whole with the glimpse of tomorrow
The marrow of my bones dwindling as light becomes food for my soul
I want nothing more that this
That I set my youthful mind on a distant star
And even time that ends will not keep me from reaching
Wine corks opened by delicate hands
Fingers that touch softly making me feel more
The warmth of my skin
The sound of my love in your beating heart
I want nothing more!
Nothing at all
Not a fistful of money and a palace to sleep in
Private jets and private islands
Where the air sings my name as I glide through her
And the sand on the beach wants me to lay beside her
I want nothing more
Than to be as beautiful as I am to you now
In my prime years of life, young, and eager hearted
Your visceral experience that taught me to dream
My dreams that spoke through the fog standing heavy in your soul
Your soul as a place my beauty alone reaches
I want
As simply said as the forgotten memories
The dead languages and foreign customs
The consumed today as garbage tomorrow
The son of the sun only rising knowing he will set
And be a glorious evening before all manner of darkness falls
I want only
That the beauty displayed by my face
In it's fresh form and grace
Is not
Could not
Would never be!
As beautiful to you
As my soul grown old
I want
That you will think me
As beautiful in my twilight
As I was
When I was young
That with each passing day
You love me more

I want

Let's talk about heroes
the everyday kind
a Jordanian principal
at a school for girls
offering a simple solution
rather than slamming
another hateful door
in the faces of children
who have done nothing
to create the war
forcing their families to flee
or die in the hateful dust
clouding the world's vision

the school is overcrowded
but when Syrian mothers beg
for their children to be taught
instead of saying     no room
the principal asks each girl
to bring a chair and she will
find room for one more
students walk to school
carrying multi-hued chairs
so many eager daughters
classrooms full beyond bursting
but the principal keeps her promise
none are turned away

a loving heart refusing
to be the lock on the gate
offering instead a key
a mother's simple wish
for her daughter to write her own name
becoming  "maybe she will be a doctor"
a seven-year-old girl declaring
"I want to be smart"
the world begins anew
with open arms, willing minds
perched on the edge
of bright plastic chairs
asking only teach me

*I am hungry to learn

the days and minutes
are poured out
precious little ones
they need so much

you think you will
collapse
your energy all spent
your mornings fade to night
and start again

the time goes swiftly by
those precious minutes
growing
into years

circling round and round and round


the time...it is a treasure
each memory enshrined
most days
there are no thank yous
for you-mom

the endless love poured out
the bank where it's all stored
you'll find it's  in your heart

it's not contained

for it flows on
and on  and on
and on and on and on

it never ends...

cj 2016

Happy Mother's Day, sweetie...you are a wonderful loving mother.<3

Windshield wipers
slappin' time
Grandpa drivin'
Grandma singin'...

Goin' home from my
weekly Wednesday visit

after my mama died...

only   allowed
one day a week
with Grandma
my mama's mama...

Always a stop
at the store
for one more
Golden book
and a roll of Lifesavers
on the way home...

and I remember
my  tears
going back  to a place
that did not feel
like home
and Grandma singin'
"You are my sunshine
my only sunshine".

My tears are fallin'
now
with the memory
of her voice
and the sight and sound
of the rain...

Grandpa drivin'
and Grandma singin'....
and those windshield wipers
they were slappin' time...

cj 2016

She had enormous wings, he could imagine,
how light it would to soar up and view
the world as one,  from above the clouds
that would make her feel blessed an envied
celestial being still walking firm footed on earth.
"Have you ever dreamed flying" he asked her
in a matter of fact way, concealing the wonder
the wings caused, but her words made him
think how strange the world is, she wasn't
aware of the gift of wings, pure white, delicate,
sturdy all the same, but the wings were not
a reality she appreciated, hasn't it ever come
to her notice? He looked in to the silence
of her eyes, was she keeping it as a secret?

Her wings were thin, shining silver petals
a rare flower, with a scent wafting everywhere
but by some quirk of fate, it wasn't there for her.

I was driving the back roads from my house
out in the country where things are real;
they live, they die, they make noise and they move
in the way Nature intended.

The road bumped under my wheels because it wasn't paved,
dust flew up behind the car, but fresh air came in my window.
The sun was going down a bit, so the horizon in my rearview mirror
was a beautiful orange blaze which gave me peace.

And for some reason I wondered when it would come.

I've been waiting for as long as I knew it existed
though when I was younger the wait seemed so long
the coming seemed more fantasy than reality,
time changed that perception as did experience and loss.

Now I know it's closer.  Thank God I can't feel it near yet
but I know it's closing in and I wonder when it will arrive;
I also wonder whether it will be swift and merciful
or if it will play with me and make me suffer
and force me to be brave
I'm not brave, you know.  I'm just stubborn
and I like to fight battles I am not supposed to win.

Then I wondered if fighting would be worth it
because all I want, all I need, is to be a part of this out here
a piece of what is real, which is why my peace will be as
scattered dust riding on the wind to find my place
in all of this beautiful, sacred, loving nature.

I wonder when it's coming.
          Some days i don't want to wait.

all the things that a mother does
a loving touch, a hand that heals
I wouldn't know what that is like
I wouldn't know how that feels

she is just another stranger
though, the vessel of my birth
she never did what a mother does
though, she put me on this earth

I felt a bond when I was young
but that bond faded away
these words only burn my tongue
"happy mother's day"