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On occasion, I send my thoughts
to rest awhile
in the small stand of bamboo
along my boundary
Its dappled interiors request
visits from my thoughts
so I send them at tea time
the better to be refreshed

On occasion, my thoughts return
in drunken heaps
to be sorted like laundry
into piles labeled
colors
shapes
and
revelations

On occasion, it's little use,
this sorting, for
they often end
in one pile again
as
poems
or
paintings
or
essays
or
as notes to friends


Roberta Compton Rainwater
c. 2009/2014
and thus it goes
circular and direct
feminine and masculine
woman and man
and not in that order
in God’s judgement

it’s in the breath
which He put in man
as his blessing
to give strength for hard labor
not in the rib that is woman’s
blessing
to give strength for childbirth

God’s judgement is
all that matters
it is done

tamam shud


c. 2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Tamam shud:  it is done
i.
breathe your heart words
into my heart’s ear
say it all
my heart is a trunk
to fill
they fall into and
become
treasures
--- your words ---
effervescent with love
never dull
ever soft
forming a me
unknown to all

but you

ii.
I flew into your sky eyes
never to return
refracted by your heart
back to myself
a prism
unknown to all

but you

iii.
move your heart hands
over my heart's body
play the harp of my soul
heartstrings unsounded
until your music
made my heart sing songs
of me
unknown to all

but you


c. 2018 Roberta Compton Rainwater
comes a time to turn   to put the feet of the heart
forward    step at a time   each foot shod in time lessness
and space lessness

comes a space to hold    to place the hands of the soul
around    the body’s tabernacle    each hand soothed and
soothing

comes a view to see    to cast the eyes of the being
beyond    the mind’s walls    built by No without
Know ingness

comes a time to cluster these     in courage and trust
to move away    from the air lessness of shallow being
Toward

to step off the craig    onto Love



c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
here is a cup of fog
mix it well
with melancholy
spoon in a bit
of saccharine ---
indigestible sentiment ---
and blend it all
together

take this tablespoon of
creative fire
douse it with
unrelenting tears
repress it into a ball
then let it stand,
covered,
that the yeast of
sorrow may bloom

when doubled,
punch it down to
bloom again

punch
bloom
punch
bloom

work the dough of Life
to death
form it into a blob
put it into the cold fire of the ego’s
oven
leave it there to burn away
to nothing edible

serve it in hard chunks
on delicate china
and --- wait
trust that the teaspoon of
Love added at the last minute
will be enough


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Remembering old bouts of depression
sound and movement telling stories
of nectar supped so sweet and golden treasure found
of adventures felt so deep a bee must dance to tell it all
to tell it all
to tell it all
a bee must dance to tell it all
and share the ecstasy of success


c. 2009/2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
the momentum of revealing the weapon

was slowed
at the knock heard from the door

was slowed
as antioch was conjured
by your voice
as you entered the room deliberately

was slowed
to a stop
because you appeared
and the would-be thief fled


c. 2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Antioch means “to resist”. It was also a city in Turkey established by one of Alexander the Great’s generals.
sheds its bark an

armor piece at a time
from high on its trunk

where its heart would be
is that what creches first

rather than the soul?
(a volute of thought

from heart to head, this) --
like the healing of its bone

by the purring of the cat
or the birthing of a person

in the eye of the whale
or the movement of the heart

into the head
a balm of balsam

baal shemen
chief anointing in the

shedding of the tree
a chrism, the

extreme unction of Love


c. 2018 Roberta Compton Rainwater
To S.B./T.H.

it matters not where you meet St. Gabriel
whether on earth or in heaven    for
writ large on a person’s soul is a deepening
an aging
an inevitable annunciation that your casket of buried
fears and joylessness
is being dug by the gravedigger   an ancient
angelic presence   who keeps you safe
that you may hear the annunciation of your worthiness
to serve Love
that your immaculate conceptions are beloved
of Love
that you are the hands and imagination
of Love
and that the poetry of your life
is a chrism
an anointing     by Love,
                        for Love, and
                        in Love



c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
truth begets Truth
trust begets Trust
Life begets seed
seed begets life
Life begets Life
life begets life

like attracts like

there is no versus
no againsts
what is created here
is matched
whether perceived right or wrong

Like attracts Like

as a child grows
and develops
so its soul allows
when guidance is missing
or when it isn’t

like attracts like

give your heart to God
follow His Heartsong
alone
then all the titfers
become only Tats


c. 2024 Roberta Compton Rainwater
my spiritual heart creates
tondo    a constant
whirl
reaching into my soul
depths.   refining
cleaning
glistering
me
preparing me
anointing me
washing my feet

my heart is a tondo
circulates my essences
infinitely
in my body
washing me

the brain is a tondo
that dies last
after killing the body
from
inside
out
washing me

for my death


c. 2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Tondo: circular paintings and plates
For poetry was all written
from 'The Poet' by Ralph Waldo Emerson

for poetry was all written before time was,

and whenever we can penetrate into
that region where the air is music,
we hear those primal warblings,
but we lose a word,
and substitute our own,
and thus
miswrite the poem;

for
the all-piercing, all-feeding, and
ocular air of heaven,
that
man shall never inhabit.

The religions of the world are the
ejaculations
of a few
imaginative men. The history
of hierarchies seems to show, that
all religion's error
consisted in making the symbol

too stark and
solid,
and, at last,
nothing
but an excess
of the ***** of language.



Transformation
from Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore

the soul    Thomas Moore said    is fostered
in the many turns of the labyrinth
making intimacy with the heart
a profound coupling of ego and soul
in deeps of intensity
deeps of fear
and
deeps of bliss

metamorphosis with artful participation
blushes the ivory to gold-tinged flowering
transforms by imagination
Narcissus


c. Roberta Compton Rainwater 1995/2017
heart of day begins
cicadas rattle and thrum
the trees sing a song



in the frogs throat songs
I hear The Beloved speak
surrounded by night



c. Roberta Compton Rainwater 2009/2014
coil, wind tendril
ancient
like light
through cloud shade
and
summer shine
pant the lazy beat
to moon rain's falling murmur
sing love to me
as I climb your windy shadow


*


yellow air flower
blow the languid wasp
away from the sun honey
beneath your bloom

it is a luscious drunk


c. Roberta Compton Rainwater 2009/2014
un-
un-
dense with stories
written on diaphanous pages
tales of love and dishonor
battles and travelers
torturers and healers
killers
mystical
mysterious
maculate
biblical
-read

fluid with melody
written in grace notes
and notes of grace
on staves like wires on poles
wrenching
beatific
dramatic
sensual
spiritual
-heard

movin­g with color
created in visions
brushed with the fire of gods
dull
plain
painful
exquisite
delicate
beauteous
-seen

touch­ed by angelic hands
formed of the earth
tempered in water
molten
chipped
hammered and carved
to perfection
spatial
dynamic
rounded
softened
crystalline
-containe­d

-felt


c. 2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
once a bell has pealed,
can it be unpealed?

once liberty is cracked,
can it be uncracked?

once one is loved,
can one be unloved?

once something breaks,
can it be unbroken?

once a light has been lit,
it can be unlit
then re-lit.

once a crack opens,
once a break occurs,
once love falls,
the Light gets in.


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
*”Ring the bells
That still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen
this human life seems
always to be crawling
each moment justified
by
anything but God

its movement neither
to nor fro
back nor forward
for nor against
for
anything but God

but
Love changes waiting
to Wisdom
and
movement
away from anything

but God


c. 2024 Roberta Compton Rainwater
be my soul friend
my anam cara
play my water harp
my water heart
make music of me
sing me back to
the way I was
the way I can be
the way I am with you

friend, be my soul
my anam cara
make of me a cantata
a rondo
a dance flamenco
flame me back to
the way I was
the way I can be
the way I am with you

soul, befriend me
be my anam cara
make of me a garden
a stroll through Love
give me back to
the way I was
the way I can be
the way I am


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Ishmael was thirsty
a well appeared when
God spoke

thirst is everything

Jesus asked for water
the thirsting woman at the well
was blessed to serve Him

thirst is everything

faith is the well
we dip into daily
to ease our parched souls
to fill our empty
heart-cups

faith is thirst

thirst is everything


c.2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
it is all and always

the veils are thin and fine
and utmost
how to see through them
blinded by love
all and always
the veils are thin and
almost utmost
filter
my heart
all and always
sees naught
but --

when I give my heart
it is all and always


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
am I become an asterisk in your life,
a small reminder of what once was soul-deep,
was the trumpet-radiance of character?
I wander, unshod, in the wilderness created of myself,
to revisit a dystopian dream, where my soul-scars
bleach white from time’s long goodbye
and my caged heart sings a canary’s song to no one

am I become Bukowski’s consummation of grief
dancing on thorns to a choreography of remorse
to a dissonancy of love?

when did I become a mere star-point in your
wintercircle, lost in the wilderness of your sky,

an asterisk abandoned in your asterism?


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater
the look of words - in any language - across a page
brings to mind the gestures of dances
slow, or wildly free
a waltz, perhaps, or
an arabesque
a twyla tharp choreography or
a martha graham ballet
an earthy folk dance
a Japanese kabuki,
a Chinese dragon or lion dance

some lines of words also look like music
some, like wind instruments
others are a slow walk to anywhere
(which is a dance, too)
the flow of words takes us with it
expresses through music and gesture
so much more than their definitions
are sacred sounds expressed through
movement across a page,
across an invisible divide between you and me,
over a mountain range on elephants,
to conquer a heart

and satisfy a soul


c. 2017 Roberta Compton Rainwater

— The End —