Walk lovingly into the crevices of your unpleasant memories so that the bitterness of the past might be replaced with the sweetness of the present.

They sat on two branches
One above the other
Adorable as could be
Gathered bits of  canteloupe,nuts,and oookies into a cup
Found the tree and called out to them
Scattered the food all around the tree
They sat on their branches enjoying
Made an ordinary lunch extraordinary

C@rainbowchaser2023

let me listen to you
your hidden landscapes
your lives lost
in velvety oblivion

listen to the streams of blood
throbbing at your wrist
in the tender flesh inside your elbow

listen to the vulnerable intensity
in the soft vale at your collarbone

the silence on your lips
the whirls below

listen
listen through you
to these things that one cannot speak

by Ioana Ieronim from Ariadne's Veil

Lured by the understated enticements
Of the fog that curls around my efforts,
I’m wondering if that could be the answer
To the questions that I’ve never ever asked.

There doesn’t always seem to be a floor
At the very bottom of the staircase,
So I’m wondering what I will find
When I step off of the bottom step.
            ljm

I’m old and fat
And that is that
No saving grace
For my poor face
The past is gone
I must live on
And walk this road
With aging’s load
But I recall
When I was all
I’d hoped to be-
An answered plea
I was the best
Of all the rest
I reveled on
Then all was gone
But I’m still here
With mind yet clear
The years roll past
Each one more fast
But as they fly
I never sigh
I’ve had my fun
And now it’s done.
        ljm

as a sweater
shrunk in the dryer.
You no longer fit.
You're just a liar.
So, I split.

I outgrew you
as a baby blanket
I'd carry around
till you tore
and colors faded.
I no longer paraded
you in town.

I outgrew you
as cigarettes.
Sick of the sweats.
I kicked the habit.
Jumpy as a rabbit.
You stunk
with smoky breath.
No longer the dance of death.

I see the light
in the corner of my window
before it morphs
Into the face of Hades

Death will guide my breathing
into this open space
and drown any meaning
Of air and it’s grace

I will see beyond all
that explorers have yearned
and the city heads tremble
Forlorn

For the street dusting folk
have accepted this fate
long before they were born
And will sing at the face of Dawn

When the sea reaches down
to take my hand
and sing me a cry
So foreign

I’ll remember that sleep
is no different from waking
and I’ll wait with no hurry
No claim

And we will soar
through the fires and
hailstone histories of man
Spit oil and embers on brand

For smoke becomes smoke
And poison becomes poison
And our bones a lovely crown
for our children