No Conversation

Painting by B. W. Harwell

No Conversation
To those seeking a ‘conversation’

I don’t want to talk
I am all talked out
The questions you ask
Asked and answered
My throat is dry red

I cannot talk
I am all talked out
I told it all
When Kennedy died
When Martin died
And all the lynchings
I talked of murder
I spoke of fear.
My throat is dry red.

I am all talked out
I can talk no more
I answered the questions
So long ago
When little boys came
To curse my boy
With language from home
Too young to know the fear
Of guns, hanging and drowning
But the boy becomes the man
One more man with a gun
Why are you here?
I told you why
Because I have a right!
What’s your problem?

I cannot talk with tears
I cannot speak with cracked lips
I must lay it down
I have spoken to the wind
This time no talk
I long for peace

Now
You take the time to teach
You move that crushing stone
You search the dead heart
You hold the bullet
You want the ballot
You own the gun
You change the laws

I am weary
I will not speak
I can act though tired
I will give voice
But no longer speak.

 (Painting, From My Lips to God’s Ear, oil on canvas)

Read Full Post »

Purple Journal – New Blues

a 30,000 year old

flower lives

and blooms

paper white

proud

.

alone in

a world unknown

unexpectedly brought to life

the message?

live in peace.

.

beauty

is not a group thing

one-of-a-kind

on my mind

.

little people

fit in big houses

comfortably.

.

my garden

would not grow from seed

plant children?

seemed strange to me

until they sprouted

blossomed

and blew their seeds.

Related articles

• Purple Journal Entries (narcissushibiscusmandrake.wordpress.com)
• Purple Journal – More Circles (narcissushibiscusmandrake.wordpress.com)

Read Full Post »

Winter Blues

Winter Colors – Blues

tomorrow will be a “Kroger Day”

all signs indicate

snow and ice

weather wont be nice

.

what gets me up

and out of bed?

who pulled the cover

off my bed?

(once a lover)

now my daughter

.

dark clouds loom

broken dream

stuffy head

waking is what I dread

.

make the coffee strong

I wont be long

.

Read Full Post »

Old Man’s Tears

Our Tears

Tonite on tee-vee

the old man’s tears

slowly dripped

across his weathered cheeks.

.

Eyes seeing for the first time

his grandfather’s face,

clipped still to the records

of the holocaust.

.

Unburied from his 60 years’ tomb

fresh and terrifyingly still

from miles of cabinets and locks

tended by the cure-ator.

.

Her work, impersonal,

did stop for a brief encounter

with human tragedy.

My heart goes out to him.

.

My heart aches for those lying chained,

crowded into every space

who left no records, no photos.

.

My tears slowly drip

across my weathered cheeks,

weeping for centuries

of lost history.

.

What difference could it make

to know and trace our people.

Read Full Post »

Ode to My Son

I am his mother.

The mother of three others.

The Mother of the World

for better or worse.

.

I  can not kiss

the  scratched knee.

I cannot make it better

or wish it away.

Read Full Post »

Variations on a Theme – more

XXVI

shade

a greater intensity

of color

in the coolness

of shade

XXVII

picture window

so much activity

outside

to overwhelm

those inside

XXVIII

winter

there is beauty

in frozen leaves

waiting for spring

XXIX

the biggest window

look out to understand

the great wealth of things

so much to do

XXX

snow and lace

the stage curtains opened

to the people’s play

XXXI

revival of the spirit

saving scraps

and memories

to use one day

revival of craftsmanship

XXXIII

a place to rest

bring warmth inside

with color and music

nature is delicately screened

XXXIV

crystals

jack is seldom

mentioned or seen

with central  heating

frost no longer

ices the window

XXXV

nourishment

once dinner time

 meant gathering

family and friends

now enjoy meals

even if alone

Related articles

• Variations on a Theme cont’d (narcissushibiscusmandrake.wordpress.com)
• Variations on a Theme (narcissushibiscusmandrake.wordpress.com)
• New church has solar panels and stained glass (cbc.ca)

Read Full Post »