I think of Jon Carroll who always announces a cat column, so those who are not interested in Archie and Bucket can turn away.
I'm not sure this is poetry, but it might appear so, so I say, like Jon Carroll, I know that not all I place here will appeal to everyone. This is my exploration, in which I offer to let you share, and I know that right now you might much prefer hot-air ballooning, whistling to the cows in Point Reyes, and walking to the end of Pierce Point to breathe in where the continent both begins and ends.
So, my free-flow this morning begins here:
cancer
I speak with this one and that
and they begin by telling me of their pain
then I share mine
and they back away
oh, yours is so much greater
I reach to reassure
no, pain is pain
and this is of my body
which is transient
and theirs is of relationship,
breaking up,
not seeing children,
Their pain must be honored also,
as a fine dish
we all are invited to share -
cancer is a pall we back away from -
and in it, I see there are blessings
I have time to dissect
and the pain -
I hear it will be like dying
and coming back -
Jesus only resurrected once,
look at the gift,
dying and coming back
over and over again
won’t that change the planet,
the frame -
the picture we have of ourselves
reinserted
in living
without blame -
The Sweet Spot
That place on the racket
where the ball rebounds
just right -
I live there now
alive in my sweet spot
protoplasm leaning out
slowly learning how
to take a bow
and say good day,
good night,
sweet life.
Leopard Light
I wait in the hall this morning
to scare Jeff when he emerges
from the bathroom -
it is dark and I forget
why I am there
and I am the one who jumps,
scared -
isn’t it like that -
standing in the hall
forgetting our reason
letting instint take us back
to the mammoth and cave
instead of the spots
that evolve -
To Life
I am a rodeo snail
riding the breeze
driving me -
my hat in the air
I slip and I slide -
wheeeeee -
it’s fun,
being me
Full Count
It hurts to sneeze -
Wow!
I note I am breathing softly now -
trying to stay under the pain -
reach now and evolve -
open slowly the hands -
uncloak -
breathe in support of each cell -
each need -
breathe each breath as seed -
open fully and mount
the blaze
igniting
each moment
within -
begin
full count
be breathed
Today
I stay with my center,
play fully there,
and from there,
like taffy,
I pull,
and cut the segments
that snake
from me to you
and back again,
turning on a lathe.
Blessings,
Cathy
