A Greater Perspective

Composed 10/27/16
Description: Inspired by today’s Daily Prompt: Smoke.

A quick search on my blog will show you I am no stranger to this topic or metaphor; though, each piece strongly tied to this topic ranges in style. Secondhand Smoke is a simple, bitter though (in phrasing) funny haiku, while the simply-titled Smoke is one of my more experimental pieces, strongly tied to real events and people and chockful of obscure symbolism (which I should definitely do more!). The present piece lies somewhere in the middle. 

The world may catch aflame
Burn to the ground and smolder
But cast your eyes not to the desolate earth
Instead follow the smoke
As it rises, catches the wind
And curls up to the stars
Let your gaze be caught your
Chin lifted
As you find pictures in the wisps
And remember what rests above

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The Song

Composed 5/27/15
Description: For now at least it is a beautiful day, and I am sitting out on my deck enjoying the sun and the ceaseless sound of wind rushing through the trees… resulting in this poem. Fun fact: this is my first time posting to my blog from my phone!

The wind roars
It sings to me
The most beautiful of songs
Uplifting melodies of hope
Drowning out all thought
I can only marvel
At its whispers, its crescendos
It sings of running, adventures, sunlight
It pushes me to dreams unknown
I’m a child of the wind
I long to hear its voice
So when it calls I escape
To a quiet place
And listen

Possible You

Composed 2/27/14
Description: My LAST assignment for Writing 201: Poetry. Our final challenge was a sonnet about the future using chiasmus. I struggled and struggled about whether to go funny about future inventions or serious about the problems my whole generation faces (being forced to choose a career at a young age mixed with dreadful uncertainty about finding work, etc.)… but, in the end I thought, hey, it’s a sonnet. Let’s make it about love.

I don’t know if I’ve seen your face
Or heard sweet whispers from your lips
Likely I’ve not beheld your grace
Touched your hand, let slip a kiss

You’re not a shadow of my past
Nor a friend who walks beside
Instead, the sun in which I bask
Steady at the horizon’s line

My future’s filled with my unknowns
Though I plot and scheme to picture each
But you’re not a thing to plan or grow
You’re a questionable concept not surely reached

So I dream of a possible you each day
Of a possible you I dream and pray

Light

Composed 4/1/13
Description: A personal piece. It’s a bit strange, actually. I wrote this before knowing the whole story, and it turned out to describe the situation perfectly, even before I knew all the details.

I want to be the ray of light
That cuts through this dark room
To guide you when your way is lost
And the air is thick with gloom

When this room feels empty
And cold and lonely too
Don’t forget that I’ll be there
To warm and comfort you

And when you, by your own strength,
Pass by a lit window
And see the stunning beauty that you thought you’d never know
I want to be there to hold your hand
And whisper in your ear
And say that the same warming glow
Is in this room, my dear
All you need to find that switch
Is to keep moving on
To have faith that this switch is here
Even when you think it’s gone

Now I don’t know where that switch is
In this big dark room
But I’ll be here to shine the light
To help you find it soon
And if you don’t want my help
I’ll nod and fall behind
But I won’t leave; I NEVER WILL
Until you find that shine.