The Heart of the Heart of the Heart

The heart of the heart of the heart
is a still small flame
It's a magnet, from whence love came
It draws all people unto it
it burns bright; it cannot be spent

The Call of the Firefly The sun meets the sky Ghost owls ancient lullaby Lure the firefly

Rendezvous
*a three line poem with a syllable count of 1-3-1

Meet
Be descreet

Pete

Do you love yourself?
Do you look in the mirror and smile
Do you hold your head up
Kick back once in a while

Do you check the key to your heart
Is it in a safe place?
Open it up sometimes
Inspect the contents, just in case

Don’t run away from yourself!
Your sweetness is earth’s embrace
Cause when you take time to love you first
Everything else will interlace

Beauty in, beauty out
Don’t put the ME on a shelf!
So once again, I have to ask
Do you love yourself?

copyright © 2010 Mari

No Need to be Nervous

Will they like it? Will they criticize it? What if I’m not good enough?

I KNOW the nervousness about putting your work out publicly. But think of it this way: if it's something you KNOW how to do, something you've done for a long time, something you have a deep conviction of doing, then there is no need to be nervous. A wise person once said to me, "You're not nervous to walk are you? You're not nervous to go to the corner store and pick up groceries for tonight's dinner are you? No, because it's something you've done many, many times. You have confidence you will complete these tasks. Confidence in yourself. That's what's needed. It's all right there."

He's right. It's all right there if you just take that leap of faith... in yourself.

The 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

It's hard to believe it's been 5 years since Hurricane Katrina! That was a sad sad shameful day in US history! I saw on tv that things are coming along but no where near back to normal. God Bless New Oleans and the whole area that was devistated by Hurrican Katrina.

I had already wrote a poem entitled The Great Outpour back in 2004 and later dedicated it to New Orleans after the terrible hurricane.

http://www.prosepower.com/mypoetry/outpour.html

Sun Flower

Sunflower of our hunter gathering life
embrace us. Grow our crops without strife
Your blessings through the gateway done
will continue to multiply for generations to come.

© 2018 Mari

Moon

Night’s silvery mystery
Shall never languish
For today in history
She is distinguished
She is sublime
Like a half dollar up close
An anti-typical rhyme
To her, I make a toast

© 2011 Mari

Feather Dreams

One day in the park
I looked up and saw a feather
floating, meandering to earth.

I thought to myself
I will catch this feather, it will be mine.

Just when I nearly had it in my grasp,
a strong gust of wind from the north
blew it out of my reach.

I thought to myself
I will catch this feather, it will be mine.

I outran the wind.

Just when I almost had it in my grasp,
a park bench sprung up in front of me
and blocked my path.

I thought to myself
I will catch this feather, it will be mine

I hurdled the bench.

Just when I had it in my grasp,
a faceless branch tripped me and I fell.

Opening my scarred fist,

I thought to myself
I caught this feather, it is mine.

©2000 Mari

The Truth, the Way, the Light = LOVE

The truth, the way and the light all run along the same path.
Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, there is evil and darkness.
And the only way it can be conquered is with love.

I believe

I believe God put different races, nationalities, cultures, etc on this earth to enrich it and for us to learn from and to appreciate one other. It is man who has turned the pureness of something enlightening into an evil conquest of superiority in which to commit genocide and to enslave people. What's probably sickening to God is that over the centuries, they did a lot of this in His name.

A Beautiful Gem

A beautiful gem was found by the Princess
Purple and blue, it must be priceless
But when she had it appraised
She came out quite dazed
Precious, it was not
What she got
was fee
free

and

lifeless
Sheer bliss
turned to horror
Our lil Princess explorer
must now obliterate the crowd
who cheer her, elated and proud
She shouted loudly and not so regal
"T'was not a gem but a scarab beetle!"

©2014 Mari

But what would I wear?

4:00 wallow in self pity
4:30 stare into the abyss
5:00 solve world hunger...tell no one
5:30 Jazzercise
6:30 dinner with me...I can't cancel that again
7:00 wrestle with my self-loathing...

I'm booked.

Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9,
I could still be done in time to lay in bed,
stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness.

But what would I wear? ~ ‪The Grinch‬

Is The American Dream Attainable?

Is the American Dream attainable?

Yes the American dream is attainable in my opinion.

Now it all depends on what YOUR view of the American Dream is, how hard you are willing to work to attain it and what you are willing to do to attain it.

"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness." ~Napoleon Hill

The key word is dream. A lot of us have a dream but it's not our dream. It's a dream we see on tv. Of course there are a lot of constraints put on the "dream" by the environment, our surroundings, no money, where we come from, etc etc etc. There are a lot of people out there that you look at them and you think, "oh wow yeah, they're rich... beautiful... got a big house. They got it all, they are living the American Dream." Then you hear about them committing a little white collar crime or committing a heinous crime or even committing suicide. So this was their American Dream? Be careful what you ask for and what you also seek. Not to get preachy on you but the Bible says:

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." ~Matt 6:33

That verse doesn't just mean go to church... read the Bible... get 'saved'. God is Love, so seek some LOVE first in your life, if it's nothing more than self love. Cause it's my true belief that if you love yourself, you can't help but show others love.

So if you're having trouble achieving the 'American Dream', you might ask yourself, "What is your soul searching for, what were you put on this earth to do?" Then maybe THAT should be your American Dream.

The Tale of the Sad Sad Clown

Once there was a sad sad clown
Moving in and about our little town
No one knew from whence he came
Or even what was his name

The children liked him, he made them smile
He entertained them for quite a while
On Saturdays, on Sundays, even on Wednesday night
He was a class act, always polite

One day, he didn't show up for a scheduled event
People were mad for the money they spent
They stomped, they snorted, they cursed him with venom
Forgetting all the good deeds and the smiles he left wit 'em

But the sad sad clown had all but disappeared
The only thing left was one small tear
Left on a desk located in the corner of his room
When it fell from his eyes, no one heard the 'boom'

See, the sad sad clown cried every night
He cried for pause, he cried for plight
Sadness was not just his mask but his facade
He felt sadness with every pleasant nod
he gave when passing townspeople in the streets
They never saw the tears that ran down his cheeks
Cause the 'boom' was silent; tears are not TNT
He filled their hearts while his remained empty

So let down the barrier; don't hide behind a facade
Let the love you put forth be a lightning rod
Cause no one can hear the boom if you close your windows and doors
Love is a kitten that purrs but it is also a lion that roars.

© 2014 by Mari

Terminus

an obtuse purpose
life's conductor
do not cower
in the branches of the cypress
early missteps
of a moccasined soul
no one to extol
No last minute preps

everyone must exit
goods bought at the grocer
by the old grandmother
the parrot, the owlet
the plain figure
from birth to death
vacuum's breath
Eternal pending pasture

© 2001 by Mari

When 5 Years Equals None

Tears, despair yet love, peace --not fair
In front of red curtains, you were alive
No matter how I calculate
It was yesterday but they tell me it was 5

You slipped away. This is the 5th year
But to me it’s not been that long
I hear your sweet voice in my ear
And when I play your song

You tuck me into bed at night
As I lay my head upon your chest
Sweet dreams fill my head’s voided space
In you I wake up feeling blessed

You catch my tears and wipe them away
When they fall upon my cheek
Someone gone for 5 years
Should not still make me weep

I saw you dancing, laughing the other day
Right in front of my eyes
Surely if you knew you were leaving
You would of said good-byes

I thought I heard you call my name
When I walked among your stars
Your life flashed by in pictures
Your songs whizz by from passing cars

People do your moves but not like you
They give you flowers and say you’re gone
I’ve always said you were a gift from God
A messenger, a virtuoso, the dew in the morn’

Now happy times and thoughts fill my heart
Your pleasant laugh, your sparkle, your humor
Your genius, your dance, your style
To say you’re not on this earth? It must be a rumor

Time is timeless. A measure for things for this earth
We are always keeping track of items, from death to birth
I can’t fathom this; measuring how long you've been gone
In… out, right… wrong, here now, leaving me all alone

Five years? No, don’t say it
Your footprint upon this earth is still fresh
I still hear you sigh. I still hear your finger snaps
I still feel your spirit and mine intermeshed

Like brides in anticipation, we lit our wicks
When we heard you proclaim, “This is it”
But your voice and ours cannot be heard together any more
It all changed; but our beacon remains lit

Because 5 years is not enough time
To separate me from what’s in my heart
Our love, our spiritual love
It will never part

Yet it seems so unfair to have despair
When in front of those red curtains, you were alive
No matter how I calculate
It was yesterday wasn’t it? But they tell me it was 5

© 2014 Mari

It Was Nice

This time was no different. Daddy always brought me home a present from his trip to
America. This time it was a bird. I named him Redhead. He looked around and sang a little bird tune.

It was nice.

But I preferred hearing my favorite song, Buffalo Moon, and played it every
night before drifting off to sleep. I fed Redhead seeds and berries.
I even taught him how to eat right out of my hand.

Daddy said that was neat.

______

Mona yelled upstairs for me to go to bed. I put my book in the nightstand
drawer and turned out the light. I laid motionless in my bed, engulfed in darkness. That is when
I found out Redhead could sing my favorite tune.

It was really cool.

______

It was neat, it was nice and it was cool!

I'm talking about walking up the stairs to my room, finding it had been tidied and realizing now I didn't
have to do it. The rugs had been beaten, the floor had been swept and my books and records had been
stacked neatly on the table. Mona had even left the window open to bring in some fresh air from the bay.
I inhaled, sighed, jumped spread eagle on my bed and closed my eyes.

But it was still noisy.

I looked over at Redhead. His methodical singing seemed to beckon me. He must be hungry. I gathered his
food and laid it on the bed while I opened the cage door. Redhead rushed through the open cage door past
my frantic grasps and perched briefly on the window stool of the open window. He looked back and then
flew out the window.

It was goodbye.

______

Daddy is on a trip again to America. I wonder what he will bring me.

Some nights right before I drift off to sleep, I can hear a song playing outside in the distance among the trees.
I always hum along because I know that song.

It is Buffalo Moon.

© 2011 by Mari

Love

Doing something to get love back in return is not necessarily wrong
It's human nature as so eloquently sung in that beautiful song
Nobody wants to feel hate when they do something for someone
That feels like walking down a lonely road devoid of the sun
For there are millions humans out there who have not mastered the way
that to get love, you have to give love each and every day
That makes love reciprocative and an important task not to miss
It's a highway, a two-way street and a thoroughfare to bliss

© 2014 by Mari

Find Your Compass in Compassion

Compassion of the
Ordinary kind is not
Myopic in thought
Perhaps it is
A wandering light
Sought by those whose
Soul needs love's embrace

© 2014 by Mari