Category: life

While Humans Built

.Reading time 1 minute.

while humans built towers
the meaning was in stars
and the petals of flowers

spun on an orb weaver’s thread
sparkling with dew,
tapped in the fertile soil
by the tree’s persistent roots,
tossed by the brute wind
like the dead leaves of autumn

flowing like the cool, clear waters
of the ground-sprung creek

cleansing like the rain
warming like the sun
blanketing like snow stores undone
flying on the wings of birds and butterflies
churning up the earth like worms
standing firm like rock
eroding like sand

and

like the great willow
ever growing toward the sky
still, cascading to the ground
sheltering life
in its tent
of leaves
draped
around

while humans built towers
the beauty was in stars
and the petals of flowers

~

Words and Photography ©2018 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Posted in poetry & free verse.

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Trace the Edges

.Reading time 1 minute.

I lie in the grass
like I did as a child
and look up to the sky
trace my fingers along the edges of the clouds drifting by –

a ship with tall sails
cuts through the deep blue

a girl dances
in a billowing skirt

a hippopotamus sticks its head out of the river,
its mouth gaping,
or is it the mouth of a crocodile
lurking under the surface of the Nile

the egrets on the bank don’t look worried
they will grab their meals
and then take flight

there,
the canopy of a forest

there,
the mountain peaks

there,
a strange system of planets
in an alternate universe

there,
the little stone I skipped in the pond yesterday,
it went farther than I thought it could possibly go

like my dreams
of childhood and today,
soaring – these clouds –
stories I long to tell

to be seen by others
as they lie in the grass
and look up to the sky
and trace the edges
of me

~

Words and Photography ©2018 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Posted in poetry & free verse.

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Devour

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

devour the writer

taste the words
savor them on your tongue
chew
swallow
allow them to digest
until their nutrients
absorb into your cells
feeding you

let ink –
the layers of metaphor,
narrative,
plot
and
construct –
dissolve

there, the writer –
stripped bare
to
soul,
will be
inside you

~

Words and Photography ©2018 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Posted in poetry & free verse.

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Dripping

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

dripping
in summer heat
morning dew off green leaf
sweat beads off the playing child’s brow
ice cream, vanilla-chocolate swirl, off scoops
caught by a hungry, lapping tongue
before lost to the ground
now, down face, sweet
dripping

~

Words and Photography ©2018 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Entry posted in poetry & Rictameter Verse.

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Honey Bees

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

bees
calmed by smoke
allow the theft
gather the honey
in pots
melt the wax
add the wick
light the candle
it smokes
and
calms
the
bees

~

Words and Photography ©2018 Tanya Cliff ~ to contact me

Posted in poetry & free verse.

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