Self Sacrifice

Feathers

Feathers

When you came to me, you were more than a dozen.

Everything about you was something it wasn’t

I bent my fingers to shape your hands

I reconfigured my halo to destroy the badlands

I stripped the feathers from my wings that flew

I fashioned them to show you the skies of blue

I made horrifying textures smooth for you to build

I wrapped your intimidated heart against the freezing chill

I comforted primal screams from your terror filled nights

I kissed your cheeks lovingly while you fought the fight

I defended your body, your mind, and your spirit

I gave you safe haven, wouldn’t allow bandits near it.

I guarded you with a Battle Queen’s power

but (SNAP!)

like that

you snaked away in the witching hour

while the bells of winds change rang in the bower

to return to the dark from which you came

afraid of the light that I showed you again and again.

I release you back to your puzzled up mess

It is with deepest sorrow, I lay you to rest

I shutter my windows, lock up my doors

mourn who I knew you could be; but won’t be I’m sure

until you know your own value, nay, worth

my heart no longer yours, your memory dispersed.

Stardust and Oceans

I held your hand while stroking your cheek

Whispering to you the depth of my hearts belief

You stared blank at the ceiling but I knew you still there

When the winds stirred the curtains to brush at my hair

With rattled breath you returned to the ocean

Waving goodbye with the power of rawest emotion

Your sweet and gentle passing has erased your pain

But in doing so has increased mine, bring on the rains

Silent your breast, cooling of skin, I sat next to you so very alone.

It was a sacred privilege, an honor, to walk your stardust spirit home.

Mother Moon

Mother Moon

Mother Moon

We feel the sway of the moon

To our mother’s bosom we cling

At the heaven’s feet we swoon

Full or dark we’re worshiping.

The pull of tides cradle hearts

At her breast we are mollified

In her arms we’re created art

Full or dark, we’re pacified

Stars in her eyes

Reaching for the stars

Reaching for the stars

When I awakened from the dreamless deep,

I was shocked to realize that my eyes could not see.

I had no way of finding upon which path to set my feet,

because all I’d ever done was walk around in sleep.

But then I found the very stars of which you, longing, write,

and I followed them into the sky; into the sacred night.

The Banquet

Old friends are the ones who holds your secrets tightly. Old friends are the ones who holds your secrets tightly.

You have come knocking at my door with your basket empty of fruit.

You ask to break bread with me once again, I welcome you with a banquet.

Forgiveness is not necessary when there is a parting of ways with no faults

Things just happened to work out where time apart was required to isolate

Not for feeling alone, but for the seeds to take root, grow, and bloom fully

I offer the platters laden with history, telling each yarn with great verbosity

laughing together, we drink deeply, offer consolation, counsel, connection

We cut cheese (grow up!), melt it onto the bread of reminiscing

our peppered words burning our faces with our shocking youthful antics

I sit lounged in my chair, grateful that the air we share is no longer pungent

It no longer stinks of half-truths, unspoken words, and lost opportunity.

We rip shreds of the layer cake we build with our conversation,

skipping layers of icing, jumping slyly from one inside joke to the next.

We burp satisfaction, of time well spent, appreciated, and honored.

As we rise into the light of a new morning, I escort you out with welcome

for warm and happy returns at your leisure when the need is happenstance.

As I bid you adieu at my doorstep, you turn towards me, arms full of bounty.

We smile the smile of 1,000 lifetimes ago, promising 1,000 more.

Set the clock to zero

Get high in a different way than you'd expect.

Get high in a different way than you’d expect.

Set the clock to zero, forget everything you know

Remember nothing, even your name forgo

Do not look back or check your phone

Leave all gadgets at your home

Wear sturdy shoes and soft socks or boots

Pack a jug of water, nuts and dried fruits

Close up your house, cover mirrors, and lock the doors

Throw your keys away, there’s a world to explore.

No air conditioning to make your lungs thick

No constant hum of electricity keeping live the sick

Disconnect from society to find your humanity

Remember natural laws like seek shelter, find gravity

Feel the blades that you walk on give way to the leaves

Heed the chuckle of streams, find the wisdom of trees

Catch the warmth of the sun, the chill of the night

Greet the symphony with no conductor in sight

Feel the life that is living, not taken for granted

Step the rocks, conquer hills, and climb up the branches

Until you’re told by the clouds, wander near or traverse far,

But do not presume that you know who you are.

Your understanding of how the world works

Has been made up of lies, explained by idiots and jerks.

They know nothing, but you soon will

If you learn to listen to the earth’s active still.

I declare, I am

I declare I am

I declare I am

I declare by action

You can not call yourself a dreamer of dreams

Unless you first close your eyes to willingly sleep

To strip away reality that’s solid to your skin

Throwing blankets against the world’s forgetful sin

Standing not in the sands of the shores

But drowning in desires begging knowledge of more

You can not call yourself a writer of poems

Unless you first strip back the skin to know ‘em

Stripping down to muscle, blood, grinding bone

Becoming so grotesque, by default, displayed alone

Repulsing your own belief that you were enmeshed

Engaging your spirit fully until it bleeds through your flesh

You can not call yourself an artist of the arts

Until you’ve ripped shreds of everything you know, torn it apart.

Chopped off arms, legs, noses, fingers, and ears

Assembled them into a shape that disappears

Become a nothing awaiting rebirth to this plane

So you can become a God/dess of your own domain

Between the Worlds

A Snow Owl

A Snow Owl

I wander along in blues of sparkling seas

I witness a sail in the distance waving at me

I place hand over eyes in familiar stance

I wave back with my hips, a shift of my dance.

The forest closes in with a crackle of leaves

I’m not afraid, it’s welcoming me

The music turns up with bird songs and buzzies

The brook tells a joke that gives me warm fuzzies.

In a blink of an eye, my feet hit the sand

the painted desert that smells like Christmas is where I am

A solar flare singes my skin hot and prickly

but pain is small price when one lives this richly

A single leap, a precarious bound

I’m traveling highways, heeding the sound

of the zephyrs of change as they dervish round

Should I see you as I move, ever by the winds tug

You may not know my face, but you’ll know me by hug.

Storms and Kisses by Joys of Joel

Storms and Kisses – a poetry by joel f. found at www.joysofjoel.wordpress.com

A quote by Anita Krizzan inspired me to create a poetry

Why do you expect a rainbow

when you’re afraid of storms?

Did i let all my fears

stop you from being near?

Why do you expect a sunrise

when the moon didn’t say goodbye?

Do you expect it to follow

every dawning of the sky?

Then why do you want my kisses

if you only want the roses?

Because you think that all the tears

are not really worth it?

And if you say goodbye

because you hate to cry

I won’t stop you from leaving.

I hate to see you grieving.

**You can’t blame someone for leaving if you never gave them a reason to stay.

via Storms and Kisses.

Be gentle

Better than tulips!

Better than tulips!

Be gentle with me for I am but a fragile human

whose eyes may not see

the expression of your sexuality

as a sign of unsuppressed individuality

because I may be jaded or blinded by misogyny.

Be gentle with me for I am but a fragile human

whom is terrified to be

the open-hearted embracing destiny

to stake my claim on my personal history

as one not bound by mainstream society.

Be gentle with me for I am but a fragile human

whom is unafraid to be

every breadth and depth of clarity

a shining hope against disparity

standing human by human in equanimity.

Be gentle with me for I have stepped outside of me

the one they knew can no longer be

because who I am, I was born to be

I can no longer hide, I am finally free!

Be gentle with one another

treat neighbors like sisters and brothers

for as difficult as it seems

we all long to meet our dreams

so we fight the hard fight

sometimes not recognizing the hopeful light.

Be gentle of heart

but wild with your grace

May hate never play a part

in your peace or your faith

Be rich, my friend, with philanthropy

Be gentle, so very gentle, with this fragile human;

me.