Wednesday 26 February 2014

.

It's kind of like the truth
wrapped up around some lies;
like the sadness only
found in long good-byes.

It's devotion to a star
that isn't in your sky;
like having no excuse
for needing an alibi.

Interpret this way;
or is it like the sunrise;
changes every day.

It is kind of like a war cry
or a peaceful protest in the park;
like a horseback ride
on a blinded stallion in the dark.

It will stab you in its light
like a flame eager to expand,
like a jagged shadow in the night;
a cryptic dagger in its hand.

It's like a secret that no one has ever heard;
the chirping of a single bird, bird, bird.
A whisper only spoken by the wind,
like a breath from deep within.

by Jody Pratt
Words In Motion 2014

A Day at Harbourside

They’re waiting as you enter
And once you step inside,
You are greeted by the residents
Who live at Harbourside

We are the staff who care for them
We go to work each day,
Our goal is to be advocates

Although they were born different
At times misunderstood,
Caring for these residents
Can make you feel so good.

Lessons of humility
Are gained from working here,
So little makes them happy
Sometimes can bring a tear.

Each one of them are different
Unique in their own way,
We soon learn all about their quirks
To care for them each day.

There’s those who like Amazing Grace
And those that like to smoke,
Then some just like to be alone
While others can provoke.

And sometimes extra ice cream
Or an extra piece of cake,
Sometimes it’s just a little walk
Is all that it will take.

To make their lives seem brighter
And satisfy their needs,
They’re asking for so little
It’s easy to concede.

They can teach you many lesson
Though they haven’t very much,
Our team of loyal workers
Are many working there,
Our purpose for these people?
To provide good, quality care.

And on the days when things get tough
As most all jobs can do,
I sit back and I realize
It’s us they look up to.

So every day, before I leave
I look down deep inside,
And pray we’ve made a difference
In the lives at Harbourside.

by Eileen Wood
Words In Motion 2014

A Fight For Life

I’m fourteen doing fine
But I do get sick a lot of the time
A doctor’s appointment momma said
Get yourself ready Get out of bed

So we go, He takes some test
Results come back they’re not the best
Leukemia I’m afraid to say
We must start treatment

We must start today
A donor, a donor we must find
Thank God for my sister her marrow
Matches mine

Well five years, have come and gone
And yes I still get sick most of the time
But I would like to say today

I’ve met many a good friends
Of whom since passed away
My only hope that come some day
Cancer be taken and locked away

Then many others and I will suffer
No more
Yes I’m still here
And I’m here to stay
Cause cancers not taken me away.

For John Kunce and the many
Many more

by Debbie Proulx
Words In Motion 2014

A Hard Pill to Swallow

A hard pill to swallow.
Your body fights against it,
Tries to resist.
You choke it down though,
You fight your gag reflex.
You swallow your pride,
You swallow your pill.
Now it’s gone,
It’s out of sight.
You gulp, and you end the fight.
But that lump in your throat…
…It lingers.

by Emma Carter
Words In Motion 2014

A House Flew By

Blowing up Highway 63
somewhere north of
the Wandering river, going
about 130 km
half a house blew by.
Snugly wrapped in
miles of Tyvek© and
red tape, an oversized birthday present
lacking only a bow. Windows and doors
secured, there would be no
flapping, no missing parts here.

Up and over the hill and around
the curve of the road the
second half pulled up behind me.
There I was, sandwiched
between a house and not feeling
a pinch nor grind of timbers. Not even
a poke of a nail. An odd place
to find myself.

It occurred to me then
the portability of lives. Lives lived,
scattered over country and continents. Held
loosely together by
the bonds of inherited blood and
once shared history. Unsure the ties
were strong enough to hold against
the distance and time that
assaults us all.

That was when I discovered
it’s better to pass after
we cleared the bridge, not before,
and definitely not during as
I held my breath and
made promises I
wasn’t capable of
to a god
I didn’t believe in.

by Cathy Yard
Words In Motion 2014

A Journey

Life Is A Journey
To Explore. As You Will See
It Will Take You
To The Outer Limits Of Ones Self
And Your Need

You Never Know, Where You Will End Up
Or What You Are Going To See
But I Guarantee You Happiness

If You Stick It Out With Me.

by Debbie Proulx
Words In Motion 2014

A Long Rocky Road

Life Is A Long Rocky Road
To Which We Have To Follow
But Sometimes These Rocks May Look
Like Huge Boulders

But If You Really Take A Good Look
You’ll Find, They’re Only Small Grains
Of Sand, And The Road Has Become
Smooth Again

It May Become Rocky At Times
But You Will Make It Through
And If You Need My Hand
To Guide You, Turn Around
For I Am There And Always Was

But You Just Couldn’t See Me
Because You Can’t See

Through Huge Boulders

by Debbie Proulx
Words In Motion 2014

A Nighthawk and a Nightingale

Keep singing thy precious song ,
my lovely Nightingale , keep singing !
The Stars that Thou wearest in thy dream
are the reflection of the Stars
in thine always upward looking eyes,
and the stripes that Thou wearest
in thy dream
are the moonlight shadow
of the cage bars.
Thou art like a Sun
my lovely Nightingale,
because just like at the Sun
I can not cast my eyes upon Thee
without going blind,
Thou art like a Sun
my lovely Nightingale,
because just like at the Sun
I can not cast my eyes upon Thee,
and when I cast my eyes
upon the Moon,

behold , Thy reflection.

by Mario Eric
Words In Motion 2014

A Secret

Touch your feelings if you dare
Try to find the calm
Listen to your inner voice
Trust it, believe it, it’s your sixth sense
Use it for guidance, make it your choice
BUT KEEP IT A SECRET

Draw strength from your individuality
It’s what makes us unique, we all feel the same
The courage to face what you feel can cause pain
Don’t escape with the excuse we call blame
SO KEEP IT A SECRET

Lessons are hard learned
Only benefitting those concerned
Honesty is the most difficult path
If you are willing to face societies wrath
REMEMBER, THIS IS A SECRET

Hatred, jealousy, low self-esteem
All are really just internal fear
When you find it too overwhelming
Simplify your purpose so it becomes clear
BUT IT IS A SECRET

If one by one we would share
Fear could be replaced with support and care
Choose with caution those you confide
Most prefer to keep it inside
SO KEEP IT A SECRET

Is there anyone whom you find fit

 to share with you, your secret?

by Laurie Merrick
Words In Motion 2014

A Whisper

All is gambled seeking The One… shared values and views not askew..
Senseless voids that have no comparison in matters this world deems...
A whisper rages long into the night, silent desperation oft feels defeated..
Proven fact of rhythm… simple wall flowers trying to get through the day..

Memories ingrained yearns to be experienced … colors of a different hue ..
Forging fires yields up a soul to be measured by the hope in distant dreams..
A whisper so felt,  the perceived reality of this Universe would be depleted..
Ravaged denied desire…  a tangled sanguine love would become sought prey..


by Billy Graham 
Words In Motion 2014

A Woman's Cycle

In between the travels,
down the highways
past the coasting plain
and headed for the mountains

there seem to me
to be three stages...

The Rest
The Fall
The Climb

The Rest lasts a week
The Fall lasts a day
But the Climb comes once
and lasts three-quarters
of the month.

by Sharon Cordes Okrasa
Words In Motion 2014

Adjusting the Sails

The wind blows
in many directions.
I find myself tossed along
like a leaf.
I wrap myself around a tree,
hanging on for dear life.
Gasping for breath with
my head fuzzy,
I hear a voice in the wind
Or is it a whisper?
Is that a daisy talking to me?
But I am just a simple leaf.
"Come back to the breath.
Trust that your breath will ground you.
And be willing to receive all that you deserve",
the daisy whispers.
And I am reminded to adjust my sails
upon the whispers of my breath.


by Samantha James
Words In Motion 2014

Alexander the Great

They say he stood upon the shore
And wept into the sea
For fear he’d conquered all the world
At only thirty-three.

Yet had he known untrammeled soil
Lay just beyond his hand,
He would have wept a flood to think
He’d never see that land.

Though we may weep at gaining all
With nothing left behind,
More often still, our tears are shed
For worlds we’ll never find.

by Jane Jacques
Words In Motion 2014

Already Critiqued

The odd comment on a typo may be spurt,
but to grade their work would be berserk.

They should not seek critique in poems that
are neither weak nor bleak but utterly unique.

Who am I to tear the rug from beneath the feet
of those above in skill and words and talking love?

They juggle wit and declare pain and drag me through their suffering;
play songs and dance within the rain and help me to go wondering,
within my mind, and pondering the great divine.

To tell them to change a phrase or strike a word
is simply lunacy and quite absurd.

So instead I give them just desserts
and offer courts of praise and flirty words.


by Jody Pratt
Words In Motion 2014

Am I My Brother's Keeper Now?

I  walked pass him on the floor that day,
No encouraging words for me to say,
I wasn’t the one to set him straight
He’ll learn some day, or meet his fate.

He warned me to, leave him alone
Although I knew, that he was stoned,
He couldn’t possibly work like that
But I wasn’t about to be a rat.

The dangerous work was already done
Now take the truck out for a run,
I’ve done that many times before
But I wasn’t stoned, working on the floor.

What could go wrong, I thought once more
As the truck now backed out through the door,
Once around the block and he’d be back
I thought as the tire came off the rack.

Am I my brother’s keeper now?
I’m not the boss here anyhow,
How could I even justify
If something happened to that guy.

Then someone shouted, “there’s been a crash”
I hurried and saw the truck was smashed,
A witness said he’d been zoned out
He tried to warn him with a shout.

If only I had done my job
Then his young life would not be robbed,
I chose to look the other way
Now some boys dad wouldn’t be home today.

How could I face his kids and wife
Knowing I could have probably saved his life,
The guilt I live with now is great
I could have changed that young man’s fate.

If you see a co-worker, in harms way
Please be responsible and have your say,
Go help him if that’s what it takes
And if not for you, then for his families sake.

Cause at the end of every, long hard day
When quitting time comes, and we’re on our way,
Leaving behind the stress and strife
You’ll feel so good, for saving someone’s life.

by Randy Burton
Words In Motion 2014

Angels

Angels come in many forms and seldom do have wings
Yet they spread their magic by doing little things
It may be a friend or someone who truly cares
Or it just might be a strangers hand that wipes away your tears
It might be a smiling face in a world that seems so hard
Or just some simple words upon a greeting card
It might be a shoulder that you cry on or an arm on which you lean
If you look around an angel can be seen
So when you look for angels look not just overhead
You may miss the one beside you taking every step you tread

by Carmel Giles
Words In Motion 2014

Awe

Stillness beats at tree and sky
Where finer things sit bare, on
Moments standing humbled
By an echo in the air.

No time for tongue to pulse and grope
At fret or plucks of scorn
As truth has earnest company
When conscience walls are torn.

It’s effortless communion
Not one cell tunes away.
That simple breath inhaled, where
Eternal strikes its day.

by Kimberly Fiske
Words In Motion 2014

Beyond the Door

I think somewhere
within the sights
of greater eyes than mine

A certain destiny’s moulding -
ageing – like fine wine.

I used to be an athlete
I used to love to win

And now I have to keep the score
by points I’ve held within.

I’ve always had a vision
Now I’ve got the key
Behind the Door
I’ll see what more
Will now become of me.

by Sharon Cordes Okrasa
Words In Motion 2014

Billet Doux

Hey you,
I thought you should know...

I confess, I cathect
and undress this precedent -
you who cause foibles;
I who foible at the sound

of your breath
from that chest, that
decrements intelligence,
and severs common sense
in this audience.

You who ooze
ataraxia over me;
the orectic dream
which makes me simper
awake and sleeping.

I who am satiety
reside in Cockaigne;
but only -
when I'm living in your eyes.

Girl,
I have to tell you the rest;

I am perfectly impressed,
undressed from head to toe.
Exposed, you see me naked
heart and soul!

You who make me lissom;
Listen,
you bend me like a string
of a broken, smashed guitar.

I see you, and when I do,
I melt; I'm butter but
I'm broken as a falling star;
there you are, there you are.

There you are.


by Jody Pratt
Words In Motion 2014

Black Gold

Northern lights
On a warm summer night
Streaking across the sky
In electric green
While coyotes sing
A soulful lullaby
The grass and trees
All used to be
And ancient endless sea
And now we mine
What was left behind
To satisfy our needs

by C.R. Drew
Words In Motion 2014