.

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