On Loving A Poet

Source: Dinovelvet.

The Three Graces

Long ago the handmaidens of Aphrodite

Grew tired of being virgins Of being consummate Women

And lit out for the dessert

I met them at a festival covered in wrinkles and rainbows Swilling beer Cackling at the universe

And I joined in at once Understanding there was so much more to me.

-Skye

Image: Poland,1932 Photography: Henryk Poddebski, Poland 1932 Source: polishcostumes

Dziado

Came from Slavic wheat Farming Polish fields under the sun Breaking bread with his mother and sister At end of day

Peasants they owned nothing Not the land Not the wheat Not the roof above them On cold winter nights

War washed him from the continent And off to America With his wife and baby girl

And though he is long dead I still see him

Caring for his cows Feeding his pigs Cooking his eggs With his garden onions Under his own roof.

-Skye

Photo Credit: Crowd By Misha Gordin Source: Fallowstore

One of the Crowd

Hauling One rough beam after another Head down Looking neither Right Or Left

Hearing the scrape of worn shoes Hearing the effort in ragged breath

But seeing nothing

Moving together Compliant Silent Complicit

Building a pyre To end the world.

Source: calmerra Image Credit: Foxes, circa 1913 by Franz Marc Medium: Oil on canvas 87 x 65 cm

Foxes

The woods behind the house are deep Dark tangles of brush Damp Loam soft under feet

This is where the foxes go in the morning After prowling along my borders Teasing my chickens All through the night

I have a sturdy hen house

The chickens are safe

Besides

The foxes are sleeping now Somewhere in the wild wood.

-Skye

Image information: Adam and Eve, 1533 by Lucus Cranach the Elder Medium: Oil, Wood Source: lucus-cranach-the-elder

Paradise Lost

It was told that the serpent Tricked the woman And the woman bewitched The man Into losing paradise

In truth the animals were Satisfied With their innocence

The snake likely wandered into the tree To sun itself in the high branches

The woman was not satisfied She was curious and clever She knew the snake was suspected Of many things

Her favorite mouse was missing The blue birds cried over lost eggs

She stole the fruit And blamed the snake for her Nascent sin

She involved the man Drawing him tighter to her Pressing knowledge into his hand

And it was she who smiled softly as God Released them from the garden And gave them the whole wide World.

-Skye

Image Source: Dee Nickerson, Anticipation

HAIKU- Lady in Waiting

On the red lap robe her cat sits watching starlings while she waits for me.

-Skye

Image credit: Isolation,23.03.2020, 20:25, Source: flowersinthedustbin

Night Windows

In the daytime people are hidden The building keeping secrets Of things done in the living room Or the boudoir

No one privy to ordinary And extraordinary comings and goings

In the nighttime backlit lives reveal Themselves In bright snippets of window light In hazy shadows playing on lowered shades In the soft outlines of darkness

Ordinary And extraordinary Comings and goings For everyone to see.

-Skye

Artist: Meimaro (Work from their solo exhibition ‘Devotion Bound’) Source: Beatifulbizarremagazine

Fame and Fortune

Whispered making promises I let myself give way

It was easy in my innocence Allowing the Adoration of thousands of fingers Strip the flesh from my desirable bones

Until all that was left of me was Make believe.

-Skye

Image: Radioactive by heavenriver Source: psychedelic-psychiatrist

Into a Spiral

I saw you In the café so well Put together Sipping tea

But as you walked Away I noted Your trajectory

Seemed to Set you Spinning

Just when did you start spiraling out of control and Where Do You End Now?

-Skye

Artist/Work: Alexander Calder, from the “Circus” portfolio, 1964 Source: museums.msstate.edu

Timing

Catch me like there is no net My dear I am counting on you

I am the first of us to Let go

To believe With outstretched Hands

In the moment One reaches For love

Timing is everything A net will not Stop the fall

Hearts still Break.

-Skye