The Tendrils of Time

The tendrils of time
Wrap themselves
Around us
Through the ages

Memories
Of places
And faces
Flood our consciousness

But they are blurred
Indistinct
Impossible to know
Who they are

Until I hear your voice
And my soul leaps
Recognising you
Knowing us

I have known you before
Loved you completely
Our lives are twined together
For eternity

Write a Poem For Me

Write a poem for me
About my wicked ways and
How I tease you so.

A Truthful Thanksgiving

Soon we will sit down
'round a table, with family and or friends,
Laden with favorite foods
Bow our heads in thought or prayer
And say what we are thankful for


We will mention health
Or caring physicians
When we
Or someone we love
Is lacking in this regard


We will mention family
But what we'll
Really mean
Is the ones we can stand
Or that don't drive us nuts


We will mention jobs
Because we're thankful
For the money they put in our pocket
Not for the idiots and assholes
Who also work there


If, when we sit down
We are truly honest with ourselves
Some people might be shocked
To know what we are
Really thankful for


Face it
We're thankful we made it
Through another year
Without killing some asshole
Who truly is deserving


We are thankful
for mindless distractions
Like video games, books, and movies
That let us escape from hell
For just a short while


We are thankful for the alcohol
Or the drugs
Or the sex
That deadens the pain
Or makes life tolerable


I, personally, am thankful
That my husband and I
Are finding a way to work through divorce
As gently as possible
For us and our children


I am thankful for the friends
Who love and support me
Who challenge me to be
Everything that I can
Even when I don't know what or who that is


I am thankful for my children
Who amaze me every day
With their unique brilliance
The wonderful people they are now
And the people they are becoming


I am thankful for the words
That flow from somewhere inside
Helping me make sense of my world
And from friends near and far
Sharing themselves with us


I am thankful for art
Colors, objects, and images
Made, found, observed
Keeping the darkness at bay
Lighting my world, my soul


Mostly I am thankful
For those I love
Who for some reason
Unfathomable to me
Chose to love me in return

I Don't Need Words

I don't need words

To know the truth

Of how you feel

In your heart

I can see it in your eyes.

I am Learning

I am learning

to trust

and believe

in myself

the way you do.

When Souls Bubble Up

When souls bubble up

and dance about in the world

it's called a giggle.

Loneliness Eviscerates

The pain cuts

but I don't bleed

it burns so

but I show no scars

loneliness eviscerates.

Your Dreams

How can you
expect your dreams
to come true
if you won't let yourself
have any

To Know Another

How can you know me
without ever hearing me
over your own words?

To know another
you have to listen to them
with a quiet mind.

The Moon has Risen

The moon has risen
pregnant in the cold, cold sky
delivering us.


The warmth of the earth
blanketed by the snow fall
waits to bloom again.

Jealousy

Jealousy is fear

that someone will take away

what you thought you had

A Tree Full of Butterflies

The brisk Autumn winds
rustle the leaves taking death
leaving the dying.


Sunlight filtered gold
a tree full of butterflies
fluttering nowhere.

Gettysburg Battlefield in Autumn: Part 7-Misc

Part 1 "Fog" is here.

Part 2 "Nature" is here.

Part 3 "Roads & Paths and Self Portraits" is here.

Part 4 "Monuments and Graphic Design" is here.

Part 5 "The Power of the Monuments" is here.

Part 6 "Fences" is here.

Well, I think I've dragged this out as much as humanly possible. These are some miscellaneous images that really didn't fit into any of the previous themes as well as the best images from my trusty little Blackberry. I realize from doing these posts that I need to further work on my editing skills...

I Don't Write Poems

I don't write poems
I gently hold a thought
and wait for the words to come
and the poem
to write me.

Gettysburg Battlefield in Autumn: Part 6-Fences

Part 1 "Fog" is here.

Part 2 "Nature" is here.

Part 3 "Roads & Paths and Self Portraits" is here.

Part 4 "Monuments and Graphic Design" is here.

Part 5 "The Power of the Monuments" is here.

This is the last of the themed posts. After this, all that is left is the best of the photos taken with my trusty blackberry and some miscellaneous images. I don't usually have many themes in mind when I set out to create images. This shoot was a little different in that I intended to try to capture the fog. Beyond that, I simply look for things that catch my eye. I enjoy looking back through the images and seeing what I didn't necessarily see at the time, themes that I might have been working on unawares. 

Most of the Gettysburg Battlefield is a patchwork of fences. The notable exception would be Little Roundtop. Otherwise, this land was family farms. Many of the fences were simply to mark boundaries between one farm and the next. Some, to keep livestock from wandering. Those, would primarily be the straight picket fences. Some of the stone walls were created when farmers cleared the land, piling the stones turned over by the plows along the edges of the fields. Some of the stone walls and the zig-zagging sharp picket fences were hastily built by the armies to use as cover.  All of them, wood and stone alike, give the landscape a geometry. Individually, they have the ability to create a frame for the somber beauty and draw your eye in to the scene. I wonder as I look at them, touch them, steady myself on them, and photograph them, Did a soldier steady his weapon on the same plank that I now use to steady my camera? How many men died where I stand today? 

I find them to be simple, yet elegant; functional and beautiful at the same time.  Like the trees and the rocks that have been here since before the battle began, they were witnesses. If only they could talk...

 

Gettysburg Battlefield in Autumn: Part 5-The Power of the Monuments

Part 1 "Fog" is here.

Part 2 "Nature" is here.

Part 3 "Roads & Paths" and "Self Portraits" is here.

Part 4 "Monuments & Graphic Design" is here.

I've waited to do this post till now because it was by far the hardest to edit. I've looked at these images every day since I took them, letting them sink into my subconscious in the hopes that choosing the ones that have the highest impact would be easier.  It helped a little.  Without further stalling...

Gettysburg Battlefield in Autumn: Part 4-Design Elements of the Monuments

Part 1 "Fog" is here

Part 2 "Nature" is here

Part 3 "Self Portraits & Roads and Paths" is here

Today starts the two-part post on the monuments themselves. Today will be more about the graphic design qualities of some of the monuments at Gettysburg and or my resulting photographs. Tomorrow will be more about what the monuments represent.