Tag: Poetry

“The Clock’s Unwound” by Christina Knowles

Image from www.zazzle.com
Image from http://www.zazzle.com

 

 

The clock winds down

And it don’t care

And it doesn’t share

It strikes them down

It doesn’t bear

The slightest signs of life down there

 

The shot rings out

And it burns right through

The waterspout

And the spider turns off the flood

It ain’t no drought

 

She spurts her web right on out

It don’t hurt

The bottom feeder is out

And he don’t flirt

He comes right out

And takes your shirt

Right off your back

No time to shout

 

So the clock winds down

And you don’t care

What’s done is done

And you don’t dare

Interrupt the song

Disturb the lair

Let it be

Just move along

Until the clock’s unwound (Christina Knowles 2010)

1

“Signs of Life” by Christina Knowles

alone-in-the-crowd deviant art.com
race-to-the-horizon deviant art.com

Shuffling through the gray

Blind to each delicate breath

These intricacies hold no sway

Cheerfully uttered throughout the day

The meaningless pleasantries

Each effort you weigh

The cost of transparency

With each sigh, a bray

You wake and remember what’s lost

Momentarily defray

Smothered in civility

Fashioning smiles of clay

Blinking back signs of life

You purpose to allay

The squall of consciousness

Then take a breath and fly away—Christina Knowles (2014)

1

“Christmas Lights” by Christina Knowles

Here is a Christmas sonnet to put you in the Christmas spirit:

Snagged from google images
Snagged from google images

“Christmas Lights”

 These stars that blink and chase entice my mind.

I stare as plastic people dance and turn

On mirrored ice to silent songs behind

A frosted glass. The candles wax and burn.

My eyes—hypnotized, dazed by lights that churn

And swirl, a flick’ring glow, while shadows fall

Around the tiny room. The taciturn

Snowflakes drop slow and heavy. They enthrall

Me as I gaze, unmoving through the tall

And lighted buildings of the street. I wake

Snagged from google images
Snagged from google images

Up from my reverie and tug my shawl

A little tighter now. The last snowflake

Has fallen from my view, and so I turn

To go. Life is awaiting my return.—Christina Knowles

4

“Music” by Christina Knowles

music-thinking“Music”

Music wraps his arms around me

And tells me he knows what I’m about

He shows me I’m not alone and speaks to me

In ways you couldn’t even shout

He squeals and strums and screams to me

And then quietly whispers he accepts

All that you could never see in me

And all that you reject.—Christina Knowles (2007)

0

“Bareback in the Meadow” by Christina Knowles

My beautiful mother died last night, so here is a poem I wrote about her precious life. She always told me about a horse that she loved when she was a girl. She didn’t have a saddle, so she would ride bareback.

Scan 51“Bareback in the Meadow”

Softly in a meadow, brushing back his mane

Bareback rider, farm girl among the golden grain

Growing in her faith, overcome with dreams

A vision of a life, within her eye it gleams

She swears her vows one cold December day

Knowing there’ll be struggles that will come their way

With only hope and true love to keep her warm

With strength and poise, she faces every storm621463_4574897504609_1222784935_o

Raising up a family, five to call her own

Colorful blocks of fabric, lovingly she’s sewn

A close-knit mosaic, a family replete

Heirloom of a mother, a priceless quilt complete

Ever she is working, sacrificing to provide

Surrounded by her progeny, life is simplified

Always she is faithful and takes the time to pray

For cares to be forgotten and blessings for the day

920495_10200633337269994_1850806278_oWhen days are long, but time grows short

Together they support; they quietly exhort

A heritage of devotion she continues to convey

Her lasting legacy, a magnificent array

She says farewell to her love until they meet again

Until that day that she will go and meet her love and when

She’ll live forever with her Lord and pain will go its way

No worries to escape and all burdens fly away

She struggles through the seasons without him at her side

And when it’s time to join him, all before is justified

She leaves her clan with memories of her tender heart

Tears she shed in worry, prayers said when they’re apart

And many more of joyful days, her love they testify

Of birthday get-togethers and stories of days gone by,

Christmas mornings filled with love, baking just for fun

And homemade ice cream on the porch in the summer sun

So, she says farewell to her loves until they meet again

Waiting for the reunion, when she will be with them

She spends her days with her groom and her Lord by her side

And softly in the meadow, her dreams are realized

Among the golden grain, they ride side by side

Bareback in the meadow and across the countryside.—Christina Knowles (2014)

2

“Tossed” by Christina Knowles

Snagged from liveknowledgeworld.com
Snagged from liveknowledgeworld.com

On a blue-green marble

I wander without knowing

A fervent explorer

Observing this

And wondering about that

What is truth?

I’m a paper caught by the wind

Struggling to put my feet on the ground

To give chase

Rolling and tumbling ‘round each bend

Farther away, always

An inch or two out of reach

Always the truth

Tossed high by the wind

Of this conviction or that

I miss the meaning of here

Dipping low across

A viridian blue sphere

I never quite land

Before the need again

Rises up in me

Flinging me across

An alabaster sea

A desert of need that

Predates me

Just a spot on a blue-green marble—Christina Knowles (2014)

0

“Reversal” by Christina Knowles

Snagged from Pinterest
Snagged from Pinterest

 

 

Gazing thickly through the mist

Vagaries fade into the impassable

Tracing ambiguous signs, I persist

In foolishly pursuing the intangible

 

Finally awake, I see the irrational—

The loss of something that doesn’t exist

Arming myself, I’m intractable

I ready myself to resist

 

Oddly, I mourn the infallible

A loving mirage is dismissed

Reality is not compatible

With the spikes in your wrist

 

Light exposes the actual

Meaning of which it consists

Accepting that which is substantial

Disillusioned, I desist

 

Following the path of the rational

Another paradigm shift

Reversal, a practical

Undertaking adrift

 

Hanging on to the palpable

The evidence I enlist

Stoically casual

I betray this fantasy with a kiss—Christina Knowles (2014)

0

“Black and White Promises” by Christina Knowles

Dad and Uncle Gene
Gene Pitman (my uncle) and Harold Pitman (my father)

Dusty on the mantle

Framed in delicate design

Opening, I dismantle

Faces lost in time

Black and white promises

Of seeing you again

Begin again the processes

Of grieving you and then

I hold your image close to me

And think of how you were

Strong arms that held me tenderly

And told me you were sure

That I’d grow up to be someone

Of whom you’d be so proud,

But Daddy, you’re not the only one

Whose heart is swollen now

Gazing at your picture

Solemn young men dressed

To bravely face the future

In their Sunday best

My father and his brother—

Two boys on leave from war

A future to uncover

I couldn’t ask for more

My father's funeral in 2013.
My father’s funeral in 2013.

Your life continues to inspire

Your wisdom I replay

A father to learn from and admire

And I miss you every day.—Christina Knowles

0

“From Long Ago Dreams” by Christina Knowles

Snagged from www.mnn.com
Snagged from http://www.mnn.com

When once I was lost among the screams

Thrusting through the unbroken succession

I recognized you from long ago dreams

Sinking and swimming up bubbling streams

Struggling against such dark oppression

When once I was lost among the screams

Terrifying images and nightmarish themes

Immersed in the sensory impression

I recognized you from long ago dreams

Demons boast of savage rapines

Resisting their pull of possession

When once I was lost among the screams

Overwhelmingly driven to rabid extremes

Turning, I stumble through the procession

When I recognized you from long ago dreams

Far and away, a glint of light gleams

Gasping for breath, I make my confession

That once I was lost among those screams

When I recognized you from long ago dreams–Christina Knowles  (2014)

0

“Flood” by Christina Knowles

Snagged from amolife.com
Snagged from amolife.com

Always raining, never stopping

Oh, so draining, constant sopping

Flooding, scrubbing

Scouring the stains

Pouring Your rains

Drowning, drenching

Set me free; I’ll never be

Pristine clean

But saturated, sodden

Sinking in your sea

The flood unending

I go on offending

You remain unbending

Floundering, doubting

You allowing

This, my flood

Staggering through the mud

Let me go

To reap what I sow—Christina Knowles (2014)

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑