Vanessa Shields's Blog, page 21

Poem 314 – Working Girl, the movie & me

Working girl, the movie & me

joan cusack red-dyed & teased
lips lisped & shoulders padded to height
Coffee? Tea? Me?

melanie griffith blonde bombshell & smart
mouse-voiced & lion-hearted to height
I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin

a handsome businessman
a nasty boss
a broken leg
& lies

made me feel
empowered
motivated

& even in this exhausted state
when my head wants sleep & my bod wants forgiveness
the movies fill this working girl with silver

Poem 313 – It

It

When It arrives
It’s too late for me to stop It
It penetrates my organs
(It adores my skin wreaks havoc on my heart continuously hunts for my soul)
Its power crushes mine

Describing It is complicated
Except to say: infiltration of nothingness

(I lose my pack become a woman who runs, weeping and weak, away from the wolves)

Except to say: numb like the ‘b’ in the word Itself
There but silent – completely unaware of Its purpose

Except to say: planet-like, living in the solar system of my being
My light, Its star never bright enough

Poem 312 – Monday Evening Quiet

Monday Evening Quiet

eyelash flutters on the lower back of this day
guide me into another night of sighs laden with letting

the page is quiet
words at rest say

Poem 311 – This day, the raking

This day, the raking

raking leaves under the giant maple that dropped them
under a plate of blue sky so blue my blues left
leaving blues leaves falling giant maple roots under me
dropped thoughts clearing the ruckus of mind minding
the tender afternoon warmth scarf unwrapped dropped
on the peeling porch tender clearings showing age –

this autumn day standing up to gathering time in costco bags
arms hugging colours crunchy with past life so beautiful I can

breathe

Poem 310 – Morning Yoga

Morning Yoga

in the dark
purple mat under naked soles
the dog slopping kisses on
my palms chin nose

hips breathing out soupy moans
unloading night’s shades of story

long stretches waking up my bones
electric flow of energy flicking on my lights

Poem 309 – Night Settles In

Night Settles In

my bra is off
my belly is free
the tick on the clock is a foreign language
the bed has been serenading me since I got home
kicked off my boots & got licked by the dogs

the entire time I was picking up dog poop
all I thought about was picking up dog poop
(three bags full)
(three bags full)
then I got poop on my hand & I laughed, said
really? to the weeds in the grass

I wonder what will happen in my dreams

this afternoon in the space
the lights flickered & the tv turned on by itself
twice I swallowed down tears

night settles in
pats the crown of my day
with a gentle hand that’s holding a pen

Poem 308 – Space

Space

How do you want to fill the space?
Can you see how it changes?
Do you feel how it desires to pull you into it beside it
even to just be knowing it exists?

It believes it is you
but respects the boundaries you create
so you can breathe

How do you want to fill a space that changes –
though its desire for you is why it exists infinitely
simply because you are

Poem 307 – Four Nights in a Row & Yin Writing Link

Four Nights in a Row

the face – precise in its emotional arrangements
the voice – magician’s daggers aimed at my weakness
such vivid torments alive with bloated scenarios that weight
my ankles like chained cement though not to drown but to choke
on the poison of unanswered whys –

one never really leaves when blood is involved

YIN WRITING continues into November!

Here’s the zoom link for *tomorrow* morning’s yin writing:

Vanessa Shields is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: YIN WRITING

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 848 0715 1790
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Poem 306 – Monostich/Monoku – for dorothy

monostich/monoku – for dorothy

Meanings in pencil can’t be erased

My spine curves toward your wounds

Your ideas bend my soul to new light

In your laughter, a garden of joy seeds

You’ve taken it without permission – give me my breath back

“A lot has been said, and will continue to be said about one line haiku aka the monostich or the monoku.

“Sometimes one-line haiku are, or appear to be, a little subversive in order to tell a greater truth. If it’s too smooth it could be just a line of poetry, or a statement.” Alan Summers, With Words”

These one-line haikus or monostich/monoku were inspired by a delightful conversation about poetry at Gertrude’s Writing Room with poet Dorothy Mahoney. Thank you, Dorothy!

Poem 305 – Veil & NaNoWriMo Starts Today!

Veil
On All Souls Day

The veil is thin
a silk sifter between parallel planes
but I don’t see you

I want to, dad, to hold your hand
like I never did when your body was near me

I want to, Nonna, to walk beside you on the mountain top
like I never did when your body was near me

I want to, bouquet of others, to take your faces and say farewell
like I never did when your bodies turned to light

This day of the dead cracks open the spines
of the books of our stories and all I want to do
is read us immortal

Instead I push faith a little deeper into my bones and trust
that they will let me see and feel them when their veils
turn to doves gliding on winds into my heart

National Novel Writing Month begins today!

I’ll be participating again this year in attempt to finish the novel I started close to two years ago! I may not hit the 50,000 mark, but I’ll be a ‘winner’ if I get this first draft complete!

Be sure to make me a ‘Buddy’. My handle is ‘Author Vanessa’, and I’m in the Windsor Region. Our ML (liaison) this year is awesome! So connect with us to find out where/when we’re doing write-ins and perhaps we can write together!

For more info on this wild adventure in writing, visit www.nanowrimo.org.