Alchemy: Color Song I

i am red

fire engine red

flame red

full of desire

a plump passionate

purple red pomegranate

i am rock hard red lava clay

older than dirt

porous from heat

and aloneness

blood red

devoid of blue

water sky river sea

a phoenix without the ashes

without the heat

without the fiery sun

frozen corpuscles

red

blue

purple

none of the above

a colored paradox

i am red

i am blue

i am undecided

ambivalent

my own knight

in shining armor

my garment dyed

with the berries

of the forest

red

green

black

all of the above

below the red

smolders

the still unbidden

flames of desire

i must breathe

life into the embers

fire into my soul

longing into reality

red to gold

Pattra Burnetto Monroe Sept 2000

The Daisy

Photograph by Christina Aleta Ferrel Stover & Poem by Pattra

Once you knew my name

It sat on the tip of your tongue

And when you licked it off

It fell to the ground

And became

A flower

And once again you could

Call me by name.

Lily, I love you.

Rosie, Be mine.

Petunia Divine,

Lay down beside me

My beautiful flower

Lay down beside me

And I will lie beside

You and offer promises

I can not keep

Yet desire

pbm

2011

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: A Reminder Not To Buy The Lies Of Our Life

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: A Reminder Not To Buy The Lies Of Our Life

Wash Over Me

I'd like to be loved

like the jazz 

playing 
on my radio

sweet and low

A soothing melody
played by a sensuous
tenor saxophone
caressing sweet
piano tones

Becoming a waterfall 
of fluid notes
High   Low
Lingering 
Languishing

I want to take
my clothes off
and lay in the 

sweet sweet river

of music
Letting it 

make love to me
pattra burnetto monroe  revised april 2012

Germination

lying dormant in the garden
are the seeds that have been sown

winter hides the flowers
deep within the ground

cloistered within the depression
lying dormant in the earth

are disembodied dreams
protected in a state of silence

numb and warm
are seeds awaiting germination

like the silent sleeping beauty
awakened by the prince

my loves awaken me
with patient little prods

beckoning me to surface

come sing to us they call

come fix me something to eat
laughter, rain, and sorrow

each calling for attention
each seed seeking its perfection

no matter what state
dormant or awakened

or lying buried in the ground
appearances can be deceiving

and love can still be found


pattra burnetto monroe

The Ocean Plays
Drums
The Beating
Of my
Heart

The Sun Dries
Wood
And Hide
Tightening
Sinew

Strengthening
The Sound
Feeling the
Beat

The People Dance
Naked
And at
Peace
by Pattra B. Monroe
1 June 2007 

The Daisy

Once you knew my name

It sat on the tip of your tongue

And when you licked it off

It fell to the ground

And became

A flower

And once again you could

Call me by name.

Lily, I love you.

Rosie, Be mine.

Petunia Divine,

Lay down beside me

My beautiful flower

Lay down beside me

And I will lie beside

You and offer promises

I can not keep

Yet desire

pattra burnetto monroe

2011

Light Years

“All the loneliness, All the loneliness,
A broken Maraca of Stars…”Bill Shively (an American Writer & Poet)


The stars have been singing to me
Lately
Yet they have not been singing the blues
Or a sad lament
Or even sappy romantic ballads 
from the past
The stars have been singing me the truth
That was once mine in childhood
A song of hope
Humbled in their radiant presence
I feel small and insignificant
Lost for a moment
I take a deep breath
And find myself
Expanding
Reaching into the vastness
I find that I am a part of this
A part of the stars
A part of this magnificent universe
And as separate as each star appears

They are all held together by the night sky
And even when dawn appears
And for a moment
The stars seem gone
I remember the Milky Way
The breast of Mother Earth
And I am nourished
By the thought that I am not alone
But just one piece of the puzzle
The mystery unfolding
One atom
One nucleus
In a vast and wondrous
Universe

Pattra Burnetto Monroe ~ October 2009

For the Love of a Fisherman

My Bathroom
Smells
Like The Ocean
Deep, Salty,
Briny Air
Even Clean
His Wet Clothes
Smell Of Fish
And Sea

My Kitchen Sink
Is Full Of Shells
With Critters
Still Intact
The Fisherman
Has Brought Them Home
For His Sweetheart
Who Loves Them Both
The Salty Seaman
And The Wild Ocean

And I Am Witness
To Their Love And Hate
Their Comings
And Their Goings
Their Separations
And Togetherness
As Turbulent
As The Ocean

This poem was inspired and is dedicated to
Michelle & Leroy, my youngest daughter and son-in- love with love 

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus