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This is a Peace Poem

dwelling in the canyon of red sand stone we marked our houses with characters befitting our desires  if we were sad  w...

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Alchemy

 



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

Friday, November 5, 2021

Whetstone

Adversity can hone us

Water on rock

Sharpening a knife

Water on stone

Shaping a blade

Cuts to the quick

Ice on fire

Fire on ice

Constant adversity

Can pierce the heart

Carving a valley

Deepening the abyss

Breaking the heart

Open


~PBM 2004 (revised December 2021)



Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Particles of Light (composed on Brigid's Day, February 2020)

This poem is for you, Dear Maggie. Thank you for being our sister, our songbird, and our friend. You are loved and remembered. Thank you for your legacy of music and laughter. 

January 20,1952 - January 20, 2020

Particles of  Light


Shattered

I pick up the pieces

Jagged edges

speak to me

of our history


Here

we played hide and seek and

Once 

when we were still

very young

we touched tongues

intrigued

by the thought

of french kissing


Years later

watching how fire burns

we huddled together

on the beach

as the night sky

suddenly revealed 

the constellations

You could name all 

but one


Scattered

like the stars

I picked up your ashes

knowing the dust and the sand

aren't you

but holding them

just the same


Pattra Burnetto Monroe 2020

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Brigid's Day Poem

Particles of  Light

Shattered
I pick up the pieces
Jagged edges
speak to me
of our history

Here
we played hide and seek
Once 
when we were still
very young
we touched tongues
intrigued
by the thought
of french kissing

Years later
watching how fire burns
we huddled together
on the beach
as the night sky
suddenly revealed 
the constellations
You could name all 
but one

Scattered
like the stars
I picked up your ashes
knowing the dust and the sand
aren't you
but holding them
just the same

pbm january 2020

Friday, November 29, 2019

Let There Be Grace

Trees in open trunks
Going to peoples homes
To become brightly trimmed
In celebration
Of Christ's birth

People without homes
Don't wish for trees
Or turkeys with trimming
Anymore than you or I
In tribulation

They wish for shelter
from the cold
A moment's warmth
A minute's peace
An hour of hope
A home of their own

Pattra Burnetto Monroe 
December 1995

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Visitors


The joy
you brought to me
still lingers
I'm dancing
in the
afterglow
Laughter illuminates me
Look
I've become
a wood nymph
a sea sprite
a dandelion
in a child's
breath

Pattra Burnetto Monroe 

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Light Years

Light Years

The stars have been singing to me lately 
Yet they have not been singing 
The blues or a sad lament
Or even a sappy romantic ballad 
From the past
Instead, the stars have been 
Singing me the truth
That was once mine in childhood

The stars have been singing a song of hope

Humbled in their presence, I am awed
By their radiance and their glorious abundance
I hear their song and I feel
Small and insignificant
Lost for a moment in the vastness of this wonder
Then, as I inhale deeply, I find myself expanding


I find that I am a part of all that is

This swirling mass of light and dark
A part of this magnificent starry night
And as separate as each star appears
They are all held together by the night sky

And even when dawn comes and for a moment
The stars seem gone
I remember the milky way
The breast of infinite possibilities 
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


Sunday, May 12, 2019

Two Minds 

I have been of two minds lately
In this month of May
And even while distracted
I have felt the sun and moons influence 

The sway of the tides
Pulling and pushing
Carrying me away
I have been of two minds lately
One to laugh and one to cry

The seasons they keep changing
Revolving round the sun
An oversimplication of how 
my heart has grown


I've watched the river lately
Ships and tides flowing in and out
Breathing Tonglen for us all
Breathing in the sorrow
Breathing out compassion

The seasons they keep changing
Revolving round the sun
Duality brings both confusion and a bit of clarity



And I've listened to the Angels lately
Trying to avoid the news
Which isn't always easy
considering the times we're in

I have been of two minds lately
One to laugh and one to cry

I have been of two minds lately
One to give and one to receive
Relearning ways of being
I have been before

I have been unpacking lately
Finding evidence of life and love
Believing that
The Universe has a heart
Unsure if it beats for me
I have been of two minds lately
One of hope and one of dread

Life contains so much lately 
That death can take away 
In looking for the blessings
This becomes a way to pray

I have been of two minds lately
One to laugh and one to cry

Then a friend told me
There is no right way to grieve
Grieving knows its way
I have been of two minds lately
One to laugh and one to cry
And one to pray



written June 7, 2007  revised 9/9/11 revised again May 12, 2019
By Pattra Burnetto Monroe