Changes in the Wind Part III

I am not alone
I am serenaded
by the wind 
and gently swayed
by the sun

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: This is a peace poem

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: This is a peace poem

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
we chose happiness
or a sign for
deeper sorrow
wanting to go
to the bottom
of the well
we were the
red sand people


our neighbors
were from
blue cloud gulch
they were
a two day walk
from us
we did not
own cars
anymore
there was no fuel
we did not
fight any more
there was
no need

by Pattra Burnetto Monroe August 18,2007

Country Western Haiku # 32

Abandonment
 
You said you would be there for me
If I needed you
I did; you weren’t
It hurt.

pbm 1/2/11

Blowing Smoke

Like my mother
I wake in the middle
of the night
to have a cigarette
I shouldn't have

Forbidden
like my thoughts
hidden
like my dreams
I think of you
and wish I wasn't

blowing smoke


Pattra Burnetto Monroe November 2008 

Shelter

Shelter

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 1994

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

One of my mother's poems

This Is The Place

Below The Hill

Where Tragedy

Occurred

A Spot Of Blood

The Ruffled Snow

A Sign

Of A Wounded

Bird

Here Is A Heart

Where Love Has Died

A Tragedy As Deep

Yet Never A Sign

Of Weary Years

Nor Spot To Mark

The Pain And Tears

Only Eyes That

Weep

  Marguerite Day Burnetto (December 16, 1923 – December 3, 2004)

Enlighten Me

If it is darkest before the dawn

then let the rooster crow

I cannot continue to struggle

against bonds I cannot see

Images of love are lost

nothing feels real

So pathetic in my suffering

the tears that can't be shed

Sowing what we reap

fearing what we dread

I'm blind to my part in this

and crippled by feet of clay

Frozen in my tracks

in this my darkest hour

While waiting for the rooster

I've forgotten how to pray

Pattra Burnetto Monroe January 2000

Inanimate

What do I do
with the passion
I feel for you

I do the dishes
hot soapy water
rushes
washes
over my hands

as I listen to blues
on the radio
these hands
that want
to touch you

baptizing you
in sea foam
and sand

Yet, I cannot
touch you
this we
understand

still,
what do I do
with the passion
I feel for you
 
Pattra Burnetto Monroe (Revised 2010)  By changing just one word, the whole poem and meaning is altered.  Interesting.