Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: Return to the Garden

Rhythm and Blues and a few Country Western Haikus: Return to the Garden

DEFINITION

I AM NOT

A PERFORMER

A WRITER

A POET

A DANCER

A SINGER

A MUSICIAN

OR AN ARTIST

BUT I DO THESE THINGS

ACT

WRITE

MUSE

DANCE

SING

PLAY

AND CREATE

BECAUSE I AM

A WOMAN

A CHILD

A MOTHER

A LOVER

A FRIEND

ALIVE 

AND BREATHING

AND BECAUSE I CANNOT

NOT 

WRITE

LAUGH

SING

CRY

GROW

AND CHANGE

pbm (1997)

Untitled CWH # 1014

Dreams die sometimes

even when we want them

to remain alive.

~PBM  2014

The Long Sleep

I like the way
the shell
falls away
from the poppy
to reveal 
a flower

Bright orange
they call
to me

I like the way
my breasts
reach out
to you
like sirens


beckoning
you to taste
their tips


Darker rose
calling
your name
I've found a way
to disturb
your sleep


and to awaken you 
from your slumber
with dreams of love

and fragrant flowers
that we shall
call desire

 

by Pattra Burnetto Monroe  April 23, 2008.

For the Love of a Fisherman

This poem is dedicated to my daughter, Michelle and my son-in-love, Leroy and to their children, my beautiful grandsons, Liam & Avery. Thank you for being.

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

And as majestic

As the ever 
Changing Ocean

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

Imagine Peace

by Pattra Burnetto Monroe August 18,2007.

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