Evolution of Self
Projection?
Validation?
Reflection?
We become
through others
ever more deeply
ourselves.
Written in response to a Medium Chalkboard Expresso (15 words or less) prompt by Harper Thorpe
December, 2018
Evolution of Self
December 27, 2018 by
Entrapment (Dedicated to Enneagram Fours)
December 11, 2018 by
You can go
your whole life
believing you’re different
you don’t belong.
You hold back
just enough to make
it true—
Until one slips
under your
defenses
But he is different.
It wasn’t
intentional.
You see your
reflection in those
around you
the fringe
the damaged
the different
you judge yourself
better, than worse
you’re different
you don’t belong.
Until light starts
seeping in and you
begin to see
the thinking that
Sculpture by Arthur Minton
trapped you,
the feelings that
overwhelmed you.
You get a glimpse
of your own heart’s wisdom,
out of your control,
setting you free.
“D” is for…
November 28, 2018 by
I used to check
my calendar
for names:
B for birthday
AN for anniversary–
triggers to send a card
to remember
how our lives
intertwine.
When did I start
putting “D” by names?
It’s aging they say,
loss is part of it.
But knowing doesn’t
soften the sharp edges
of the missing pieces.
“God fills the holes”
“Reinvent yourself”
“Time to turn inward….”
But I stare at the “D”s
and wonder….
overwhelmed
by the mystery,
the fragility,
the preciousness
of Life.
.
Trick and Treat
November 1, 2018 by
Canyon DeChelly by besliter
The trick is to
allow each moment
to treat us to it’s
wonders
So dying
no regrets
we lived all
all that was given.
(A response to the one line poetry prompt by Kathy Jacobs in Chalkboard)
Perfection
October 10, 2018 by
[When we don’t like what is going on in our lives, around us….]
Perfection
What if where we are is exactly
where we’re supposed to be?
The result of past decisions and
beliefs we held so dearly as true…
It’s the chance for us to really look,
to see clearly what we’ve co-created
and choose differently.
Everything I react to is but a mirror
of the inner world I live in.
Reacting is seeded in fear,
my world, my self, what I care about
is threatened.
Only Love can respond anew.
Love can say “no, stop, enough”…
but love never loses itself in rage or fear.
Love knows the God spark
in every situation,
in everyone,
in me.
What if we are exactly where
we’re supposed to be?
Depression Landing
August 19, 2018 by
Mortality haunts me.
At a time I need
to reach out
I’m shrinking.
I pull away from
connecting.
Fear of loss?
Illness seems
to surround me
Another one down.
Loss hangs in the air
reflected in the unsteady
steps of those I
would love.
I need to resurrect
my curiosity, my interest
in the world
But its decay saddens me.
Relationships take time
to nurture and deepen.
I should buck up
move on, instead,
lost in the mundane
I’m disappearing.
Beginnings, Middles and Ends
August 13, 2018 by
“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”—Pema Chodron
How can people
be so sure
where are we on
this continuum of life.
Those who think the
time is near, do they
stop seeing the rose
stop caring for the wild?
How vast is the universe
How vast must be its Creator.
Our stories cannot
hold the Infinite.
Still we separate, judge and vilify
in the name of our small truth.
While the One
who knows us best
gives us a new day.
Grace flows
Love beckons,
The Divine is patient.
The Red Shoe
July 25, 2018 by
[From a Poetry Workshop on Ekphrastic* writing given by Pauletta Hansel. The poetry challenge was to find a picture on the walls of The Essex Art Studios where the workshop was being held that called to us, and write a poem. Here is mine.]
“Red Shoe”
Kevin T. Kelly
Serigraph 19″x19″
©2017
There was a time before…
before the guy selling lettuce
said “I don’t think of you
as an old person.”
A time when grey didn’t
dominate the landscape.
Mirrors meant a quick
combing, maybe some lipstick.
There was a time before
shoes became practical.
Memories burn of a time
when people noticed.
Where anticipation
of a steamy night
was just life.
There was a time before…
*Ekphrastic: This is a word from the Greek which means “one art form commenting on another.”
Acceptance or Need vs. Love
July 12, 2018 by
I need you
to love me!
The death knell of
of relationship.
It closes off
seeing the other,
kills the curiosity
the joy in difference.
Needing hardens
the heart already
damaged by wounds
long forgotten
Needing is fear in
disguise, a spiritual
hole we look to be filled
by someone out there.
Accepting the loss
the familial love
we never had
frees us
Only then
can I love you
without demands that
you be anything but who your are.
Whose life?
June 19, 2018 by
It has a will to live
popping up everywhere
in the lawn
light yellow-green
calling attention
to itself.
I pull them out
but more pop up
not to be defeated.
One pull had good roots.
It sits in a pot
on my counter.
I say it’s to identify it.
But maybe it’s just
a symbol of Life.
Something that
wants to be,
that has its own world.
Parallel lives
driven by a life force
seeking expression.