Parking Lot Revelation

Some Dude — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:22:42 +0000

Walking up the hill towards my car this evening, I found myself noticing the smell of fallen leaves, which yanked me out of a brief internal discussion. At that juncture I found myself unable to return to the internal dialog, while at the same time unable to re-acquire the smell of the leaves that were at once so heady, By the time I reached my car and placed my belongings on the front seat, I could no longer resist the urge to put pen to paper,

So I stood there in the semi-dark, with the parking lot lights giving almost but not quite enough light to see what I was doing and at some point I had to give in to the faith that I could write in spite of the funky orange lighted shade. So here it is.

Parking Lot Revelation

It is that first flash of realization
The smell of fallen leaves
The thin sliver of the moon

The sudden knowing that the leaves have turned
The color of Fall leaves around the bend
With the first touch of sunlight

It is bread baking
The first taste of something indescribably wonderful
It is the experience that if you try to recreate it,
That you try to grasp and hold onto
You cannot

It is the magic of gently brushing
Lips against an ear by accident
In passing

It is all of these and yet none of these
For it has already happened
And will never be the same
Or happen in quite the same way

Like the impromptu flowing forth
From a pen on paper that you can barely see
Trusting that the words will end up
Where they need to be

It is that need, that urgency
And closet fears of losing thoughts
That bring these words to me
Upon my notebook in an emote parking lot.

Linthicum, MD, November 2009

Footsteps of Giants

Some Dude — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:42:57 +0000

For Kate, of Suppertime Sonnets fame.

Footsteps of giants may shake the earth
frequently without regard
for consequences or outcomes

Yet how often are mountains moved
  seas parted
    hearts and minds opened
      by gentle footfalls of the thoughtful?

While rain fills holes roughly made
in soil ravaged by the careless

Tears fill footprints left behind
where one has touched us
deeply in passing

Dams burst, creating floods
  of Biblical proportions
    after the silent departure
      of those who danced in our heart

Though it may come to pass
  that thoughtless wounds
    to Gaia’s body
      will heal and fade

Footprints left by gentle giants
  are not so easily filled
    indelible markers of fertile ground
      seeded by vast minds,
        watered by genuine tears

Who is to say what will grow -
magic beans? golden geese?

What is sown by the mighty
  with kindness and generosity
    tended with unconditional love
      can only bring forth beauty
        for which words are truly inadequate.

Kate lost a dear friend this week whom she had never had an opportunity to meet. After hearing from other sources that Mac Tonnies had apparently died alone while no one at his place of work thought to check in on him after three days of absence, I could understand even more why Kate resembled someone who had taken a hard punch to the solar plexus.

If you haven’t “met” Kate (sadly, the soonest I will likely get to meet the Wyoming Muse will be at Balticon 44 in May 2010), you need to check out Suppertime Sonnets and Kate’s Twitter stream.

jgregorywright.com » Poetry

Parking Lot Revelation

Footsteps of Giants