tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19331857082625423422024-02-08T19:33:33.396+00:00Whilst Walking JackFionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-2218595385946392932023-04-25T15:06:00.000+01:002023-04-25T15:06:41.886+01:00Liberation<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">since
way back when i felt inadequate, wherewithal-less</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">-
not that i would have called it that back then -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">so
i set about finding people, things<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">that
might <i>adequatise</i> me because<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">god
forbid the shame of being less than<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">whatever
the fuck late-stage capitalism<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
the spiritual marketplace <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">tell
us we should be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">on
one particular day, not so long ago<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">i
began to feel how much energy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">had
got tied up in trying to overcome this,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">to
this’s detriment, and how the overcoming<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">shamed
this, so terribly, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">this</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> being the inadequacy, the
lacking-ness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">this
does feel wholly inadequate according to<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">whatever
parameters might be applied, and for so long<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">i
was in thrall to the idea that<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">something
needed to be done about it<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">(i’m
so glad i don’t believe that any more).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">this
(me? i don’t really know any more) feels utterly inadequate,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">wholly
lacking in all areas, totally without wherewithal -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">not
that that’s being claimed as a badge of honour,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">or
paraded in a look-at-me kind of way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">this
inadequacy – i saw that day – never needed me<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">to
take it on or pick up its cudgel or <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">attempt
to correct it or overcome it or<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">better
myself out of it or<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">love
it or accept it or or or<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">take
it to any number of healers or <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">self-described
spiritual teachers or anyone else<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">who
fell under the category of <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">people
i thought were superior to me<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">to
do with it whatever their schtick was (frankly,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">all
the schticks left it untouched, save<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">for
feeling a little worse still,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">having
supped at their supposedly superior cup). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">that
day, it was a monumental relief to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">this
<i>just is</i> breathtakingly inadequate and <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">totally
lacking in wherewithal (and <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">any
other kinds of -withal there might be)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
right now,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">i
fucking love it, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">not
with some sappy welcome-it embrace-it love-it gloss<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">but
with a sweating-in-the-mosh-pit, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">too
many beers and smudged mascara kind of love<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">that
wants everyone (including me)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">to
keep their (possibly) well-meaning but <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">otherwise
very misguided hands off it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
that day this – my – inadequacy had never felt so good or<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">so
real or so alive or so glorious, because that <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">was
all it had ever wanted,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
it was such a liberation to repeat, on and on,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">utterly
inadequate and totally lacking in wherewithal, <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
with each repetition <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">my
body sighed and smiled and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">i
began to fit into myself like never before,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">a
yes throughout my being at the truth of this<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">and
a wonder at how it is to be real. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-41169814642837995412022-08-04T16:56:00.001+01:002022-08-04T17:05:52.515+01:00Body<div style="text-align: left;"> And my body says:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">there's a fucking cosmos in here</div><div style="text-align: left;">suns stars galaxies comets</div><div style="text-align: left;">you should know</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am so much more than </div><div style="text-align: left;">a storehouse for your trauma or</div><div style="text-align: left;">a battleground for your conflicts or</div><div style="text-align: left;">the bearer of your scars or </div><div style="text-align: left;">the carrier of your soul</div><div style="text-align: left;">so don't pull your reductive objectifying imperialist bullshit on me</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am not something to be colonised by</div><div style="text-align: left;">whatever good intentions you have this month</div><div style="text-align: left;">or your warped ideas </div><div style="text-align: left;">about purity and perfection. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let's just say</div><div style="text-align: left;">I know all your sleights-of-hand</div><div style="text-align: left;">your baiting and switching</div><div style="text-align: left;">we both know who you are</div><div style="text-align: left;">and we both know that you should be</div><div style="text-align: left;">on your knees</div><div style="text-align: left;">sinking into me</div><div style="text-align: left;">worshipping at my feet</div><div style="text-align: left;">and howling at my very miraculousness. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-24639089790320723972022-04-22T10:34:00.000+01:002022-04-22T10:34:49.958+01:00Aftermath<div style="text-align: left;">In panic</div><div style="text-align: left;">I ran</div><div style="text-align: left;">from one place to another</div><div style="text-align: left;">to another</div><div style="text-align: left;">to another,</div><div style="text-align: left;">from one person</div><div style="text-align: left;">to the next</div><div style="text-align: left;">and the next. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I took to hiding</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the spaces between words - </div><div style="text-align: left;">silence a temporary refuge. </div><div style="text-align: left;">I took to disappearing</div><div style="text-align: left;">into the slivers of stillness</div><div style="text-align: left;">between moments,</div><div style="text-align: left;">those lulls in which</div><div style="text-align: left;">no-one was noticing -</div><div style="text-align: left;">(there are more of them than you think) - </div><div style="text-align: left;">putting off the inevitability</div><div style="text-align: left;">of emergence. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was always going to have to come out,</div><div style="text-align: left;">eventually. </div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-51508949434825543352022-02-09T12:30:00.001+00:002022-02-09T13:54:14.251+00:00Table-Turning<div style="text-align: left;"> I want <i>us </i>to rise up and start a war -</div><div style="text-align: left;">Or at least to cause a commotion.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I want us to go to town on a Saturday night</div><div style="text-align: left;">And start a fight. </div><div style="text-align: left;">I want us to rain down blows </div><div style="text-align: left;">And cause men to fear. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I want us to lose our shit in public. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Long have we borne, cared, endured. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Long have we nursed, tended, understood. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's time the tables were turned. </div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-5130461569625109932021-12-02T16:31:00.003+00:002021-12-03T08:33:48.748+00:00Contribution<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lying on my sofa in the late-afternoon sun</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I sink into time, and time takes me </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To the duck-egg blue of the cabinet</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And I see that somebody – somebodies –</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Made</i> all of
this.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Wrote these books,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Painted these paintings,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fitted these windows, more than once;</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Plastered these walls,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Played this music,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And laid these pine floorboards,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A century and more ago.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Somebodies made these things of beauty,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These things of practicality,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And now their commingling voices</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Come rippling through time.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Countless hands, countless minds,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Countless contributions, both seen and unseen;</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cups of tea made,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dishes washed,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Secrets heard, </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Locks fixed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tears streaming down my face, now I see:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The preciousness of our souls cannot be measured</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By the size or visibility of our contributions.</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-56205276768655037892021-11-15T11:39:00.001+00:002021-11-15T11:44:22.754+00:00Wild<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">No more pain, the wind says - </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You've been too long in its quicksand. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Beyond the muteness, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Beyond the cravenness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There's this -</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This inlet where the tide comes in</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These limpet-strewn rocks and</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The orange beak of the oystercatcher</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the dim winter light.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yes, layer upon layer has been stripped,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what of wildness?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On this rain-lashed beach</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It will no longer wait.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It wants me back:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I have been on loan to civility for far too long. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-71670366901109538222021-02-01T16:27:00.003+00:002022-04-22T10:54:43.678+01:00Inhibition<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>If I was
uninhibited<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">my hair
would be wild and long<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">my eyes would
be dark-ringed (like they used to be)<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">I would wear
silver boots – legs akimbo -<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">and show my
cleavage whenever I felt like it. <br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">If I was
uninhibited<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">my house would
be a sumptuous,<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">beautiful,
eccentric mess -<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">as would I.<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">And if I was
uninhibited<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">I would take
up space like I meant it;<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Sisters, there would be so much more of me.<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">If I was
uninhibited, you would know me.<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">If I was uninhibited,<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 107%;">I would take
back my sexuality -<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">lock stock
and both smoking barrels -<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">and refashion
it entirely for my own ends<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">If I was uninhibited<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">I would be spunky
as you like<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">spilling
over with generosity<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">I would be in the fray, punching my weight,<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">all muscles
and teeth-baring,<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">snarling,
howling, shrieking uproariously<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">and with the
biggest shit-eating most glorious radiant grin<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">you have
ever seen -<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">that is, when I wasn’t
being silent because -<br /> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">well, because.<br />
</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-85460646108452057202021-01-15T13:34:00.005+00:002021-11-15T16:03:14.826+00:00On the Quiet<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the quiet, <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">this cold</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and misty morning,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">grace comes in - <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">somewhere between sofa and window -<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and tells me that I am forgiven.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Straight away,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I know that I am being forgiven<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">for trying to steal fire from the gods<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and spilling my own jar of evils. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Grace sneaks in<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">on the quiet,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">subtle as always;<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">forgiveness does not come in a blaze of angels. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">You are forgiven, and I will be with you always. <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-68542742518327199312019-02-27T17:38:00.000+00:002019-02-27T22:32:03.129+00:00Bittersweet<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I bathe in the bittersweetness</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of ill sons</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and bereaved friends</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and strangers connecting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and and and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">old friends back on track</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and death in life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and birth after death</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the limitations of language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the beauty of words</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and pain with depth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the realness of me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and all this turning upside down</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and creation from destruction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and who'd have thought it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I wouldn't have guessed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and we know so much</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and we know so little</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the bittersweetness</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sits in my heart</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and pulls at my heartstrings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(you know we have heartstrings)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I'm in love with it all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I wouldn't want anything less</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I'm not looking for anything more</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I bathe in bittersweetness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that tang in the heart that leaves nothing to do</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and nowhere to go</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the tears run down my cheeks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and one drops from the end of my nose</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I can't pretend that I don't love it all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and that this isn't what my heart was made for</span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-51749055202280003412018-09-30T15:46:00.001+01:002018-09-30T15:46:25.401+01:00The Second Coming<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The meek shall inherit the earth. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quake in your boots:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those who presume on the souls or bodies of others</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those who assume title, rank or reign</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those who betray heart-filled goodness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those who sunder the flesh of innocents to feed the maws of greed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such vile, violent treason.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quake in your boots:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The meek are rising to reclaim the earth </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the second coming. </span><br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-28331160170572849372017-10-29T11:36:00.000+00:002017-10-29T11:36:20.826+00:00It Is Not Necessary<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is not necessary to demean yourself</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or to dramatize your life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(it is not a fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and neither are you).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The proliferation of <i>things</i> has brought us scant riches.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grieve for the poverty of plenty,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for the ignorance of knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our souls do not long for complication. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">True nourishment is simple fare:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">taste, touch, smell, sound, sight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The heart loves</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mind thinks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stomach digests</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are the perfect orchestration of being,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">an instrument of wonder. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(It is not necessary to demean yourself). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-2195833569698717152017-09-06T12:39:00.000+01:002017-09-06T12:39:05.059+01:00To Whom It May Concern<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop. Just stop. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop warring, aggressing and fighting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop pontificating, aggrandizing and diminishing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop consuming like you do</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and stop despoiling the earth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop denying and lying. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop killing, maiming, torturing, abusing and raping. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop bullying, cajoling, intimidating, threatening, endangering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop competing, favouring, trumpeting, boasting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop manipulating, disempowering, swindling and profiteering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop terrorizing.like you do. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know who you are. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stop. Just stop. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-26306912445728547192017-04-02T14:36:00.000+01:002017-04-02T14:36:04.159+01:00Still Standing<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without self-pity</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Standing still, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and still standing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">having with-stood those waves</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that threaten to obliterate:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shame, pain, grief. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I simply stand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not bowing, but willing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A stand neither rigid nor flaccid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I Am:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no more, no less. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Water and rock,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we flow and contain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we are motion and stillness both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All this life already come and gone,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and still you stand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because You Are:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no more, no less. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-31309736785731428332017-01-23T17:36:00.000+00:002017-01-25T17:05:13.666+00:00The Walls of Jericho<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What if we died to division,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to my-way-or-the-highway,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to squabbles, large or small,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to she-said-he-said,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">feelings, good or bad</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or memories, ditto?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What if we died to the sacred cows </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of suffering, pleasure and pain,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to yes-but, if-only and not-now?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What if we died to the whole shebang?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To buying and selling,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to preaching and prostrating,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to taking a stance,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">making a claim, or</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">having an opinion (right)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">which makes yours (wrong)?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What if we stopped</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the walls of Jericho fell?</span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-75018219393868389552017-01-21T15:49:00.000+00:002017-01-21T15:51:07.380+00:00Iconoclasm<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ody a</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nd soul were cleft,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">cathedrals built on the bones of women</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and wombs made unclean</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Creation stemmed and stymied</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by the sheer pain of denying that flesh<i> is</i> spirit</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We went from true communion among us</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to looking up to some <i>idea</i>
of god</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not that you are not your body,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for your body is the most sublime creation of what you are -
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">creativity made flesh</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so that it may create -</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Your constant companion through all your travails</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bearer of your sorrows</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Worship not god but hand, eye, foot, breast</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The true bringers of love and sustenance</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dismantle your temples and shrines</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Make your icons ordinary</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tend to the divine in your midst</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This wound runs deep in us all. </span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-69570571760507104562016-11-16T15:06:00.000+00:002016-11-16T15:31:16.509+00:00I Beg To Differ<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let’s not sugar-coat this, please.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am so dismayed – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the merchants and money-changers are still in the temple</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Pharisees continue to preach</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Samaritans are still being vilified</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and Pilate is still </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">somewhat obsessively</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">washing his hands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No wonder Mary Magdalene weeps. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I understand </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">if you would rather run and hide</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or stay silent</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">or comply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I understand </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">if you are totally paralysed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let’s not try to make silk purses</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">out of this particular sow’s ears. </span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-46556966848373586442016-11-07T15:57:00.000+00:002016-11-07T15:57:44.462+00:00Devotion<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are bringing me home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I, despite myself, adore you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Patiently, persistently, gently</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you keep on calling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(you know how hard I try</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to stay apart from you,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and you know all the tricks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in my well-thumbed playbook). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are bringing all of us home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and we, despite ourselves, adore you. </span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-37243091231320069312016-05-14T18:40:00.000+01:002016-05-14T18:40:46.466+01:00Utterances<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this
place<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where history
holds no sway<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">yet even the
deepest scars are loved,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no-one is
known by name<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nor failures
and accomplishments<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nor colour
of eyes, hair or skin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this
place<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the language
spoken<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is the
delicate tongue<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of
remembrance and longing,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of
intimation, tears<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the
unspeakable joy <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of being
known. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-4110265913586140382016-05-12T14:01:00.000+01:002016-05-12T14:01:29.488+01:00The No Claims Department<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The prophets knew</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that the biggest claim of all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is no claim at all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With nothing to call their own</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the silence overcame them</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the deepest silence</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">became the loudest proclamation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The messiahs understood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">they were declaiming </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all claims null and void. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the claiming is done</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the exclamations begin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-80810322674857529532016-04-07T17:22:00.000+01:002016-04-07T17:22:56.336+01:00Check the Small Print<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This territory you’ve staked out, in the mistaken belief
that it is yours:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when you check the small print,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you’ll discover it doesn’t belong to you,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">however vehement your claims. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I demanded conditionality, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">preferring confinement to the expanses beyond.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I kept accounts; favours done, debts incurred</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All weighed in the balance</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as I exacted my imagined dues</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I thought life owed me</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I thought you did, too)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We bleed ourselves dry trying to make life abide</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by our caveats, clauses, and conditions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without them, I am so outrageously, indecently alive. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-30074729211063158722016-03-16T13:37:00.001+00:002016-03-16T16:47:07.563+00:00Sunken<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of it happened</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of it finite, all of it gone</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet here’s me</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">trying to rearrange the chairs</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on the long-submerged deck</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as if there is still a chance</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of rendering the shipwreck bearable, somehow</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many leagues beneath this futile activity</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abundant life blooms in the stillness, undisturbed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Better sailors know when to jump ship)</span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-8534121595771273162016-03-10T12:58:00.000+00:002016-03-10T12:58:30.638+00:00Eve Was A Realist<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feigned ignorance (until that first touch)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But mercifully my spell in Eden was brief;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tumbled from the garden bruised, but ever-grateful</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that we can’t unknow what we know</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surely we’ve all bitten into the apple a little too eagerly
at times,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">intent on proving our innocence?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eve was a realist</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She knew it was time to blow the whistle</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on all Adam’s fig-leaf cover ups</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And like all good messengers, she got shot</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the silence, I hear her whisper:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Tree or no tree, you already know how naked you are</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So stop pretending otherwise. </i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-91077865050645182482016-03-09T13:38:00.000+00:002016-03-09T13:38:00.953+00:00We Are Land, Too<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not the time to break:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much as I long for the refuge of the waters, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that headlong dive into brokenness, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we are made of stone, too, and can contain</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">all that flows</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holding our shape, the granite of our bones such a necessary
strength</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we’re to avoid a drowning</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mammals of land and sea</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shallow, deep</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liquid and solid</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are beyond yet needful of both</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As dependent on one as the other</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Study the charts:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes it’s wiser to answer the Sirens’ call</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And bask on the rocks a while</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wind and sun drying our skin</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our contours once again defined</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trust me, the depths will reclaim us soon enough.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-44181404511588450052016-01-02T15:10:00.000+00:002016-01-02T15:10:20.870+00:00Absolution<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I came to you wanting</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but I really didn’t want this</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought this was a boat I could miss</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but postponement is no longer an option</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved you too much to come this close</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I kneel at your door, and you let me in</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is absolution:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it was the forgiveness I couldn’t stand</span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1933185708262542342.post-1035282061058464352015-12-28T12:15:00.000+00:002015-12-28T12:15:54.396+00:00In the Museum of Suffering<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My carefully curated collection</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has been well-tended, as has yours;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stayed with the cross long after</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christ himself had ascended into heaven,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">our suffering selves sanctified
and idolised</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the meaning of his supposed death lost on us</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do not make a special case for suffering:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">those velvet-bound exhibits in their glass cabinets,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">however precious, do not confer nobility nor special
blessings</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I believed that my soul would profit, but that was a lie).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We fetishised the cross, and postponed the resurrection. </span></div>
Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17747760690323980311noreply@blogger.com1