By: Marianne Lyon
Dancer
dearest body
I do not have a mind
but I embrace holy litany
of inexhaustible emotions
they quick-step me
through tragedy passion
don’t have religion a Christ
but I have you my sun
I waltze you and together
we enkindle burning wild
dear dancing partner
were you like me once
before you were human
did you permit yourself
balance on top of stone
to have higher gaze
did you tango know liberty
nothingness that binds
were you tuned like a harp
against soft wind
did you allow your limbs
to fly settle subside
lie wan exhausted under tenebrous sky
did you rise up twirl
not afraid of unruly storm
did you sleep not afraid of death
Applaud
This dawn I applaud
I applaud sun’s rising
warming my hair
inviting my shadow
to make her entrance
for one more saunter
on this blessed blue marble
I applaud sun’s golden melody
applaud the way she composes
morning overture
demanding to be heard
I lift my hands in adoration
applaud inevitable dissonance
applaud promise of harmony
I applaud these early hours
the way they wrap my
body with blanketed themes
reoccurrings repetitions
some major moments
some minor cacophony
I applaud repetitions
that give me another chance
to make memories memorable
I applaud my awakened heart
for keeping the beat
I applaud my voice
improvising familiar longings
I applaud the applaud
applaud myself
for choosing to applaud
for taking one more jaunt
basking in suns gentle refrain
I applaud that I can applaud
another concert
Puzzle
My whole dazed life
I implored begged
wailed for saints
ecstatic gurus
to awaken rescue
instruct how to live
teach me to write a psalm
that knits pain
into comfort shawl
draft a map endow
guide me from dark chasm
walk me into enlightenment
Know now I have
forfeited precious time
drained myself of fortitude
believe I have been given
another chance today
to avow venture trust
resurrect myself from
the murky quagmire as it
presents itself
Have awakened to notion
I am a puzzle
a breathing box
pieces big and small
each day one or two
emerge some clear
others gauzed
no instructions
but over time a painting
begins to brush itself
Now know I am invited to
end my stalling estrangement
Mark Nepo a wise poet
says the earth began
as a dish shattering
like you dear reader
I am nudged to fiercely
gently tenaciously
glue my pieces together
Marianne has been a music teacher for 43 years. After teaching in Hong Kong, she returned to the Napa Valley and has been published in various literary magazines and reviews including Ravens Perch, TWJM Magazine, Earth Daughters and Indiana Voice Journal. She was nominated for the Pushcart prize in 2017. She is a member of the California Writers Club and an Adjunct Professor at Touro University in California.