I remember

This is something I wrote for Liberated Lines Flash mini course- Liberated Lines Flash- Evolve by Alisha Sommer and Robin Sandomirsky .  This was 7 days of prompts exploring our evolution that was primarily shared on Instagram.

I remember

if i dig deep enough
i find pieces of
my ancestors buried
in the recesses
dusty corners
of memory
i recognize faces etched
in the looking glass
my eyes reflect back
other places
other times
like pale old photographs
stuffed for centuries in
the attic
there are
faint impressions
in my flesh and bone
a presence of
something before
yet here with me
with each breath
with each heartbeat
i remember things
before remembering
things that are hidden
or tucked away
i find them
like I found you
i have always known you
and you me
oh I know
such things
are often dismissed
we don't talk
about it
this is the unspoken
no words
to explain
but know
i have seen
on some occasions
a glint of light
in the eyes
of complete strangers
maybe souls talking
a reminiscence
we've already met
but maybe it was before
before the womb
before the birth
though this
is not a fact of
blood or DNA
yet we are kin
it was written
chiseled in eternity
we started and
are going somewhere
the same
NND 5/8/2015

if i could fly

if i could fly and leave fear behind
i would allow words of truth to spill from my lips
forming rivers of freedom
i would let expressions of love flow like a fountain
into heart shaped pools
i would shed my gravity and fly after my dreams
without fear of falling in and drowning

NND 3/2015

The Cardinal

The following is inspired by an e course I am taking with Natasha Reilly called 'Collecting Joyful Moments'.  This has been a great experience.  This is her website http://www.creativenachos.com/ .

I started noticing the Cardinal more about a year ago. There was one that I would see almost everyday on my patio as I made breakfast.  He would land on the exact shepherd's hook and gaze in at me for a moment before taking flight. I would say out loud "there you are". My husband would sometimes look out and say " your red bird is here".  The Cardinal would stay just long enough to make eye contact then off he would fly.  Some say when a Cardinal visits it is the spirit of a loved one checking in on you. What a lovely thought, if this is true then which loved one was stopping by for those couple months? I have lost so many in recent years. I must admit that those months were some of the most difficult I have encountered in years.  The Cardinal's visits did lift my spirits. Without falter he stopped by everyday and then without my even noticing the visits stopped. Such a natural transition I only recognize it now as I look back.  There are still Cardinals that come by when I put out seed in the winter months but they are somehow different. These Cardinals flee at first sight of me, they do not linger. Maybe that time in my life was all coincidence. I wanted to see something in that Cardinal that I needed. Even if it was, the Cardinal still gave me hope, reminded me of Joy.  Made me notice. Made me wonder. Made me happy.  If this is not magic, I do not know what is. 

Even the winter month Cardinal brings with him brief moments of light and hope.  I watch from my window, a vivid crimson magically appearing among the backdrop of the white dead land. A quick flash of red in flight from frozen glistening branches.  The red blood of hope.