Poetry In Recovery

Is there any poetry in writing about rehab? Don’t know, but I’m going to try, with my new favourite toy, the haiku.

Floating in the azure sky
Need my drug rehabs
To bring me to solid earth

Of course, I’m not sure that it qualifies as either nature or feelings, but it’s an effort all the same. If you can do better, then leave me a comment in haiku.

Two Haikus

I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at some haiku. It’s something I haven’t done since I was at school, but I’ve been seeing a lot of it recently on friends’ poetry blogs. Here are two examples:

A garden of life
Filled with oranges so sweet
Replete, I enjoy.

Bird, perched on a branch
Calls its mate, beseechingly
Telling of food found

According to the dictionaries, this Japanese poetry form is usually about nature, mood or feeling. I think I’ll play with the form some more.

Caribbean Love

This is the last in my series of poems from Lisa Hurley Downer. If you’ve been enjoying her work, you can see more of it on the Blissful Thinking blog. I’ll be featuring an interview with Lisa soon.

Caribbean Love

Blazing sun
Pumping beat
Congo drum
Now you have no choice: you move your feet
Rhythmic dance
Sweet cadance
Carnival prance
Now you know you’re in the Caribbean
A certain flair
Je ne sais quoi
It’s in the air
When you’re here you feel so young and free
Tinkling sound
Ting, tang, tung
Steel pan drum
That’s what the Caribbean means to me

The beauty of
The scenery
Blue skies above
Every bird, every mahogany
Sweet sugar cane
Torrential rain
Even hurricanes
Integral part of the Caribbean scene
Molasses, rum,
From sugar come
Cockspur fun
All this makes here more dear to me
No matter where
I go this year
I’m coming back
Back to my islands in the Caribbean

It’s in the women
It’s in the men
We are so proud
Of this region we will never leave
We care our kids
We love our grands
Community:
That is what keeps us going—we believe
No better place
Exists on earth
We’re here to stay
We are so lucky this is where we live
A paradise
Right here on earth
You have no choice
But to stay and live Caribbean love

Peace and Satisfaction

Here’s another great poem from Lisa Hurley Downer.

Peace and Satisfaction

Help me go inside
The stillness in my mind
What do I fear to find?
Your Peace

But yet, how can I fear
Your Love, so close, so dear
What do I fear to hear?
Your Voice

But how can I run from
The unity of One
The soul continuum
So deep?

Cannot run, cannot hide
Cannot move, can’t decide
Neither passion, pain, nor pride
Is strong enough
To stop Your Love
To hide Your Love
To push Your Love
Away
To keep my soul
From being whole
To push Your Love
Away

What’s mine, what’s mine:
Your Love Divine
It’s mine, it’s mine
Your Love Divine
I claim, proclaim
My Joy, Your Name
My God,
You satisfy me.