New poetry

Midnight

Wendy W. Blumberg

Midnight for me is

Mysterious     unattainable

For Mother has me in bed

By eight o’clock     always

Eight o’clock

Hard as I try

When my eyes open again

Morning shines into my

Window

I want to know     midnight

What it feels like

Who is there     what do they do

In midnight

 

I would like to see

Winged horses

White like Pegasus

Unicorns     dancing bears

I want animals that speak

My language

To have conversation

Be friends

Colors swirling around us

Rainbows     even angels

With halos     with wings

Oh     will I never know

Will I ever know

What it feels like

To be awake in

Midnight

 

Years pass

My beloveds sleep

In their beds

Here I am

Notebook open     pen in

Hand

It is quiet     so quiet

My sanctuary of peace

And the clock strikes

midnight

—February 7, 2017

 

The New Year

Wendy W. Blumberg

My years are like my days

Passing quickly      so quickly

The four little children

I escorted through childhood

With devoted love

With hope for wisdom

Are now in their fifties

When I think of this

I am grateful for them

Grateful

And amazed

 

This past year is now

The new year

I feel deep relief

Welcome New Year

You began with rain

Serious rain

On our drought laden

Land

And I made this vow

No resolution      a vow

My attention      my energies

Will reside with what is

Good

What is kind

With love for All That Is

No exceptions

And forgiveness

For what the old year

Held

For what the New Year

May bring

–January 2017

 

 

83rd Birthday Memories–Part I

Wendy W. Blumberg

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Look back down the years

My childhood years

Am I that little girl

Wearing braids with nails bitten

Down to the quick

Yes     it is I     yes

Feeling I am from another

Place

A planet far far away

Perhaps a star

A bright star it’d be

Shining brighter than other

Stars

I came from there

I don’t belong here

 

My family sits around

Grandmother’s table

Gathers every Sunday

One o’clock sharp

For Sunday dinner

Dare not be late

 

My family talks     expresses opinions

Don’t often agree    seldom laugh

They love me

I know this     I know this

They love me     but do not

Know me

They love me but cannot feel

Who I am

 

I feel who I am

I am different inside

Myself

I have tantrums

Want what cannot be

Given

Want the warmth

Of hugs     of arms around me

Words

I love you     you’re okay

My family loves me

Love that needs to learn

To express itself

Some generations grow up

With silent love

Silent love unexpressed

Silent

I need love expressed

In words     in demonstrative

Ways

So     I cry     I scream

Bite a crystal glass

Of water

Mother holds to my lips

No one can understand

This child

 

Forty years go by

We talk on the phone

Long distance now

I am here     they are there

My love for them

Needs expression

I begin to say

As our conversations

End

I love you     I love you

Many months go by

Then

I hear it

I love you

It becomes the way we say

Goodbye

(written: June 29, 2015)

*photo credit

Beyond Redemption

Wendy W. Blumberg

yelling

Across the sky

Blue    blue

As my grandfather’s

Eyes

Clouds    white as angel wings

Might be

Undefined edges

Soft as baby hair

Float slowly in a promenade

Above my head

Eyes pull the scene

Into a place of

Remembering

I will draw it out

Create protection

Against the harshness

Of these times

Words    threats     accusations

Scatter like scraps of waste

Paper

That litter     soil     what is

Left

Of our political innocence

And I tell you this

There is a cancer

In the gut of the

Body Politic

It must be removed

Cut away

Before it will metastasize

Beyond    redemption

*photo credit

Pain . . .

Wendy W. Blumberg

angel-sky-cloud-shape-37064137

. . .  you enter uninvited

You disrespect boundaries

You invade sacred spaces

Many questions

Surround you     Pain

Mysteries     too

Pain     you are a creator

Of feelings

I feel you

When I look at a photograph

Of a starving child

Her eyes have become

Too large for her face

Deep sadness leaks

Through the camera’s lens

Into my heart

 

Pain

You cross borders

With no visa

You enter the bodies

Of living beings

You linger

You vanish

You invade our minds

Pain

Our thoughts feel

Your presence

Are able to multiply

Your effects

Upon us

Until we learn

To take control

Of your intentions

For thoughts follow you

Pain

Down the corridors

Of time

 

As for me

I welcome you     Pain

You teach me to understand

The pain of others

To know empathy     compassion

To love this world

That lives with so much pain

I can deal with you

Pain

Take you for what you

Are

Lessons for my life

Not easy     Pain

Soul work never

Is

photo credit

Angel Wind

Wendy W. Blumberg

th

I call to you

Blow away storms

That rise at times

Inside me

Blow them away

Away

Dark clouds

Dark    dark

Surround my heart’s

Cavity

They drift upwards

Fill my mind

Down again

To cover my organs

Invade my body’s

Cells

Push Spirit’s Light

Away     away

While I live unaware

The calamities

Storm tossed emotions

Evoke

 

Something unknown then

Arrives

A voice speaks to me

I hear without ears

That hear

Feel it like the warmth

Of a blanket wrapped around

Me

 

It says

“Ask and it shall be given”

I ask

 

And the Angel Wind

Comes

Blows the storms

That rise inside me

Out to sea

Blows them into the ether

Vanishing like the morning

Mist

Away    away

To understand

Now

In naked clarity

The Angel Wind

Is me

*photo credit

 

 

 

Salinas

Wendy W. Blumberg

images

from the documentary, East of Salinas

Child
My country labels you
Undocumented
You are not alone
Dear one
There are two million
Undocumented children
Who like you
Live in shadow
Threats of deportation
Back to Mexico
Back to from wherever
Your parents brought you
Possibilities of separation
Of families
Torn asunder
Lives lived on the edge of
Disaster

 

Child
You are made in the
Image
The likeness of the
Divine
You are precious to me
As is every child
Everywhere

 

I want for you
To live with no fear
Playing outside your house
In fullness of the sun’s light
Not inside with window shades
Down
Curtains closed
To keep you from being seen
By Police     Border Patrol
No questions asked
No dangerous answers
Given
While your parents work
Long hot hours
In the fields picking
Our vegetables

 

I ask myself this
Question
Are we
Land of the Free
Home of the Brave
Truly    are we

Save

Super Blood Moon

Wendy W. Blumberg
IMG_0745

*

A faint glow of red

Barely visible

Through the top of the

Balsam pine

Tells me my eyes have found

The Super Blood Moon

Wait    wait now

For it to rise

Over the treetop

Into the naked sky

Watch the soft covering

Of her face

Slowly evaporate

As the sun

Far from my portion

Of earth

Moves on releasing her light

As the moon clothes herself

In brilliant white

 

This is a Super Blood Moon

A gift from Spirit

Her eclipse bringing a message

Of renewal     of transformation

First a covering     then a

Release

A familiar journey

From what has lain

So long

Deep inside me

Slowly to be let go

Now standing on an ordinary

Cement sidewalk

I am one with her

On this night of magic

Of mystery

As she draws me up

Draws me into the brilliant radiance

Of her glorious light     holy light

Light from nowhere on earth

 

Oh what message     what message

From All That Is

Comes with this Super Blood Moon

Only one’s soul     only a soul

Can answer

*photo credit: Stella Blumberg

Daughter Mine

Wendy W. Blumberg

IMG_0263

Daughter mine

I would walk with you

Again

Hand in hand

Down a Carlsbad Village street

On our way for coffee

And buttermilk biscuits

Stopping to window shop

If there was time

I would walk with you

Again

Daughter mine

 

I would walk with you

Again

My daughter

Along the San Clemente shore

At low tide

Our foot prints following us

In wet sand

The smell of salty sea

Air

Filling our lungs

No words needed

There is beach music

To hear

The sound of the gulls’

High pitched cries

The ocean’s own voice

Its waves rolling in

Rolling out

Rhythms of its

Beating heart

I would walk with you

There

Daughter mine

Again

 

It has come with the years

As you know

Daughter mine

I no longer walk

Down a village street

No longer walk on wet sand

At low tide

For me

There is no pain

In the remembering

The scenes are images imprinted

In my soul

 

Come     daughter mine

Let us gather time

To sit together

Let us drink myriad

Cups of tea

There is so much

We have to share

You and I

The past is gone     gone

My daughter

This is now

Now is our today

 

I love you

 

Words

Wendy W. Blumberg

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When we have had a

Fight

 

It doesn’t happen often

You know

 

I feel I am in a

Foreign country

Landing on unfamiliar

Soil

From some far away

Galaxy

Not knowing who I am

Where I belong

 

Feeling unlike myself

Inside the depths

Of mind   of body

My heat remaining

Silent

 

It is not the words

My dear Love

I do not remember

Words

Do not listen to

Words

My distress rides

On the tone of voice

Used

To speak the words

My Achilles heel

Returning me to

Voices

I remember hearing

In childhood

That put me on the defensive

So     around     around     around

We go     you and I

Then     it ends

 

It takes a small time

For me

To come back into my familiar

Self

Like stillness

After a storm passes

Before a bird begins to sing

Again

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