Eletelephony

I’ve already introduced you to Laura E. Richards, author of “Ballad of China”, http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/a-ballad-of-china/.  Here’s another of her poems, which I also read in one of our orange Childcraft books.  In these days of cell phones, children might not understand how the elephant could get his truck tangled in the phone, but they’ll enjoy the rhythms and rhymes.

Stardancers

Stardancers.
Starlit darkness
graceful spirals
long slow leaps
cool clean entwinings
intergalactic plants sway in breaths of space air
prelude
       reaching, closing, withdrawing
       watching.
       waiting.
       wanting.
       stretching, bending, slowly flexing
approach
       but gently
       two directions towards one point
       fields of forces
                       vibrate
       inexorable pull without gravity
       gyrate slowly
       face to face, turn, look back
       roll, twist, bend
       circling
touch
       feather light
       holds, lifts
       moonlit, sunlit
       cool, smooth, alive
       welling joy
                 caress
moonbeam touches
       darting, drifting
       everywhere
moth-wing brushes
shimmer of silver
                cool blue
                velvet black
                emerald green
                deepest ruby
                pure ivory
colors alive
       dancing, spinning free
       unfettered
       gentle power
       glorious light
       growing, expanding, living, breathing
       reaching out to
                     touch
                     stardancers
Music
Slithering down my nerves, to dendrites,
         across synapses
with gentle heat
calling to muscles
                 “relax”
massaging fingers of sound on brain cells
touches down neck
                gentle
reaching, probing
vibrating.

Grow heavy.
Be lightness
Leave the body and travel elsewhere
remembered mysteries
exploring pathways
hand in hand with feelings
newness, growth, expansion

limitless

body dances as it rests
beyond all exteriors
permeates all interiors
passes frontiers

Regenerates.
Is alive again.

A Ballad of China

When I was a child, we owned an orange set of Childcraft books by World Book. ( I still have the books from the set that aren’t dated.)  Several of the books had poems and this was one of my favorites.  For some reason, while working around the house today, unpacking, going through mail and other post-vacation activities, this poem insinuated itself into my head and wouldn’t go away.  You might enjoy it and if you have children or grandchildren, it’s highly likely they’ll love its cadences and story.  So I present for your enjoyment…

Aftermath

Rain and lilacs

Raindrops hang on leaves and dot the deck.
Grey clouds cover the sun that only those in airplanes are seeing now.
But the humidity is gone.

Visit from a little cat

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking over
harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
- Carl Sandburg