Everything is 100%

Charla Dury: The Grounding Rod - Focusing your energy in the present moment

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The Symbol for Yin and Yang resonates with me.  It always has.  In fact, I have a tattoo with a yin yang symbol in the center.  Not even kidding.

I was looking around as I was thinking about writing this blog and I noticed that everything is whole.  And I'm not just talking about an uneaten pizza or other circle shaped things.  Even non-circle shaped things are always 100% because there's always a balance.  The earth provides balance.

When one thing is less, others are more.  When a glass is half empty, its technically 100% full, even if only 30% is water.  The other 70% is air, but the glass is technically 100% full.  My son is always reminding me. "Is this glass half empty or half full, mom?"  And I pick one or the other, depending on my mood that day.  He's always right there to tell me that I'm 100% wrong.  The kid's brain and logic makes even me tired.

All I'm trying to say is that we are all whole.  100% of us.  Whether only 40% of us is focused on one thing or another, we are still 100% there in every moment.  Think about that.  100% of you is here.  Right where you are.  Be here.  Be present in the moment.

And enjoy it.

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If you'd like to read more of Charla's grounding words, visit her at www.charladury.com.  

Where Shamans negotiate with the gods

Vera Remes

As the founder of and practitioner with Raven Reiki, Vera Remes offers Usui Reiki with nuances of Shamanism and psychic intuition.  She also offers Shaman Oracle and Angel Card readings and is a certified H3 Energy Healing Therapist.  Vera's column will focus on the many aspects of Shamanism.

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For a long time I didn't feel comfortable cruising the Upper World. I resonated with animals and the earthy feel of the Lower World and was comfortable there. Many of my friends were exactly the opposite, identifying with angels and shunning the Lower World. Having been forced in a recent Shamanic seminar to repeatedly journey to the Upper World, I found it compelling and a source of great wisdom. I encourage everyone to journey to the Upper World, the place where we can access the future and, with our Teachers and Guides, find healings. It has been said the Upper World is where the Shaman negotiates with the gods.



The tambourines of the upper and lower worlds

Shamanic practitioners are called upon by clients frequently to journey to non ordinary reality, the Upper and Lower Worlds, to obtain healings and spiritual wisdom and guidance in answer to their client's questions. But anyone can do this for themselves, with some guidance. After completing the Michael Harner Method Shamanic Counseling Training Program, I trained several clients, unfamiliar with the journeying process, to make their own shamanic journeys of divination to non ordinary reality (Upper and Lower Worlds), where they personally obtained direct spiritual wisdom and guidance in answer to their questions – basically cutting out the middle man - me. The results were startling, some clients moved to tears. In my last blog about Spirit Animal Guides, I said I believed that traveling to the Lower World and identifying with a Spirit Animal should not stop you from resonating with Guardian Angels, Ascended Masters or Spiritual Teachers who are usually accessed in the Upper World, a bright and heavenly world of cosmic beings that appear in human, mythical or angelic form as our Teachers. But, no hard and fast rules here, occasionally you will find a Spirit Animal in the Upper World or access a Teacher in the Lower World. The realms are all linked. Everything is connected. Except that the Upper World will feel totally different than the Lower World. Not nearly as earthy or practical.

The process:

In a journey to the Upper World, we travel upwards from a familiar place here in ordinary reality. I get there by imagining I am climbing the pine tree growing next to my meditation bench and hitching a ride on raven.  As you ascend, you travel through a membrane which can appear like a cotton wool cloud. We are not limited to one Teacher per person either. During a recent journey to the Upper World to ask my Teacher a question concerning my health I was met with someone I did not recognize. Apparently my usual Teacher was on vacation and a beautiful young woman who I realized later was Archangel Jophiel, met me and took me on a tour of a garden to answer my question. I won't go over the half hour of meditation but Jophiel showed me flower essences to help with pain.

I tried to find meditations readily available on line to help find your Teacher. This proved difficult. The audios and videos I found were not well done. So nothing I will recommend. However, there's a lot written about how to do it if you wish to try. I help clients during a Shaman Oracle Card reading access their Spirit Animal with a deck of divination cards. I can help clients access their Teachers through the use of similar divination tools. Doreen Virtue’s Ascended Masters Deck and her various Angel and Archangel decks work really well. Shamanic Counseling can empower anyone to explore both Upper and Lower Worlds. Barring the constraints of distance, I can make myself available to anyone interested to learning this technique. Sharing this knowledge is a privilege.

Meditations from the Other Side

Thoughts to Awaken the Spirit

Kathleen Santora teaches meditations and self-healing through the understanding of one’s own personal energy. A spiritual healer for the past 30 years, Kathleen began trance healing later when she became aware that angels were working with her during healings. She has since learned to step back and allow her angels to come forward and work through her.

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I am in perfect balance

Today I will remember my perfection

I am in perfect balance

As I remember this every part of me heals

I am in perfect balance

My spirit in its perfection radiates to all of me In my remembrance

The vehicle that was given me remembers its function and it purpose

The universe in all its perfection

Sent us with perfection I will remember today I am in perfect balance 

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If you enjoy Kathleen's meditation and would like to read more, click here to visit the Mind Key Store.  You can find Kathleen's first book of Meditations, Thoughts to Awaken the Spirit, as well as peruse all of the other awesome services that your Mind Key Community can offer.

Journeying with The Green Tara



Tara Ann Lesko

Tara Ann Lesko is a woman of many talents.  Art, poetry, teaching and exploring spirituality are her loves and she enjoys helping others get in touch with their creative side through art and writing.

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 The Goddess Tara vowed:

"There are many who wish to gain enlightenment
in a man's form,
And there are few who wish to work
for the welfare of living beings
in a female form.  

Therefore may I, in a female body,
work for the welfare of all beings,
until such time as all humanity has found its fullness."

Years ago, when I was still under an illusion of contentment in regard to who I was and what I was doing in the world, a gas station attendant told me that in Arabic my name meant “star”. I knew “Tara” meant “tower” in Gaelic, and I had mixed feelings about this origin. Truthfully, the origin of my name didn’t matter too much to me. My Dad named me after a soap opera actress that reminded him of his mother. That’s as far as the meaningfulness goes. 

Additionally, I was the tallest kid in my class, every year, and I continued to grow to be an abnormally long-legged female at 5’9. Regardless, I rarely felt like I loomed over anything with power or command. But the best part about a star is that it doesn’t have to command, or dominate, or stand out. It just is. A star is there among billions of other fiery balls of gas--a small part to a whole, a grain of salt lost on a black background with countless other granules. 

Almost two short years ago, I learned there is an actual goddess named Tara. Considering the spiritual changes that were occurring at the time, I was immediately intrigued to learn more. She is a Tibetan or Buddhist goddess who is often depicted as having green skin; hence, she’s often referred to as Green Tara. However, she is represented in many different colors depending on her energy. The best part about her is you never know what color she’ll be at any moment in time. 

Patricia Telesco in 365 Goddess: A Daily Guide to the Magic and Inspiration of the Goddess writes, “Goddess Tara is probably the oldest Goddess who is still worshipped extensively in modern times. Tara originated as a Hindu Goddess, a Great Goddess — the Mother Creator, representing the eternal life force that fuels all life.”

Here are some tidbits about her different colors, according to celebratedivinefeminine.com. 

“Red Tara: This is Tara’s fierce aspect, associated with the ability to magnetize all good things. 

Black Tara: She is associated with power.

Yellow Tara: She is associated with wealth and prosperity. 

Blue Tara: She is associated with the ability to transmute anger.”  

Someone actually put Tara on sneakers <3 

 Before I continue, I have to admit to a period of prejudice when it came to anything having to do with the metaphysical. My husband, who I loved and revered more than any human being on Earth, met a beautiful young woman online who was involved with mediumship, crystals, psychic power, auras, and all that fun stuff. She captivated my husband to the point where he simply wanted a new life, and he felt he would find that new life with someone like her. Not with someone like me - someone who, at the time, had minimal positivity for numerous reasons. I don’t have the space to go into detail, but once my memoir, The Golden Skillet, is completely done and out in the world, you may gain a better understanding. 

Needless to say, I maintained for quite some time that anything having to do with the metaphysical was hippy bullshit meant for those who wanted to fulfill their own selfish needs without any consideration for anyone else’s well-being. 

I was wrong. 

Today, I have crystals, tarot, incense, faerie, and books. I’ve branched out and embraced so many realms of spirituality, and it has given me a wealth of connectedness and creative energy. That is why I have decided to begin The Green Tara Chronicles as a short extension to The Golden Skillet. This autobiographical piece will explore my journey through spirituality as an adult, the good and the bad, with the many faces of Tara at its core. The goal of this project is to encourage the reader to find enlightenment and fullness, to find her guide (or guides) into the divine feminine. 

Tara Mandala by Holly, from goddessschool.com 

I can’t say any one goddess is “my” goddess, not even Tara. But I do feel a kinship to this figure, by name and spirit, because she is never one thing to anyone. As you may discover in the Chronicles, this is me to a tee.  Stay tuned :) 

The Tara statue that sits in my living room

Yin and Yang: A Christian Point of View

The concept of Yin and Yang sprouted its roots in China several hundred years before Christ’s birth. It represented Taoism, a religion that focuses on two opposing parts, one dark one light, one evil one good, one balanced one unbalanced.  But the true beauty of it is that when placed together, the duality of this symbol recognizes the true balance of life itself.  It takes these two clashing parts to make a whole, something well rounded and spiritually progressive. 

I can relate my Christian faith to this concept, as it is the very basic foundation of my spiritual core.  If Yin and Yang represent two equal yet opposing forces, then I find a congruent principle in my own spiritual journey.

My faith understands the acceptance of bad times verses good ones.  It is crucial that tribulations occur, as they’re not only a teaching tool on how to rely and trust God, but also a trial to test our spiritual awareness.  How easy would it be to trust, love, and rely on someone if all they gave us were presents and praises?  It is in low times that we are forced to look inwards, to muster the strength and faith needed to face hardships.  Yin and Yang are the sadness needed to savor joy; the selfishness to receive grace; the self-loathing to accept forgiveness; the tempest to enjoy still, warm waters.  It in the darkest abyss that light is welcomed.

This concept is the balance of our lives, what makes us truly rounded and spiritual.  You cannot have one side without the other, as if we were to have that, it would cause severe unbalance in our lives.  Everything works for our own good, even when we face tribulations.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”—Romans 8:28

It’s not always clear what that purpose may be.  Things may seem hopeless, unable to reach a clear resolution, yet everything works in intricate patterns, each thread of the tapestry building a strong foundation.  As Yin and Yang signify, there is a flow.  The life flow consists of ups and downs, each fragment interconnected to establish one whole purpose.

On our faith journey we may get off track.  But I do believe that it’s an essential part of the flow, trials that God has set out to call us back home, to once again test our spiritual wisdom.  Understanding and accepting this flow will transform us and grow our faith, so that we may live harmoniously and in peace through good times and bad.

Mind Key's focus relies simply on this.  The understanding that one's own potential, life journey, and spiritual awakening stems from the balance one accepts and creates.

The energy of the equinox

Today I'd like to talk about faerie energy.

We at Mind Key chose to talk about yin and yang and balance this month because March heralds the spring equinox, which happened yesterday (March 20th) at 12:30 AM (EDT).  The equinoxes (one in the fall and one in the spring) occur when the earth's axis is almost perpendicular, the sun shines directly on the equator, and we experience an (essentially) equal amount of light and dark over the course of one day.  The equinoxes remind us of how humanity, like Mamma Earth, experiences a brief period of balance in our lives.  Those moments may or may not coincide with the equinoxes, but these are good points in time to reflect upon those moments, and to recognize how fleeting they are (essentially only a few moments twice a month—as far as equinoxes go).  This year, this energy is counterpointed by an alignment of earth, sun and moon which caused a solar eclipse on the 8th and an upcoming lunar eclipse on March 23rd.  Be prepared for a lot of intensity this month, and a lot of "moving through" of issues that need resolving.

So why talk about faerie energy?

Perhaps because the fae are so in tune with the turning of the earth.  They are of the earth, perhaps even more so than we are.  Their energy is not only in tune with the God-given planet we live on, but they are the magic behind the science that created it.

For example, there are several cards in The Faerie's Oracle that represent the energies of Yin and Yang.  Here are two:





She of the Cruach and He of the Fiery Sword

She of the Cruach is the cup, the holy grail, the mother, the energy of nurturing and creativity.  Although she is represented brightly here, she represents the darkness of growth within the womb of her cup.  He of the Fiery Sword represents passion, drive, activity, as the sword often does. He is the counterpoint to the Cruach.  Without the darkness to nurture the ideas, the power and light could not drive them into being.  The opposite is, of course, also true.

The Bright Mother and Himself

The next two cards also represent Yin and Yang, but in a more physical way.  The Bright Mother is the nurturer, representing fertility, creativity, softness and stillness.  A dreamy card that allows for contemplation.  Meanwhile, Himself has eyes that pierce through to your soul.  While the mother, with her back turned, doesn't need to see you to know you (don't they all have eyes in the back of their head?), Himself looks right through you—makes you see yourself.  There is no escaping it.  Either you are driven to action, or you fold under his gaze.  Together he and the mother represent creation—without one or the other the world would cease to turn, would cease to exist.



Which brings me to another point, and the impetus for writing about faerie energy as we move through this point when the earth is at its most balanced and aligned.

The Bright Mother and The Dark Lady
Two sides of the same coin

My four year old daughter brought to my attention that the Bright Mother and the Dark Lady are two sides of the same coin.  In fact they are!  If the Bright Mother represents the full moon, the fullness of womanhood, fertility, ovulation and pregnancy, then the Dark Lady represents the new moon, the silence of womanhood, of menstruation, of quiet growth and loss.  In this pairing, the Bright Mother no longer represents the yin, but the yang side of the equation.  She is the mother who is pushing her children forward, showing them the way as she looks in the direction they need to go, letting them fly.  The Dark Mother, on the other hand, is the yin energy.  Growth in the darkness, quiet nurturing through the difficult times where there is no indication of what's ahead. Her bared breasts represent that silent nurturing of a mothers milk that happens in the warm darkness of infancy when growth is uncertain and scary.








Perhaps the beauty of the equinox is that it reminds us that when there is balance, neither one thing or another reins.  That roles can switch quite easily.  That what was once yin can become yang.  That there are no roles, no definitions—instead, just a gentle shifting of light into dark and back again.  We are human, so we move, and so where we stand in any given moment, in the yin or in the yang, is entirely up to us.

If you're interested to see more of the Faerie's Oracle cards, visit me on Facebook, where I do a daily Faerie card reading or at www.mindkey.me/Danielle.

A Yin/Yang Herbal

Yin and yang represent different aspects of everything that exists.

Within us we have a measure of each, and that measure changes in any given moment or situation.  It's the melding and balance of the two that is important.

In Yin and Yang, as in the ocean,
the balance is ever changing

In herbalism, there is little difference.  As Charla wrote in her blog on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture, and yin and yang energy, part of healing comes from balancing these two energies inside us.  We do this often without thinking.  When we are dry, we drink water and moisturize.  When we are overwhelmed with moisture (think runny nose, bloating, etc.), we take antihistamines, diuretics, or force perspiration with exercise or using a sauna or similar treatment.

In herbalism, certain herbs represent these qualities.  For example, I am always dry.  Even when I am congested, it is a dry congestion rather than a runny nose.  I thrive on herbs that have yin energy to bring moisture into my hot, yang body.  For example: I suffer from head congestion, and for a long time I used elderflower, which is traditionally used for this (versus elderberries, which work best in chest congestion). I had the hardest time figuring out why the herbs weren't working.  With this new Yin/Yang knowledge, I learned that it was because elderflower is hot and drying.  What I needed was to reduce the heat, and bring more water and softness into my body.  Elderflower was yang.  I needed yin.

Evening Primrose (art by Danielle Rose)

Today I use as many mucilaginous herbs as possible to combat my congestion.  For example, although mullein is renown for chest congestion, it's moisturizing properties make it spectacular for my sticky head congestion.  I also add other herbs like red clover, which although not known specifically for congestion, helps move lymph while adding moisture to my body.  These yin herbs also help me go with the flow, slow down, calm down, and let my body rest and do the work it needs in a subtle, gentle way.

Sometimes a body needs heat, however.  Elderflower comes in and raises body temperatures so that the body can fight an infection. The ensuing perspiration can also reduce a fever if needed.  It is drying and will all but eliminate runny noses.  When the body is weepy and lethargic, a yang herb like elder will swoop in and spur the body into motion to fight what ails it.

Yin qualities of coolness, moisture, slowness, quietness, and calmness can be found in herbs like red clover, oat tops, blue violet, burdock, evening primrose, mullein and many others. These herbs sometimes work immediately, but sometimes take time to allow the body to heal itself.


Mullein (photo by Danielle Rose)

Yang qualities of astringency, heat, activity, speed and drive come through in herbs like elder flower, nettles, motherwort, garlic and mints.  They get to where they need to go and help the body get the job done quickly, hotly, and with purpose and drive.

Although these examples are from the herbal world, we can utilize yin and yang qualities to promote healing in many ways.  Where else can you find examples of bringing yin and/or yang into the body to promote physical (and emotional) healing? What foods, medications, exercises or practices do you find fit into one category or another, and how do you balance them in your overall health routine?

From all or nothing - to finding balance

Barbara Steingas

Barbara Steingas is an award winning author, inspirational speaker and radiant life coach, helping people to optimize their health and vitality.  She can be found at Steingasbooks.  Barbara is joining Mind Key as a resident columnist, sharing her 21 Tips for Healing.

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             It used to be all or nothing for me. That was due to the need for perfectionism that made me a person of extremes. Either I would have to do something 100% right or not at all. I didn’t know how to be balanced or allow myself any slack for mistakes or learning curves. It was all black and white so to speak, no gray areas.

This is best illustrated when I went to college and I gained the freshman twenty pounds. To lose the weight I ate a thousand calorie per day diet.  If I deviated ever so slightly, I felt I blew it causing me to go all out and binge eat. All the while feeling guilty and vowing that I would start over and be perfect the next day. This yo-yo effect continued through the end of college and upon graduating the toll it took on my body was a part of the puzzle pieces that resulted in me developing an autoimmune illness of my intestinal tract called Crohn’s Disease.

As I was seeking a natural way back to health, after following the traditional medical route for the first several years, I discovered that the cause of me being extreme with the way I ate and needing to be all or nothing was really rooted in emotional issues. To illustrate, if anything happened to disrupt my day, the whole day was basically ruined. I had a hard time letting things go if they didn’t go 100% “right.” I would basically beat myself up emotionally for being flawed.

                I learned this patterning from my loving and well-meaning parents. They did the best they could to love me and raise me, and they had their own dysfunctional emotional issues and behaviors that I learned by observing them. As children we are sponges for learning so we can’t help but pick up on what we are around the most and that is usually our parents.

                In fact, the other day I was talking with my mom on the phone. I was sharing with her something I was excited about and as I was telling her the climax of the story, my mom said “oh I have one more thing I forgot to tell you.” I felt a little annoyed because I realized she really wasn’t listening to me fully. Instead of brushing it off as I would have done in the past and letting it fester I shared with her how I felt by saying “I feel” not “you made me feel” so she wouldn’t feel attacked or made wrong (strategies I learned along my healing journey).

                However, she had her usual reaction that I ruined the whole conversation. Long story short, I got her to realize it was only just one moment in a long conversation and that I was only sharing so we could use another strategy next time, such as her telling me she was tired and wasn’t able to keep up and got distracted. In this way we could avoid upset in the conversation next time something like this happens. She is also the woman who can’t stop cleaning because she is trapped by the need for perfection.

                Nothing is ever completely perfect in life. That is a fairy tale illusion and a very stressful goal to strive for.  It’s like chasing the carrot dangled in front of us that we can never reach to eat. However, it is healthy to strive for improvement in our lives, but we need to allow ourselves to make mistakes and time to relax. That is the art of balance. I had to learn this lesson the hard way by discovering balance physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually in order to survive and regain my health.

Finding Balance

Medussa's Myths Medallion

Rebecca Godina, storyteller and writer, comes to Mind Key from the great state of Washington.  Rebecca will share her unique take on life and allow us to join her on her fantastic journey through the many fictions (some factual!) of life.

Many of us have this elusive goal of “finding balance” in our lives, but do we really know what that means? My job once held a seminar on balancing work and home life, but honestly it felt more like a juggling lesson than a lesson in balance. At least in Western culture, we are expected to busy ourselves with many different things, to the point that we think balance means being able to keep up with them all.

I don’t think that’s true. At least, I reject that concept of balance. For my idea of balance, first you have to find your balancing point. And here’s something that I seriously doubt would ever be found in a corporate sponsored seminar – everyone’s balancing point is different.

So how do you find your personal balancing point? It’s not by allotting X amount of time to activity A, thank you very much corporate seminar. You find it by exploring your own mind. How do you feel when you do this activity? Is this something you have to do, something you don’t mind doing, or is it something you live to do? What rewards do you reap from it? You better believe I’m not talking monetary rewards. 

 

Look, I’m not saying that you should disregard the things you dislike. You still have to do dishes, but if you hate it with a passion, maybe finding balance for you is figuring out a way to cook where you use fewer dishes. That’s a superficial example, but hopefully you get the point. Ultimately, the idea I’m trying to convey here is this- you only begin finding your balance when you start listening, truly listening, to yourself. 

Yin and Yang in Acupuncture

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses Yin and Yang (pronounce yang rhyming with gong) and the body's meridians as the primary foundations for diagnosis and treatment.  According to this article on SacredLotus.com, all phenomena can be reduced to Yin-Yang and the earliest mention of it was in the I Ching in 700 BCE.

Yin and Yang relate to specific parts of the human body and every treatment modality aims to either Tonify the Yin or Yang and/or Disperse excess Yin or Yang. In TCM, there are six pathogenic factors. 

Yin                          Yang

----                         Wind

Cold                       Heat

Dampness           Dryness

----                         Summerheat

I visit an acupuncturist and he is a great believer in TCM, using the flow of Qi along the meridians of the body and specially mixed herbal remedies to increase and/or decrease the Yin and Yang in my body.  Now, I don’t purport to know what any of that means, but I do know that it has helped me a great deal over the last few years.

When I first visited Dave Kaplan at Colorado Acupuncture Studio, I was in bad shape.  I was overweight and in a lot of knee pain.  I was starting to walk and be more active, but stairs (up and down) hurt me.  I’d go through periods of activity and then periods of pain and I was at a loss because my family doctor was less than helpful.  I found a Groupon for acupuncture and I decided, what the hell?  Traditional western medicine wasn’t doing me any good.  It was time to try something different.

My first visit I was nervous.  I talked with Dave about my pain and my general health and history and he put pins in me.  As I lay there, I could feel the pain jumping in my body.  It was as if the acupuncture needles were forcing my muscles to rethink their state of unrest.  It was a new experience for me.  Never had something as small as a well-placed needle made such a difference inside my body.  It took multiple treatments (eight, I think) and a switch in pain centers (I had been putting strain on my knee protecting the muscles of my back, instead of letting the back muscles do their job) but I was able to climb stairs pain free and began a walking regimen that allowed me to lose weight and become a healthier person.

I still visit Dave on a semi-regular basis for “adjustments”, be they physical or even emotional adjustments. 

Like I said, I have no idea how TCM and the Yin and Yang connection works, but that doesn’t change the fact that it has worked for me and I have come to trust in the process.  It’s hard not to, when you realize that the theories and practice have been around for thousands of years.

Yin and Yang is kind of like Left and Right brain thinking

In talking about balance and Yin and Yang, I can’t help but think about right and left brains.  I took one of those stupid Facebook quizzes recently and it told me that I'm 76% Left brained (focusing on Symbolism) and 24% Right brained.  I am a very linear thinker.  Things are orderly.  Numbers don’t lie.  I am not flowery, I am squarely in “the box” so when someone says to think outside the box, I'm at a loss.  Make up something on the spot without parameters, I don’t think so.  So 876% left sounds about right (or correct as the case may be.)

“So, if you’re so left brained and non-creative how can you be a poet and so successful at Charlapalooza?” you might ask. 

If you don’t remember or weren’t subscribed at the time of Charlapalooza, the quick and dirty description is me against another poet writing quick poems about suggested topics.

In response, I would say, “Because you all told me what to write about!”

There was a large and glaring difference between the poems that Danielle Rose (my last competitor) wrote and those that I wrote.  Mine were shorter, condensed and more literal translations of the suggestions.  Danielle’s were more creative, more outside the box.  Here’s an example.

 Kim Hartnett’s suggestion was “Seashell Secrets” and she said it needed to be an alliteration

My poem read:

Seashells have sensual secrets

Tickling temptations and tonal tendencies

Undertones of the undersea

Vestiges of the voluptuousness

Wanton and willful

X-rated and exhilarating

Yummy

Zing

Danielle’s poem read:

The cool touch of it against my ear

Screamed with the sound of the

Waves crashing high over my head.

Instantly brought back to the summer,

Those moments with my feet in sand

Like snow, sun like charcoal on my hair.

What I wouldn’t give to be there again,

Listening to the water racing on the shore

And racing back again. The unending cycle.

What I wouldn’t give to be back there,

Lost in the sound of that seashell.

Softly slipping water, sliding over

Shells and sounds of the seashore.

What I wouldn’t give to see him once more

On the softly sliding slopes of the dunes.

The secret slippery slope of a seashell.

 See what I mean?  Here’s another.

Secret desire – By Danielle Rose

  ~suggested by Dahlia Ramone

There’s a door in the forest

Covered by trees.

If you look carefully you’ll find

Photo by Kely Luzio-Cardona

A mound of sweet purple blooms

That have no business in that shaded 

Grove, basking in rays of sunlight 

Covering an oak slab door. 

What I wouldn’t give to give up

The meatloaf for dinner, the emails

For work, the laundry needing folding.

I’d run to that grove, sneaking into that

Streamer of sunlight, breathing in the 

Blossoms, escaping forever into the

Unknown of that oaken secret door.

And mine:

1:23 AM

The dogs are barking again

Nudge Jon without hope

Swing legs over the side

Toss on a robe and slippers

As the dogs dance in excitement

Glad I’ve acknowledged their need

To bark at stuff probably

Trudge downstairs

Dogs leading the way

Open the sliding glass door

Rush to talk to their imaginary mid-night friends

Open the pantry and look for chips

Try and get them down quietly

As if

Nothing’s quiet in the sleepy silence

Sit on the couch

And gently crunch a handful

Let the dogs in and

Grab just one more – handful that is

Share the last couple chips

Begrudgingly with the dogs

              One to each

Creep back to bed

See what I mean?  We think differently.  And that’s what makes the world awesome.  Our differences.  If we didn’t have differences, the world would be monochromatic, monotonous and boring.

 Do you think you’re right or left brained?  If you'd like to check out the other poems that were written for Charlapalooza (and there were other great poems including one about a mouse living in a tennis ball!) click the links above to check them out.