Sanity

I talk to the waves

and cry with the gulls

whose shadows float upon the peagreen waters,

I stand by the railings along the sea wall,

watching the tide softly tease the clumps of seaweed,

the wind swirls sand clouds around my legs,

stinging tingling bare skin,

I feel the power of this invisible force,

holding me up

swaying me side to side

engulfing me as I close my eyes,

I feel safe

 

Mary-Jane Ng

***

Words

Words – tumble out of mouths

Beautiful & cruel

Thoughtful

Thoughtless

Words – transformative

Informing – disrupting – mending - blending

Never-ending

 

A final vocabulary not even in sight

Words – evolving dissolving times & spaces

Contact between races

Different tongues are rungs on the ladder of life

 

Words – the news media’s principle tool

Spinning truth & lies

Strong words

Bonding words

I promise words

Those -  I’ll never do it again words

 

Some sharp needle point words

Wounding words

Blunt talk

Soft chalk - of teachers blackboard words

 

Shhh! Soft cooing

Wooing words the

Erotic curves of poetic words

 

Outrageous courageous words

Need ears

While some words lurk in the head

Maybe to never see the light of day

 

Like a secret submarine beneath the ice

Who pops up

Tourette’s like to surprise

Even the polar bears

Released from torpedo tube number 1

A direct hit on the chin of religion

 

“..No transcendent truth present outside the field of writing can govern theologically the totality of the field.”

                                                 (Jacques Derrida Margins of philosophy p.7 c university of Chicago 1982)

 

As we reel from the complex density of such words

Seeking a simple truth to proclaim

Religion defends itself by book....

In the beginning was the word, &

The word was with God, &

The word was God.....

                                                      (Bible N.T John 1:1)

The word is at my command..

 

Andrew Henry Smith

***

Sanity

Breakdown

Can be a

Breakthrough,

A sane response

To an insane world.

Even my strange ideas

Were based on

Real trauma.

I hold my head high,

I feel no shame,

I came out of it

Stronger,

Braver,

Healthier.

 

Charlotte Palmer

***

Words

Words are cold comfort

When said on the phone

to a sad heart grieving alone.

This is a time to hug and hold

Lockdown keeps us apart

So my comfort stays cold.

 

Cecile May Raw

***

Words

'Sticks and stones

May break your bones

But words

Will never hurt you'.

The old lie.

If he had broken

My bones

They'd have healed

Long ago.

My mind, though,

The scars are there

And run so deep,

With every callous

Remark, criticism,

Threat.

Use your words

With great care.

 

Charlotte Palmer

***