IMAGES
WORDS
Never Lonely
Dreams
I live in a liquid land where waves of vision
spill into daily habits -
where animals speak with spirits
and those who care to hear.
Advice is delivered
by a passed over soul
in a whisper barely heard
and a touch like smoke
leaving signs born of time's wisdom
that dissolve into psychic confetti
falling like rain on outstretched night arms
to be caught, examined and returned
to their rightful owners
on the telephone by day.
The House
In the bedroom an emerald tree frog
clings flat and panicked like a wind-tossed
ivy leaf to the smooth white wall
chirping for home.
Cooing comfort, I capture him in a fish net
and deposit this pulsing jewel under a rain-dripping hibiscus
covering him with a leaf topped with a feather
from a sparrow's wing.
A red-bellied woodpecker taps on the window
to wake me on work days
and mourning doves call to me
in my grandmother's voice
while the granddaddy long-legs that visits my tub
forces me to rescue him each morning
insect-feather legs perching, tickling
the hairs on my arm.
Waiting on the porch to capture
the sun's first light for luck
a gray cat-bird lets me know when breakfast
is burning on the old gas stove
by screaming my childhood name
and a green lizard sits silently
trying to become invisible
by my coffee cup.
Crickets sing in the house-plants at night
while Bobbin, the kitten-cat
speaks to them in tail-speech
trying to lure them out for dinner.
Lady the Tramp sleeps in the curve of my legs
smelling rank and fishy
from the junk-yard swamp and
erotic adventures with the pack.
The shabby gold-fish in the kitchen tank
grows cantankerous with age
and demands his dinner by banging
his head against the glass
while the black cat-fish that sleeps on the bottom
thrashes wildly in her confinement
sending a rush of song-like bubbles
to explode and splash the spider who spins
her endless maternal web around hatchlings
on the dusty recipe book.
Dimensions
Frozen snakes lie coiled
under my bed awaiting the night
that will bring summer storms
inside like prayers
to thaw and heal them so I will know their power
and offer welcome words of light.
But now, in all worlds, even while you are reading this,
the seals sing deep under the ice
visions dance like hummingbirds
darting into nests of dreams
and the lung-fish lives buried in a desert.
And it is all one world - one universe
where everything is everything
and endings are born again.
Copyright (c) 1990-2010 - Elizabeth Dozier Steedly
Please do not use without author's permission.