Soul – Poetry In Time

New Growth Poetry Exhibit

Port Angeles Fine Arts Center

My poem below was selected, by the Olympic Peninsula Writers through a juried submission, to appear for a year in the PAFAC New Growth outdoors exhibit in the Webster Woods sculpture garden. Following a year, it will be moved with other poems to a number of parks in Port Angeles. It’s very exciting to have been chosen! Below is a photograph of me with the installation on the day of the poetry reading.

Here is a recording of my reading:

Laura E. Garrard reading her poem “I Have to Chase That Squirrel,” June 18, 2022.

I Have to Chase That Squirrel

Start at a run from the door
And accelerate to top lope
Just as I reach the base of the Douglas fir
Even if I’m too late to catch it
My instinct must be served
You laugh and shrug
For me, it’s not just for fun
It’s my essence, my expression
My way to tell the world
What kind of dog I am
So free me to do 
What I want, what I must
Responsibility, according to whom?
My number one purpose right now
Is to chase that squirrel
Even though I’m scared 
I won’t succeed
I must look skyward to see
On which limb the squirrel may be

Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022

Standing beside my New Growth poetry installation in Webster Woods, June 18, 2022.
(Photograph by Michael Nordell.)
My poem perfectly installed in Webster Woods next to a Douglas fir tree at a trail hub.
(Photograph by Laura E. Garrard.)

Resilient & Creative National Juried Art Exhibit – Port Angeles Fine Art Center

I am proud to announce that my multimedia figurative painting “Flowing Through Impermanence” has been selected to appear in the Resilient & Creative Art Exhibit at the Port Angeles Fine Art Center, Aug. 13-Sept. 26, 2021.

14×18″ Acrylic, Pencil and Ink on Canvas, Custom Framed in 2″ White Oak – $600

Here is the link to the show’s virtual tour: https://www.pafac.org/rc2021.html

This is the the poem that inspired my piece:

The Walk

Tall, striking 
New pink sneakers
Countenance of a tree
She glances at me
Actually, looks directly
I see her full expression
And feel myself weeks ago
Scared, strong, in fear, clear, near tears
The unknown has hit
The big leveler
The death inviter
The life challenger
Out of her experience
Out of her control
Swing set emotion
Up to down to up
Turning up the compost
Bringing up the rot
Mixing rich earth
With decomposing parts
She walks with dignity
With desperation
Because she knows
That her present and future
Are in constant question
And she's trying to flow
But not give in
Life is too precious
And the trick is
Not wanting it too badly
There's the rotting rub
How to survive
Remain oneself
Be the gracious woman
You've learned to be
Without handing your life, body and soul
Over to those
Who have no idea what makes you full
I smile to her
For I'm in it too
Just a different side of the walk
Looking across I'm now able to see
My own feelings reflected
And put two and two together
For myself, perhaps for her
And I hope my simple smile
Provides a calm kindness
The truest type of assistance
No overstepping, no talking, no giving
Having been there myself
Now walking not just for me

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
Dec. 5, 2020

I Became a Drop of Water One Day

In celebration of Poetry in Your Pocket Day, during this Poetry Month of April, I recorded myself reciting this poem (in the above video) while kayaking on Crescent Lake.

I became a drop of water one day
I floated from a cloud into a high hillside creek
And flowed downward to join a magnificent turquoise river
The river rushed into an emerald oblong lake
Where I greeted trout and merganser feet
I filled the entire lake as all drops linked together
I felt my body reach from one shore to the other
As well as separate to myself, the original droplet
After I had known fully my lake environ
I streamed out to the bay, then rougher moving sea
Joining currents stronger than me
Carrying me to other shores and other beings
I grew in knowledge, strength, and courage
Finally after a lifespan, I recognized myself again
For the water is me
Fills me
Nourishes me
And heals me
I became a drop of water one day
And through it realized the essence of all creation

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
Feb. 5, 2021



[Top and Below Photos all by Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021]

Someday Is Here

I sigh
Sitting on a tree
Someday is here

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
March 15, 2021

[Photo Top: "Sitting on a Tree;" Below Left: "Thinking Log;" Below Right: "Rainforest Window;" By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021]

“Sitting Inside a Cedar, 1 & 2,” by Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021.

Ever get
To sit
Inside a tree?

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
March 18, 2021

Tucked in Moss

I’m tucked in moss
Peeking up from the needles and the frost
Peering across your tremendous tongue
Lapping toward my trueness
As in nature I am in bed
With all that is and once was
Cover me with gentle breeze caress
As I close my lids, dust dissolves
My final home lovingly evolves

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
Feb. 5, 2021

[Photographs by Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021]

Recognition

 Recognition
  
 So easily we are sucked in
 To rhythm, to culture, to doing
 Again and again we try to escape
 Those dreaded thoughts I should
 It peers, leers from around the hall corner
 Of our calm, beige alcoves
 And lures us in as dreams, discovery
 Snaking around our ankles
 Until it catches hold
 Dragging us unknowingly to the depths
 Of holes we never quite escape
 Just when our chins reach the rim
 And purity begins its rise
 We let go of our reclaiming
 The depth of who we really are
 In exchange for ambition, adoration
 Short-lived achievements and the next
 The next, what’s next, yes it’s always next
 For what are we if not our doings
 Are we anything but a wisp, a breeze
 An unfilled chalice
  
 I become as smooth as water
 As I gaze into the waving reflection
 The continuity of rolling liquid
 Explains the repetitive nothingness existing
 So frighteningly inside us
 A vast vase holding who knows what for what reason
 Except for those who can break away from the serpent of season
 Conquer the self and end the circle of want and challenge
 And enter the peace of it’s done, everlasting satisfaction
 The soul need not be searched
 It’s already fully present
 Waiting for the moment of complete solace
 Recognizing that being known is not making renowned a name 
 Or being drawn to destiny
 It’s about the unborn waiting for its first breath
 And the death of desire to be anything but breath itself 

By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
Jan. 22, 2021

[Photo above: "Riding Reflection," By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021]