Sienna satin waves roll through dusk, Clean expectations of what’s next, Unknowing heartens my hold, Fall wind unfastens the shoulds, Driftwood carves its own art.
I will receive purpose like a loving child, Tune and pick that old guitar As an eager beginner, Promise the cloud-frothing pastels I will paint them yet in watercolor.
Light dims my stiffened hands home Among wafts of camp spaghetti, Damp leaves, frost coming, and pine. Gentle I go past tree-huddled teens In black T-shirts, jeans and goosebumps.
I’m far from that age but recall Their vast empty calling cards And loose anticipation With a hint of driving rain. I will find my youth again.
Copyright 2024 Laura E. Garrard All photography by Laura E. Garrard
Solstice Psalm
The long night says become still, prepare. Oh how I fight being held, like a squirmy child, lips tight, head turned from sticky cherry syrup offered on a spoon from mother’s hand. I try too hard to heal myself when I need to fall like sleep into god’s keep, the arms of an ancient wood.
I’m Already Looking Forward
As the height of golden color
Becomes baked and matted
I can already see in mind’s eye
The blooming locations of next year’s beauties
And smell the sweetness of black cottonwood resin
A mere six months to wait
Things may be so different
I don goose down and Gore-Tex
In preparation of the colder and greener moss walks
Today’s azure brightness however
Forecasts a vital turnover
From nebulous to distinctive images
Only of fertile soil building
The winter wait will create cell space
Time will combine the correct mineral and organisms
I along with garden and forest will renew
As that is what seasons and bodies do
By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022
Oct. 31. 2021
“Winter to Summer,” By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022
Elusive Winter Sun
Elusive winter sun
Shine through frozen limbs
And warm my chest
Bring my inflexible bones back to life
Show the way to peace
I once observed
In your summer shining
Warmth through and through
Basking in the new grass
Sleepy relaxed muscles
A dragonfly lighting
On my stillness
By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022
Dec. 28, 2021
[Photo Gallery By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022]
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]
“Lake Reflections 1,” By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
“Lake Reflections 2,” By Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2021
Poetry In Time 