Straight Edge

 

Industrialized Isolation (2000) by K.A. Bennett

Straight Edge

A simple line defined us,

separated us,

kept us true to form--

you on one side, 

and me on the edge,

trying not to fall into your uptight reality.

A line, the shortest distance

between two points--

me at one end of the Universe

and you at the other.

You could not tame the wild.

I could not color inside the lines

you drew around me

to contain my absurdity.

I jumped over your lines 

and played hopscotch

with your predictable boxes

until it became too much

for both of us.

My scribbled lines 

turned into a roadmap away

from you.

Now we stand

in separate lines

and wait for our lives to unfold 

in different directions.

You conform to the rigidity

you crave

and find comfort 

in your own predictability.

I scatter the lines like pickup sticks

and let them fall into chaos

I deliberately sweep away.

© 12.12.2020 K. A. Bennett. All rights reserved.

My Heart Belongs to Sage 11.17.19

My Heart Belongs to Sage

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

eternal longing

for rays of healing and warm

desert sunshine days

I used to live in Taos, New Mexico, out near the Taos Gorge, in a sea of sagebrush. The adobe dirt was soft and supple. I still dream of building a clay house to hide in the high desert — a place uninterrupted by the trappings of mainstream society; a place to simply enjoy the sky and create art. For now, my memories remind me of the sun and the smell of sage after a rainstorm. It is enough. For now. 

© 2019 K. A. Bennett. All rights reserved.

This poem was originally published in Poetic Ramblings From the Spiritual Abyss on Medium.com.

Own It!

Photo by Antoine GIRET on Unsplash

Listen to a reading of this poem.

Ownership
of the material
is fleeting and ambiguous.

We borrow space
to simply be
in community

with seven point five billion
other souls
on our wonderous,
spinning home.

We all share
responsibility
to care for one another
and our Mother.

Our occupation
of our Earth
requires an awareness

of our physical actions
and our mental energy

in planned reactions

to give and take
in conscious equilibrium.

Gaia weeps and waits
for balance restoration.

We are One in concert,
creating,
or annihilating our home.

We must live gently
in possession
of the space and place
where Nature exists.

In honor, we are grateful
for air and water and soil,

and remaining opportunity

to fight for our rights
to build a better future
for all.

It’s time now,
in world partnership,
to clean our house
and repair our home.

© 11.14.2019 K. A. Bennett. All rights reserved.

This poem was originally published in Spiritual Ramblings from the Spiritual Abyss on Medium.com

Learning to Breathe

Photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash

Rampant, wild thoughts,
fleeting,
pass through
and beyond;

silence sits
in concentrated effort
holding space,

timeless grace
in studied breaths
of peace.

© 11.11.2019 K. A. Bennett. All rights reserved.

This poem was originally published in Spiritual Ramblings from the Spiritual Abyss on Medium.com.

Halloween Snow Day

Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash

Listen to a reading of this poem on SoundCloud.

October snow heavy on the ground,

on the cars and roofs,

on the bending deciduous trees,

on memories of children playing

in bubbled snowsuits

with red noses and steaming breath

--in past Decembers.

Shivers underneath thick coats,

and mandatory interior sweaters,

unable to fight off chills

from subzero fall weather

that grabs at fragile water lines

and pulls every bit of heat out

into the white, frigid landscape.

Chilled inside and out,

snuggled into blankets,

insulated from winter thoughts

with dreams of Autumn days lost

to snow falling in waves of cold fluff,

hiding orange and black decorations.

Halloween will come tentatively this year

with furnace raging and mugs of hot chocolate,

every child dressed as

the abominable snowman--

herds of snowsuits

wading through the winter white

in search of candy and warm toes again.

-----

© 10-31-2019 K. A. Bennett. All rights reserved.

This poem was originally published in Blue Insights on Medium.com

Kerry Bennett holds an MA in Cultural Resource Management and a BA in anthropology. Kerry is restoring/renovating a Victorian house in the arid southwest where she lives with her two children, a plethora of pets, and the creative ghost of her unpredictable muse. She has written for local newspapers and won awards for poetry published in literary journals. She blogs at K’s Bloomin’ Art Garden and her artwork can be found at Kerry A. Bennett Fine Art.