Poetry and Prose by #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, Co-Author of #1 Amazon Bestseller, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and Jan/Feb 2022 Spillwords Press Author of the Month
I wake up to you you remind me of the brilliance of afternoon sunsets and
of morning dew cascading
over a horizon filled with pain, and with healing
a presence of colors, ambiguous yet just enough to
fill the space left
by the absence of your touch
Photo by me, Oregon Coast
New Publications
I am pleased to announce that my poem, Misty Morning, is now available atMasticadoresIndia. Thank you to Terveen Gill, and the team at MasticadoresIndia for their continued support, and for publishing this piece. You can read the full poem here.
AND
I am also pleased to announce that my poem, Autumn Morning is now available at Spillwords Press. A big thank you to Dagmara K., and the whole team at Spillwords for publishing this piece, and for their continued support. You can read the full poem here.
I would be honored if you would read both poems, thank you!
Photo Gallery
My time at the coast is always precious to me. Early morning walks along the beach provide a space for deep reflection and contemplation. This year, I stayed at a small little motel right on the oceanfront. Amazing views from my room, and easy access to the beach, where walking for miles is possible. Beautiful, invigorating, and peaceful.
I am not jealous of the rocks that dwell deep in the ocean bed they have nothing to covet; nothing to look forward to (scoff) but for sore backs from laying stiff under kelp beds in seagrass– as threshing sea-doormats — and perhaps of sand in their eyes but I suppose I’m predisposed to how heavy its shoulders must be when my avant-garde gauge is the emptiness I suffer after yet one more mate left my bed I met a starfish at the shore the other day when my shoulders were laden with pity and boy, was I surprised with the story she shared! she named a rock in the intertidal zone that dreamed about being a rock in Mt. Everest where he’d lay under a female Juniper tree in the forested zone, no less, to wait for Juniper to drop him her berry-cones
“Don’t ask,” the pink starfish exclaimed, rolling her eyes before she continued, “but he is lots of fun and such a loving rock; everyone respects him– we hope to keep him grounded and curious. We cannot make him change, but we can make him grow aware of his unrealistic expectations,” she said, and then she left with the tide shouting I-don’t-know-what at me and that she’d write her rock a love poem How curious, thought I of the soliloquy that even rocks have dreams to profess curious-er still about the rock’s recklessness to plant ideas into the heads of sea stars Is that what life’s like at the bottom of the sea?
Today I met a rearing Adélie penguin pair hit with a dire dearth of rocks to steal– they have their eyes on the stones at the bottom of the oceanic crust but by golly, those are unwieldy and immerse too deep to even try “We’re the pebble poachers in these lands,” the female told me, “with brave dreams of getting our hands on those stones.” “Stones that just lay on sea beds– doing nothing,” offered the male. Then, just as they came, they ran off to write each other love poems. I nodded, supposing I understood their plight. Is it thievery when this couple could put those rocks to good use– and grant the rocks a purpose to be? All for the sake of their offspring?
As I trudged home, my shoulders felt lighter I didn’t know I didn’t know– but now I know! Thinking hard about being jinxed by getting the feted short end of the stick in life which amounts to not having someone to cohabit my bed with at night Is my qualm due to quixotic expectations? Do I need more lessons from the sea? Perchance now I’m more ready to give it one more try I’ll start today by writing to myself a love poem.
Gift From The Sea was inspired by the poem Ocean’s Rocks. You can read more of Selma’s poetry atSelma.
I am sharing one more collaborative response poem tomorrow morning, and then will post one of my poetic responses each day the rest of next week, which will make 30 days in a row of poetry for the Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: 30 Poems in 30 Days Collaboration.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of the amazing poets that participated in this collaboration, and to all of you for being here, reading, liking, and commenting on the posts. It’s been so much fun!
Stay tuned to this blog for a Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: 30 Poems in 30 Days Collaboration wrap-up post, and for details about my next initiative, by month’s end.Thank you.
The gift of love that you gave burgeoned in my heart its roots anchoring my unsteady life calming all my inner turmoil
the pain of your sudden abandonment left me bereft and alone. Yet, I stand tall butterflies flit by, ignoring me yet I know in the spring when I am done with mourning clothed in new leaves self-love will resurrect me with the ashes of pain swept away I will then attract fireflies.
I am pleased to announce that my poem, Gumdrops and Glitter, is now available at MasticadoresUSA. Thank you to Gabriela Marie Milton, and the team at MasticadoresUSA for their continued support and for publishing this piece.
Gumdrops and Glitter
the sea rises over my heart while I lean into love
like a fairytale, made up of gumdrops and glitter, which never stops
enticing the senses
even with a skewed perspective…
I would be honored if you would go here, and read the rest of my poem. Thank you!
Submissions are open for the Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow: 30 Poems in 30 Days Collaboration, and will remain open until September 23. The submission details are located here.