Tag Archives: ReVerse

A ReVerse Poem – Sunday, October 16, 2022

I thought this was a good time for a look back. Autumn has taken hold full force here on Bramlett Mountain, with the leaves blushing orange, gold, and crimson and the trees letting them go to ride the wind. The hummingbirds have set flight to the tropics. The days are growing shorter and the mornings are dusted lightly with frost. 

As I reflected on the past several months of poems that made it to the page despite my too busy life, I was struck by how moved I was to read the words again. It’s been an unsettling time for the world at large, and in my own corner of it, having let go yet another life-long companion to the rainbow. Four sweet souls this year. Gone. I don’t know that I have fully grieved for each of them as their departures came too soon…always too soon…before I could catch my breath, another and another.

Because of all this, it seems my writing is tinged with melancholy. And yet joy has a way of breaking through even in the darkest of times. Nature reminds us it’s time to let go, to slow down, to rest. I’m listening. How ripe am I for resting, for breathing deeply…for letting go!

A ReVerse Poem - Sunday, October 16, 2022

despair is like a tidal wave
there is not much that can be said
your dreams are clinging on the brink
the wind rushed trees, the sky, dark gray
there’s a special place in hell for you,
just beyond the veil, while we weep
joy breaks through
of resilience, audacity, of life..
as most lives go, pendulums swing
as the world grows darker by the day
the bitter and the sweet
you will wonder where time’s gone,
to embrace moments of joy,
how odd it feels
like a whisper summer fades
fall leaves, gone with the wind

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. 

A ReVerse Poem From a Week I Wish I Could Reverse

Kat’s bird-feeding station in the Bramlett Mountain foothills – Spring 2022
The silence on my page might imply that I have not been writing much this week. But in fact I have written words every day. Verses, poems that went unfinished because I was distracted by the news of the day and all manner of war…against a sovereign democratic nation…against truth…against democracy itself…against women, most achingly distracted by the war against women in my own country, and feeling powerless to stop the coming tidal wave…as heartless people in power check us off, one by one. They won’t be satisfied with one victory…subjugating women, but will surely move on to dole out equal shares of misery on minorities that make them uncomfortable…people of color, LGBTQ people, non-evangelical christian people…who else will face their wrath before their thirst for blood is quenched? And even now, still, I wonder about the children…always the children who were ripped from their parents at our southern border. I pray for them every day. 

It’s a wonder I managed to write anything at all this week with this garbage swimming in my brain. So in the spirit of getting it out of my notebook and onto a proper page, this is a good time for a ReVerse. Would that I could reverse the cruelty of the humans who inhabit this planet…

I saw my first indigo bunting at the bird feeders yesterday…and a scarlet tanager…and a red breasted grosbeak. This is a first for me…three more beauties came to call, in person, just outside my window. All coexisting with the other birds, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and deer who happen by my little bird feeding station every day. You know, Nature has been doing this much longer than we humans…living in harmony…in balance. We could learn a thing or two. All this to say…that wee flash of brilliant blue…my little friend, the indigo bunting gives me hope.

And with that…here’s the ReVerse of this past week’s poetry that I was unable to finish…

A ReVerse Poem From a Week I Wish I Could Reverse

i don’t want to write about this
there once was a town full of fools
true power doesn’t need to boast
we have forgotten what normal is
a moment, just a moment take
true power’s not up for debate
imposing their will on others until
remember all lives,
but only if you’re white, matter,
the rest are on their own
disdained after their first breath,
barefoot, pregnant, pregnant, pregnant, pregnant
heartbeats matter, breathing not so much
don’t ask, don’t tell
i don’t mind an overcast day or two
breathe in, breathe out,
you need a break
give it a rest
i worry for the innocents
but i know the sun is going to rise

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. 

Na/GloPoWriMo 2022 in ReVerse

Na/GloPoWriMo 2022 in ReVerse

she quells the dark night
i need you to be present
nutty and sweet
bend the truth a bit
intoxicating
serving strangers for pennies
we were close once
who will feed the birds when i’m gone
a dismal reminder
deep as wells
my thoughts are many as the stars
while the plague mutates, raging
a peace i never knew, what a pity
to let go of
i was a strange one some would say
Forever – is composed of Nows –

~kat

It’s Sunday, and time to do a wrap up of this year’s Na/GloPoWriMo Challenge with a ReVerse poem! since I already covered the first half of April a few Sundays ago, this week’s ReVerse will close out the second half. Happy May to you! 🌷🌱🌻🌼🌸🌺💐🌹 

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time.

A ReVerse Poem

Off topic today for Na/GloPoWriMo2022. Couldn’t really go there just yet. but if you would like to give it a try, here’s a link:CLICK HERE. 

Thought this was a good time for a ReVerse. Maybe bring me some closure. it’s been a rough year 2022, but i’m really trying to write a little bit every day.

Have a lovely end to your weekend…
A ReVerse Poem 

death comes a-calling
letting go to ride the wind, to fall to pieces,
on bursts of breath
Shadow follows close, a breath away
we don’t want to be late
(to) day’s fiery dénouement
we’ll tip whistling kettle to cup,
act like everything’s okay…
curse the Muse, blow out the candles one by one
think i’m gonna go unplug
the moments after the rain
because ignorance is bliss
after all these years
life cycles on,
don’t look back, but if you do,
(there’s) a cricket crooning loudly
this is what growing up feels like
spring on the cusp.
i don’t want your opinion
left in the wake of a visit from death

~kat


A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time.

Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem – 4 April 2021

Hello dearies...it’s been a long dry spell, with only intermittent blips of light peeking through the dark of winter...and me taking time to breathe after holding my breath for so long. I have missed this place and you, and the Muse has been an elusive imp for several seasons now, giddy I suspect with the woods that surround my house and weary of my rote tiny existence behind these walls of COVID-induced shelter.

You may have heard. We had an election here in the US. Sanity won, but only by a heartbeat. The losers, sore and swift to cry foul, attempted a coup, failing, still loom, waiting for their golden god’s next marching orders. I am happy to say that I am learning to breathe again...big breath in...big breath out...my head filling again with words, tossing around and jumbled, ready for the picking. It feels good to be back...slowly but surely I am.

Sunday’s Long Overdue, Long-Winded ReVerse Poem - 4 April 2021

and me breathing...
thank you dear strangers
do not linger
compassion prevailed
their footprints in the dust long disbursed to the wind
age of Aquarius dawning
tick tock tick
full cold moon on ice
wash away the pain
when the air swelled, when time shifted,
words upon beautiful words whispering,
the clouds fell to earth tonight
it shouldn’t surprise us
how you dance with the wind when tempests roar
my weary bones need no persuading;
liberated only in name
bound in symmetry
here on the brink
only to be nipped
now heartless, empty
weary of promises, promises impossible to keep
the irony of it not lost

~kat

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week...or in this case, the past several months.