Details, details…please don’t be bothered by them in this week’s reverse. It all sounds so gloomy and doomy, but those are just the facts, ma’am. I get it. But the bottom line? If the first 4/5ths of this weave don’t swallow you in the details, you’ll make it to my unsinkable mantra. Always the optimist, and why the hell not. We might as well make the best of it (my it, your it, the it’s, of course may, and do, vary). That is to say again, for the record, be kind, most of all to yourself. Go gently into the coming week!

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 22 April 2018

latticed burst of crimson
I’ll write it for you in blood / worm-feed in an unmarked grave
carnage marks its path
to blame for its untimely end
flowers; withering, death
What’s left of it
red danger on display,
burning those who get too close…
cried myth
I wonder what will become of us?
far from dandy, indeed, blown to hell
nomadic, wind riders
receiving a rose
mean rain, or so you’d guess,
sometimes, when I dream
ballads, wild psychedelic trips, mania, decades
though stormy clouds may loom, life is good
it’s an odd coupling
history will prove it when less is at stake
roots planted, shallowly

~kat

A ReVerse poem 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.

If you are reading this, you have survived another week on this planet. It’s a crap shoot isn’t it? We are born into this complicated world with a fierce sense of survival that is so easily swayed by false senses of security. The truth is, as the sayings go, “none of us are promised tomorrow” for “we will not leave this place alive”. Which is all the more reason to seize each moment.

Still, it’s hard not to worry, to suffer angst and fear. Fear is a heartless beast. It likes to build on hypotheticals and what ifs. Even more despicable are those who exploit and profit from its proliferation.

But, what if we could accept the inevidabilty of our mortality. What if we were not afraid of our emotions; the highs and the lows and actually embraced the exquisite passion to be found in ecstasy and in grief?

Would the fear-mongers have less control over us? In truth, they would like nothing more than to dictate to us how we should be feeling. They thrive because we are willing to abdicate our freedom to their twisted protectionism. Resignation and compliance is the price of liberty they say. But it is not freedom.

We are not free unless we shed our dependence on powerful others who have only their own best interests at heart, and take our rightful place as individuals. We need each other we say, but not for reasons the powerful would have us believe. We need others who remind us that we are valued; that our dreams and hopes are worthwhile endeavors; that give us room to live and feel, and yes, even die with dignity; that we are perfect even in our imperfections; that we are mortal and yet magnificent in each breath we take, each tear we shed, each utterance of joy. And we are free only when we are fearless.

How is this possible? Well, you know…you do. It is today and you are here, breathing. There is this. A simple, single moment to savor. Is it enough? If you can answer “yes!” then you know true freedom and nobody can take that away.

Peace and kindness to you. Have a wonderful moment…have many!

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 25 February 2018

the sting of loss settling in
winter bones shimmer
more like hopeless
swelling in the mist,
it’s already old news…
but it’s a temporary fix,
it’s okay if you don’t want to admit it.
flag at half staff
the fog clears
amidst the cacophony
all honor is slain
I see you, alright?!
a songbird sings
a change is coming
the fall of an empire.
listening to the wind
there’s a hint
no one sees…
my heart knows
innocence cannot be restored
a face in the crowd

~kat

A ReVerse poem 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.