Silencio

Silencio. Seduction whispered in Spanish

Silencio. The seconds separating lightning from thunder 

Oh-dark-hundred in the pre-dawn desert 

Streets muffled with snow

Sand dunes mute in starlight

A cenote’s cerulean depth

The sun eclipsed.

Silencio. After the baby finally falls asleep

Silencio. Between a flutist’s inhale and the note

The breath you hold as your daughter raises the flute to her lips

The theater’s hollow hush when rehearsal ends

Smoke from the last cigarette 

Spilled wine, blood-bright, seeping into a linen tablecloth

A brush about to touch canvas, the painting titled, “Still Life with Stopped Clock.”

Silencio. A legend about insanity should you linger in the quietest room ever built 

Silencio. The E.R. with no patients at 3 a.m. 

Abandoned cemeteries; empty cathedrals; sitting Zazen 

Your dying mother opening her eyes and smiling 

Night so deadened you hear your own heartbeat 

Yet, Silence is impossible to know… 

The inner ear’s white noise will never leave you.

Photo credit: Michael Frye Photography

 We all remember our first love. It's been decades since mine left me behind. But three months ago, he showed up in a dream so intense, I had to respond. Hence this poem. I just heard he's recently passed on...

                                                  You Are Still Seventeen

                You are still seventeen

                When you slide into the pool of my dream

                Bare-chested, smooth-faced

                Dark hair slicked to one side

                You reach across the water

                I am still fifteen

                When you lace long fingers through mine

                A surgeon’s hands, I say

                You read my palm

                An artist’s hands, you say

                You would be seventy-five today

                Why have you swum out to visit me at 3am

                The last morning of September?

                To say you’re sorry? To say goodbye?

                I will always love you

                    photo credit: Darran Shen, Unsplash

 This is Haibun, a form created by the famous Haiku poet, Basho. It consists of 1-3 paragraphs of prose poem in first person and ends with a haiku that sums up or relates to the narrative prose. Themes are travel, time, and place. American Haibun is less rigid in its requirements, but I liked the challenge of the traditional form. I recently had to opportunity to stay at a retreat center in Colorado and this poem arose from the experience. If you're curious about Chod, here's a link to my article: 

https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/feeding-your-demons

                        

Upon Encountering a Ghost at Red Jewel Mountain Monastery

My winter solstice sanctuary is a one-room guest house behind the Buddhist temple where raveling prayer flags beseech the wind. I hobble the stoney path between here and there, to meet the nuns. We practice Chöd, feeding our demons in an ancient Tibetan ritual of drums, bells, chants, and visions. 

I’ve spoken only once to the wine-robed women this week, so perhaps that’s the reason an old young lover visits in a morning dream. He folds his slender white body over mine like a blanket; he curls against my spine as if it were possible to warm himself. Why do I apologize to him, after all these years, when it should be the other way around?

Peaceful and Wrathful

Deities stare down from the walls

All of them are me

photo credit: Sylwia Bartyzel, Unsplash 

Northwind Writing Award

 The Northwind Treasury is now available for purchase 

Here are the links:

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Amazon (US)

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 And make sure to leave a review at Goodreads.

                ART FOR

TRANSFORMATION

Curious about shamanic art? WINTER ROSS dives into a practice to explore your own mind.

Three articles for Spirituality & Health magazine:

"Throwing the Bones: Finding Your Future"

https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2021/02/05/throwing-the-bones

"The Hoodo Blues"

https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2021/02/23/the-hoodoo-blues

"The Talking Tree: Science, Myth and Healing"

May, June 2021 print issue: Spirituality & Health magazine

Clip: Resistance to Oil and Gas in the Sacred San Luis Valley