Phenomenal woman

Phenomenal poem!

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

By MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Maya Angelou

Rainwalk - tanka

rain falls like feathers

sashaying down the catwalk

of sky air

I suspect the trees clapped

and the rain god was made proud

~~~

All night rain falls

in the hills

an owl calls out for a mate

 all night rain falls

~~~

sleep sprites unreel

dream movies on closed eyelids

 all night rain falls

~~~

I wake from this dream

into a dream more real

 all night rain falls

the moon is an orange

the sound of rain a warning

~~~

Mountain mystique - haiga

...

time stashes secrets

into the folds of mountains
only the wind knows

(photo : Rimutaka mountains, Upper Hutt)
Click on photo to view larger version

~~~

Creation - haiga

all of creation

smiles from a single bloom

joyous as a child

There is Buddha

in the still space

between each thought

the Buddha waits

~~~

For Carpe Diem's Santoka Taneda's 'There is Buddha' prompt

in the ceaseless sound
of the water
there is Buddha

© Santoka Taneda

Subsumption

This being a woman

This being a woman
is a holding back

words caught in the throat
pebbles, rocks, boulders,
but isn't it the stones
that make the river sing?


This being a woman
is a flowing around

a liquid grace,
a sinuous tenacity,
what obstacle has ever
stopped a river in flow?


This being a woman
is a relearning

no matter how much
the world breaks you,
were you not always
unbreakable and whole?


This being a woman
is a discovering

amidst a world that
denies you your dignity,
finding a world inner,
pure, precious, powerful.


This being a woman
is always about love

you may love one
or may love many,
but above all
you must love your self

~~~

The Heart of a Woman

by Georgia Douglas Johnson

 

The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,

As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,

Afar o'er life's turrets and vales does it roam

In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.

The heart of a woman falls back with the night,

And enters some alien cage in its plight,

And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars

While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.

 

 

~~~

 

Awesome!

 

 

The nut cracker - haiku

sparrows cheep 

cheep cheep me awake

into a dreamworld

of mirages
I, an unwilling
participant

carrying

a body so burdensome

so burdensome

the desiring mind

transfixed by illusions

of its own making

yet, something waits

to be found, for the shell

to be cracked open

the other me

beckons with a nut-cracker

called silence

~~~

The wealthiest place in the world

The video says it all -

Befriending silence - tanka

your endless talk

on festers of loneliness

are but band-aids

come, let us befriend silence

the fullness of nothingness

~~~

Walk in the forest - tanka

 

walk in the forest

tan columns and green walls

cathedral of calm

from among the rustling trees

I pick seeds of silence

~~~

 

Being - tanka

the trees sing

the birds are in song all day

the night silence sings

all of creation brimming

with the ecstasy of Being

~~~

The wounded heart - tanka

I do not know when

you impaled yourself in me

daring, unflinching

the wound has been bleeding 

nothing but exquisite joy

~~~

Bee song - haiku

the flowers wait

as lovers do, for bee buzz

somewhere, rain falls

I pluck beans
a gift to me from the bees
more precious than gold

who would have thought

my heart would burst open

with bee hum?

~~~

Just silence

a silence

sits on the moving river

call it a poem

or the spirit

from which all things rise

I just gaze until

it erases me

and then there is just silence

looking at itself

~~~

Floating in freedom - haiku

water birds peck at

broken floating shards of sky

rippling freedom

~~~

Flutterby song

flutterby wings

folded in prayer or song

ode to a leaf

~~~

flutterby wings

open in benediction

ode to a flower

~~~

December the 5th

had you your body

I would have called to say

“Happy Birthday”

your ‘Thank you”

would have come

with the deepest of love.

But only bodies are born

and then die

you live on

a spirit gentle

a presence warm and tender

a smile guileless

in some place

where dates don’t matter

or even words

and when thoughts fall away

your presence comes as

a soft fragrance

a gentle footfall

a touch soothing

On this day

what can I do

but be present to your presence

be mindful

of your unconditional love

my heart brimming

with utmost gratitude

~~~