Saint Julian Press Poet
Donna McKenzie ~ Poetry
Donna McKenzie is a Houston based voice talent, speaker, radio personality and creative alchemist with a passion for food, music and poetry. This is one of her first poems to appear on the pages of the Saint Julian Press web site.
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Impressionistic Passions ~ Art by Ron Starbuck
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In a Tumbleweed Storm
by Donna McKenzie
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In a tumbleweed storm,
While rocks and gravel Flung by dust devils Smashed car windows, I was born. I saw the unattainable rabbit on a stick Leading hungry greyhounds On their starved futile race, Even as a child, I knew. I have seen the praying mantes In my grandmother's mint forest Reveal themselves, Devouring their mates In their ritual. And the inside of darkness, Yes, that too. Glistening wings have carried me From shore, to shore, to shore. Pillows of pink sand, Volcanic black crushed diamonds, Golden brown sugar, and sand of bones Raising their mermaids. So carefully, with heart racing I walked the cooled, razor surface of the lava flow. The bones of the burial cave, Skulls and pots of clay Breathing inside the artery of earth birth, While flowers swayed above. I, too, have danced Softly, wildly, completely, And with babies, wizards, cats And one particularly majestic gas lamppost Under the moon. And with the moon, Yes, that too. Now there is a new shore, Wave after wave has brought me here. Strewn with hope, soft with compassion Still the familiar piles of notes, laundry and dishes, Those too. But now, My own mint garden, and the Monarchs, Rosemary from my rib cage, basil from my fingertips. My grandmother used to say, the mint Sprang from her freshly washed hair Dripping in the sun. I have her eyes, my mother says, And my father’s bones A pair of wings hangs in the hallway. And mermaids, those too, And you, in the waves, In the moon. |
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A season of you
Stirred into bloom On silver strings landing softly One by one, and I stood still Quietly astonished. And the world resumed And then the first scented drops fell Gentle as breath Upon my open palm Becoming what I knew Opening the first delicate petal In the season of you. Walking into the sunset, I was the sky Aflame, wordless, awaiting the stars. Your eyes are the color of the sky, filled with light and shadows storms and their heavy love, and I know when I have been struck, Quietly astonished. And the world resumes becoming your kiss. At the feet of a great silver mountain Shimmering The petals breath in The season of you. There are worlds, and this is one, Contained in a very moment, all of this at once Becoming one Softly, as water. Nothing is softer to the touch Or more yielding than water Yet who can withstand the raging flood? And the sky is streaked with silver petals And the mountain kneels And together they fall into the deep sea Quietly astonished. And the world resumes In the season of you. |
Copyright 2016 ~ Donna McKenzie
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.