a single embrace
sometimes even
a
single
embrace
a touch
can help you build anew
…although vulnerable
as pieces inside of you
are ebbing, are fading,
you learn how to be alive
resilient, supple
and tiptoe forward
soles to the earth
step by step
to prize your beautiful
life
© r.e.l. 6/10/12
[also posted on redbubble]
float away from seeing
when i cannot
put a word
to it…
when i know it is
creeping
along inside its own
skin
when you have no idea
and float away from seeing
its polar opposite
in you
for me
© r.e.l. 7/30/11
image by simeon schatz
Posted for Poetry Potluck 7/31-8/6/11 on Jingle Poetry
petals
if you ever feel
lost
each piece of you,
a flower petal,
thrown and left alone
on the ground
without a cause…
just remember
that you are
a forest of flowers…
© r.e.l. 10/13/11 + simsha
image by simeon schatz
Posted for Poet’s Rally 10/19-10/25/11 at The Poetry Palace
Received the Perfect Poet Award… Thank you, I accept 
I nominated Sarah Johnston for next week.
Featured in Feminine Intent on redbubble
then pause
you
feel trapped
inside the cells of
secrets known
=
it’s simple though
out here
=
so, shhh
listen for my pause
[...]
and you’ll see
the way
© r.e.l. 8/30/11
image nightleaf
Posted to Poetry Picnic 9/4-9/10/11 on Gooseberry Garden
the mountain
every step i take
i’m closer to you
the way i feel you
see me
as if looking through
piercing…
did you know
you are the mountain
i intend to climb
and reach?
…after all
you are the one who
taught me
how to whisper
© r.e.l. 7/21/11
image by simeon schatz photography
Posted on Poetry Potluck 7/24-7/30/11-Nature and Life on Jingle Poetry
its paradox
ever emerging
all sides
of you
choose the
one in your now
who is
in between
your dark night
your early dawn
rising
because it knows
what to do
…next
is it the
mystery
u n f o l d i n g
its view
its paradox
that chooses
without limits
to protect you?
© r.e.l. 7/20/11
image klamath lake by simsha
Posted for Poetry Potluck 7/17-7/23/11 on Jingle Poetry
Featured in All Out Emotion on redbubble
Featured in Touched By Fire on redbubble
am i?
through words
and time
we find our way
cobwebs of fears …
clarity that whispers…
dusty ashes, long ago speaking
of time gone by
sunlight laughing
on beaches with no name
when in the end
what i really want to know is
am i worth it?
© r.e.l. 7/5/11
Posted for Poetry Potluck 7/3-7/9/11 on Jingle Poetry
Featured on Love Bytes on redbubble
Featured on Self Express of Emotion on redbubble
blowing dust, always touching
if only for a second
….blow the dust
……..from your mind
…………the sands of time
…………….and follow me…
did you think
this act would….
tingle your spine?……..
restrict the narrow…………
spaces that you call ‘you‘?…………….
what if this place
….your perfect harmony
……..touches the rest,
…………always essence
…………….never hindering?
your
blood….
flowing……..
just holding lightly…………
© r.e.l. 6/25/11
image by simsha
Posted for Poetry Potluck 6/26-7/2/11 on Jingle Poetry
Featured in Feminine Intent on redbubble
Featured in All Out Emotion on redbubble
why
why
you know
is because it
is your way to find
me where i am… where
the edge meets the whisper
that washes away the sands of
surrender, to touch me with patience
© r.e.l. 5/30/11
image of me by simsha
posted on Poetry Potluck 5/29-6/4/11 on Jingle Poetry
velvet moon
like a dream you wander
through the side of you
that gathers shadows best
but it’s in the time
in between moments
that scratch at you
and die off as ashes,
your secret revealed
when i sleep
your path is you, you know
so follow it
© r.e.l. 5/27/11
image by simsha
Posted for Poetry Potluck 5/29-6/4/11 on Jingle Poetry
a deeper order
create me like i created you
in the space
which lies deeper than you know
it is where, you see,
i first found
the concept of your
decision
to think outside your unexpected life
and roar instead
impactful.
i sighed
© r.e.l. 5/18/11
Posted on Thursday Poet’s Rally 5/19-5/25/11 on Promising Poets
… thank you, Promising Poets, for the Celebrate Poet of Summer Award!
… thank you, Promising Poets, for the Perfect Poet award! I cherish this community of poets and am honored… For next week, I nominate deadpoet88. -robin
your piece of bark with quills
i haven’t
written
yet
or
spoken much
since the last time
i found
the way
to your
place inside you
that you protect
© r.e.l. 5/4/11
posted for Thursday Poet’s Rally 5/5-5/11/11 on Jingle Poetry
used to be
i’m used to your fervor
your passion in the moment
touching the part of me
that lingers
moving toward you…
but your attention
drifting
although lovingly
remembering
the way you used to be
before me
© r.e.l. 4/10/11
image “Golden Brown” by Mayou
posted for Poetry Potluck 4/10-4/17/11 on Jingle Poetry
ghost
can i face you, ghost
and know everything
that what isn’t said
could be
but is masked instead in a mist…
its chosen way
lose yourself
in me
when you feel you see me
but don’t
a side of me, you follow
gone like mist, maybe sleeping
eyes lost
given
proudly to you
and for you
© r.e.l. 3/15/11
this poem inspired uncleblack to compose a song ‘ghost’ using these lyrics… posted on bandcamp (the katie winter).
thank you!
posted for Poetry Potluck 3/27-4/2 on Jingle Poetry
featured in Feminine Intent on redbubble
within cells behind parts
you brought me up
from the shadows
a mystery of parts
crying
a voice heard only
by the ground
healing
through air,
now whole…
balanced on me
to float
in your way you
could see what others did not
within the cells behind parts
how?
© r.e.l. 3/11/11
posted on Poetry Potluck-3/13-3/19/11 for Jingle Poetry
a fine ordinary moment
dear fine moment… my first few sips of coffee,
you change my life. you hold a memory of all other days, alive with transitions from dreamy to present.
as the fog clears, starry-eyed i begin to plan my day in a fine moment.
you witness me as my dreams come to mind, as i walk in the shadows of time becoming conscious.
and in the peace of my home before the storm, children sleeping, cats purring, sun rising, even though you don’t last long, you help me realize
that fine moments in life exist…
© r.e.l. 2/25/11
speak
this is how it works
i see your insides
they speak to me
© r.e.l. 2/23/11
posted for Poetry Potluck week 24 (2/27-3/5/11)
it was already yours
will you catch me
if i fall?
i am jaded by my past that haunts me
the wild are free
and unpredictable
and contagious
and luring
yes…
i always love their mirrors
that show me
myself
it was already yours…
© r.e.l. 2/18/11
image by NINA-L
posted for Poetry Potluck week 23 (2/20-2/27/11)
posted for Poetry Picnic 10/16-10/22/11 on Gooseberry Garden
half spoken, half heard
i believe you
in every word
there is a silence
and past reminding me
you who have answers… or do you call them reasons…
reasons with questions that ask me do you always speak to me in colors that keep their beauty? through tears in paper that beg to know me?
through words, half spoken, half written, half heard but always known…
like the pages of time
i ask myself now, who am i?
but you know better, so i flip through the pages
to find you, to find me, to find the other half of me..
© r.e.l. 1/12/11
Image of ‘Lost Goddess Diaries: The Truth BE Told’ by AmandaGWright
Featured in Speaking Out on redbubble
Posted for Poetry Potluck week 18 (1/16-1/22/11) Languages, Signs and Symbols on Jingle Poetry
Received The Sunshine Award from Jingle Poetry
maybe i’m scared too
maybe i’m scared too. i’m scared to know that i do feel what you say.
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux of Valenciennes
i’m scared to know that inside me is a seed growing, unstoppable.
powerful enough to find you. that if i water the seed it will grow, that it is already growing, that you are my future, that if i look into your eyes i will be swallowed like pools. to drown.
but in a sweetness that i won’t want to forget.
i’m scared that inside i know my life will have to change, that i’m not who i’m meant to be now, but i will be with you.
i’m scared that the unknown knows more about us than i do.
so, i ask you now, don’t stop.
© r.e.l. 1/3/11
inspired by song ‘Inscape’ by Stateless
Featured in Imaginative Skulls on redbubble
Posted for Poetry Potluck week 5/1-5/7/11 doubts, fear, inhibition, hesitation on Jingle Poetry
darkness you can find in your yoga practice: the psychology of you
Are you scared to face something within yourself? Do you sometimes feel that time is against you or that you cannot fulfill your wishes because of your fears?
You know that the answers are in your dark sides that you probably refuse to see. Did you know that yoga has the potential to be the place to confront what’s most deep inside you? This means, however, that you have the power to confront your darkest side of you in your yoga practice.
It’s a place only for the bold, that is for sure… But ask yourself,
“what are you scared of?”
It is true that we hide our darkest parts deep within our bodies. The best parts stay locked up in our joints and tightest places: hips, necks, shoulders, backs, and even feet. When moving through yoga with deep breath, these gems–these secrets–can become free…
Seriously.
Unlocked, their messages trace through our blood as the prana moves relentlessly through us in a vibrant yoga practice. It is the best kept secret.
As these parts of you move through you, and you encounter your difficulties, you can embrace them as gifts. To visit them and set them free, is truly a gift. An angel.
If you do not, these dark secrets stay below (inside your underworld), unconsciously controlling you. They cause you to repeat ugly patterns as “a fly mindlessly beating itself to a pulp bumping against a window through which it cannot pass…attempting to escape its misery,” as put by Absolute Palaver.
Don’t be scared. You have the power. It is you that you are unlocking. The true you.
Namaste.
© r.e.l. 12/30/10
Photo by Matin Demiralay of Turkey — demiralaymetin@hotmail.com
colors you keep
colors
of
what could be
but
are not.
they show
on
your face
why aren’t they?
i ask
what keeps you
from
being you?
© r.e.l. 12/19/10
**this post is for Poetry Potluck Week 17 Journey and The Road Ahead (1/9/11-1/15/11) on Jingle Poetry
Received A rose 4 U award from Jingle Poetry
your internal dialogs: learning by talking to yourself
Do you often speak internally to another person as if you have direct access to each other’s thoughts? Are you fueled by the language that speaks to you inside your mind? Is this dialog a way for you to make things right simply within your mind with certain people?
It is easy to speak the secrets of your soul when you speak to yourself. First, your heart needs to be open so that you are able to feel the truth of what you really feel.
You have a story to tell. You can read it, listen to it, and live in it as you would your favorite book.
You have many channels to your heart. The trick is to find yours–the ones that undeniably open every time.
Find the universal presence, spirit or love that resonates most with you and feel it hold you like a warm blanket. Then speak to it. Let it tell you, as a mirror, what you have to say.
You might hear questions such as “Why are you mad at me?” , “What did I do wrong?” and “Why do you love me?”
If you visit your child self, you might find a version of you looking back as if she/he has known you all your life (it’s true), asking you if you ever pay attention to her/him? She/He might whisper a secret to you that you have never heard.
You are not crazy. You have a lot to say. Just listen with open ears. Be still and silent… and the messages are more clear.
Listen to what your internal dialogs tell you. You could discover the unknown you’ve been search for all your life inside you. It could change your life…
© r.e.l. 12/17/10
the magic of my histories
I move. I feel. My blood carries my life.
I am still. I look inside the calm waters… and here I find the truth of who I am.
Jeff Klein says it well in his article ‘Moving Again’: The quality of our life depends on how we move, and on how we embrace the stillness as an essential element in the cycle of movement..
When overwhelming energies arise, can’t I see that the water is only clear when I allow myself to move what reaches out, running evermore inside..? Whether difficulty or pure joy, I can push it away as if to be scared when it is too overpowering…
When whatever it is has moved through me to its end though, with an ‘ahhh‘ the sun comes out and shines on the tranquility, piercing it with clarity.
I imagine being immersed in a calm and clear patch of ocean, seeing clearly in all directions. Yet, looking above, I occasionally see waves above moving past. When I accept it, I can watch the intense moments transform to a gem that whispers the answer, just as the ocean wave becomes the calm ocean.
Even if I seem to be searching without knowing exactly what I am looking for, I can see that it is still there if I invite the intensity. It is trying to touch me with the truth….
We have known since Einstein that everything is energy — just alive in different forms. It is in the magic of my history that I can find the treasures, carved out of my bones, my heart, my dreams, my teardrops. To look at this beauty is to watch time stand still, to let go, and to become one with the mystery.
When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fill the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. ~Barbara Bloom
© r.e.l. 11/24/10
