poetry

A Chat

/ jill autrey dorman

pexels-photo-2079451

 

I think if you were here right now we’d sit and talk about the different shades of doubt.
You would smile at my gray hair and the way things are while you sit in your old easy char…

You wouldn’t like the new technology.
It’s like Alice through the Looking Glass and all the white knights are talking backwards.
You would say, “this too shall pass.”

I miss seeing you on a Sunday and the joy you always brought to me.
Your love for us was deep and fierce, the best of your heart is what I miss…

I think if you were here right now we’d sit and talk about how it use to be.
You’d smile and say, “it’ll be alright…” while you sit in your old easy char.

That Time

/ jill autrey dorman
tiny pieces of broken glass in grayscale photography

Photo by Lehel Mozgai 

 

That time you sat in the park watching the lavender sky at dawn is long gone

You said, “Everybody had to be, had to get somewhere…”

That time when you burned your house down with your own two hands

so busy advancing you lost what got you there…

You broke the glass ceiling but who really cares

Now everybody has nowhere to be and you are alone.

The love of a family the loyalty of a friend.

The road less traveled is somewhere you’ve never been.

Bloody Cotton Bolls

/ jill autrey dorman
cotton flower

Photo by Magda Ehlers 

 

I saw fields of cotton white as snow

as  blood red drops flowed down and soaked

those cotton fields and the earth below.

Yes the Blood dripped down on the cotton bolls.

 

As the Louisiana sun beat down that day

in June of 64 three boys came to say

we want to help you learn to vote

but they were shot down and the cotton was soaked.

 

Blood of black men drip down so slow

from the cottonwood tree  the bodies swinging low

No one would help them, they were all alone

and the sun went down on the bloody cotton bolls.

Everything that used to be solid

/ jill autrey dorman / 2 Comments
silhouette of two person

Photo by Trung Nguyen

 

Everything that used to be solid is suddenly fluid.

The mid-afternoon sky the color of hammered gold

Waves of heat rising from the horizon looks like water only to find a hard rock road

I do love living where the Sky is bigger

Somehow it feels tedious to have too many trees above

If I don’t know you then I don’t know anybody

It is like waiting to touch the bottom of a bottomless well

Tipping Day

/ jill autrey dorman / 1 Comment
a person with foot up in the air

Photo by João 

 

The sun has slanted across the sky

thoughts scroll through my mind then fly

That precise sliver in time

 

The see-saw is tipping to the down side

I slam and am jolted by the sand in my eyes

Suddenly a week seems like a lifetime

 

I know I never really controlled my world

The lie in my head where I thought I was safe

but being found in Christ I am not forsaken.

 

 

 

Emmet

/ jill autrey dorman / 3 Comments
green grass during sunset

Photo by Nathan Cowley

 

The daybreak drizzle has moved out to sea.

The dawning clouds are steel gray.

The wind is about 10 knots up from the Gulf Stream.

Nations have risen and fallen, two world wars, more political unrest, man has gone to the moon and the World Wide Web has come along, but nothing much has changed on this little wedge of the island.

The tide goes in and out.

The gulls and cranes still swoop and dive and the dolphin still dance. The beautiful gold sea oats continue to hold the sand dunes together…
But now you… have been born!

Your little smile, your hands and feet have changed everything.

I cannot smile without you.

There are very few words of wisdom I will give you as you grow up and let me into your world of sticks, and bugs, and rocks.

You will sleep the sleep of the blessed each night and when I get the chance I will tuck you in.

What I will do my grandson is love you. Love you unconditionally with all of my being and spirit.

Long after I am gone I will still watch over you and love you with a love that has no end.

The daybreak is clearer now, the sea breeze cleansing. The wars and internet have no meaning to me now.

The tide is a beautiful dance and all of God’s creatures perform just for you.

The sand dunes are for you to climb and my whole world is golden.

No time to give away

/ jill autrey dorman

 

 

time lapse photography of waterfalls

Photo by James Wheeler 

Out of my head

No point in New lies

Not hindered by sorrow

Simply celebrate my life

 

Brilliance is this instant

Melting colors into day

Living every minute

With no time to give away

 

Sorrow bears a goodness

Merriment holds no shame

Colors intense and glorious

With no time to give away

 

In my War Room

/ jill autrey dorman
woman wearing black tank top leaning on table

Photo by Engin Akyurt

 

As if at forced shutter speed all life  now is slow motion.

A stealthy enemy invades War Rooms with limited detection.

At what price can we buy peace of mind and human devotion?

This peripatetic killer cares not for education or station

and will only be stopped by God’s love of our Nation.

 

 

I am still right here my neighbor.

I will pray through this long dark night with you.

Let us lift up our pleas to the One who heals.

Let us be the ones called courageous and true.

I will, I will fight in my War Room for you.

 

I have always felt set apart

/ jill autrey dorman
big waves under cloudy sky

Photo by GEORGE DESIPRIS

 

I stare out my window

Like a sea wife staring out the horizon

Time moving ever so slow

 

 

 

I have always felt set apart

Looking outside of dreams into the  indigo haze

Time capturing the beats of my heart

 

 

This is what faith is

The hope of what can’t always be seen

Time cannot define where he is