poetry

Poetry is part of everything. You can’t have a really good work if it’s not touched by poetry. Poetry manifests itself in millions of ways: as rhythm, metaphor, mood. Sometimes it’s a type of emotional outpouring or necessity that’s not expressed through characters but through feelings. To me, poetry is the tragic sense of man. It’s a way of seeing things in the most complete way, the most absolute, and, to a certain extent, the most perfect. Where there’s no poetry, there’s no beauty, and without beauty no kind of artistic work can exist.

The late Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas in a 1983 interview: http://nyr.kr/1f4dEJd (via newyorker)

Set Sail to Paradise

The sails capture the sultry winds
Gliding across the turquoise sea
This is where our adventure begins
Embracing the need to be free    

As the crystalline heavens reflect
the oceans aqua blue
Its beauty is for us to inspect  
in the skies deep tropical hue     

We skim the waves in tranquilly
bound for Key Largo’s enchanted shore
With all of its unspoiled serenity
here you’ll open imaginations door  

Sandy white beaches are spied
touched by the blazing sun
We go romping through the tide
as children once had done

Time here does not exist  
in this idyllic place
Laughter is unable to resist
placing a smile upon your face  

The coral reefs are spellbinding
we see fish in a rainbow array
This underwater world is unwinding
in a dazzling delightful display 

The sun is setting in the west
Painting the azure sky
Twilight’s the time I love best
As the day bids us good-bye

The full moon now awakens
while night’s mysteries unfold
Love is for the taking
as its wonders we behold.

Sandra Dartt

DOLPHINS

ONE dolphin.

One silver shadow.

A blade that cuts the ocean

Without a ripple.

ANOTHER dolphin.

Another silver blade.

Gliding through the sea-jewel

Not leaving a scratch.

NOW the blade joins the shadow.

The blade is the shadow, the shadow, the blade.

They smile, laugh, and swim together,

And the ocean glimmers with the sun.

ONE giant leap together,

And the shadows are gone.

The shadows like the blades

That laugh.

Diane Morrison

Steps to Happiness 

Everybody Knows,
You can’t be all things to all people.
You can’t do all things at once.
You can’t do all things equally well.
You can’t do all things better than everyone else.
Your compassion is not just like everyone else’s

So,
You have to find out who you are, and be that.
You have to decide what comes first, and do that.
You have to discover your strengths, and use them.
You have to learn not to compete with others, 
Because no one else is in the contest of *being you*.

Then,
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness.
You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions.
You will have learned to live with your limitations.
You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due.

Dare To Believe,
That you are a wonderful, unique person.
That it’s more than a right, it’s your duty, to be who you are.
That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish.
And you’ll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down 

Pam Fraser