Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

February 28, 2024

SLO Tattoo

Driving
How I love California
Valleys scarring
Golden hills

Arriving
Details and stencils
Inks, fine line, and filler
Last one is always the killer

Different pains
Burning, drilling, electric
Striated down through the belly
The hot knife that slices

Carving new vistas

Each scar is a story
Once scabbed, picked at, now
Healed, revealed, no longer raw
Simply incorporated 

Symbols, Sabien, or otherwise
Rite the tattoo experience
Pull the Sun, Three of cups
Understand

Willow leaves, sweet relief
Runic analgesic 
Cool summer breeze
Viola and Forget-Me-Not

Wheel of fortune
Wheel of fame
Let's remember
Lilith again

February 21, 2024

HRT

 

show me yes

show me no

show me

I don't know


third time

patch slips

not going to

fix this


rub bellies

lube jellies

warm up

cool down


tired of weeping

not sleeping

nightmares


February 7, 2024

Changing Woman

 

Changing Woman: Poems 2007 - 2016

Kayla used to be a priestess of Aphrodite, but she was such a bitch - all those lessons in love, including jealousy, heartache, misery, and despair. Now she is the Priestess of Laphrodite, Goddess of the Belly laugh. Laughter is the best medicine, but as far as Kayla was concerned, it's also the best lube. Reflecting a time of questing and questioning for our Baby Crone, she changes careers, discovers online dating, and fuels her passion for blogging. 


January 3, 2024

Tendrils of Belief

 


Tendrils of Belief: Poems 1997 - 2006 

Picks up the adventures of our Baby Crone five years after Sappho’s Delights. No longer a maiden, she embraces motherhood, becomes a gay divorce, and moves from retail therapy to hypnotherapy. Spanning almost a decade, here is more scrumptious food for thought, nuggets to savor and relish. Inspired by Adrienne Rich’s, On Lies Secrets, and Silence, these tender tales continue a quest into a deeper knowing of self, family, and community. Prayers, meditations, affirmations, and some lamentations.

November 22, 2023

Super Blood Wolf

Full moon, lunar eclipse

Sun on my descendant, moon on my rising

What does it mean

To have the full blaze of the sun

Ye to be eaten

By earth's shadow

Spit up, vomited,

Regurgitated on the other side


Either way

I howl

I show

I'm different


Sun a shield at my back

Protecting my tender entrails

Soft belly


The moon a mirror

Facing outwards

While I murmur the stories


All see their own reflection

If the words are sung right

And you ask the right questions


I am in the Earth's shadow

Eating a blood orange

No longer in the limelight


Prenumberal rebirth

A small voice whispers

Take pride, put yourself out there


Embrace being different

How else can

We experience sameness


Astrology is not prophetic

More like

Poetic


November 15, 2023

Pandemic Blues Review

 

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2023
I was immediately drawn in to Kayla’s words and experiences. This book showed me I wasn’t alone in my pandemic blues, and Kayla was able to put words to many of the same thoughts and feeling I had. A great read, with engaging photos. Highly recommend!


November 1, 2023

Day of the Dead


Tuesday

It was 112 degrees

As we sped through the valley

Calculating every minute

Before visiting hours were over


October 25, 2023

Intern


It took me a few times

To curl my tongue

Around your name

Encrypt

My minds script


Saying I meditate

Is like

Saying I exercise

Begs questions


What form

How often

What does it bring


I don't usually

Blurt out my story

As I sort

Plastic macro

Charismatic fauna

Into plastic bins


But when I saw your

Pearlescent fingernail polish

I knew I was safe


October 18, 2023

Clarifiers

 

What do I need

I don't know

It will come to me

Just like the crows


They act as if 

There's something 

I need as I compost

Camelias


Pulling the sour yellow

Oxalis bursting

Next year's deep 

Brown seed 

Pods


Lemon verbena

Always exuberant, sassy

I hear my mom's voice

Only retired people 

Spend their time 

Pruning the 

Geraniums 


Tiny daddy-long-legs on 

My knee, are you

Papa “Leg”-ba

Dad joke


He whispers

Don't give away the farm

 Go slow

Little turtle

Go slower


Welcome the Tower

Clean slate

See the

Stars


November 9, 2022

Vibrissae

 



Vibrissae
A Collection of Cats, Facts and Whiskers

Inspired by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art And History's exhibit on local collectors, this book was a collaboration between a mother and daughter. Kayla Rose, a crazy cat lady at heart, has collected over a hundred cat whiskers that she found around the house over two decades from a medley of family pets. She wrote the poem to honor all the past, present, and future cats who bring joy into their lives. 


October 19, 2022

Clearing


Right now I am looking at the cutest baby.
Right now I am safe.
Right now I am the Queen,
Observing from her protected box.

Today I removed the dusty veils, old plastic ivy.
Changed the curtains,
Created more light, more space, more 
Breathing room.

I inspired another healer.
I mentored.
I created beauty. 
I will create peace.

Clearing, clear, clearing, clear
In this moment, there is no fear
I trust my heart, I trust my gut,
I know just how to get out of this rut.

False evidence appearing real
I know just what I feel
I doubt the doubts, I know my truth
I am present, sky to root

I am heart, I am compassion,
I know just what I am tested in,
Feels like patience, always waiting,
Wondering when is it my turn, anticipating.

Experiencing stillness, keeping the quiet,
Trying not to be silenced, not to buy it.
Staying balanced, in my form,
Not buying into the norm.

September 28, 2022

Vivid Verbs


Welcome mat, searing her feet. 

Grease trap, broiling over. 

Old faded couch, peeling like a bad tan. 

Mincing down the street, the cat looked smashing. 


Peeling off her mask was the first step.


August 23, 2022

Eclipse


Breathing your essence, 

Missing your presence, 

Longing for our reunion soon. 


You are quintessence, 

Deeply luminescent, 

Both my shining sun and deepest moon.


February 21, 2022

Empty Place


Right now besides for a few tatters of gray mist,
The sky is empty, gently sun-kissed,
A streak of salmon in the west,
Peaceful blues paint in the rest.

Even red-tailed hawks and gulls are gone,
Not a spout or a sail out on the horizon,
The ocean seems empty, flat, glassine,
Teeming with life only in the depths unseen.

The field below is quiet and clear,
Except for the scuttling of rabbits, quail, and deer,
Buzzing bees, ravens, the squawking of jays,
Hummingbirds coming to visit the velvety sage.

There's just a circle of chairs in the chapter room,
Filled with a scent of Easter lilies in bloom,
Deep red roses, white daisies and baby's breath,
In the center is the altar honoring life and death.

My cup is dried, bowl washed and put away,
Floor is swept, the bed has been made,
Nothing to do, but enjoy this sacred space,
Think I'll call it, "My empty place."

October 6, 2021

House Rules Haikus

You get a free pass
If the cat is on your lap
Pour me some coffee?

No cats on kitchen
Counter or under covers
Look how cute you are

Roof is torn right off
Feeling exposed, rain is coming
Worried about cats

Banging, pounding, stomps,
Gutters, vents, skylights, wood rot,
New roof overhead

Replace the t.p
Rub bellies after toothbrush
Be kind every single day

September 8, 2021

May 12, 2021

How To Love This World

It's easy to get caught up in the news
Easy to feel those Covid-19 Blues 
Too easy to keep scrolling down
Just two muscles needed to frown

When it takes forty-three to actually smile
But who wants to go that extra mile?
So remember to turn off the phone,
Computer, and TV, really just be alone

Notice the wind rustling spring green
Smell the ocean salt in the breeze
Feel the sun on your cheek, be aware of the shade
Squirrels in the shadows, wren eggs are laid 

And explosion of lilac by the Thai lime tree
Orange crocosmia, weeds struggle to be free
The friendly neighbor, chatting over the fence
Succulents packed together, lush and dense 

Having the time to simply unwind and unfurl
The fern's fronds come out of hibernation's curl
Across the street young folks it on the porch
The next generation to hopefully carry the torch

So smile and wave, be a part of the solution
Come on and join in the kindness revolution
Starting with yourself, forgive and forget
Hold on to the sweetness, let go of regret

Remember to be present, to simply be here
Fill your body with hope, dispel the fear
If there's food in the fridge, share your table 
Help your elders when you are able

By paying Scotty to mow Anita's lawn
Pulling back the curtains everyday to greet the dawn
Petting the black cat, give her whiskers a twirl
These are some ways to simply love the world.

April 26, 2021

Day 23 - Crossroads

Here I am, at the crossroads again,
Wondering if I should go left or go right?
Maybe go forward, see what's just  around the bend,
The road behind me is already out of sight.

I can consult a map, turn on my GPS,
Ask at the gas station for direction,
Acknowledge my mistake, take responsibility for the mess,
But sometimes getting lost leads to introspection.

So I sit on a bench and watch traffic fly by,
The lights twinkling red, yellow, and green.
No need to wonder how and when will I die,
Just feeling alive in the moment and quite serene.

Down to the ocean, or up to the redwood trees?
All roads lead to Rome, at least that's what they say.
I'll follow the sunset, the sounds in the spring breeze,
Because I know there's always a roundabout way...