WRITING BY JOANN BERTONE CHMIELOWSKI
ollie ollie oxen free
ollie ollie oxen free
hello dear friend hiding in the dark again
darling little child who thinks if they can't see you you can't see them
with that light of yours shining brightly
I know just where you are
with that light of yours shining brightly
it's even more obvious in the dark
why with that light of yours shining brightly
i can even see your shadow
ollie ollie oxen free
JANUARY MORN
Speeding through in the old stick,
oblique sun performing on the frozen mountain,
giving a mountain strobe show,
mist rising off now barren fields
dancing with wood stove smoke,
droplets dangling, hope diamonds on bare branches.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 15, 2014
OWL MOON
Goliath corn flakes ensconced in chocolate pudding crunch underfoot.
Freeze up time down in the field,
Ooh hail the encore!
Rising,
You,
My Owl Moon,
My only company in frigid cold,
Together, we do amazing things.
My only company in frigid cold,
Together, we do amazing things.
JoAnn Chmielowski
January 17, 2014
FRENCH VANILLA GLOW
Afternoon gaze,
March Sun,
your French Vanilla glow alights buildings and dormant baseball fields filled with geese searching the frosted brown grasses for whatever they search for, alike.
They have been beautified to the status of mountain lakes.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
March 3, 2014
AUTUMN WATERLILIES!
Oh my autumn waterlilies!
You make sense from any point of view!
Now, you've given me the sillies!
I'd give anything to dance with you!
LIGHT ME
Light me.
You are fire.
You are truth.
I am the highway.
Stick out your thumb.
Illuminated, I do not thrive in shadows for I am light.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
July 6, 2012
CUPPED HANDS
CUPPED HANDS
Writing freezes thought much as a photograph freezes the view.
Both entice us to closer inspection,
cupped hands trying to capture the sea.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
April 30, 2012
UNCERTAINTY
UNCERTAINTY
Uncertainty knocks once more, invite it in.
A brother, it is already so familiar.
Smile, make it comfortable
Make a place for it at the table, feed it.
Clothe it, for it comes stark naked and cold.
Embrace it, and you hold unlimited possibilities.
Uncertainty, always there for you.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
June 6, 2012
STREAM OF WORDS
Oh, stream of words, deep,
protector of inscrutable boulders!
Around the bend, in the shallows,
how you open eyes!
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
April 5, 2012
FALL UPON ME
FALL UPON ME
Fall upon me, light!
Illuminate, bring out what I have hidden!
For what has been pain is now a robin in cold driving rain enjoying a birdbath!
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
April 24, 2012
resonance
continue on my love,hold me with sweet words,carry me with resonance, strong and deep,beyond the imagined.JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
March 1, 2012
LOOKING FOR EAGLES
LOOKING FOR EAGLES
The flamboyant avocado
ne'er to be found as
pantry moth larvae
deftly navigate the ceiling.
Mysterious odors disseminating
from kitchen cabinets pose as
text messages questioning
dog food label syntax.
Insidious thoughts conjured up
from a presumptuously "normal" life answer why
I have started looking for eagles.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 4, 2011
FLOCK OF BIRDS
FLOCK OF BIRDS
Thoughts fly off,
a flock of birds.
Conversations dangle,
prayer flags in the wind.
Love, you arise in still waters,
bubbles in a glass, bedside, overnight.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
Oct 4, 2011
j.b.c. quote 4/4/12
Feel free my love! Act like a deranged detective in a trench coat for life requires careful investigation! You are the only one in charge! ~ j.b.c. 4/4/12
BRILLIANT ANGEL
BRILLIANT ANGEL
Window open,
help,
heavily accented,proffered through a lens of freezing rain.
Your face, brilliant angel, in brief,
carried me from where you came,
......to the place where you vanished.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 24, 2012
LAKE TASHAMIMI
Joyous Lake Tashamimi,
favored lake of lovers,
atop the range of emotions.
A love,
not blind,
but simply,
eyes closed,
in trust,
leads us to the peak,
slaves to an ancient trade.
LOW ON THE HORIZON
LOW ON THE HORIZON
Dawn,
amber sun,
moves me,
low on the horizon.
You've come again,
oblique,
winter's novel angle.
Thus,
I write anew,
to a love lost in Shangri La,
ancient as honey.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
December 13, 2011
PEELED POTATO
PEELED POTATO
Late winter's peeled potato,
a half dozen sunken patches,
root buds, yet to notched out with the paring knife,
snow, melting, unveils golden fields,
outlining somber islands of leafless saplings enlaced by gray brush.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
March 8, 2012
BABY GIRL PINK
Distracting glimpses on twisted roads
she peeks at us, here, there, over and over.
Baby-girl pink moon on the horizon of baby-boy blue,
how deftly she takes the breath away!
We, never thinking danger, gasp.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 31, 2012
Quote by unknown who knows
"It's not what you make of it. It's making it."
CLOTHED IN MAGENTA
CLOTHED IN MAGENTA
Who could not feel happiness upon seeing the reflection,
when thoughts,
neither black nor white,
have clothed them in magenta?
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 20, 2011
LIVING LIFE
LIVING LIFE
Living life,
exposed roots
love light.
Inextricably tied by our ribbon of melodies,
all that lies hidden under the surface,
has become far more formidable.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
October 16, 2011
BY HEART
BY HEART
We play each other over and over,
moon and sun,
on a landscape uninhibited,
love's melodies,
learned by heart.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 1, 2011
FLOODGATES
FLOODGATES
Saturate, soak, drench me to the bone, keep pouring through.
Though the reservoir is full, I've opened the floodgates for you.
JoAnn Chmielowski
September 30, 2011
OH MR. EDITOR
OH MR. EDITOR
Oh Mr. Editor,
busy man in your well-appointed office,
Nefertiti on a corner pedestal,
altar-boy feet in garish blue wing-tipped shoes,
inextricably controlling the opined,
hot water and towels,
at the birth of another dimension.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
October 12, 2011
ROOTS
Breathe deeply of the rich sweet earth my love,
With total surrender, wander further and further into the forest.
Have no fear of the seeds planted.
Honor, especially, the most broken ground,
for underneath lies roots
which will send forth
the one who reaches the light.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 6, 2011
PRISMATIC SHAFTS
Prismatic shafts of light, through chinks in your armor shine so bright.
The color that I see depends on the angle relative to me. ~ jbc
OVER THE EDGE
Oh, my love, just when I feel I am about to go over the edge you remind me that our world is not flat, and being "on the brink" is, indeed, an asset rather than a hazard. ~jbc 9/18/11
CALLTO EXPLORE
CALL TO EXPLORE
A revelatory glance
that draws in and pushes away simultaneously,
you, oh mirror of internal recognition,
calling to explore my love,
discover every day.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
October 25, 2011
QUIESCENT SEA
Oh quiescent sea,
end your reverie!
For when fog horns break,
melodies awake.
Buoyed into passion,
your waves, oblique,
speak.
Listen.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 20, 2011
TREES STRIP-TEASE
TREES STRIP-TEASE
Trees strip-tease, foiled by golden light.
Widespread, October now shines freely.
Enticed by brightly colored beauty but for a short while,
lovers wait patiently until they strip bare.
Only then, true form appears,
brilliant, stark potential in cold and darkness.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
October 3, 2011
THROUGH MANY YEARS
Through many years
Through many lives
Through cool morning fog
Through torpid heat
Through chilling numbness
Through summer's fading light
I search for you though I hold you
I watch for you though I see you
I long for your touch though I feel you
The road taken to get here
could have been different yes
But I would not for a moment change
those seeds we planted
for what we harvest is eternal
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 15, 2011
SHUT IT BEHIND YOU
I have been holding the goddamn door open for you
It has let in
the winds
the rains
the snow
the cold
the heat
wry jokes
Son of Sam
dust and pollen
many seething insults
a yellow car with bad shocks
and stray animals of every description
When you enter, please shut it tight behind you, thanks.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 27, 2011
OUTLINED
Oh, back-lit,
hazy mountain ridge,
crepuscular tree-line sublime!
My entire vision,
you have just outlined,
in the brief moment you were mine.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 7, 2011
COYOTE CALLS
Coyote calls through fog
pierced by crows reviewing their agendas,
noisy silhouettes adorning the trees.
Oh, there is so much happening before the fog lifts
and invisible layers of day begin a heavy descent.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 10, 2011
RESTING IN YOUR FOOTPRINT
As I travel the path to wherever,
I have retrieved that which you have dropped.
Right there, it was resting in your footprint,
a moment where the earth came to meet you.
No need to retrace your steps to gather it.
For I hold it for you with love and tenderness until we meet.
Slow down my love, and you will be walking beside me again.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
June 10, 2011
enter her magic
"Mother made us whole perfect beings. To seek perfection in our own melodies, we must enter her magic". jbc 2/6/11
TIDAL BORE
Move me with your ebb and flow.
In a breath, we ride the tidal bore.
You, who reflect my heart's rhythm so,
Carry me safely to Mother's shore.
YOU, HONEY!
You sweeten my life,
all my fingers I lick.
though cautious I am,
oh my love, how you stick!You, honey in the jar, right on the shelf,
I find your sweetness all over myself!
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
June 12, 2011
METAPHOR
METAPHOR
Talk to me in metaphor
Ooh baby..... keep it coming
That kinda tongue just lets me know
What ya think and how you're hummin'
Your similes, so very nice
They're sweet grapes on the vine
But metaphor, much more discreet
Your words change into wine!
Prose morphs into poetry when metaphor's the mantra
Served right up with simile, and side of double entendre!
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
June 20, 2011
CONTINUE TO CALL
CONTINUE TO CALL
There you are again, an old lover,
still looming tall on the horizon.
Even seeing your name still excites me.
I come closer,
just passing beside you, standing erect between two rivers of dreams!
I know you've been hurt, but you barely show a trace.
As I rub up against you,
I want you once again for that bittersweet moment,
when the sun starts to shine through the fog.
My dear New York City, I left you long ago for greener pastures.
Continue to call, flash me your brilliance you might, but I'm never coming back.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
June 19, 2011
FIREFLIES
Fireflies in the field,
floating, sparkles of light at twilight.
I didn't know which one was you
until I heard the synchronicity of our breathe
Then they all were you.
SLOW ROAD
Breathe, let your hair down my friend!
Only yews, gentrified lean figurines,
sentries of the meridian,
survive life, warp speed in every damned direction.
Breathe, travel the slow road with me.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
May 23, 2011
quote by a not famous person
"Total understanding of silence is the essence of understanding what it is we actually hear". ~JBC 3/1/11
HE SUPPOSES
Blue velvet and red roses
lie in wait at the front door
Not just what he supposes
is love, the music whore
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
May 17, 2011
QUIVER IN MIST
At dawn, the birds sing high in the oak
leaves, yet unfurled, quiver in mist,
bridal lingerie in spring's midst.
EARLY MORNING
Beauty of the early morning,
Breathe deeply, meadow air, golden green.
Become one with the bird,
Bring to the day, my love, joy's melody.
YOUR HOLDING PATTERN
Above the bedlam,
you keep me flying.
And I do,
yes, my darling,
I certainly do enjoy your holding pattern,
as we seek a safe place to alight before the fuel runs out.
CARDINAL IN THE SNOW
Cardinal in the snow.
Transcendent.
You regale me with beauty.
Your equanimity impresses.
For you I compose love.
For you I compose a thousand kisses.
For all we share becomes sublime.
TO YOU I WRITE
To you I write.
You know who you are,
now transmuted from whom you were but a moment ago.
To you I write,
not of what is abhorrent,
but of what merely whets your appetite.
Thereby, you will read here not of iniquities,
but of my love.
WILDEBEEST
WILDEBEEST
My instincts return,
herd of wildebeest in search of greener pastures.
You, having picked off the weak,
leave me with thunder.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
September 28, 2011
AS LOVE SPRINGS
As love springs forth
from a deep otherworldly place within,
the heart clears of limited beliefs.
Without a need for words,
a connectedness of souls does
neither objectify nor have an objective
jbc 2/14/11
quote by a not famous person
'To laugh, even at the sheer thought of laughing, is the most curative gift I've been given.
Even in adversity's face it finds its place". ~ jbc 2/2/11
AZURE WATERS
Breath,
sheer white silk,
lover to inexorable melodies.
Spirit phrasing infinite measures,
lying naked, untethered in azure waters,
smiles.
MY MORNING STAR
I awoke to you
my morning star
reflection of your face
rids me of errant thoughts
the day so new
VERSE BY VERSE
Verse by verse
we write our song
kindness creates the melody
and laughter begins each chorus
Love, from the soul, da capo, al fine.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 27, 2011
MOON TO SUN
Shine, sing what your heart holds,
sing your dream.
Without you, oh sun, I, the moon, how high,
cannot be seen.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 12, 2011
SUN TO MOON
Sing, oh moon,
in my beautiful rays.
Reflect from your heart,
the voice of every phase.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 12, 2011
SPIRIT ROSE
Spirit rose,
from beyond,
the voice of a garden of laughter.
Spirit rose,
exciting bloom,
I breathe deeply of you and smile.
ADVENT
ADVENT
Oh, winter Solstice,
my spirited lover and harbinger of darkness,
beseech me, once again, to see the light that begins with your advent.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
December 1, 2010
TO FATIMA
TO FATIMA
It is you,
my three day old grand-daughter,
it is you,
sleepily smiling your Buddha smile,
all knowing,
you are my teacher,
it is you that still knows we all are part of the same organism.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
December 6, 2010
NOVEMBER BROWN
NOVEMBER BROWN
Seeds await a blanket of snow.
Entering beauty rest until spring,
November brown embraces every promise,
dance partner in a waltz of winds and darkness.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 30, 2010
grace of words
grace of words,
touching where one is softest,
envelop,
security blanket for the soul.
ALLUVIUM
ALLUVIUM
Wondrous that you haven't relocated from this strange state that is me.That you read me, talk to me.
The very same instant, I read you, talk to you.
A synchronicity of thoughts, racing full throttle.
You have taken a place under the umbrella I hold to stop the deluge from soaking me to the bone.
Suck in our bellies, tuck in our butts, you too stay dry.
In surrounding alluvium, my thanks, accumulating.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
April 24, 2009
MY BOURGUIGNON
MY BOURGUIGNON
Sounds from a European cafe.
Kiss on a dark rainy day.
To this sultry, steamy lair you slip in, stealthily, fresh air.
Your gypsy melody, my fine French wine,
graciously provide sips of sunshine.
Too passionate for my bourguignon:
what goes on without anything going on.
JoAnn Bertone June 17, 2010
SAPPHIRE IN THE ROUGH
Tumble with me
Oh, sapphire in the rough
Rotating with the earth
we'll polish each other so every facet shines
brilliant as never before
light years in the making
Oh, sapphire in the rough
Tumble with me
RESIDUAL LAUGHTER
RESIDUAL LAUGHTER
In your absence, you leave me with residual laughter.
Oh how lucky I am you've given me this light.
That even in the darkness, I manage to find the switch.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
January 22, 2010
COLD
Even after you were gone, you continued to give me warmth.
Finally, I too am cold.
Awake and shivering in the night
Waiting for spring.
Knowing full well that it will take time.
The glare of morning sun, my reminder it is still winter.
January 2010
INTEREST
INTEREST
In some exquisite way,
My emotional bank account grows.
You, interest.
Love, compounds.
Keep the change.
Make life rich.
LOVE'S TAPESTRY
You are but a silken thread in love's tapestry.
Fine, but deceptively strong,
a contrasting hue,
bringing out all its highlights.
THE LIFE SENTENCE
THE LIFE SENTENCE
No judge, nor jury.
No i,nnocence, nor guilt.
No victim, nor perpetrator.
No racketeering, nor embezzlement.
The life sentence is the same for us all.
Love.
That's the life sentence.
I exhort you, commit the crime!
Or it will be the death sentence.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 12, 2009
MUSIC OF MY LIFE
You, my comfort, as much as my challenge.
As much as I want to be close to you, I want to be far from you.
As much as I feel I know you, I feel I don't know you.
You, grounded, as much as in outerspace.
You, music of my life.
You, on my mind as much as out of my mind.
DANCE WITHOUT MOTION
The word without motion, here. Like your wildest dreams. The shout of an arrow. A whisper of silk. They can inflect nothing, not even a sigh. A caveat, you're more a part of this dance than you can imagine. The dance without motion. |
MY PASSION
My passion drives me.
I don't follow it in another car.
BRILLIANCE
I thrive in brilliance like a cold-blooded animal.
Blood flowing in the warmth of your light.
You move me.
PARACHUTE
PARACHUTE Your parachute of love has deployed. Safe to fall ever so gently, fall ever so gently, fall ever so gently, eyes closed. Your parachute of love has deployed. On the updraft, you drift, drift, drift to some exotic place, eyes closed. Upon landing, eyes open. Something beautiful beyond expectations awaits. |
BEAUTIFUL ROCK-LADY
Beautiful rock-lady,
Thank you for your being,
awakening me, torpid, in the hot sun.
My beautiful rock-lady,
the gift, a synchronicity of our rhythms,
was a loving reminder from the universe.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski
November 8, 2010
THREADS
We weave and unweave with words the threads that muse.
Our naked skin cloaked in velvet, silk, burlap,
crinoline, lace or polyester microfiber.
We fabricate.
No Explosion
Alternate self meets real self in a sensuous embrace. No explosion, only effervescence.
TRAVELING ASTRIDE
TRAVELING ASTRIDE |
Traveling astride, relationships holding a far higher purpose are not as much destined to fall in love with each other as they are to fall in love with the universe.
JoAnn Bertone Chmielowski November 29, 2010
|
OMNIPOTENT RESTS
Tis only they that can be
present before the melody starts,
Tis only they that can be
felt after the melody ends.
(NOT PENNSYLVANIA BABY)
Kiss of a dark rainy day,
open door to another state,
(not Pennsylvania, baby)
where we are as close as we are far.
ENCHANTED
Pass through your world.
A pause.
You, there, reading.
I, here, sharpening the pencil.
As you read, we are in the same place:
Enchanted, for a brief moment.
TIME FLASHES
TIME FLASHES
Time flashes us, like a naked runner going by...swiftly, deftly.
It passes before we even realize what the hell it was we saw.
COLLATERAL
COLLATERAL
Don't hold me back.
The tighter your grasp, the more resistance I need to use.
Let me go and you will still find me there, close beside you.
The only difference will be I now can breathe.
Colors are changing, but am I not the same being underneath?
Ripening fruit, in development, not mood.
Grant me impunity, it is collateral to sweetness.
My Poetry, Short Stories and Photography Blog
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