NEW POETRY OCT/NOV/DEC 2017

GOOD STEAD

Keep the mind alert, always in good stead,
When every road leads us to someday dead,
It'll continue to where it's been led
10/17/17 ~jbc


HAMBURGER PATTIES

Every action,  a guardian of the mind
Making hamburger patties, diligence, created
Repetition that makes us better in kind
In the smallest of actions, never frustrated
11/5/17 ~jbc

FEARS

For inspiration, I’ll pray
That it’s coming my way
My fears I’ll allay
By those words I will say

~jbc 11/18/17

GETTING OLD

Given our options getting old is a good one
Not all that much choice in how it’s properly done
The approach, solely in the head
How we feel to become dead

~jbc 11/18/17

HOLY COW

Cramming things inside my head
I’ll rejoice in this til I am dead
Wisdom accumulating faster now
Days fly past, fly past, shit, holy cow

~jbc 11/16/17

GOOD MEAL

Savor life
Like a good meal
It can a take long time just thinking about the recipe
And almost as long in the planning and prepping
Lest we don't savor it, it is chowed down in a swift mindless flash

~jbc 11/18/17

IN THE LURCH

Find the breath that makes the mind unshakable
Insights that arise,  unmistakable
You're safe, inner or outer storms
No matter what comes, in whatever forms
It's a noble search
Wisdom hanging in the lurch

~jbc  11/19/17

SUBLIME

The urge to rhyme
It’s so sublime
However do you find the time
Your words, a spate
But often great
All written down to contemplate

~jbc 11/18/17

MOUNTAIN COOKIE

You see, I am craving a Mountain Cookie,
thoughts arising in the most quiet of times,
I imagine the taste, texture, the bite it has,
and pleasantly rough feel it has as it goes down my throat,
and how easily it would assuage my hunger.
As I cling to this feeling, even write an ode to it,  voilà,
I am suffering, suffering for lack of this Mountain Cookie.

~jbc 12/7/17


CHRISTMAS

How easily we court a desire
For material, beset with fire
Extinguish the flames friends
Things shouldn't be our ends
Seek the joyful tidings
Of mindful abidings
Oft we suffer, pleasure seeking
Peace of mind, the breath needs tweaking

~jbc 12/8/17

MISSLES AND WHISTLES

The absurdity has become the reality
So many negate the causality
Of missiles and whistles
Of guns and pistols
Of sugars real and fabricated
Of pills to keep us all sedated
The causality has come from greed
Beware which desires you choose to feed

~jbc 12/10/17

FINAL CURTAIN

All of which I am unsure,
it yet poses strong allure.
Based on what I suppose,
from where those first thoughts arose.
Of one fact I’m very certain,
falling of the final curtain!

~jbc 12/13/17

MOLASSES

Less to fear the more time passes
Unless you sit upon your glasses
Lest you meet up with some asses
Hope you days flow like molasses

~jbc 12/12/17

GIVE PAUSE

The suffering for which we are the cause
To this very issue we should give pause
Give ample time to think things through
‘Bout what we shall or shall not do.

~jbc 12/13/17

OWL MOON

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.

JoAnn Chmielowski

January 17, 2014

AFTERNOON GAZE

Afternoon gaze,
Oh, Winter 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
January 30, 2014

JANUARY MORN

JANUARY MORNSpeeding 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

In memory of Bataan Faigao

In memory of Bataan Faigao
Gentleness married strength.
Strength married gracefulness.
Gracefulness married relationship to the phenomenal world.
Relationship to the phenomenal world married breath.
Breath married relaxation.
Relaxation married wisdom.
Wisdom married humor.
Humor married beauty.
Beauty married the deathless.
The deathless married Heaven.
Heaven married Earth.
Earth married creation.
Creation married love.
Love married Life.
Life married death.
Death married non self.
Non self married primordial non being.
Primordial non being married consciousness.
Consciousness married truth.
Truth married bliss.

Bliss is married to the all.
~ 2012, unknown

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

quote by j.b.c 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

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

resonance

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
October 19, 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

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