One sky begins

one eye opens

gradually admitting in

the day

one morning calls arise

a new sun brims

one eye open too for him

a hesitating mind we share

what lingerings

or worries have we brought

what hazy thought

of yesterday

or dreams that shadow he and me

We sort the nagging cumulus

the ones we can control

these we can

those we can't

could we reform

a world reborn

the sky is pretty

oyster grey

a peaceful dove

and yet too soft

exposing us

an underbelly to the prey

We breathe our affirmations in

blue sky

blue sky

We breathe our anxious clouds away

blue sky

Sara Mathews      March 2022
Artwork ~ Duy Huynh https://www.duyhuynh.com

 

you rose at last
so round
so full
with lolling face
lopsided smile
you rolled from eider cloud
appearing somewhat tipsy
if I may
a bit dismayed
perhaps
with your own self
in all your beauty
a luminous display of revelry
and though I thought
I knew you well
most every night
in every phase
this drunken you
was new
oh this is most disorderly
to be so new and full
the same
before the calendar can
name just who and when
and where
and chart your every move
confusing me
amok you went
and bent the world
like it was your affair
was it February
that satisfied you so
the perfect haze to burgeon
then the smoothest night to trawl
across an icy sky
a snowbound earth
aglow below
reflecting high
your pie-eyed gaze
to join you on your
bender too
to traipse
a wayward
errant
grinning
clearly sideways
most intoxicating
night with you

Sara Mathews     March 2022

Artwork ~ Baljeet Panaiche

Good evening moon
You’re looking much like me
Or I like you 
Might be the case
A winter face we share tonight
Same shape
Same wan expression 
Same fair to middling phase
We climb together through the cloud
My mind as high as yours
My feet still to the ground 
A curious night 
We idle in 
Surveying all the middling sights
The quiet stars
So taciturn 
The trees are hushed
No raucous bird
The not too hot
The not too cold
No rain or snow to blur the eye
No restlessness
Or scuttling  
The wind is busy somewhere else
No heavy mist
Or leaden fog
Just me the earth and you the sky
And so we share the evening thus
Until it’s time to bid goodbye 

Sara Mathews     January 2022

The wind woke me up 
Last night
Sleepless and needy
She rattled my window
She banged at my door
She wished for my company
Why
I’m not sure 
The moon kept me up then
So full of the days
She saw me awake 
And she needed a cry
The tears with the wind
Was a wintry mix
So I brought them both in
And I fixed them some tea
And I sat them both down
For a bit of a chat
And I soothed them 
And calmed them ‘cause 
I am like that
Then I ushered them out
With some very wise words
As I wondered how they were 
In charge of the world?!

Sara Mathews     January 2022

I wished for such a storm
All night through
I rose at every hour
Hoping 
One am praying
2 am calm as calm 
At 4 am no messenger of snow
And so I slept a skeptic then
A bit let down by weathermen
But oh to my surprise
My waking eyes beheld  
Just such a day
And here I sit upon my pillow ship
Quite mesmerized
I watch the other sailors though
They’re shoveling with all their might
Like they are in control 
I laugh like I’m the wind
I want them to stay feathered in
Like me
To sit all morning long
And watch the show
The complexities
The intricate 
Oh see the flakes blow East
Now West
Then sidewise as they curl
Again and eddy round 
A polar dance
And listen to the winter wail
The wild waves of winter song
In octaves high and low
But off they go with shovels raised
They want to keep the storm at bay
I will the wind ‘sweep them away’
So I may be alone 
This blizzard then is just for me
This squall my glorious sea 
And since I’m captain of this ship
I’ll navigate quite malleably
And go 

Wherever this storm blows

Sara Mathews     January 2022

Guess what I saw

When I looked around
I saw a leaf come floating down
To spin a graceful spinning sound
And land at the feet
Of it’s roots spread wide
And a little door that peeked inside
To a tiny face with squirrelly eyes
And in the upper realms I saw
A handmade home
All knit with sticks
And there it rocked within the tree
In arms that held it lovingly  
I found the sun
A blade of grass
I felt a breath of wind pant past
And there a house 
All made of brick
It’s walls extremely straight and thick
A sidewalk made for me to walk
A sky that blued up to the top
A feathered flock 
That flew as one
A woolen crop of gathered cloud 
A pebble polished true 
And round 
All this I saw in just one day 
It’s truly most extraordinary

Sara Mathews     January 2022

Good morning Mr Grey
You’re looking extra glum 
Your overcoat is dour
Your mood is clearly heavy
A bit hung over
One might say
You slog along and whimper
How you didn’t sleep last night
The moon was just too bright
And now you roll the mists around
And draw the gloomy curtains down
But little do you know
That I don’t care
I crave these glowering faces
Your melancholy ways
Intoxicate my brain
I’d like to cheer you
If I could
But rather I will dress like you
And sulk around the neighborhood

Emoting melodrama too!

Sara Mathews     January 2022