Petals
by Carmen H Gray
A bud opens
Petals painfully unravel
As from the comfortable womb
An aquatic existence
Suddenly breathes air
Transmutation is happening
The moment a petal decides
To surrender
And yield from the Once Was
To the Now Is
Wings
by Carmen H Gray
I traveled into the black hole
I was warned I’d be spaghettified
Maybe I have been
My heart was stretched
My thoughts were ripped apart
And all things were upended
They said “you won’t make it back”
Fare thee well
“You will be dead to me” I heard
But death begets a new life
For inside a chrysalis
A being dissolves
Unrecognizable
Spaghettified, one might say
I don’t think I made it back
To where I was
The world is not as it was before
Within the limitless chaos
There is order in the unexpected
Hope IS the thing with feathers
Like Emily writes
“Tell all truth but tell it slant”-Emily Dickinson
Slant
by Carmen H Gray
Life is not defined by a straight path
A neat and perfect bow fastened fascinates
Because of its obliqueness
Sharp angles and diagonal descent
Rising action leaning into soft, unexplored regions
Create curiosity for finding folded treasure
Hidden in the hugs of a line
Are Truths woven exactly
One degree more than its parallel below
Inviting you to unbind it
Me, Too
by Carmen H Gray
My great grandmother somehow had to make a living
After her husband died and she had children to feed
She was quite exquisite
Even as she washed wealthy people’s clothes
And took on other unsavory tasks
Like all women have done
Like all powerless people do
Do not think you are above it
The Me, Too’s
Or that you would have done anything differently
This land was built by Me, Too’s
Your house was cleaned by Me, Too’s
Your children have been nursed by Me, Too’s
Our history is wrought with Me, Too’s
Shut your gaping mouth
At the false display of surprise
Me, Too’s are unearthing a truth
Held sickly sweet inside
Rooted in depths of darkness
Time to birth it
The water breaks
The earth quakes
The fires blaze
As we raise
From the long forgotten past
The Me, Too’s
Me and You
All That Is
by Carmen H Gray
When you were a tiny baby
And bad things happened to good people
My heart ached
I closed my eyes and prayed to whomever
And your soft face was conjured in my mind
It gave me unadulterated peace
Separateness is an illusion
Even the photons know this
Whispering to our future selves
Planting seeds in our faraway past
So that we can arrive together
Outside of time and space
Remembering who we are again
Tenderness
by Carmen H Gray
Tender darkness with tendrils
That reach deep into the aching
Kissing our self-pity, rocking our illnesses
So sweet and comfortable in our cocoons
Tender silence from broken parts
Of mauled noises that struck our ears
Leaving us thrashing about
But you have to be still to hear the softness again
Tender wounds that weep with pus
But are covered ever and anon
Does it hurt more to extricate the poison?
Is tender just a state of mind?
Like a word that can be changed
With one letter
Tinder sparks that spread
Cauterizing the damage
Ushering in light, passion, heat, sound
Opening up to a new
Tenderness
The Climb
by Carmen H Gray
I went there again
That cliff with the rocks jutting out
And others were still there
Perched on the rocks
As I pulled myself up
Saying to me, “Keep Going”
When I wanted to give up
But this time, a hooded woman
Smiled at me as she guided me to the top
I surveyed the world below
And she pushed me
Into mid-air
What kind of woman does that?
I felt the quickening of wings on my back
As I looked back
She turned around and her face
Had the familiar gentle curve
Of my own
