If you've ever felt pretty
Or valued so wide
The growth kept on greening
The branches confide
As though the surroundings
Would have ever more
Of your blooming and greening
Towards expansion du jour.
In years of your habit
Maturing in height
Someone decides
"I'll prune you tonight."
For any who have had their
Trust pruned or sheared,
May your branches recover
More lush than last year.
-Kelly Voelker
It was here I learned
The meaning of bleak
I felt it in my bones
Here week after week
The word whispered
Behind my mind's eye
Suggesting a feeling
Of others before I.
-Kelly Voelker
The breeze at dusk was kind and good
So some clouds went as far West as they could
To watch the sunset glow and dim
As shadows drew the landscape grim.
-Kelly Voelker
Within our own canopy
Of perceived reality
Relying on none
Alone in the sun
Besting our own
Personal records
Refraining from drama
Obeying our accords*
Between our own
Conferring aspects
Keeping it pure
Keeping it abject.
-Kelly Voelker
*accords - official agreements or treaty
*abject - (of a person or their behavior) completely without pride or dignity; self-abasing.
I knew at once
When I finally faced
The unmaintained road
That led through the "waste"
I'd gone into a realm
With nowhere to go
Nothing to count
Nothing to prove
My tumbleweed escorts
Lined the sand road
Holding together
A strip of their own
Tiny birds chirping
A dainty soft song
Protected in thickets
Of plum brush now bare
The road led to a warm, sunny trance
Not to a what, where or when kind of place
Thoughts couldn't stand it
For beauty won't dance
With the intellect suitor
Who does not stand a chance
In the innocent place here
Not shown on a map.
-Kelly Voelker
In the distance a sea of soybeans
Unfolding into waves
Varying shades of gold and brown
The dawn shown brightly on the ground
Breaking the rays of light and sight
Three coyotes single file in flight
Following rows toward destination
Leaped above like dolphins do
To see above the height of bean
A glimpse of wonder
Seldom seen.
-Kelly Voelker
What I can't bear to hold
What I'm feeling unfold
What I cannot express
I reflect back to my chest
And take a deep breath
It slows the pace down
To a mortal moderation
Exhaling the excess
I realize the nexus.
-Kelly Voelker
