Poetry starts as an idea or phrase which expands into a message to be brought through from somewhere. Where it comes from is a more magical place than here, or maybe it offers a more magical perception of here. It comes by virtue of intellect, wonder, and the Spirit of Contemplation. -Kelly Voelker kellywriteaway@gmail.com
Friday, December 22, 2017
Worth all the Trouble
The year I fussed over a calendar's pace
Omitting the year it represented in haste
The year I took out of my life as a whole
To rectify relationships with family inside
An envelope kept in the drawer of a lifetime
Saved to address and read between unwritten lines
I'll take all the time I need to be here
Relaxed and to linger and not rush away
Nor to be herded in branded old pens
I will ride round the range
Interacting like twins
One of me holding space anchored at bay
One of me caring and serving today
Making up for lost yesterdays long
Year upon year chasing scripts to platteau
Ever just climbing and tidying loose ends
Now I have reached it
The mesa, the view
The place overlooked is home
Rarely so visited never to stay as long
As loved ones require to
Feel I was worth all the trouble to tire.
-Kelly Voelker
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Changing yet Certain
Whose form still is seen
Upon maps as borders
Waving along territories
Squared in by lines
Rivers are not challenged
When ownership changes
When fences form grids
Through hills and flat ranges
Rivers respected
Left to their business
They are sovereign
From ages of choosing their place
At the bottom of valleys
They rule and relate
Everything, all of us,
Plants, men and animals
Relate to the rivers as one
Even aligators
Remain through unfathomable
Amounts of time's changes
Because of rivers
Curving through and along
Changing yet certain
Amending and long.
-Kelly Voelker
Monday, December 18, 2017
Above our Efforts
All is fenced and linear tilled
The winter blanches color out
Winds blow violent, gentle out
The highway bends to acquiesce
Hypnotized as I exist
To drive these miles for points to earn
Towards society's progress spurred
In the sky my heart finds joy
To see some geese in V's
Ordered in some magic direction
Knowing more than me for certain
Holding original space and ways
For us to see how wild's not tamed
These creatures live with no conditions
Put upon by rules or traditions
What awe inspiring sight behold
They're wild, successful ways foretold
Long before the rows and fences
Above our efforts, they'll never vanish.
-Kelly Voelker
Friday, December 15, 2017
Cloud of Dainty Song
We ride the wind
Settling on the bare treetops
Like a chiffon veil
We add specks to the tree
With our distant silhouettes
Above the auditory range
Our song breaks through
Heard by only a few
Sensitive ears
Plastic whistles heard
From over the horizon
Distant hollow whistles
Woodwind sounds in
Intermittent harmony
With the bare branches
In reality up close
We are clothed in
A costume so sacred
Both humble and Angelic
Both Earth and Sky
Painted color as delicate
As vintage Japanese teacups
Head accented by feather hat
Eyes hidden by black streak
To protect us from
Any inappropriate gaze
We see only a few sensitive you
We survive existing together
As a cloud of dainty song
Away from your longing
To see us entirely we thrive
Alone we would not sustain
Vibration aloft for
Such a dense place as this
We need each other to remain discreet*
*discreet - intentionally unobtrusive
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: I was verifying definitions, and realized discrete and discreet mean two different things. I merely misspelled discreet to discover this. This in turn made me realize Cedar Waxwings are mostly discreet to us, but on a higher plane are discrete. To be discrete makes them vulnerable to our lower plane, but to be discreet protects them and their higher physical station in this often brutal world.
**discrete - individually separate and distinct
-Kelly Voelker
Sunday, October 29, 2017
I Grant My Own Wishes
Declining invites which fill me with cares
Not for my own life
Towards other's misdeeds
I'm not a resource to drain
I seek only relief
Safety within bounds
Created by me
Balanced quite easily
Sustainable Queen
Capable, steadfast, power received
So long as I grant my own wishes deep.
-Kelly Voelker
Friday, October 20, 2017
Created in Mid-Air
Hiding from my eyes as I looked
To see what strange emotion I felt?
Why, I soon realized it was happiness
It was a light happiness
Not stemming from anything
Not a cause and effect happiness
Not a happiness from a special occasion
This happiness was near to
A small song bird
Out of season with Fall's
Eminent hardening.
I was hosting sisters
At my temporary home
After a day of laughter and games
Competition held in mid-air by games
Not allowed to hurt or discount
I was unattached to any material objects
In the house which were arranged by me
But not held dear for longer than a season
Unattached to contracts or expectations
Only an agreement of geography to
Experience family most days of the week.
This happiness was created in mid-air
At the center of the table
Where my family and close friends
Played as a circle of commitment
To fun and games in the middle of the day
Refusing to be hardened off by the season.
Kelly Voelker
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Someone From Sioux City
Of all this moment was, throughout all timelines.
It was a cherry- picked pinnacle of any timeline
It was memorable, exhilarating and promising
Wrapped in this circumstantial banquet
I was everyone's dream and everyone's fond memory
I was inside the bubble usually looked upon
This crisp fall day in the Midwest waited for me
To finish a list of tasks, welcoming me after.
I rode on someone else's bicycle
To my small town post office
My parcel in a handmade cloth bag
On to my own Mother's warm room
I played cards and told her of my healthy day
Of my grapes, my apples and tea
I told her of new opportunities
She watched me leave on the bicycle
Before she went to supper.
All was complete . . . as it should be
This was a day after an early hard freeze
The leaves were damp on the grey pavement
I watched the tendrils on my new bicycle tires
Roll softly and silently over them.
I was making secure and sure contact with the ground
I crossed over small bridges with rough pavement
I looked over the railings and daydreamed about
All the animals who surely use these creekbeds
To travel through the town when no one is awake
I drove past homes which were unchanged
Even after over 30 years when my high school
Teachers lived in them.
The meters were still spinning and the
Foundations are still solid on these old houses.
I knew I looked more current than others
I knew I was like a California sticker
Stuck on a photograph of a town which
Looked better than I remembered.
Today it was better than I remembered
Today it was better than I hoped
Today was an incorruptible safe of life's experience
I missed no one
I desired nothing
I was what someone would miss or desire
Not by myself, but in this kinetic tumbling
Through town with no resistance or dread
I felt as though I was a few moments ahead
Of everything and everyone else
Carrying my past to the post office
Sending it to someone who valued it
Someone from Sioux City.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Happiness Stands By
Changing throughout
From illusion it concludes
A perilous route
Happiness stands by
While courage and strength
Battle it out with
Adversity's reign
Creation the outcome
A fairy tale made
Into the woods and
Back out again.
-Kelly Voelker
Friday, September 1, 2017
Late Summer's Dawn
It resembled the briny flesh of a cherrystone clam
Dawn was careful not to disturb the still silver fog
Still radiating the incandescent glow from behind
The silver cloud blanket recaptured the rosy dawn
Confirming its similarity to the salt water clam
Pearled satin clouds shrouding the blush of a fresh new day
Late summer dawn was more delicate than summer's
Fiesta cresting the solemn night horizon
Whispering rise and shine to the damp and chilly landscape
Late summer's dawn politely sits down by our bedside
Waiting for us to realize where we are and why we are here.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
My Dreams are Blessings
My dreams will become
Blessings for all life on Earth.
-Kelly Voelker
Lights on the Second Floor
Sunday, July 23, 2017
The Anxious Heart
It knows is not far off
The news of sudden heartbreak
The news of sudden dark
The anxious heart knows better
Than to follow other's lead
It knows it's path is forking
It knows not what to heed*
The anxious heart depleted
Experience has left it's mark
On energy expended
Into sure love and to hope
The belief in life's known blueprint
Has had its spending cut
The budget won't approve it
So I'm stuck here in this rut
I don't believe my life is
A government program
I did believe my life was
Given to re-brand
I've created a new station
Fine tuned for better things
Broadcast to the sleeping
Beings soon extinct.
-Kelly Voelker
heed - pay attention to; take notice of
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Repose after Rain
Long overdue
Embodies such beauty
I will seek to imbue*
A gratitude flows
Equally from
Plants, animals, humans
Blue heavens above
Express with white softness
A gentle repose*
A transect* of toiling
From which to behold
The care and reflection
Provided on time
Preserving our faith
Deserved of kind
Vital necessity
Given to us
The joy of the sweetness
Apparent to breath
Accepting our worthiness
Our place in this dream
Our life as pure poetry
On this fine summer's morn
Let's declare it a Sunday
And go off on our own.
-Kelly Voelker
imbue - verb. inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality
repose - noun. a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility
transect - noun. a straight line or narrow section through an object or natural feature or across the
Earth's surface, along which observations are made or measurements taken
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Alcohol Alter
In a corner of a building
Back and near the pools
Is a hidden alter
Worshipped and festooned
Familiar labels facing
Those who sit nearby
Twinkling lights do soften
The bleakness bye and bye
No manners here will govern
What people say and do
Except to keep the seats clean
And pay for food and brew
I felt the draw of warmth here
In my lonely state and bare
But risk and dread can enter
When subscribing to smoke and flares
Here emotions are allowed to vent out
They're burnt the instant of
With laughter or agreement
Or some attention toward thereof
The pressure leaks out naturally
Among those who are here
No judgement ever offered
Just more to match in cheer
I must have left the building
As I have left that plane
Understanding what it offered
Happy to abstain
-Kelly Voelker
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
R.O.T. Rusty Old Tool
Dull and aim loose
Sits in the weeds
Hurting some past their boots
These wounds are not accurate
The damage is raw
Healing is painful and
Slow to form o'er
It waits in the weeds
Hurting workers who toil
And it will continue
Until removed from the soil
The tool is obsessed with
Nostalgia and old times
It negates the new
It negates its own crimes
If you know and have hurt from
Some such old tool
Simply stay far away from it
To ponder's for fools.
-Kelly Voelker
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
My Heart is Leaking
Unseen but so near
My heart took moment
To calculate arrears*
It took pain to reach a verdict
To calculate and see
What was truly broken
What changes there would be
A hundred deeply risen
Sighs let slowly out
Heartache's blood is different
But pools inside as doubt
I let it leak out thickly
Relieving as it spread
Opening the dreaded
Pit within my head
At this level opus**
Management and deed
Are driven automatically
By hostility and greed
My heart is leaking sadness
Disappointment and it's seed
Belief that pure inentions
Protect those most in need
-Kelly Voelker
*arrears - that which is owed and should have been paid earlier
**opus - large scale. creation
Monday, March 13, 2017
Seeking Freedom and a Meal
Seeking freedom and a meal
Serve pay buy, serve pay buy,
You're late and fees are due
You failed to submit proof of
Your existence in our loop.
-Kelly Voelker
Sunday, March 12, 2017
I Prefer Robots
Programmed adults
Who corporate speak to me
Who shun those who revolt
I prefer robots to
Bankers and doctors
Real Estate brokers
Accountants and jokers
I prefer robots to
Checkouts and lines
I prefer logic
Than staff management whines
I'd rather have robots
Than be put on hold
To listen to problems
A person disclosed
I'm becoming a robot
No time for down time
Only to work more
On other's timelines.
-Kelly Voelker
Monday, March 6, 2017
Black Mirror
By daylight's focus
My mind plays at
Organizing sandcastles and
Orderly trenches to control
Liquid thought attempting
To control direction
Attempting to make the liquid
Flow towards my will
Under the mercurial moon
The weight of the oceans
In broad strokes and by the
Order of the cosmos
Timely tides perform their duty
Claiming the shores again
Erasing all the wasted thoughts
Erasing all the attempts at order
Refreshing all that trust invisible laws
Blanket my failed attempts to solve
The pointless puzzles of task and design
Soak apart my ability to control
Remind me to gaze upon the divine
Reflections of the blank edge of
Endless emotions and thoughts
It wasn't right that time or the next
It only will be correct at the very moment
The Earth and Moon know
When the shy light shows only
What is necessary
Masking the drama of life and nature
So only the perfection of timeless
Ages is before me
Like a sunset or sunrise
The tides correct and soothe
The pointless toiling of thought
Merit not from details scrolled
On a canvas of shifting sand
Gain from basking in the
Plasma moving 'round me
Under the black mirror of
Mystery and depths unrealized
Kept for another day
As a treasure under the sea.
-Kelly Voelker