Patterns and Depth

I AM the patterns and the depth I sweep away in a flurry of gust All the papers and tokens kept I accelerate the rust On ironclad beliefs you trust I change the weather In front of and behind To rearrange the plans you make To show you undulations of fate And spread apart the leaves you rake. -Kelly Voelker

The Precipice of Today

Is this the first day or the last Which progression will unmask Is it the last day of security Or the first day of impurity Where my beliefs and instincts fail Or my newest triumph will prevail Is this the last day of a glorious age In which we were too distracted to Realize it was the best we knew Is this the gateway to being tranquilized For an operation we wouldn't choose otherwise But settle on as diminished options rule A ways and means to stay as best As we can with herd control Today however beauty streams Even within societal extremes I still feel happiness and hope Stronger still than yesterday On the precipice which is today. - Kelly Voelker

Sweetgrass and Sage

Within my chest The power of the sun My vision aligns with great and powerful heroes My heart aligns with all inclusive compassion My mind aligns with genius and order As part of a beautiful web of design and harmony Invisible to my human eyes Yet here, in my humble room Simple and unfestooned My spirit decorates the world With parties and celebrations Out of fashion and out of reach To a day filled with uncertainty and strife What situation is this test That I should witness for what reason For what purpose am I in this body Of a sensitive woman Seasoned with contrast and experience For what outcome can I broadcast my will To outshine the complexities I have outgrown To leave behind the drama I once enshrined Can I now in this age of sunflower's fade Shine what I need to with sweet grass and sage? -Kelly Voelker

Fishing for Answers

The thought that the worst

Could contain all the best

The thought that I might be

A little bit wrong

Even this thought felt

Like a new favorite song

The thought of recovery

After sickness and death

The thought of connection as

A new escape hatch

We're in it no matter

We're together the same

Let's hook the answers

Like a fish in our brain

So deep in the unknown

It won't yet have a name.

-Kelly Voelker

Black Candle

 I lit a black candle

To process a darkness

'Round the town

I started to focus

On the flame

Then tears of wax

Down the candle came

Black tears on the left side

The tender side 

Of a rigid place

Leaks from where

There's no mistake

A loss of certainty wakes.

-Kelly Voelker

Ground Squirrel is He

Thirteen stripe emblem
Large black eyed gaze
Filled with mischievous
Intentions to save

The fruits and the flowers
The seeds of the grain
His favorite the clovers
Which he eats in the rain

He lives in the drain pipe
And out in the field
Now eating cucumbers
To his taste have appealed

Forever watching
Aspiring to seek
The most delicate morsels
To keep in his cheek.

Endeavor's Trail

We do not grow into templates
Or soar by flight plan
We do not live to fulfill
What others envision
Or even master what
Towards we are driven
Instead our lives build upon
Complicated networks
Time and motivation pawned
For stable stature and a lawn
To what end endeavor's trail
Enjoyment, freedom may derail
More a term, agree, consent
Roles reverse then boundaries set
Perspectives none are cut and dried
Sediment of content rich
Settles after current slows
Looked upon as sky at dusk
A wonder after toil and trust.

-Kelly Voelker

Rain or Slim Chance

Living daydreams of fear within domestic hours
Wondering about changes to plans
Which were borrowed from simpler times
Before opinions were locked
During scheduled decency, holidays lined up
Nothing could stop us from keeping them up
The endless parade over the calender's horizon
The vanishing point of which the future's comprised
From our vantage point nothing much would surprise us
Maybe from now on, we shouldn't rush
To fill up our calendars a year in advance
When we aren't too sure of a rain or slim chance.

-Kelly Voelker

The Vacuum of Doubt

Doubt is a shift
From belief to fulcrum
Powerful or weak
Inviting new information
Thought which will seek

Doubt as a default
Weakens the will
Of others and self
Dampening virtue
Actions then shelved

Doubt as a vacuum
Leaves room for unseen
Forces of benevolence
Scorn or misdeed

Fill your doubts
With better not worse
Empower as someone
With truths to unearth.

-Kelly Voelker

Our Consciousness Withstands

Will the speed of our tomorrow
Allow for the humanity of today?
Will the lapse now in our schedule
Breathe life back in our day?
Will mechanized influences
Damage who we are?
Will the lessor of emotions become
Time consuming waste?
Leaving productivity and
Pressure to make haste.
Recognize advantages
We still have close at hand
Which will keep us human
So our consciousness withstands.

Kelly Voelker

The Disruption

The disruption rife
Ending attachments
Separation from
Earnest practices

Set down upon
Neutral time
Intentions frayed
Emotions stayed
Loyalties played

Let humanity
Refocus purely
Person to person
Look upon
One another

Stay unplugged
A little longer
See reality
Start anew.

-Kelly Voelker

A New Dream Circumspect

I reach for the familiar
To tame the unframed now
Looking for a preview
Of what could come up next
Nothing comes in focus
I remain perplexed

What remains of yesterday
As promise to back up
If I slip from reaching
Beyond what holds true now

A better, newer version
Everything upgrades
Everything renews itself
To simply make the grade

Discomfort in the stretching
Past what we may regret
Create a better system
A new dream circumspect.

-Kelly Voelker

When Progress Receded

Towns once essential
Grew along
Railroads crossing countryside
The newspaper there
An essential bearer of opinion
Open proper government
Order and guide to
Entertainment, social circles
Mercantile and market tides

Laying out an array of
Births and deaths
Meetings and borders
Columns of news
Eagerly awaited
Marking the weeks
Unabated

When progress exceeded
The horses went first
Replaced by machinery
Autos and hearse

When progress receded
Railroad torn out
Storefronts abandoned
Activity ceased
Streets and mortar
Crumble away
Neither passion nor care
Can spare the dismay

The newspaper has no
Word for good bye
No headlines reserved
For itself but
NOTICE I'm going
Dispelled as a proof.

-Kelly Voelker

Each Night

The land dims as the

Sky still glows

The sun walks slowly

Past the most Western sea

Simultaneously

The blackened Eastern seaboard

Ignites in flickering patches

Then advances like a front Westward

The villages lit thusly 

As this steady wave of night

Moves evenly West and the

Humans within their dwellings rest

The land itself releases its wild

To hunt and feed 

Away from humans

Instincts freed

The fog and dew

Refresh and vitalize

With manna for

It's creatures who

Balance what has been disturbed

An entire planet fixed and cured.

-Kelly Voelker

Pain Runs Usually Parallel

I used to be good at cryin'
I'd process much with tears
I've lost my old connection
To the storming of the heart

I feel like lately events
Will soon cause me to falter
Start crying loose the scars
I've ignored, denied and barred

As pain runs usually parallel
But sometimes wants to cross.

-Kelly Voelker

My Quill is Bent

My quill is bent
My instincts went
After those who
Are paid to persuade

My sentiments are spent
Reeled in and past
Where they should have

Can I just feel and grieve
What's being lost
In this great void
Those who I cannot see
Or engage with enough

My heart is helpless to assuage
Any fear or panic that's engaged
In those around me waiting
The results far past the present fog

Let's clean and straighten what we have
Exiting the excess salve
Of which we've often gotten used to
Excess comfort, that'll teach you.

-Kelly Voelker

What Ensues Doesn't Matter

How gentle is the voice
Of the first person to awaken
Creeping softly onto the stage
Where no sound visits
Where no actions await

How magnificent is the scent
Of the first smell to befriend
Soon the vital gurgling
The coffee pot is urging
More of the spirit to commence

The sunrise validates
The heart as it romanticizes
How precious all is
The frost on the rooftops
The stillness within

How short is this period of silence
Such singular pleasures
The beginning of each story
Each day is the start of
Another page or a new chapter
Gentle silence the escort
What ensues doesn't matter.

-Kelly Voelker

New Moon, Darkens the Circle

By filling in the circle dark
The universe has voted on
This day in particular to
Empty the trash that stands perpendicular
And across your intention, purpose and splendor

The new moon cannot even show you its face
As the negative images, regret and sorrow
Try to stand in as what matters tomorrow

The nagging voice inside of your head
Reminding you twice what should've been done instead
No matter what you decided the odds are in favor
This voice disagrees and will tell you repeatedly
During the darkness and in between leisurely

So natural and confident this voice remains
Yet know this for sure
Nothing is contained in the image or concept
That you could do better

The voice that encourages
Feels like a soft sweater
Comforting you as you have deserved
The wisdom of ages is gentle, assured.

- Kelly Voelker

A Temporary Recess

When schedules break
From orders dictated
Plans, financial gains
Deleted
A temporary recess
In the give and take
Of trade and travel
Time to discuss
What really matters

Pulled away from
Patterns, habits
Sealed just in the current moment
Awaiting news or something on it
Adjust predictions in the dark
Of what the final outcome sparks

Nothing due or really needed
Just the wanting that preceded
This great lapse in systems wide
Makes us doubt
The next high tide.

Poignant Realization

If I want to be a General, I must generalize
If I identify with any or too many
I will be weakened and lose my indemnity

I must stay strong and above and not really love
I must see all others as a gene pool, a class, a gender, a mass
Instead of getting to know any of "them", I will collect data
I will see them as chatter
I will cease them as matter, not "to matter"
I will use them as a collective
A collective tool

If I want to buy and sell animals and plants as a commodity
I must not get to really see or know, their uniqueness apart from their rows
It is said plants have an essence
Except for a selected type, I will view others as a nuisance, never seeing nuance

If I want to kill without end, an animal not to befriend
I will erase their differentiation, making identical each copy
In multitudes they will lose meaning
In multitudes they will be harvested
No one will care because not one can stare
Instead a sea or squirming masses is all I see through accountant's glasses

If I am awakened, all I see is the eyes of me and thee
As One not separate through the eyes of a creator not an exterminator
I see myself and the animals in a wonderland of forest, sea or prairie
All the individuals blending uniquely in a tapestry of free
Billowing as a slow motion flag with breeze and beauty
Expansive consciousness holding all, each with a place and call

If I am an Empath, I see and feel all as me, and can understand
Why they may or may not do as they do and do not
When I can zero in on any one or any win
I could not on purpose erase or destroy
Any one lest I deploy
Generalization and disassociation to medicate
The act society or survival dictates
As I slide these parameters
Automatic perspectives change
Changing the reality I see
I might see nothing until I am
Back in focus as a natural part
Not a fringe or deviant
But centrally poignant

Suddenly seeing instead what I didn't want to see
Regarding some others I know and others not known
Who are Generals in this world of ours
But they see us as statistics from actuaries
Paid to see all living things as pins at risk
On a map of seasonal economics and weather
All of which can be seasoned or tempered
By the same generalizing crew
Paid well to examine and accrue
Only knowledge set to self destruct
To come apart and be like us
But to this they can't acknowledge
Deconstructed down to prime components
Refusing to identify with anything of which they are comprised.

-Kelly Voelker

poignant -

• Arousing deep emotion, especially pity or sorrow; touching: synonym: moving.
• keenly distressing to the mind or feelings

Inspiring Vitality

If I want to grow
By leaps and bounds
I will inspire
With others in tow

If I want survival
Beyond what I see
I will inspire
By thoughts ever free

Whether person or village
It matters not much
If there's no inspiration
It's mortal, unjust
Life-span inevitable
The story done told
No need to create
No need to unfold.

Whether person or village
Inspiration will seed
Unfolding of change
Which will blossom and feed
This imagination is: Vitality

-Kelly Voelker

Bad Blood

Bad blood eventually becomes
The infrastructure all come upon
When suddenly finding oneself
Caught up and captive
In red tape and systems
Which won't dare or heed
But hide in the shadows
Occluded by vagueness
Stonewalling ideas
Rooted in greed.

Secrecy protects
Ulterior motives
Preventing solutions and
Straight common sense

No news is possible
No facts can be found
No opinions well stated
So gossip abounds

Free flowing progress
Dries up or goes elsewhere
Preventing some new blood
From healing the wounds of
An old bad blood network
Too hidden to see
Stunting the quality of
The whole community.

Kelly Voelker

Without and Within Memories

Without memories
Without a doubt
I can transform anything
From dismal to devout.

Without memories
Without a doubt
I could transform
A neglected room or house.

Without memories
Without a doubt
I would charge after
What I was without.

Without memories
Without a doubt
My life full of treasures
Fortunate to live out.

Without memories
Without a doubt
I would govern
Ideals I sought.

Within memories
Are my doubts
A true filter for these
Would create a new ease

Such as it is
Such as I AM
I will sift through
And mark some memories
As Spam.

-Kelly Voelker

I AM for now

I AM for now

A spirit symbol 

Not a name 

No ownership 

No fame

The Sun and Moon of Spirit

When my spirit faces the sun I string optimism 'round Problems and neglect. I see promise in the condemned Misused and historic relics. When my spirit faces the moon I realize I was seeing the world Through a lens of the future Not seeing right what is important In this particular reality. Not in this town Not at this time Only in this world At magical moments Appearing just often enough To keep my spirit facing the sun As an example or moment To outlast who won And during the moon I'm still here but not seen Waiting for a better day To improve what I see. -Kelly Voelker

Getting Caught Up

What would it take To get catch up with the pace Does it feel like you'll always Be losing the race? Have you fallen behind while In route of your dreams? Perhaps you have realized Nothing is as it seems. Not dreams, not your visions Not your career or provisions Not easily acquired Or maintained within hours You reasonably expected Or thought would suffice Instead you are living On borrowed money and time. What would it take to Achieve something more simple Within easier reach Not likely to stumble When satisfied within means Of a natural human Caught up is the person Who at heart is more humble. -Kelly Voelker

Feeling Alive

If not a cog in routine By what other means Shall one feel alive In this one and only Moment in time? Do you make plans For to feel this in grand Ways and splendid procession Of beautiful vehicles and things? Does one fiddle with details And manage to balance Though forward momentum Drags on and to challenge? Does one keep on moving Through space and so time Feeling each second As forward and towards Various declarations unsigned? Do schedules and clocks Demonstrate a progression Or do they block The retention of seconds Held to one's own As a moment of presence? Do constant sipped beverages Feed safeness inside Does inhaling the smoke From a ritual side Keep you in principle Engaged in this Small but true break From succeeding at tasks Meant to gain what's at stake? -Kelly Voelker

Occupy your Neighborhood

Looking out at
A day in January
Nothing moves
Winter's sequence
Slow serene.

In the upper register
Of a monochromatic sky
A small hawk tests the wind
Another follows left behind
Until two hawks glide
Side by side.

Another day of winter's still
A house cat traveling
A visual thrill
Disregarding property or fear
Meandering along, through
Between and to
A random destination near

Be the only, be the one
The moving focal point to see
The singular spectacle
The star attraction
Moving through it as you would
Only you, especially should
Occupy your neighborhood.

-Kelly Voelker