Marestail - A Poem

Marestail (Horseweed) 

In a world of poisons

I stand and flourish

I will adapt quickly

I will grow through

Difficult conditions

Drought and flood

With enduring vitality

I offer my healing to you

As a simple cup of tea

I am going nowhere

No matter what

I will come back 

I will always be here

Take some comfort in that.

-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

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

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

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

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

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

The Roots of What is Sane

On a road trip or at home
A companion
Busies himself in the periphery
Talks about his day
Discusses his thoughts or
Sits silently nearby

In the corner
Orchids bloom
Plants grow
At work
a cat sleeps
on the inbox
at my desk

All the while I drift
Seeking newness
Seeking what's next
What new things
Are growing, appearing
As surprise ingredients
For this day and the next

My peripheral companions
I scarcely acknowledge
As I check digital inboxes
and appear in the feed
of my friends as they scroll
to see what new, what's old

It has to do with trust and hope
I concluded only to find
Trust means both

In whom and what I trust
Within my circle of home and
At my portal to the world
Simple domestic routine
Harmonious and pristine
Easy to maintain
The roots of what is sane.

-Kelly Voelker


Definition of Periphery:
 the perimeter of a circle or other closed curve

Definition of Trust:

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2. confident expectation of something; hope.

Definition of sane

1: proceeding from a sound mind : RATIONAL

2: mentally soundespecially : able to anticipate and appraise the effect of one's actions

3: healthy in body

January Village

Bring me soon

A fresh white sheet

With no festoons

A clear and open road

A bright fantastic snow

For my heart rests best

When options are new

Complications few

Chimneys on rooftops

Sending signals of

Peace and warmth

That those inside

Are provided for

And stood by

Always as a village does

Together, winter’s trudge

Through cold then slush

Inviting all to take solace

In the simple pleasures

Owned and honest.

-Kelly Voelker

An Appeal to the Sun

You are missed
The grey days extend
Far as the frontier horizon
Never seems to bend

We know you are contracted
To focus elsewhere more
During this time of the year
We understand the terms

Yet our eyes half open
Much the day long
As our filtered daylight
Seems like a flat backdrop

For some it simplifies
Their day's required tasks
Fewer details, fewer ties
Our known annual last reprise

I somehow feel neglected though
Your radiance is missed
A depth it warms

Although my lament is futile
To express it helps to ease the chill
Longing for your gentle gold
Cheer and joy when shown through snow
Making beautiful the cold.

-Kelly Voelker

Just Wondering

Is this town the sum of
Declining statistics?
Is it a matter of linguistics?
Is our town protective, isolationist
Emotionless, deflationist?

Are we a frontier town
Going from brick to sheet metal?
Is our town a barracks for
Our local schools growing
Young adults for other locales?

Are we a mailing address for
corporations and legal entities?
Actual offices and building space
occupied by stored items not in use?

Are we streamlining our town
For more practical purposes?
Will the last open businesses
Be the mortuary and care center?
Will the churches remain to
Console the grieving and bitter?

Are we tired from unseen parasites
Routinely living off the cream
Our fleeting lives deal
As purveyors of labor
Just taxes no zeal?

Spend some time dreaming
How the face of our town
Will look in your best idea
Thriving through believing or
Neglected, shielded and sleeping?

We aren't leaders
We're just wondering
Where the leaders have gone
We mill around within our routines
Wondering where this will lead
What, who, where, when?

Proper Fall

We were living the shock of flash-frozen fall.

Now today is the true spirit of fall
With its sunshine, fresh air and
The healing smell of properly brown leaf litter.

I see a whirling bunch of leaves
dance by my window
I hear the undulating sound of crisp wind
As it rises and subsides
Leaving me breathless and
My eyes open wide.

-Kelly Voelker

You Could

Could you reassure
Calm and restore

Could you expect more
A higher bar of ethics
Becoming kinetics

Steering change
Without the havoc
Allowing leeway
To drift inline
A safer, milder, gentler kind

Could you wish it
With an open mind
To enter easily just in time

Could you know a harmony as told
Influencing others to unfold
From clenched expectations old

Perhaps this is not a question
But rather, open ended suggestion.

-Kelly Voelker

Seeds of Inspiration

My inspiration raises
More answers than it questions.

My inspiration praises
It doesn't criticize but suggests
People and their attempts are
On the right track, on their way
The road to realize more.

Inspiration does not notice
Degrees of in-congruence
Or cycles of disparity
Too much or less of anything.

If I overshoot the outcome
It still serves to raise the spirits
For someone may be wondering
If they are in agreement with
Any other nearby soul
Or anywhere between the points
Of the idea and its completion.

Never spare a spark
Within your mind as seed
For this is the trajectory
What is required to inspire
Is your optimism freed.

What is Humble?

Humble, as an attribute,
Stands quietly in the distance
As a familiar mountain range
Or the shape of a known landmark
Slightly ahead of
And bowing aside
As others pass it steeped in pride.

Its balanced buoyancy
Keeps it calm
Acquired over time
A ballast of prime proofs
A chalice of found truths
Authentically derived
Offered without words
For all to drink from
If they would ask.

This sequence is key
To knowing the purity
Of the bare plain safety
Of the humble soul
As a lone tree offering
Shelter from competition
Peace from the heckling public
Rest for the weary newcomer
Who walks the Earth blind.

-Kelly Voelker

Productive Poise

She behaved and was punctual
Day in and day out
She prepared, preserved, planned and did
She reserved her opinions
Refrained from the crown
Refused to dream outside
As procedure surrounds
But the Buffalo was silent
The Raven was roost
The Ibis was wading and silent to boot
So where was the magic, the thrill and the loft?
Patient and waiting 'til systems produced
The useful whole offspring of planning and couth. 

-Kelly Voelker

*couth - good manners; refinement.

Autumn Grounding

The Raven was with her mind
As it floated o'er the tides
Inspiration waves and ebbs comprise
Still not landing
Where toil and thoughts blend
Laughter and profanity cackled aside
Her ease as she lowered
Descended and died.

-Kelly Voelker

Reluctant to Move

The breeze was moist
With a lingering cling to it
Hanging onto  skin and fabric
As if it was reluctant to move

The clouds wouldn't abandon me
Leaving me for the relentless sun
They insulated my thoughts
With a gentler degree of light

I received four gifts
In random locations as rewards
For performing chores
Coffee, a ripened tomato,
A bistro set and a folding table

The cricket's ringing
Surrounding me with
A welcome frequency
Until a loud machine
Slowly passed by
Cutting nature steadily
As a diluting obscenity

These were the day's highlights
At a place without progression
Where time is as reluctant to move
As the humid summer air
A flashy swallowtail passed
Seeming to know where to go and when
Much more than I do now and then.

-Kelly Voelker

Home Base of Gratitude

My name is Gratitude
Don't act like you don't know
Don't pretend I don't exist here
Or there or with all unknowns
I see things with a softer
Open relaxed breathe
I'm open honest grounded
The opposite of vexed*

You struggle with such effort
You think through all amends
You wonder what you'll do next
You worry, fret, pretend
This is not a war game
Or a complicated test

If you could see through my eyes
You'd see you're in your nest.
You're cared for, valued, healthy
The opposite of hexed

Now a part of binary
Spinning with no effort
You are the perfect combination
Of Earth and fine Ideals

You've awakened from your dream, dear
I'm the pillow under your head
I offer peace and free you
I'm the grateful state of home base
I'm the grateful state, I SEE you.

-Kelly Voelker

* vexed - 1. (of a problem or issue) difficult and much debated; problematic.

2.

annoyed, frustrated, or worried