Good Horsemanship

How are people both irreplaceable and insignificant?

How is life both fragile and resilient? 

Does perfect health require assistance or does innate orchestration manage it all?

How can the body choose to die without the permission of the mind?

How do some people evade odds and probable outcomes?

Is being “normal” healthy or deadly?

Is doing something differently, weird or genius?

Is consistency the secret for maintaining a tolerable long life?

Does a wayward lifestyle play too many notes at once for the body and mind to flourish?

Tell me, what are the attributes most congruent to a lifespan which provides satisfaction and contentment?

Being as one with the body through life is most akin to good horsemanship. 

Talk to oneself in a calm and reassuring way. 

Not too rich a diet, sustainable boundaries with enough range to keep the spirit alive and in wonder. 

Trust your body and your body will trust you. Don’t let others lead your body or mind astray.

The trail of life is a compromise between freedom and sustainable stability.

The horse and rider cooperate to "get the job done" or to simply enjoy the scenery.

They allow each other unproductive browsing when left to themselves.

-Kelly Voelker

Tentatively Touching the Same Little Path

The repetition of soft little feet

From rabbits patrolling the fenceline in Spring

Before colors green emerge in the field

Tentatively touching the same little path

Small meandering trails from their entrance

To tall brown dry grass over which 

Snow never visited

Shunning the ground as the wind made harsh

The rest of the field our rabbits avoided

Nestling under the large strong spruce fortress

Last year's dry grass agreed to stay 'round

Escorting the rabbits until warmth can be found. 

-Kelly Voelker

The Four Deer

They cut through the rows

Of the cornfield in front

They ran past the mailbox

Leapt over the fence

They ignored the light poles, borders and went

Like ghosts from the wild past

Disregarding our ways

The four deer will always

Transcend and amaze.

-Kelly Voelker

I Write to Save it

In the autumn of life

I dreamed all night

Of being drunk with love

Together we stumbled 

From one restaurant to another

Tasting food and drinks

Adding alcohol to the mix

Adding fuel to the fire

Of what is natural desire

Who or what is reminding me

Of that feeling of romantic love so free?

Who or what was that

Like a flammable fuel

From somewhere new

Or what can make one run

In heels and just for fun?

Why now as winter rages

Would I dream this dream not faded

Even as I write to save it?

What's Next?

 So, what's next?

As the story is done

We've turned all the pages

And processed the fun,

The entanglements freed

The intentions were good

The misguided actions dismissed

Knock on wood

So what lies ahead

After shedding our skin

Who is this creature 

Now loose and prepared

For anything new

Just a little bit scared.

-Kelly Voelker

My Favorite People

What fills me with love and adoration about those in my life, is not what they look like or anything grand.

It's the way they fold clothes or the grace of their hands.

It is their manner of movement when looking away and alone, doing the things they don't think about shown.

It's their phrases that came out without much thought and habits which pointed towards order and home.

 The way they prepare for their bed and their days, the way they make food and direct their dismay.

Some is contrived towards living a good life.  Some is a natural response all unique that makes them my favorite people I think.

-Kelly Voelker

Breaking Icicles

 The tufts of summer's foliage

Add depth to the shallow innocence  

Of a temporary snow soon fleeting

As the blush of the dawn heats

Past Venus and melting streets

There and then will reality set in

As fun or dreary as I decide to elongate

The fair truth of any moment as this one waits

For me to decide how deep will 

Joy trickle before it's stopped by 

The icicles of yesterday's beauty

And the perceived bleakness 

Of today's emotional weakness.

-Kelly Voelker