il vit dans la lune / he lives in the moon

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”                  -  Buddha

 

“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.                       -  George Carlin

 

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”      -       Anton Chekhov

 

il vit dans la lune / he lives in the moon

a man in the moon?

or so they

tell us in

rhyme and

verse

*

so be it

i shall

go to him

in the dark

a pilgrimage

*

finding solace

in each of his forms

devotedly he returns

watching over me

in slumber

*

dreaming peacefully,

breath comes soft and easy

in benediction

he showers me

with stars

*

Bisous,

Léa

Thoughts on Mother's Day

Reblogged from Cauldrons and Cupcakes:

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"There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy."~ Albert Ellis

It's Mother's Day in Australia today. It's a day when so many families will get together with their Mothers, give heartfelt gifts of appreciation, share meals and practice love and gratitude. Love and gratitude is a beautiful thing.

Read more… 825 more words

This is too good to miss!

a poem for my mother

“There’s a phrase, “the elephant in the living room”, which purports to describe what it’s like to live with a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abuser. People outside such relationships will sometimes ask, “How could you let such business go on for so many years? Didn’t you see the elephant in the living room?” And it’s so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer that comes closest to the truth; “I’m sorry, but it was there when I moved in. I didn’t know it was an elephant; I thought it was part of the furniture.” There comes an aha-moment for some folks – the lucky ones – when they suddenly recognize the difference.”   -  Stephen King

“To those who abuse: the sin is yours, the crime is yours, and the shame is yours. To those who protect the perpetrators: blaming the victims only masks the evil within, making you as guilty as those who abuse. Stand up for the innocent or go down with the rest.”   -  Flora Jessop

a poem for my mother

you say I don’t

remember you

on mother’s day

you tell your friends

i don’t know you exist

 *

but I know

and now I remember

how you took

my childhood

like those

 *

newborn kittens

stuffed into

a burlap sack

sides pulled up

tied tightly

with a fat length

of cord

 *

darkness –

anchored to

that large rock

tossed from the

end of the pier

into the Pacific Ocean

*

over

without a whimper

and you say I don’t remember

you on mother’s day

*

bisous,

léa

Victory in Europe

Victory in Europe

No

I was not

Even a gleam

In my father’s eye

As he marched into

Paris

Teeth clenched

Jaw drawn tight

It was years

Before

*

Yet today

I stood with

My village

And thought of

Him

And others

I would never

Know

*

Many laid down

Their lives

Others carried their

Scars back home

Like my father’s

A war he never

stopped fighting

Not all scars

Can be seen

*

Another war

Many years before

Both grandfathers

Trod this precious soil

Though they never knew

Each other

Both went home

With damaged lungs

TB and the other

Mustard gas

*

One I was never

To meet

Yet today

As Europe

Honours those

Who sacrificed

I stood with my village

In the land they fought for

The land that I love

And remembered

Them

*

Bisous,

Léa

Bone speak

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” 

-      William Shakespeare

 

 

 

Bone speak

Not yet

Brittle

Yet perhaps

A bit of a rattle

De temps en temps

Where I have lain

Broken

In the past

*

That speeding car

Stopping in the back

Of my own

Fracturing C2

The axis

Of my revolving

Kindly you didn’t

Sever spinal connections

*

So many years ago

Even a scan doesn’t

Find a trace of you

Yet the coldest wind

Tightens its grip

Rappel de mon cou

Of what might

Have been

*

The only evidence

Lies buried beneath

Long muddy brown locks

Burr holes, for traction

A puzzle for future

Anthropologists

Pas du tout

My ashes will not

Be found

*

Bisous,

Léa

The Changing Face of What is Normal, The Exploratorium

Reblogged from Jon Crispin's Notebook:

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• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
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• 

I finally got the chance to see the exhibit, and while I have a few quibbles, it is very exciting.

The space is situated very close to the front of the building.  There are basically three components.  On the left of this photograph (↑) is the Utica Crib display which deals with the idea of confinement.  To the right of that is the entrance to the "attic" where the cases are located, along with my photographs and Karen Miller's poems.  

Read more… 943 more words

doux / gentle

“The indestructible is one: it is each individual human being and, at the same time, it is common to all, hence the incomparably indivisible union that exists between human beings.”  -  Franz Kafka

 

“When there is love, there is life.”  -  Mahatma Gandhi

 

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”  – A.A. Milne

*

doux / gentle

*

soft, inviting

you rest tenderly

in my mind

each thought

encases you

aching to embrace

fearing to bruise

or worse,

*

at times

you are a

mirage,

a vapor, a mist

that tiptoes in the

quagmire of grey

stimulating the

synapse,

*

pourtant, de temps en temps

i am caught in your

embrace

rendered speechless by

your strength

in you

i am never

alone

*

bisous,

léa

The Unimagined Country

Reblogged from Dark Matter:

Yet-to-be-fully-imagined
country we all want to live in,

country of peace groves
full of lemon trees, country

where we let
our own blood

into the garden soil
to feed it, where we all sing

in our own tongues in the front yards
and kneel silently in the back yards

under the open sky, seeking
guidance or a little rain; country…

Read more… 137 more words

Talk: it doesn’t come

“The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.” 

-       Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”   -  John Steinbeck

 

“A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, Nothing else.   -  Mahatma Gandhi

***

Talk: it doesn’t come

It doesn’t come

Any cheaper

Than that

A few words

Without the

Actions to

Reinforce

My lack of

You

Why you call

Once or twice a

Year

In five years

Not a single

Visit

Yet when there is

Brief chat (always too busy)

Or email

You tell me

You love me

And how

I am

Missed

But the

Actions

Or shall we

Simply say the

Lack

Of action

Reverberate

Across the

Sea

***

Bisous,

Léa

I’m back!

After more than a month long battle with health issues, I am back! It may go slowly for awhile but I hope to have both blogs up and running soon. Furthermore, I hope to get caught up with all the wonderful blogs that I enjoy and those yet to discover. No doubt, I have missed much.

Bisous,

Léa