Not guilty

Originally posted March 2012

“No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.”
—George Bernard Shaw

“Never eat more than you can lift.”
—Miss Piggy

*

Not guilty

Today I ordered rhubarb pie

With my iced coffee

As its tartness exploded

Into my mouth sending lazy taste buds

Waves of pleasure

I noted that this pie

Was not accompanied

By the usual helping

Of guilt

Guilt for indulging

In this orgy of calories

Guilt that I will not be very hungry

When my son takes me out for dinner

In four hours – guilt

That the needle -on the bathroom scale

May have to climb a little higher

As my fingers traced

A path of flakey golden crumbs

And sticky red juice

I realized that this time

There was no attempt

To justify the decision

To indulge, to rationalize

Because it’s my birthday I’m entitled

No bargaining of what I

Would forgo?

To atone

I simply enjoyed every last bite

And if I weren’t’ so full

I would get another piece -perhaps

Or – make that to go

*

Bisous,

Léa

The Man Who Sleeps On Cathedral Stairs

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
– Mother Teresa

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Poverty is the mother of crime.”
– Marcus Aurelius

The Man Who Sleeps On Cathedral Stairs

Stained glass

Windows

Warmed with

Sunlight

Melting

Rainbows

Spraying pews

Hymnals

Cross

Statue

Sun rising

*

Beyond

Heavy oak door

Concrete altar

Blanketed

By snow

Another

Son

Melts into the rainbow

Son

Rising

Bisous,

Léa

La chatte

“Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” – Mark Twain

“Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them.” – Jim Davis

“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”- Albert Schweitzer

une chatte d’Albas

La chatte

They call her

Feral

Total lack of moralitié

She prowls about

Mon village

Sampling all the treats

On offer

Living by instinct

Reality not judgment

Despite nine lives

She knows how quickly

Today becomes the past

Her time is not to be wasted

Taking her pleasure

As she finds it

Satiated she moves on

In front of the fire

Reminiscent

Her rough tongue

Traces a map of pleasure

Washing, always washing

Body memories – retracing her passion

Spent

She sleeps

Perchance to dream

Bisous,

Léa

Covenant

“A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.”
– Jean Genet

“A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

Covenant

 

Song of the evening

And the sun

Slides from my grasp

Darkness

Envelops the earth

In her cool caress

Moon dance is

Rhythmic and slow

Stars flicker

Incandescent – haughty

Offering their vow

Of solidarity

Bisous,

Léa

Meditations on Friendship

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
– Albert Schweitzer

Written after being invited in for tea at Rita’s …

She lives her days and nights in the cooler part of town

Coaxing life out of clay, fabric and wood

Her long flowing robes announce she will not cave in

To the demands of fashion

Better homes and gardens do not call for a photo shoot

Too many books, movies, cd’s and collections

Too many bits and pieces waiting to be conscripted

Into her next masterpiece

We all have but a few precious days in this incarnation

She chooses differently than many

Did I tell you she is wise?

Travel is her opium and she will have it

Feeding her habit in far away lands

She knows the beauty of each different face

Raising the chalice of adventure and drinking her fill

I sing delirious from the exposure

Her mantra – the eternal YES!

French café beat, the rhythm thunders through her

A meditation in dance

Bisous,

Léa

Bread & marriage

“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”     –  Dorothy Parker

BREAD & MARRIAGE

years and years

of baking bread

bread I did not eat

did not want

the emptiness remained

feeding family

feeding others

the staff of life

kneading

always

needing

divorce

can be a beginning

i don’t bake bread

anymore

but the emptiness

has gone

other hungers

emerge

-Bisous,  Léa