Kristin Jennifer: 2017


my power is in my words
words chosen by me
strong and bold
because I own
my awareness
my art swings around my body
like a spiral of wind
flinging all unnecessary
distractions aside
a whirlwind
that protects and insulates
spinning me to the places
I need to go
out the door
down the street
and out of sight


there it was
alone in the wild
all lost and raggedy
so she took it home
and found something for it
when she turned around
it blended in with its surroundings so well
that she didn't really notice it anymore
but one day the wind came
and blew it away
she was glad she had it memorized



She wanders into transparent pastel meadows
filled with wildflowers
and the auras of a guiding moon. 

she walks the rose petal path


she sleeps on steadfast silver clouds


she eats rainbow soup and sunshine crackers


she feels sparkles of opportunity all around her


with transcendent brushes
she paints the iridescent memories of her ancestors



so I got out my scissors
and cut it all up
all the ties binding me to things
I shook free
and spread out
hesitant to think
the freshness here now
I will defend my territory
for the time being

I want to go home
but I don't know where that is
I walk from room to room
calling your name
and the silence that follows
like a place card
facing an empty chair
is the certainty I need
to move on



kind eyes
to see you in your light
to see you whole
the way a human is beheld
by the ages, in the molecules
of sweet incomparability

come out, come out, where ever you are
the flowers whispered to her


this is silence
this is empty
this is dust settling
the aftermath
the end
the precious stillness
potent with its incipient power
I am ok with it
and after this intentional pause
I will smile


it showed in her eyes I think
the light shifting around inside
but it would not be until later
when the answer would come

when I catch the wind
I'll sway a bit
then fall
and when the next breeze swirls in
away I will go

I told my mom that spring had not come yet.
See, the trees are still bare.
You will not lie here looking out your window
at the blossoming branches.
You will not be deprived of the warm sunshine and green grass.
She looked at me with sympathy.
She was unable to speak.
She did not miss the spring but, as delicate beauty holds inside it
the fierce indifference
of forward movement,
the spring missed her.
And so do I.




in a field of flowers I lie
abiding in love
and the winds of the tilting planet ruffle my hair
I will zip up my jacket high to my chin
and close my eyes as the scent of them
adds layered memory to my breath-centered focus
in a field of flowers lay I

I close my eyes
and the world is red
the sun is warm on my face
and I feel good
I think- this moment is a moment
that I'll always remember
and it was


in the middle of it all
I can see further now
the stairs wind up
but I can go
how do I know
so happy to someday find out


I am surrounded by the sea
it is all I see
so far away
ahead and above
clean foam shapes
their frozen power
hold my gaze
and aspirations
in their cupped secret places
it is there in front of me
clear and bold
awe and wonder
all my questions
all the untold known
there
out there
long drive to the distant clouds  
waiting for my journey to end
when I come near
and can say
I saw the sea