the void
my muscles are heavy with need.
i whisper into the void
still too quiet for you to avoid
all i want is for you
to walk into my poem
let to swirl and whirl around you
perhaps sneak into your ear
work its way into your subconscious
then one day you will start to randomly
think about me
and love
then connect the two
and with a thundering shout
you will run back to me
your muscles heavy with need.
Ariel
earth
let me plant my feet deep and send out roots
let me grow yellow-green leaves this spring
and soak up the warming sun
we are living in this liminal time
before humans burn our mother up
let me disavow them, step away
and nuzzle back into the earth
be her child once again.
Ariel
last six words
You say you’re a bear but I think a boar
a cowboy looking to collar “a filly”
using a bit of flair.
Dude,
women don’t care how many greenbacks
you pull; this isn’t The Wild West.
they want self-determination and respect.
Ariel
draft
Why I’m Still Living
1: I would do anything to spend
time with my witty son. Even endure
sickness and a body of pain.
to hear his voice laugh and tease
give him two rooms, one for sleeping, one for waking
I live to see him stride across the local stage
and I must live to protect him from the snake who attacks without warning,
I must ensure his survival
2: and of course there are my furry cats
3: siblings
4: there is art. and bubbles. trees. grass. daffodils. lilacs. plums. soft fabrics. hot baths. scented candles. there is electricity. piped water. toilets and toilet paper. phones, computers and internet. instant communication. mail that comes. i have purple sheets and blankets. pillows. scented candles. wood fire. a curved couch. money. food. poet friends. art friends, music friends. theater friends. movies. a pool.
last: there’s an infinitesimal chance
you may show up at my door
(you remember where that is)
and give in to your desire.
Ariel
draft
panic
there are invisible bugs crawling on my skin
phantom boa constrictor around chest
my mind in a thousand dank caves all at once
how can I find myself
my hands slither over each other like a clutch of worms
my hair falls, trying to shield my eyes from seeing, well, everything
my arms reach out, come back empty
how can I live like this
Ariel
draft
The Devil And Me
(after Ira Wolf)
I’m not a superhero, though I wish to be.
It’s weird when you wake up to The Others just under that first layer of skinand they are claw, clawing to get out, and you hope that your skin is metal like Colossus to keep them from escaping and adamantium bones to keep them from breaking you inside. But you know you’re no superhero, just a child grown who had to raise herself. Certainly not a Jean Gray. Well, maybe a weather witch. For you make the gray clouds roll in and you hear the thunder roll with all the voices in it shouting over each other. Or maybe it’s the fighting fiddles. The flavor of blood-stained brimstone on the tongue.
And you can’t think.
My mother thought me lost to The Devil. Evil she must purge.
I know what it’s like to be dead.
You know part of it is in your genes. The ones you got from Her mother. But then if I was stuck on an isolated Arkansas farm, I would give in to the voices too, embrace them, escape with them to run away from the fields and crops. At least I think that was her origin story. I think anyone would go mad with the isolation of a farm.
I was lost yesterday, today I ground (grind?) myself with music. Hope the fiddles make sense and hope the devils work with me. I hope to walk through everything, phase, merge. Run away to the forest. It a Pac NW thing. Find a river running red as whiskey. Talk to plants like Poison Ivy. Dance with two left feet around a campfire. Wrap the devils in my webs.
I’m no superhero. I’m no villain either.
Ariel
draft
form, anti-form
breeze sends white
blossoms drifting down
like winter.
the sky is
blue, clouds let in the sun. yet
cats huddle inside.
with a hot mug to sip from
i long for summer’s warmth,
to lay in the sun and let it bake me.
live wearing as few layers
as possible.
Ariel
draft
stained glass
weighted down base, rippling.
tall art novoeu stalk
holds up a reverse tulip.
multi-colored glass formed
into a bell, lilies thin as skin.
protecting the delicate light
bulb. when it’s on it, it glows,
sending vibrant rainbows everywhere.
wooden chair sits three feet from the television.
Ariel
draft
middle
passion month
and the pink moon
is halved in the ink of it.
my honey breast is going places
looking for its north star,
hoping against hope it never moves.
this spring rhythm; again it shimmies
through my skin like a creature
emerging from thawed hibernation;
i wake, i breathe, i write.
i long for your embrace
the silliness of it, like minor falls
and major lifts.
Ariel
draft
essential angel
a gentle love of a familiar, ache
after him almost another day.
a drunk, who hungers
between blaze and ground,
soak there your heart –
an imagined bouquet
kept sacred between a season of snow
& winter, a lesser nature of air.
oh beautiful woman, he inspires
a freeze of river, whispers during night.
Ariel
I’m frustrated. – I tried yet again to draft a post the night before – and the morning negated much of what I had written.
Today is the fourth event of Paint The Town Continue reading “Jun 9 prompt & poem”
So another no-frills day because my devices are still being rude. Trying to log on but I have literally tried logging on hundreds of times today and this Continue reading “Jun 8 prompts & poem”
None of my e-devices are playing nice …
It’s late. I’m tired of trying. So I’m posting no-frills
Continue reading “Jun 6 & 7 prompts”
Day 30 – Last Day of National Poetry Writing and all the Poem-A-Day challenges. It could be a sad day … But good news! Not only will November bring National Novel Writing Month but it will bring November’s Poem-A-Day Challenges!
As for me, I’m gonna continue posting one a day … HERE!
And tomorrow brings May –
Continue reading “Day 30 #AprPAD #NaPoWriMo”
Day 29 – Two days to go.
It’s Sunday – which usually means I get a delicious writing prompt in my inbox from “Draft” which always leas me somewhere delightfully unexplored. But I also need to tackle my long-neglected Continue reading “#Day 29 #AprPAD #NaPoWriMo”
Day 28 – Counting today, three days left of Poetry Month Writing challenges … oh my.
The ‘puter gremlins are active but fortunately, I’ve got WordPress on my phone.
So … Today’s Continue reading “#Day 28 #AprPAD #NaPoWriMo”
Day 27 and the last Friday of the month. Which means … Salem Art Walk! Time I go full-on CC Willow … but it is National Poetry Month and the Art Walk theme is “Poetry this evening – So I get to play as “Ariel” as well! Continue reading “Apr 27 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
It’s one of my bad bad days. I’m I didn’t make it to the Grand Launch of Moments Before Midnight.
Can I get honest? My mind has been telling me I’m taking on more commitments than my body Continue reading “Day 26 #AprPAD #NaPoWriMo”
Day 25 I’m going to make this quick before the ‘puter gremlins wake up or before my mind short-circuits a vital part of my body.
Following the prompts of the last two days Today’s prompt is “write a Wednesday poem” ... hoping to make the final week of Apr Poem-A-Day challenge easy for you! Continue reading “Apr 25 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Day 24 I am being SUCH a writer today … and by that I mean I am allowing every little thing to pull me away from writing – as writers tend to fall prey to. But can you blame Continue reading “Apr 24 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Hate realizing a post didn’t – well – post.
Day 23 I didn’t get to a post yesterday – what with the Garden Poems reading and other distractions. So consider that day a wild card as far as prompts go.
My next reading will be this Thursday – Moments Before Midnight Continue reading “Apr 23 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Day 21 
A Quick reminder – I will be one of 10 poets reading Tomorrow (Earth Day) at Garden Poems at Gaiety Hollow. Event is 2-4 pm at Salem’s Gaiety Hollow Continue reading “Apr 21 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Day 20 I’m glad I pre-announced this on yesterday’s post as It’s another day “down the rabbit-hole” and I’m looking for that tidbit that will make me “big” again …
A Quick reminder – I will be one of 10 poets reading Continue reading “Apr 20 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Day 19 Good news! My Pixy (‘puter) yet lives! A day of sitting in rice seems to removed what water leaked in. I am SOOOO relieved – not just because this is the first repository of my PAD/NaPoWriMo poems but because it is the only place Continue reading “Apr 19 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo”
Day 18. My aide may have killed my beloved laptop with dishwater. We’ll see, Fortunately, the top was closed. I have dried what water I could see and have it bagged up with rice until tomorrow.
So – today we do this tiny-screen editing Continue reading “Apr 18 #NaPoWriMo #AprPAD”
nwpoetariel
Ariel, Pacific NW poet 