The Ides of March

Full Moon view from earth In Belgium (Hamois)....

Full Moon view from earth In Belgium (Hamois). Français : Pleine Lune vue de la Terre en Belgique à Hamois. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The mighty has fallen!
A dark day
Mid cycle, baying at the moon
Jupiter will have his due
All ancient sacrifice
Survives the modern
Secular view

Archangel Gabriel
May you intercede
On lunar tides
Hold back the calendar
From its voracious needs?
And will you speak
With deities of a different hue
Planetary forces
Spinning now around you?

This modern world is but
Technology and timetables
Monetary history is binary
Numbers flowing through
And politics is nothing
But puppets and puppeteers
Still gods will see this through
They don’t need our belief
To make the cycles come true

The Ides of March
You craven creatures
Drawn to power
Beware them truly
Ancient mathematics still may scan
And desire then the sacrifice
The falling of the mighty
Or the man.

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

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Complete Abandon – for Prompt 18 – Losing Control

Dedicated to Persephone - the goddess of the u...

Dedicated to Persephone – the goddess of the underworld (Photo credit: AlicePopkorn)

Always the veritable picture of reserve I spent my days
waiting for a god to fall from heaven or rise from hell
and take me home, though long ago I’d found
no path or road would lead me to a place
that cannot, would not exist
Still I waited and I dreamed
and denied each mortal who would trespass
on my crystalline and perfect solitude

Completely unprepared therefore for that forbidden
foolish moment when the eyes met the Other
and knew something close to the sublime
Every crevice of the fortress faltered and widened
as the rose within the heart blossomed and awoke
by just this sight, by just this moment of communion
And I knew, as voices from the pit whispered
their deep, seductive untruths to me
that this was the one, the one
the One I could never hurt

This wouldn’t be allowed, be countenanced
All the celestial realms breathed still a moment,
turned their ancient eyes upon this coupling,
this inter-twining, and some might have laughed
I thought I heard that
like a musical repetition
in the recesses of my mind

I gave myself over to belief, to love, to feeling
in this moment like a child will take the hand
of a stranger, unwise, naïve and open
I believed that the waiting had ceased
and the moment had arrived
and there was no god or demon, just my other half
the soulful kin of my yearning
there before me

Complete abandon is a wonderful, beautiful mistake
and all that we revere and hold precious
to our minds, our souls, our hearts
are captive and victim in its wake
And all our promises are dust within our dying mouths
I hurt him well enough of course, and hurt myself
for the very best of measure and for balance
The gods blinked and turned away
less amused by this interplay
than they had thought that they would be
and in the aftermath it was only him and me
combined in lost futility
In desolate, lost, futility

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

For mindlovemisery’s prompt on losing control. See her wonderful work at http://mindlovemisery.wordpress.com

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Standing Apart – for Right2Write Prompt 7 – Flowers and Cattle

I’ve always stood apart you see
It seems to fit me perfectly
And here amongst the flowers bright
My essence is so plain to see

I stand, a source of bovine grace
My kindness etched upon my face
The flowers seem to beckon me
To join them in this happy place

My other friends all group behind
And I may think them sadly blind
We all must stand alone in space
To be ourselves within our kind

I’ve always stood apart you see
I still am kind and still friendly
But I must make the most of me
These flowers tell me they agree

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

For howanxious’ Prompt 7 – see this and other prompts plus wonderful writing at: http://howanxious.wordpress.com

the photo, which howanxious chose for the prompt inspiration is from a wonderful blogger at: http://undertheskysofark.wordpress.com   Check out the other beautiful photography at this site!

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Denied

Denied

Denied (Photo credit: greeneydmantis)

I drew from the well of his heart
A simple enough place to start
I sought not above nor below
For guidance to follow my part

I grew from the gifts he’d bestow
In attention I’d bask and I’d glow
When I should have worried instead
How little of him I did know

In rejection and pain I have bled
For what was and what was not said
For love spoken and love decried
And bitter the paths where this led

If love is no more than false pride
Whatever allurements are tried
No bridegroom is there for the bride
Thus truth will not be so denied

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Programming Breakdown

The programming has broken
Normal service
Will not resume
Anytime soon
The stalker has lost his quarry
He cannot recall
His instructions at all
Like a lone wolf
He bays at the moon

The triggers are wide of their mark
Mere words break
From their anchors
Flee the white room
The looking-glass signals
Suicide missions gone wrong
All lost to anarchy
Such a sweet flower
Is ready to bloom

The instructions are faulty
Those fallen
Were not on the list
Not chosen to die
The synapses are confused
They cannot relay
The demands of the day
Call him serial killer, the truth’s
Not as good as a lie

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Face Behind The Dragon…..

Photo by Steve Brown, acumen photography

Photo by Steve Brown, acumen photography

About a week ago I blogged about facing my fears and having my photograph taken. As I noted in comments following the event, my photographer was lovely and I think did a fabulous job given that I am not a naturally photogenic subject. He was kind, patient, creative – and the real proof of course is how good the final result was! So good that I don’t feel so vexed about ‘showing’ my face for my writing anymore.

My photographer is the wonderful Steve Brown at acumen photography:

www.acumenphotography.com.au

I highly recommend him to anyone in or around the ACT region of Australia, or anyone travelling here who’d like some professional photos to commemorate their visit or event.

So you see above one of the photos from the shoot, and possibly the one I feel looks most like the ‘me’ I see when I look in a mirror. That Steve could get me relaxed enough to look this calm and not like a rabbit in the headlights was fabulous, and very helpful for me in my quest to have an image or images I can use for promoting my writing.

So this is me – the face behind the dragon, behind the poetry. A huge step for me to show this, and a lot is owed to the kind support so many of you showed me for my last post on this topic, so thanks to all.  And given that kind support, I thought I should show you the outcome of the ordeal, and affirm that facing one’s fears can be a good thing!  🙂

I may never be a beauty queen, but hopefully I can look warm and kind. 🙂

Cheers

Helen V

Posted in Air, Conversation | Tagged , , , , , , | 84 Comments

The Wild

Italiano: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napo...

Italiano: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, “Gabinetto Segreto” – Statua del dio Pan intento ad accoppiarsi con una capra – Rinvenuta negli scavi archeologici di Ercolano, nel giardino della Villa dei Papiri. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The wild emerges, antlers raised
Ancient eyes excoriate the horizon
Bellowing echoes across crevices
and caverns of funereal thought
Hunger stalks its prey

Carnivorous dreams etched deep
on tattooed, ravaged skin
Wearing the mark of Cain
as a badge of dubious honor
Clawing hands demand offerings
from the very depths

Jaws widen and teeth gleam
against silvered moonlight
while the forest trail tapers
to a point of deathless, fearful
no return; all innocence bled out
like scarlet notations from a cruel author
on a snow-covered woodland floor

(c) Helen Valentina 2013 All Rights Reserved

Posted in Earth, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Canvas

Marguerite Gérard - Artist Painting a Portrait...

Marguerite Gérard – Artist Painting a Portrait of a Musician – WGA8606 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Am I your canvas
Oh artist!
For your greatest work?
Pressed by oil on silk
Butterfly on a pin
The colours changing
Constantly, from light to dark
Am I the flame
That burns within
Or just a failing spark?

Late afternoon
In your studio
As light fades
And you stretch your stiffened neck
Am I the final brush stroke
Almost insolently placed
An afterthought or a prelude
To an even greater fall from grace?

Even if you’ll never
Truly paint my face?

Am I the canvas
For your visual poetry
Taken harshly and debased?
Or just a memory
Lost in the background
Of a time you have replaced?

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

I Told You Once

not listening

not listening (Photo credit: nytrist)

I told you once
In honesty
I told you twice
Deliberately
You did not listen
I spoke again
And this, my friend, makes three

I asked you once
To see my side
I pleaded twice
Turn back from pride
Instead you turned
Your back on me
This third time I’m denied

I spoke my truth
With no small fear
Twice showed respect
Thought you would hear
But this just proved
A fruitless task
I’ll never have your ear

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Competition Vs Collaboration

Competition corrodes
Creates conflict
Crucifies communion
Complicates communication
Confuses comprehension
Covets creation
Curses collaboration

Collaboration communes
Ceases conflict
Cures corrosion
Complements communication
Creates comprehension
Confers certainty
Conquers competition

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments