memories

Hawaii Lava Walk

lillian3 Comments
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The earth belches and spews forth her fury.
Oh Pele, goddess of volcanoes,
your power and passion are evident
as you hiss and ooze red-hot anger.

You are the earth’s psyche
and we the defiant trespassers,
over cracks and fissures
glass-sharp edges of your hardened crust.

Arrogant though we are
we step gingerly,
awed by your magnificence
as we retreat to cooler ground.

Posted in response to the Daily Post Photo Challenge:  Beneath Your Feet.  Photos from our 2005 Lava Walk on the Big Island in Hawaii.  A once in a life-time experience, to feel the volcano beneath our feet!

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What’s in a Shoe?

lillian7 Comments

They sit behind closed closet doors
in back of the shoe rack, gathering dust.
Two-toned in black and white,
four inch heels to elongate the leg
toes so narrow their tips turn up
after years of emptiness.
Ground-in talc mottles the inside
used oh so many times to smooth the sole,
pressure points etched in long dried sweat
from happier bare legged days.

Witness to her previous life
they sat primly crossed in corporate talks
hid behind podiums and knelt at pews
clicked down hallways, sat quietly grieving
in cold rooms filled with overwhelming floral scent,
danced at weddings and stood higher still,
tips of heels up off the floor
for a lifetime of New Year’s kisses.
These Spectators, aptly named
sit waiting to see the sun again.

Steps of Old

lillian3 Comments

In this place
we lived life without reins
walked quickly, surefooted and headstrong
enjoyed the sleep of youth, less but deep
savored black coffee and devoured Kierkegaard.

This hill
tread so many times
landscape changed, more green, more lush
more steps, surely higher, climb to a different space
new buildings rise above refurbished old.

The trees are bigger, the shade more dense
as we seek the shadows of our past.

      

Tap Into Life’s Lessons

lillian12 Comments


Magic shoes! Shiny black with big looped bows
slabs of silver metal screwed on soles.
Best gift ever, when I was oh so young.
And oh how I remember…..

NOISE.
PURE NOISE!!!
Swing a leg. Stomp, march, slap, clang!!
Body all feet. ALL SOUNDS.
EVEN WHen i tiptoed.
Add lessons, Tuesdays at ten.
To learn.
Teacher teaches,
directs, muzzles.
Shu-ffle, shu-ffle.
Shu- no, NO, NO!
SHHHH!!!
Like-this.
Con-trol the-swing,
shor-ter. NOT so big.
Shu-ffle, shu-ffle.
One-two, one-two.
Slow-down. Con-trol the-sound.
Com-press your-space.

And there I was, in the mirrored wall,
shrinking. Like putting reins on little feet.
Learning to be small
while growing big.
Learning to fit in.

Cattails

lillian6 Comments

Tall brown spikes on green stalks.
Herd plants, unlike their namesake
stand together, day after day.

Under hot sun, wind and occasional hail
bake into velvet texture
slowly stretch until they burst.

Brown-flecked white fluff stands on end
like the cat, suddenly shocked
sensing threat nearby.

A thresher looms its blades
and they scatter in the wind
seeding their next generation.