Gallantly he fell
Betwixt and between
illdefined
yet satisfied
With being seen
As misshapen
For societies norms
And he was never
More himself
Than when he lay
In the gap
Of what you think
He should be
©Entirety 2017
Photo from Pinterest
Silence from the raven
Perched on the post
Of the birthing bed
As the smells of earth
Copper and sweat
Fill the air
And an onyx stone
Warmed by flesh
Between a woman’s breasts
Welcomes the babe
And the raven squawks
With its very first breath
©Entirety 2017
Photo by Amkholsa on Flickr
The cover for Dear Poet felt a bit painstaking. Paris Andren shared with me many a web site to look for premade covers and we tossed back and forth ideas often. I hummed…I hawed…I said a lot of things would make do, BUT WHO WANTS TO MAKE A BOOK THAT WILL JUST DO?? Not I. I needed to love it. Paris gave me the idea that I could always commission an artist, but that was risky, and I know my personality. If I got an artist to do it, and I didn’t love it, I would a) feel bad, b) use it anyways, or c) slink off into the background and hope they didn’t notice I didn’t use it anyways.
So I mentioned it to another writer friend of mine and she said, have you ever seen @sparksflyidraw on IG? I had never, so I went to IG and flipped through her work. My word!! Gifted hand, gentle, not obtuse or over the top busy. It was simple beauty. I scrolled through to this picture and then I just knew ! I texted her, emailed her, left notes in the comments!! Frantic wanting it to be mine. And worried like someone would come up behind me and snatch it.
Art by Nour Tohamy
Art by Nour Tohamy
And what pleasure comes from seeing process result in product. A product of collaboration between artists that could never have happened otherwise. I cannot say it enough, but indebted to Paris I will be. For her patience and her equal desire for me to love it and not just be good with it.
Community is everywhere. And I am so grateful to have gifted artists in my presence. xo
If you want to pick up a copy of Dear Poet you can in either Kindle or paperback on Amazon. With a few chances at book launches locally in the near future I hope. Blessings x
When I first started writing micropoetry on Twitter it wasn’t uncommon for a lot of poetic dancing to occur. It was a type of “call and response,” like some of the more traditional churches do with liturgical prayers. The minster calls, the congregation responds. On Twitter though the call and response tended to reside a bit more on the side of the profane as opposed to the sacred.
I remember writing this piece, Unmoved, in a response to another poets prompting. We were poeting about the vulnerability of expressing yourself through poetry. I had this sense, even back then, that the words I put on the page would give me all away. My fears, my fantasies, my anger and worst of all, my deficiencies.
It was two years later, thanks to a girlfriend, I was introduced to Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. She delves into the area of embracing vulnerability, to put oneself wholly into the arena to live instead of holing up on the sidelines where it feels safer; where feelings can’t be hurt, hearts can’t be broken and creativity not be judged.
With pen in hand this was my goal. To embrace the fact I may be exposing myself through my creativity, putting myself out there, and back when I wrote this piece, the sense that I both needed to and that I was a risk rang loudly true.
My Dear Poet helped me to embrace putting myself out there, into the arena, to not only be judged though, but to be loved and enjoyed as well. To paraphrase Brené Brown, if you are numbing yourself from feeling the bad in life, you are simultaneously numbing yourself to the joys. You cannot selectively numb.
And I didn’t want to live life numb. So exploring life through poetry, helped me gain the courage I needed to explore the pain, which silumtaneously, (and thankfully) the ability to feel joy. So yeah, the drops of ink do expose me a bit, but they also free me.
©Entirety 2017
Dear Poet
Stone by Entirety J Roberts
©Entirety 2017
Dear Poet: A Book of Uncommon Prayers is a collection of sensual poetry by Entirety J Roberts now available on Amazon. It is a compilation of nearly 100 poems pleading with the poet for the beauty and rawness that comes with life. Find it here https://www.amazon.com/dp/0995199612/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_rrFyzbB812TVB
A head shake denial
That sends tears reeling
Down rivers
Flooding estuaries
Mixing salt and fresh water
Not knowing
How to separate one emotion out
From another
©Entirety 2017
Photo from Pinterest
I give to you
What is only mine
To give
And you take
What is only yours
To take
We share
What is only
Ours to share
And we relish
In this trust
©Entirety 2017
Photo from tumblr
I’m the shadow
In the light
Smoke and silence
In the night
Washed up and poured out
With very little fight
And I am tired
Oh so tired
Of wandering
Melancholy
Without a home
Tired
Oh so tired
Of wearing blues
And greys
Barely getting through
The pain
And one day I will wake
Six feet under
In a grave
And finally feel
This blanket of weight lift
This is all I crave
©Entirety 2017
Photo found on Pinterest
Let us run
Escape the rules
Of what society says
These ties that bind
About the ways
We must love
Shadow kissed instead
Free to be
As we wish
©Entirety 2017
Art by Rhyohei Hase
Entirety in Bits and Pieces 