Comfort is a Crackling Fire

My Fireplace 

Comfort is a Crackling Fire

Another one of those days!

But now she is home;

it would all be better.

Except it wouldn’t -

cold, ice cold, here, there.

Her thoughts darken:

nothing familiar about

their contrived 'door'

through which she’d never

be granted permission to enter.

So she lay down her head

weary of the insanity

surrounded by frigid cruelty.

Even her warm tears,

now icicles crudely formed,

dangle precariously

from her drifting mind.

The sound of the crackling fire

in the fireplace 

envelops her

as she sleeps to surrender.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos 

The Full Moon and 'Sweet Harmony'

 

I took this photo of the full moon from my deck.

“How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music

Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night

Become the touches of sweet harmony." 

~ William Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice)

Sydney Owenson, Intellectual Thought, and Positive Change

                                                                                                                 
From my book, Innovations in Rhetoric in the Writing of Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan, 1781-1859), pages 52-53: 

In her 1840 book, Woman and Her Master, Sydney Owenson makes the following observation:

As the acquirement of a physical elevation, in expanding the sphere of vision, and opening new and vast regions to the sense, obscures and diminishes the individual details comprehended in its grasp; so that intellectual and moral elevation, which has opened to the mind’s eye the wider fields of scientific research and of social combination, has caused the relative value of the smaller facts presented to its apprehension to be either overlooked, or mistaken. Society has become complicated more rapidly than philosophy and legislation can follow; the actions of man upon man, and those of the species upon nature, have multiplied faster than observation can co-ordinate, or reason control; until a positive advance has assumed the appearance of a relative retrogradation. (Woman and Her Master, p. 15)

The global network of intellectual thought feeds upon innovation within the consciousness of humanity. As one notion spirals to form a new idea, the resulting awareness creates new perspectives on issues not perceived within the current reality of some communities. Knowledge gained from sharing this new awareness provides more communities with intellectual capabilities to affect a positive change. 

Inception of a Storm

 

 Inception of a Storm

A silver disc

floats high

in the azure palette.

When suddenly,

stretching its darkening appendix,

a rolling, feathery mass

covers the spherical gaze, 

and soon,

Blessed droplets

fill the soil

with Rich Nutrients

of the Diviner's Supper. 

Ah! What a Feast!

So loud ~ so silent ~

So swift ~ So enduring

So absolutely essential

to reach the Heavenly gold.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, please click HERE.

Still Life Comes Alive

I've had my Still Life posted on this blog for a long time, and this Circular Still Life is simply a gathering of objects found in my office, some of which are souvenirs of Dublin. The complete collection consists of a lovely fern, an old "That was Easy" button from Staples, a coaster from Connemara, an empty bottle that once held Tipperary water, a de-stress ball in the shape of a globe, and a few pretzels tossed in for flavor. The title is Still Life, but life really isn't still now, is it? That said, a circular motion can breathe new life into a moment of stillness. 

Circular Still Life photo

by Jeanne I. Lakatos

Three Haikus on Circularity

Through simplicity

circularity's presence

gathers the spirit. 

***********************

Guided by the heart

a Treasure inspires

this yearning for the return.

***********************

See the returning

composed of inner fervor 

rhapsody sows Love.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite these, please click HERE. 

Hope

My focus here is an individual, trying to catch a break, the proverbial 'brass ring on the carousel of life', feeling the dizziness and fatigue of the ride (or running in circles...multiple meanings there, too), parched for answers and passionate with hope.

http://k41.pbase.com/g4/78/672378/2/61284496.Carousel.jpg

flickr.com/photos/ 78252871@N00/437700770/

Hope

Tears amid the cheers

reaching for the brass, 

spinning,

thirsting for the flow

only to turn away parched,

tongue swelling in dry air 

hot 

with the fever of hope. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, please click HERE.

A Day with Wintry Trees

The following group of poems are a brief narrative that describe one full wintry day. Since we recently experienced another New England Nor'easter this past weekend, I thought it would be appropriate. 

I took these photos in Danbury, Connecticut.

A Day with Wintry Trees

As morning sun

awakens each snowflake

adorning bare limbs,

and trees sigh

in serenity's brilliance,

one last, golden leaf glistens

in the snowy shower

when a brisk wind

draws its stem from a tree,

and in this release,

the leaf tumbles

in a dance of jubilation.

This leaf drifts to the ground,

and the tree,

now naked and sparkling

in the sun's warmth,

stands tall and ready

to accept its wintry destiny.

**************************

Golden sun illumines

the end of this day.

Behind striated clouds

of pink and orange,

an aqua sky enhances

the illumination

as dancing branches rattle,

yielding to the variant wind.

She breathes in the song

of this winter night

and surrenders to its peace,

lets the fresh, brisk air

fill her smile, for she sees

the tiny footprints of animals

braver than she,

leading to the tree's hollow.

Nurtured by the moon’s iridescence 

and a dominion of love,

they snuggle 

within a newly fallen leaf.

***************************

Evergreens mingle

with snow-kissed branches.

The canopy opens

to welcome a thousand stars

spread across the midnight sky,

and under their distant radiance,

she whispers, “Humbly, I adore Thee.” 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos  

You can hear me recite this poem by clicking HERE.