Six Special Poems by Dorothy Whitley

...on the eve of whatever tomorrow may bring...what good is poetry, except to transcend...

On the Eve of

ah the war of terror
tearing instantly the heart
held bleeding in hand

all joy love sorrow
to think of no tomorrow never
to see light in an eye
to feel touch of body and soul

if only once upon a time
here forever to never be
how a possibility could ever

dawn without a sun
space without an earth
that laughed with birds and sang

with children walking in the grass
under trees with swings
and visions of wings


Hearing the Great Heart
 
hearing the great heart
beat the rhythm of life
regardless of strife
that hum of creation
pulsating energy
into shapes
of myriad finities
in trees tribes time
names all seen heard
even bird
and byrd
not to mention bee
or be
 
the one that is


Where Poets Go

where poets go now seeking
ezine to be seen not heard
broadsided on flickering screens
 
where poets go now seeking
fragments of soul scattered
under names all the same
 
where they go now in circles
declaiming decrying jeremiads
when spring is somewhere always
 
like e.e.'s perhaps hand
silently singing in soft rain
arranging in green and gold
 
the mystery of flower and bee
beyond the capacity of biology.


Electrons Remember

electrons remember forever some say
beings they once were a part of
tiger moments embedded with tree
remembering through eyes that think
the raven's wing
even taliesin
 
that would explain attraction
instants of magnetism
tattoos on the soul that speak
of forests mountains lairs
quivering in the marrow of night
and light splendored on wet grass
 
we pass through
and through


Blue Skies
 
i look out my window
daylilies and dill bow before the rain
oregano erect in exultation
birds hidden among pines wait for the sun
 
i drive to breakfast with men without wives
waiting in booths for women mail carriers
for moments of hope to make their day
eating hungrily
 
i arrive at the office always
one of the first to enter the darkness
turning on all the lights at my command
listening to the silence in the halls of learning
 
I write on the blank screen of my computer
the record of this rainy day remembering
blue skies the feel of earth in my garden
the fields of childhood row on row
 

Moving Stones
 
moving stones creating home
all gone to metaphor
gardening a solitary act
moving this touching that
walking through futures of yesterday
planting trust in thyme
here and there a rhyme anathema
blooms a thorn upon a rose
and so it goes
all once upon a times
encircled in boxwood
memories outlined in brick
 
heaved in seasons that create
an outline of love



Dorothy Whitley lives in North Carolina, is an academic dean, a teacher/ administrator for 40+ years, a long-time yogi, and a lover of language.   email: D.Whitley
06-03