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Poetry by Kari Li |
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The boy with the crystal plays on my floor
Rainbows shine on every wall
Indigo to orange, the colours shine
Spinning light, the lights so fine
The boy and I, we look at the map
Plotting the mysteries of the earth laid flat
Of faraway lands and lives we dream
And daddy's land across vast seas
We sit in the dew-whispered morning grass
And gaze at the moon as it shines its last
And big-eyed the boy asks: Is it full tonight?
And so we ponder the moon shapes flight
The living earth, we live in wonder
From the depth of the sea to the lightning's thunder
The little boy's awe opens up the door
From the glory of light to the eagle's soar.
Ah, to see the world through little boy's eyes
Unravelling the mysteries of cosmic size
And we much older are none so wise
Forgetting our wonder of Earth's layered lives.
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© Kari Li |
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"Its quiet in the forests today,
I didn't see very much.
Did you see life in the forests today
When you walked by yourself?"
I saw giant trees fighting their battle of ages
I saw the Strangler victorious stand firm on the ground
I saw rivers taking the mountain to the sea
I saw the green gold of the sun as it shines through the leaves
I saw the homes of tarantulas as big as my hands
I saw the clear winged butterflies perch in the sun
I saw the golden bright sunlight reflected off spiders web threads
I saw the love dance of dragon flies flying in tandem
I saw the earth move as it circled the sun
And felt the tickle tiny tremor of mosquito feet
I saw the dark red of the black flies eyes
And the orchids wearing indigo blooming up above
I saw the bare veined brown skeletons of yesterdays leaves
And heard the forest song singing inside my head
I saw the winds of the east as they blow through the trees
I saw Atlantic ocean droplets caught up as clouds
I saw the whirring wings of the Hummingbirds hover
I saw the frog life beginnings in bubble white eggs
I heard the roar of the Howlers as they greeted the dawn
I saw the cycle of death begetting new life
I smelled the lemon berry smell of my childhood garden
And the dry of the moss showing the rain rivers late
I saw the web of life reach up to the sky
I saw the embryos of trees digested by animals
I felt the crystal cool air caress my skin
I saw the white clouds descending and dance through the trees
I felt the solid tree growing and supporting my back
As I sat quietly watching the living of life when it thinks its alone.
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© Kari Li |
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The wall built around me
Imprisons protects
I peer over its edges from inside my nest
Then you come along
And chipping and scratching
My wall hits the ground
I fold my arms around me
You fold my arms around you
I say “No” quietly, steadfastly
The wind whips my words away
Your hands touching caressing
Awakens my hunger
Your body pushing, exploring
Silences my protest
Your body triumphant
Breakens my fast.
Many have tried
But only you succeeded
I’ve been wondering why
My boundaries receded
Some brought false hope
With lies in their eyes
Other brought their problems
I hung them to dry
One brought violence
I scorned him the most
One wanted just passion
The passion of ghosts
Some wanted the future
But that was too tough
Only you brought the moment
And that is enough.
The moment has passed
And you too have gone
The wall that was built
Scattered and torn
The fast that was broken
Unleashed my hunger
Rampant and famished
It burns through my bones.
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© Kari Li |
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The light from Orion's right foot
Took nine hundred years to meet me
It left in the 11th century
In the time of hunter-gatherers
San-khoi dancers dancing their tribute to the Gods
Aboriginal dreamtime dreaming
Happy hunting grounds of prairies of plenty
Changes beyond imaginings
Whilst the light traveled through space
In a straight line
To me.
The light leaving now
Has missed me
Will meet the earth in the time of my
Great to the power of 28 grandchildren
How different will the earth be?
Will the earth be?
Will man and woman be?
Or will the light 15 000 times less luminous
Than Orion's right foot
Our sun
Shine on the quiet solitude of empty earth
The remnants of slash and burn
Magnified and multiplied
A burnt and barren corpse
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© Kari Li |
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Red ochre rocks standing guard
Over mysteries and memories of San hunters
Stalking the eland with arrows of poison
Following footsteps for days until vanquished
Bringing home to the women, the mothers,
The gatherers of herbs -
Gatherers in sunshine of roots, herbs and flowers
For healing, life-giving.
Eating in twilight
The firelight flickering and dancing
Off red ochre cave walls
Slowly the drumming,
Nighttime descending
The dream time, the real time.
The ancestors calling,
Drumming and dancing,
The rain bringing trancing.
Illusions of life in pictures -
Soaked deep into rocks,
The red ochre paintings depicting
The dramas of dreaming and hunting
Whilst shadows in firelight flicker in startime
The startime, the light-time, the Southern Cross gleaming.
And living in valleys,
The elephant wanderers
Breaking the dawn-time with trumpeting
Echoing through canyons of rocks
That have guarded the aeons beforehand
Rocks which were laid in oceans
of earth's dawning.
The oceans
and rivers of life
that covered the rocks and washed through the valleys,
Upsurging, upsetting, the mountains now sideways
Memories of plants and animals prehistory
Still living in this-time, in now-time, imbedded in rocks
Their memories incarnate in rocks that reveal
Molluscs and bivalves that echo the ocean
trilobite wanderings now dormant for centuries
Trilobites and bivalves -
Their memories remind us,
Of oceans before us and glimmers of futures
Where we will still live in fragments of dust
In memories of roadways and houses encrusted in dirt
and covered by layers and layers of sands
Of red ochre sands
Remnants of rocks that guarded the mysteries
And memories
Of us.
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© Kari Li |
| All Poetry on this Page © Kari Li |
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We are looking for more poetry by members to develop the Poetry Pages.
If you have poetry of your own that you would like to share please post it in the Poetry Forums, or put it up on your blog, and we will use a selection of work taken from across the site to develop this Poetry section.
Also, if you have any good ideas for Poetry in the community, please post your ideas in the Poetry forums as well. |
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