Luminous Blue

Tag: poetry

  • Birthday Poem for Zelie

    Elizabeth Blue, poetry, birthday poem, Elizabeth Meagher, Zelie Duvauchelle,

    Pretty much speaks for itself.

  • My Wish for You

    Elizabeth Blue, Elizabeth Meagher, poetry,

    One of a few favorites of mine,  more to follow…By Elizabeth Blue, © 2004.

  • Kneeling in the Ocean

    Kneeling in the ocean
    I feel you in the clouds

    I see the rain coming from far away
    A big grey cloud of darkness and tears

    The rain coming down so hard it hurts my skin
    My arms reaching above the ocean water
    In the in-between of fresh and salt

    Exactly where they meet

    My red toes rise up like bright greetings
    My face in the rain

    I kneel and the waves float me
    Rising and falling with me and around me

    Staying in the warm water and the cool air I balance,
    Out of my element and yet no fear today
    No sharks imminent
    Only leaves bumping my arm that make me jump and laugh out loud

    ~ Lucia K Maya 7/17/15 ©

  • With Night – a poem by Sabine Miller

    Thank you Sabine, for this beauty. Sharing with love and appreciation.

    With Night

    – For Lucia on the anniversary of Elizabeth’s death

    Blue lacewing
    singing
    in the atrium

    at summer’s end
    coaxed
    into open palms

    where it stays
    even while
    being waved

    through the garden,
    oak crickets,
    old moonlight –

    Meanwhile
    soliloquies
    of poets and healers

    echo inside:
    A mother dwelling
    in pastures

    of surrender
    helps one daughter
    die-before-she-dies, held

    in the heart of
    her mother’s hands –
    in the heart of a Hand

    she’s a blue,
    Blue rose as
    open as it gets,

    the petals the waves
    she’ll return
    in – the rosebud

    she’ll become
    is starlight
    packed in

    tight and deeper
    than one can
    fathom with this

    mind, on this
    night.

    By Sabine Miller ©, 2014

  • Summer Squash – poem by Elizabeth Blue

    Summer Squash – poem by Elizabeth Blue

    Summer Squash

    by Elizabeth Blue, 9/1/08, age 18
    (a class assignment)

    The Seed, Elizabeth Blue, poetry,
    The Seed, by Paweł Jońca

    Summer Squash

    When the sun grows
    full and ripe in the morning sky.
    When the cracked Earth
    begins to soften and thaw.
    It is then that I shall emerge from the hard shell of my birth
    My pod.
    My seed.

    It is then that I shall uncoil.
    It is then that I shall meet you.
    You who nurtured and birthed me into existence.You who kept me warm and hidden.
    I shall meet you, Soil above your surface.
    I shall meet you, Earth where I had not expected —
    on the line where ground meets sky.

    It is then that I shall meet you, Mother.
    In the thin and vaguely described space
    where the strength of my stocks
    defies the firm and assured pull of your gravity.

    In this place of balance I shall meet you
    not as your baby
    not as your seed
    not as your spawn.

    I shall meet you as me.
    As I am grown.
    From you but not of you.
    Rooted in your strength
    strong in my growth.

    It is here I shall meet you Mother
    As you.
    As me.

    Elizabeth Blue, Elizabeth Meagher, umbrella, rain
    Elizabeth at about 3 years old

    Elizabeth Blue ©, 2008

  • A Cancer Poem – by Elizabeth Blue

    A Cancer Poem

    written by Elizabeth Blue during her treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, 2012

    As I pray to the goddesses of white blood cells
    to increase my cell counts
    so I won’t get sick.
    Won’t get a fever and go to the hospital.
    It becomes more apparent
    to me
    than ever:
    that gentle hand of grace
    we call god
    is in
    my own body.

    As I pray to the goddesses of white blood cells
    to increase their numbers
    so that
    I won’t get sick.
    I won’t get a fever
    and go to the hospital.
    And I imagine my fate
    hinged on their fingernail
    I know more than ever
    that twisting fate
    we call god
    is in
    is part of
    my own self body.

    Victoria told me
    a shaman told her
    so many ask
    beg
    to meet God.
    And then they say:
    “But:
    keep my children safe.”
    “Keep me healthy.”
    “Don’t send me to war.”
    “Let me be prosperous.”
    “Let me be in love.”
    “Keep divorce away.”
    “Let me be beautiful.”

    And Victoria told me
    she thought it was interesting
    the unwillingness to surrender
    yet want to meet God.
    We were talking about cancer I think
    When she told me all this.
    “Yes it is interesting.”
    I agreed.

    Elizabeth Blue©, 2012

    I’m sharing some of Elizabeth’s poetry as I am able, selecting ones that I love, and that offer some deep wisdom, beauty and teachings for us all.

  • “Making You a Latte” – Poem by Elizabeth Blue

    Making You A Latte – by Elizabeth Blue

    latte, yoga, grief,
    Latte made for Elizabeth by Sam

    6.3.12
    5-Close Corral Shift (at Time Market/Cafe in Tucson, AZ)

    {One of Elizabeth’s last poems, written when she’d finished chemo, was in remission, and was just beginning to tell people that she’d had cancer. She had wanted to get through treatment and live as normal a life as possible, not having people pity her or treat her differently. This shows some of the sacrifices involved…and we discovered the cancer had returned only about a week after this.}

    I’m making you a latte and I’m being paid minimum wage and you’re not going to tip me no matter how well I foam this milk.
    You’re asking about our bagel selection and I’m making love in New York.
    You’ve decided you would like a muffin, to go, and I’m editing my first thesis.
    You’re in need of napkins and I’m being painted in Paris.
    I’m staring out the window onto the patio and I’m crying.
    You want ice and the ice machine hasn’t been filled yet and I’m getting married in the desert.
    You want another latte and I’m crying wet hot embarrassing tears at 7:30 in the morning because all my yoga teachers are out there, on the patio.  And I miss them.
    I miss them because I haven’t been to yoga since I started chemo and lost all my hair and confidence and beauty.
    And yoga was my first love.
    Even before Andrew.
    And I miss it so much my heart aches and seeing the people who I practice with outside that window…they’re all together and smiling and happy and when they came inside they were all so excited to see me and they don’t know why they haven’t seen me in forever, because I never told them I was sick.
    And they don’t know how much I miss them.  And their not knowing just absolutely breaks my heart.

    I’m betting all the time at work.
    I’m betting that the children I imagine having when I see young mothers come in, I’m betting that those (my) children are possible.
    I’m betting that the weight I gain from pizza will someday melt away when I regain control and stop eating.
    I’m betting that the hours I spend imagining the guy I like/love, riding by on his back are not wasted because someday they’ll make his eventual interest in me all the more exciting.
    I’m betting that all the lessons I’m learning while getting paid $7.65 an hour are worth it, that I won’t forget them or this summer.

    Elizabeth Blue © 2012

  • Praying ~ Mary Oliver

    elizabeth blue, bird tattoo,PRAYING

    It doesn’t have to be

    the blue iris, it could be

    weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

    small stones; just

    pay attention, then patch

    a few words together and don’t try

    to make them elaborate, this isn’t

    a contest but the doorway

    into thanks, and a silence in which

    another voice may speak.

    ~from Mary Oliver’s collection of poetry, “Thirst” (Beacon Press, 2006).

    Thank you to my wonderful mother for sending this at the perfect time. I’m mostly without words these days, while I’m resting and recuperating from my move and all that was involved. I expect they’ll be back soon, and Elizabeth will have more to say too…