Winter Solstice 2018 -- Three Poems

Artist of Intent

I have a basket full of good intentions 
Teasing out one strand is goal for today
to-write 
to-sing 
to-day -- also a verb

Setting: dark stage single spot on wash tub

Hesitantly mime appears
peeking over rim of wash tub 
fearful tentative movements 
peering and ducking 

Excruciatingly slowly mime emerges
finally in a graceful bold step 
leaps from tub 

Sudden cringe ducking as if -- what 

Nothing happens 

Then stepping with determination to discover ankle chained to tub
humiliation anger despair anger frustration 
investigation of chain 
puzzlement discovery 
opening link of chain 
triumph elation 

Striding away only to look back 
hunches over 
creeping return
re-gathering chain around leg 
crawls back into tub 

Spot fades

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

Vertigo

One crystal with improbable charisma

takes my body out on wildcat strike

with no demands or path to settlement.

Motion impossible, sight skewed,

stomach in turmoil
I surrender immediately.
But no matter if I resist or not, chaos overwhelms.

At last I find a train of thought,

mostly negative,

but coherent.
Three days lost.
Today, the fourth, late afternoon,
I pick up pen and start to negotiate.

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

Binary Paths

Alternating patterns
The on-off of clock ticking, water dripping
dappled shadows traversing the yard
defining time passing.

Moment by moment
either marking time
or finding a holding pattern until the end

Or? Rather? Perhaps?
Looking with philosopher's eye
living in the moment
aware of the subtle and fleeting

Seeing an image of a vase or
am I looking at the profiles of two women
both are there
alternating possibilities

inevitable movement towards the invisible
Cassandra tells and we do not believe

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

Reminders of limits and mortality keep pushing me to create --  memories are mined and up-cycled. A mime performance 30 plus years ago, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" revisited over the years, and a severe case of vertigo experienced this last October all give me motivation. Writing poetry is my answer to everything.

Autumnal Equinox 2018

Two Paintings One Poem

Untitled     Mixed Media on Paper

(Intersection 22” X 18”)

Ruth Ann Howden   July 2018

FRAGILE

– Please handle with care –

a bit of art sent to delight an ailing friend

trusting strangers to deliver safely

'fragile' printed in caps front and back

Walking the path home I move from sun to shade,

from sun to shade

thankful for the trees strangers planted long ago

protecting my fragile skin

The pathway handles me with care, delivering me safely

Stepping ever more lightly on the earth

I endeavor to be the stranger

who handles all life with care

helping deliver a fragile earth

to future generations

August 2018, Ruth Ann Howden

Untitled        Mixed Media on Paper

(Aporia 26” X 18”)

Ruth Ann Howden      September 2018

Summer Solstice 2018

Two  Poems and One Painting

Vast

Vast is too tiny a word 
to define the ocean surrounding me. 
I study the 3-foot by 4-foot map of the Pacific Rim - all that blue. 
Hawaii - smudges of brown circled with white, the middle of that empty blue.

Daily I consider that map on my living room wall. 
I am sitting on one of the smaller smudges. 
Hundreds of planes carrying thousands of people flying in and out daily. 
Satellites spin above the atmosphere - the largest, the International Space Station is holding human life. 
I spot it occasionally. 
The moon going through phases accompanies me 
as does the splendid sun - my star.

My star holds planets with moons in its embrace 
dancing through a universe I fail to comprehend. 
Vast is too tiny a word.

Untitled Mixed Media on Paper
(22" x 30" Kupeke Fishpond)
Ruth Ann Howden
June 2018

O 2 K

One

Stop at that point where the self and the world cross.
The point where we feel

(figuratively and literally)

Savor the touch taste smell sound and sight -

where we fuse with the moment.
Where decisions are forced upon us at unexpected and potentially lethal intersections.
Pay attention,

there can be immediate impact in stopping on green light as well as going on the red.

Two
Only five senses - limits spur creative mind to open and stretch.

Three
What is a life if not the opportunity to engage others and the earth?
Composing my choices, habits, thoughts into art - gathering surprises.

Four
'Engage in life' advises Seneca.
Add depth and concern, taste every color.
This track I make is but a digital trail lost in the silicon.

Five
I live in the illusion that I still have enough time

Time to sit in the sunshine.
Time to contribute beauty to the world.

Time to mentor / pass on what I've learned.
Time to laugh.
Time to give thought to real problems.

Time to sort out the clutter.
Time to show gratitude.

Time to remember all the places that fill my life, and time to wonder at the progression from there to here,

from Oconomowoc to  Kaunakakai

Spring Equinox 2018

Spring Equinox Blog

Only six minutes late this March 20^th, it's officially the first day of spring but here in Hawaii the day is already six minutes longer than the night. Happy Springtime!

Starting with my New Year Haiku, here is a little collection of poems I've written this year:

twenty seventeen

turns eighteen, indifferent

spinning world dares me

players all in life

thinking we know the script

wait - surprise finish

timing the empty

spaces, sure to be claimed by

regret or desire

yes, red is lucky,

three of anything also

good, like a haiku

all that I learned by

not speaking was the issue

for me to confront

later speaking, all

I learned was depth of anger

yet to parcel out

twenty-six letters

combined and recombined

endless my delight

tentative text waits -

ideas, words meander

seeking bold reveal

rapid ideas 

vaporizing faster, gone 

with single misstep

pure innocence - some

love because, some in-spite of,

while others just love

as a mayfly turns 
languidly with a thin breeze 
my life expended

life is good in Molokai

New Year Haiku

New Year 2018

12312017

twenty seventeen

turns eighteen, indifferent

spinning world dares me

01012018