Category: Healing

Is The Glass Half Full?

Is The Glass Half Full?

As night drops it’s blanket
on a day of shattered dreams
I welcome the darkness
Cocooned in its warmth
Reflecting on the spectacular
hopelessness of an existence
gone awry
My hiraeth is consuming
I long for what will never be again
and come to the realization
that if I did not have bad luck
I would have no luck at all


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Word Prompts

Hiraeth - RDP
Hopeless - FOWC
Spectacular - Word of the Day
Luck - Stream of Consciousness 

Chakra Colors – Poem of the Month – August 2021

Chakra Colors

The colors of earth speak to me
In tones of vermilion, red ochre and umber
My root grounds me
I am centered

Amber and burnt orange 
Remind me I am creative and joyful

And shades of Goldenrod and citrine
Reveal the power within me

Verdant forest greens and
Semi-precious malachite
Tell me I am worthy of love

The hues of the sky
help me speak my truth

and Lapis Lazuli hones my intuition 
so my third eye sees clearly

Amethyst the color of twilight
Representing my higher consciousness 
Balances my body and soul
I am at one with the universe


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Ingrid from Experiments in Fiction is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight
and she has prompted us with the muses.  We may either use one of the
poetic muses or choose our own muse or whatever inspires us to write poetry

Once Bitten …

Once Bitten …

Cautious and careful
My options remain open
when it comes to you
Requirements have changed
You will never again be
the only arrow in my quiver
Experience has taught me
you are dangerous for my heart
and I must protect it
No more will I slide
down the slippery slope
of your empty words
I remain vigilant that you will
not see my vulnerability
I wear these rituals like 
Impenetrable armor
But somewhere in my mind
I want to think that in the end
there is always hope




Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Word Prompts

Stream of Consciousness- Hope
Word of the Day - Require
FOWC - Slope

Where Are You Langston Hughes?

Where Are You Langston Hughes?

It is in these moments
that I look for you
I struggle desperately
trying to understand
what is going on around me
I am confused and I am hurt
The pain I feel
at the atrocities I witness
leave me gasping for air
I need you to help me
You have seen much worse
in your life
You have suffered the hatred
cast upon you
and lived with the bigotry
When I am with you in Harlem
I am comforted
Looking deep into your knowing eyes
and down to your soul
You have honed the skill 
of forgiveness 
Which I do not have
and unsure if I ever will
You live in this ugly world
You face your critics and the racists
yet you are never fazed
Showing those who would do you harm
that you are always the better person 
Please teach me how
to use my words as you did
Wrapping up the hatred
and indifference in poetic verse 
I want to learn from the strength
you found by sharing with the world
how to rise up above this horror
By knowing your worth
in times of adversity
That we might also feel your pain
and soothe our own
Show me, I beg you
I want to understand
I must be released
I too, am America


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved


Laura Bloomsbury is hosting D’Verse Poets tonight and has prompted us to choose a favorite poet and either write about him or her or write to them directly in the first person.  One of my favorite poets is Langston Hughes.
A Harlem Renaissance poet of the 1920s whose poetry resonates with me on so many levels. The last line of my poem is from his poem "I, too"
Read about him at the Poetry Foundation

Insight – A Palinode

Part 1 - Misunderstood  (Prior Poem)

Your eyes no longer hide the truth
They have become the lens
to your dark soul
The bitterness written
between the lines of your face
Chiseled deep into the crevices
where it now resides
Dragging the once curve of a smile
into a permanent scowl
The magnitude of your suffering
living on display for all to see
Your strange, misunderstood past
responsible for a demeanor 
that pushes friendship away
Making it impossible for anyone
to come close so they might
know more of your story and pain
Part 2 - Insight

What a difference a day can make
The light in your eyes
flickers ever so slightly
A weight carried heavily
on your weary shoulders
is now a little lighter 
Shadows of a smile
can be seen more often
as hope returns to your closed heart
Opening it wider to receive
the good blessings being
showered on you once more
Friends never left you
Remaining on the periphery
of your life for when
you needed them most

 
Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Grace is hosting Meet at the Bar at D'Verse Poets tonight
and has prompted us with a Palinode.
A palinode or palinody is an ode or song that retracts or
recants a view or sentiment to what the poet wrote in a previous poem. 
The writing challenge is to write a palinode. This can be in relation
to a poem you have written before (please link or include prior poem),
or as part of poem e.g. Palinode by Monica Youn.

Image by Hier und jetzt endet leider meine Reise auf Pixabay 😢 from Pixabay 

Dear Self – Poem of the Month – April 2021

Dear Self

No!  You are not Switzerland
You cannot remain neutral forever
It has been a while since we spoke
but I know you are still trying to keep the peace
between your warring families
You love both sides
but in their contempt for each other
you have become invisible
An expectation that you will always be there
Has blinded them to the reality of the damage
They have inflicted on you
When will you ever stop being a doormat for all
Existing somewhere in the DMZ
between the battle lines of their war
They will never see your struggle
Being too wrapped up
In their own bloody mindedness
because they do not love each other
and yet you love them both
It is time for you to say “Enough”
Their needs do not take priority over yours
Live in peace with yourself and attend to them
by all means but, on your terms, always
Your ears must become deaf
to their pleas for attention
For your sanity, promise you will do this for you
 
With much love 
From yourself,
For yourself

 
Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Sanaa from A Dash of Sunny is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and
has prompted us with Verse Epistle:
For today’s Poetics, I would like you to write a Verse Epistle. Go philosophical, go solemn, go dark or perhaps political, pose a romantic question – as long as your poem emulates the style of the poetic genre– anything goes. Keep in mind that your contribution need not be half as lengthy or flowery as the examples shared above, I aim for this prompt to be wide in scope and enjoyable for all.


Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay 

Go Swiftly – A Quadrille

Go Swiftly

Go swiftly
that I might mourn sooner
Leave me quickly so I will be free
from your discontent
You belong here no longer
I wish you well
in your pursuit of perfection
My loss is growth
already healing wounds
carved with your callousness
 
 
Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Sarah is hosting Monday Quadrille at D'Verse Poets
and prompted us with "Swift"  It could be about the
bird or speed.

A Quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words excluding
the title

Word Prompts:

Free - Word of the Day
Pursuit - RDP

Image by Anja🤗#helpinghands #solidarity#stays healthy🙏 from Pixabay 

Clarity

Clarity

Here beneath the majesty of tall pines
where air is clean and pure
is a place to breathe
Silence is draped in soft voile
on a head filled with noise
Soothing and calming
Restoring peace 
In solitude and stillness 
thoughts run free
Recollections dance before eyes
as if for the first time
The pleasure releasing anxiety 
from the choking vines of constraint
The gentle noises of nature
Reassuring 
Healing 
Inducing glorious slumber


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Prompts

Word ensuing in ‘sty’ - Stream of Consciousness 
Slumber - RDP

Catharsis

Catharsis

High above the turmoil
is where I sit
Leaning against stone
Cool and comforting
Calming the chaos
Clamoring in my head

The stillness soothing 
Slowing time 
Slowing heartbeats
Breathing deeply
The crisp, clean air
sends oxygen back to my brain

Below the tempest brews 
in torrents of anger
Its waters boiling with rage
Thrashing against sharp rocks
Swallowing all in its wake
Taking no prisoners 



Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Prompts

Sue Vincent’s weekly Write/Photo

Stream of Consciousness - Above/Below
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