ON SLIPPING (Poem by Patricia Kelly)

The World (XXI) in The Gipsy Tarot



ON SLIPPING


this life of mine is such
a loose fit at times I could almost
walk right out of it

mostly though it just rumples
and wrinkles and gathers
in bunches rubbing at
sensitive spots until I sigh
and re-arrange
and smooth
and tend to its constant
stuttering slippage

were it not for that rare moment
when my lumpish frame and this
life meet, no rub, no slide,
nor even sense that we are separate

I might simply
slip out

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A lot of my "house shmatas" are way over-sized, having been bought before I lost of lot of weight. There's only so much altering I can bear doing; I saved most of my sewing energies for my street clothes. :-) (I've "made do" with altering as much as possible over the past few years as clothes are such an expense, to say the least.) The upshot is, I swim in almost all of my house shmatas, even using strategically placed safety pins. There's also humid weather, in which sheets and furniture throws stick and rumple and need constant re-arranging, etc., etc. Then this morning, after pinning my house shmata for the millionth time and re-arranging the throw on my easy chair for the gazillionth, the first line of the above poem just "popped."

* * * *

Resource: Concelebratory Shoehorn Review, "a monthly literary arts magazine" that has some cool photos, too (several of my poems are to appear in one of the fall issues).

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

THE UNIVERSE (A Tarot Card Poem/Thoth Deck) by Patricia Kelly

The Universe (World) Card in The Thoth Tarot

My universe is looking very different recently - in a positive way - and that has put me in mind of this very old Tarot card poem of mine. Given how much I have worked with The Tarot for over 30 years, it is still surprising to me I do not feel compelled to write more poems about the cards, but it is the case that I haven't. I've also had very few Tarot card dreams, though I have written dreamku about the few Tarot card dreams I've had.

The Thoth Tarot, the deck whose version of The Universe (The World) this poem is about, was my main deck for many years, shelved only long enough to familiarize myself with any new deck I obtained. I always used The Thoth deck when reading for clients unless they requested a different deck, an option I always offered them. (My collection at one time was 120 decks; it's now about 80; and I no longer read for others.) It was about 13 years ago that I began to work less with The Thoth deck. However, I feel some deep layer of my psyche will always be tuned to its images, even if I rarely read with it anymore.

The poem below is not intended as an interpretation of The Universe card. Nor am I attempting to express any particular spiritual or philosophical view in it. The poem is simply where the card's images took me at the time, well over 20 years ago. It is admittedly a bit of a hodge-podge of elements I'd come across in my various studies - both Tarot and non-Tarot - at the time. It may also be familiar to those of you who read my Tarot Gallery & Journal blog as it was posted there some time ago.

Before universes whirl,
stars sing, or souls stir,
before even before, She is.

Before distinctions in which
was, is, and will be
are not yet, yet are,
She dances.

Before sowing Her wise blood
beyond Her abyss
She plays with a pattern.
A pattern to stir
Her infinite depths.

A serpentine pattern
to precipitate conception
in the humming cauldron
of Her virgin* womb.

Naked and awash
in Her oceanic Self,
She spins the webs of heaven,
as She and Her serpent consort tumble:

like a soul
embracing its embryo.

*Used in the old sense of "complete unto one's self."

* * * *

Resource: A Random Tarot Poem, just click and enjoy original paintings and Tarot card poems.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.

HAIKU in Response to One Deep Breath Prompt of 6-25-07

unlocking the door
the ants
have beat me home

This week's prompt at One Deep Breath is "bugs and creepy crawlies." I live in a three story walk up. Whenever it's the season for ants, I envision them hiking up all those flights! :-) Wishful thinking, of course, they just hitch rides on everyone else's stuff. We do the climbing. Humph!

Want to read about some other creepy crawlies? Visit One Deep Breath (link above) for others' take on this prompt. (BTW, the above haiku is cross-posted to Summer Haiku 2007. And the clipart is off one of those freebie sites with gazillions of graphics.)

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT.