How to Achieve Buoyancy

author's note:

Love yourself.  Then forget it.  Then, love the world.
                -- Mary Oliver


HOW TO ACHIEVE BUOYANCY

I've seen some who always seem so buoyant.

I ask myself:
even if they're not weighted
with personal conflict
how can they witness
the struggle and conflict
of our world
and not feel a burden
of incessant frustration?

I assume many are simply oblivious.

However
I believe a few
are born blessed with wisdom--
what they see up-close
they also view
from the mountain

and then maybe others
once felt as heavy as I do today
but gradually found courage enough
to open--to surrender

to the flood waters we hold
but try to hold back--
for fear of being overwhelmed
by our empathy for all humankind.

So now, instead of sinking
at the sight of so much pain
those brave people ascend--
lifted by the rising waters.

A possibility--or so I hope
as I struggle to cope
with all I witness
in this wounded world

which of course, includes
the wounded man
I often criticize--
the one who writes these lines.

© 2019, Michael R. Patton
what I learned while alone: poetry ebook

Blessed Suffocation

author's note:

Some claim dreams are meaningless...

Maybe their dreams are.  Mine aren't.


BLESSED SUFFOCATION

In the dream I could not breathe

for one full year!--

as I held to a stiff chair
at the bottom of a murky lake.

To survive this test of endurance
I needed to claw down deep
into my lungs
just to dredge up
a few molecules of oxygen
hidden in storage.

Years later, when I think of this dream
I again experience
the frightening sense
of suffocation--
the tightness in my chest--
the feeling of imprisonment.

Good to remember my strength.

I believe
the wise one within
leads us into trials of adversity
so that we will expand
our capacity.

I believe
that interior puppeteer
gave me the dream
so that I might realize
the benefit of my hardship
then fight for life
instead of crying.

Some will scoff at these ideas--
they'll state flatly:
no "deep self" enacts a grand plan.

Nonetheless, I'd guess
we'd at least share this one belief:

through such painful tests
people grow.

© 2019, Michael R. Patton
the truth of the dream: poetry ebook

Inside & Out

author’s note:

Dedicated to all the worriers out there.

I know your pain.


INSIDE & OUT

Feeling defeated
at the end of another day
I fell back

and in the emptiness following a sigh
again heard that gentle whisper
of blended gender--
heard again those words inside my ear:
"Do not worry--
  I am with you always"

and as before, heard nothing more--
only silence when I asked
"who's there?"

yet I feel comforted by this occasional visitor:
I always imagine an angel behind my left shoulder
shielding me with the canopy
of its invisible wings

but maybe I'm actually hearing
a better stronger me
echoing from deep within--

shouldn't I rejoice at the thought
I hold such power of spirit?

Well, yes...nonetheless
I still want to believe:
I'm not alone--I am known.

So tonight
if the voice returns
whispering "Do not worry"
I'll again imagine a constant angel

but will also tell myself:
apparently, you have the strength you need
to triumph despite the defeat
of these heavy gray days.

© 2019, Michael R. Patton
searching for my best beliefs: poetry ebook