The High-Pitched Voice

author’s note:

“Life is woof.”
         -- anonymous dog


THE HIGH-PITCHED VOICE

As I travel this convoluted path
I’m accompanied by a strong dog
that growls when it senses danger.

But if a voice inside then says “go forward”
I’ll force myself to ignore the dog
and accept unreasonable risk

while enduring people
who see my way as haphazard.

Yes, I worry
when the dog begins to whimper in fear
but
a dream once promised me
if I went where I needed to go
no matter where that might be
I’d eventually arrive at a garden.

When I awoke I felt a deep desire
to find that paradise.
But how I could know where I needed to go?
I would not go until I knew.

A voice I did not recognize
then said:
“stand and walk and do as instructed.”

That sudden turn spun my head.
Hooked by mystery and myth--
I decided to trust.
I stood up and began to walk.

Obviously
I haven’t yet found the garden
but now I can see
this twisted path
spirals up a mountain.

So today I still feel
a grand sense of purpose.

Nonetheless
sometimes when I’m led into trouble
I will join with the dog
and bark back at
that maddening high-pitched voice.

mythsteps · The High-Pitched Voice

Common Courage: poetry book
myth steps blog
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© 2023, Michael R. Patton

The Walking Metaphor

author’s note:

Based on an actual event.


THE WALKING METAPHOR

Sometimes a metaphor stuns me.

Like the one I saw this morning:

a woman walking
backwards
on the sidewalk by the park.

Soon
the trees hid her from view
and I recovered enough
to decipher my response:

I can see the past--
I can see I’m on a path
but
I can’t see for certain
where I’m stepping.

With that realization
I remembered
a dream from the night before:
I saw the tracks I’d made
as well as the tracks
I would make
shining on a dirt track.

That dream told me:
you must learn to trust your deep luminous eye.

That woman in the park
steps with confidence
--why?--
because she trusts
her deep luminous eye.

I can see her now
and feel inspired.
However
when someone walks backwards
you naturally worry they’ll fall.

I suppose I could pray
for her safe passage
but wouldn’t that show a lack of faith
in her inner strength--
in her spirit?

But I can still pray--
I will pray a way that honors her:

every day
in my heart I will thank her
for being
a walking metaphor
for all to witness.

mythsteps · The Walking Metaphor

Common Courage: poetry book
myth steps blog
dream steps blog
you tube channel
© 2023, Michael R. Patton

Only a Fool Argues with Stone

author’s note:

I learned the way I often learn: the hard way.


ONLY A FOOL ARGUES WITH STONE

Long ago a clever storyteller saw
the features of a human face
on the gray stone of the bluff
overlooking the bend in the river

then invented the tale
of the wise woman spirit
who sees all who pass as her children
and warns them with an echo:
steer away from the rocky shore.

A legend we love because
both young and old
want to feel protected by Mother.

Many of those who canoe
down the river today
will slow their paddles at the bluff
and ask that stone sage for guidance.

And the ones who truly listen
may discern an answer
buried within
the distorted amplification
booming back across the water.

I’ve known people who refused to accept
what they needed to do
until they heard the woman of stone say:
you know the truth.

But you need not travel to our river
when burdened with a question.
I say:
wise stone spirits can be found
all over this planet

and if we approach with reverence
they will tell us
what we need to know--
even if they don’t echo
we can hear their thoughts
if we quiet our hearts.

I myself have sometimes received
an answer of truth
from a cliffside or a boulder
or even a rock in the sand.

And though I often want
to reject that wisdom
I don’t because I’ve learned:

only a fool
argues with stone.

Listening to Silence: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2023, Michael R. Patton

An Ark Builder Overcomes Reasonable Doubt with Reason

author’s note:

To all the Noahs out there.


AN ARK BUILDER OVERCOMES REASONABLE DOUBT WITH REASON

As a child when I heard
the story of Noah
I firmly decided:
you must obey higher guidance
even if people doubt you.

Ah, but my resolution slipped
when, years later
the voice of wisdom spoke to me
as I tried to quiet my heart
during a time of confusion.

Like the command Noah heard
the message I received
seemed to go against common sense.

Nonetheless, I might have believed--
if the voice had boomed down from the clouds.
But no
the answer rose softly
from a place deep within me

and so
governed by doubt
I went against the guidance

and soon realized
I should’ve heeded that advice.

And oh--
the advice didn’t stop--
because in curiosity, I strained to hear
the next message and the next
and the next.

Though in short time, I learned
I should obey what I heard
I still worried about
rejecting my reasonable doubt--
after all
I didn’t want to lose my reason--
reason is good!

Fortunately, I eventually
I developed a strategy:
when I begin to fret about
some major building instruction
I counter my doubt
with this reasonable argument:

maybe I am
making a grand mistake

but if I act with courage and love
that mistake will be
wonderfully grand.

mythsteps · An Ark Builder Overcomes Reasonable Doubt with Reason

Common Courage: poetry ebook
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2023, Michael R. Patton

Jump

author’s note:

“Might as well jump”
         -- Van Halen


JUMP

What should you do
if an inner voice tells you
to “jump”?

Fortunately
I knew enough to know
the message was a metaphor.

However
a metaphorical jump
off a metaphorical cliff
can feel as scary as a literal leap.

So though my deep self assured me
this step into the unknown
would bring more life
I rejected the order at first:
I argued in defense
of good common sense--

what if I fell into an abyss?--!

However
from experience I knew
if I didn’t move
I’d probably be pushed
and if I wasn’t, I’d wither.

I also know from experience
I may still doubt the decision
after I see where I’ve landed.
But if so, I’ll just tell myself
that where I am
is where I need to be.

I find strength in that belief--
strength enough
to lift myself up
should my hopes collapse.

Common Courage: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Forward Back

author’s note:

I often hear, “Follow your intuition!”

To that, I say, “Yes, but the benefits aren’t always so obvious.”


FORWARD BACK

One morning on
a two-lane highway
my car hit a patch of black ice
and suddenly went into a spin

and when the backend
had whipped to a stop
the front end faced the place
I’d just left.
Or perhaps I should say “fled”.
Or maybe the word is: “abandoned”.

But then
in that abrupt moment of stillness
I could no longer ignore
the silent voice.

When what my intuition says
goes against my wishes
I may allow my stubborn will
to steer the wheel

until I go into a spin--
and eventually I’ll go into a spin.

Then I’ll finally surrender
to the secret knowledge
of that silent voice.

Yet even as I obey
I’ll ask “why”--
why I must do what I must?
I’ll ask--though I know
I probably won’t
get a reply.

Years later
I continue to learn why
I needed to return
to the place I had abandoned.

Listening to Silence: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2022, Michael R. Patton

Missteps of Perfection

author’s note:

The path is under your feet at
All times.
          -- Tao Te Ching (Cloud Hands Edition)


MISSTEPS OF PERFECTION

Though I know
I acted in the innocence of ignorance
I still can’t quite forgive myself
for all those missteps.

However, I'm hoping
I’ll feel the relief of a reprieve
if I can ever find
a grand design within
that mess of tracks in the dust.

But though I’ve tried hard
to clear the fog
my vision remains too dim.
However
sometimes when I close my eyes
and linger down in the dark
a sense of perfection
reassures my heart.

Experience has taught me:
surface feelings may lie
but deep feelings speak the truth.

And so
I’ll keep working to see
the reality of what I sense
so deeply.

Soultime: a novel
© 2021, Michael R. Patton

The Silent Voice

author’s note:

“I learn by going where I have to go.”
             -- Theodore Roethke


THE SILENT VOICE

Sometimes, when I quiet down
to ponder a decision...

I detect a voice

deep within...alien, it seems:

a voice without language
or even sound.
Nonetheless, it talks:

sometimes it tells me yes
sometimes it tells me no--
often giving me an answer
different from the one
I’d wished for.

But I've learned not to argue--
from experience I know
the walls, the falls, the knots
that result when I go against it.

However, to obey--to follow--
often doesn’t bring clear benefits--
often
I can’t see the purpose
for going here instead of there
and doing this instead of that
even years after the act.

To deal with my perplexity
I’ve decided to trust
that that little voice knows
the way to "home"--
knows what needs to unfold
through work and time--knows
where I need to go in order to
eventually get to
where I need
to eventually be.

A bold notion--I’m fearful
as I struggle to believe
and yet, I’m also encouraged:
I find hope in that belief.

dream steps blog
© 2021, Michael R. Patton

Gray Paper Heart

author's note:

I feel I'm learning a lot--though often I'm not aware of what I'm learning.

Looking back, I'll sometimes realize what I learned at a particular time.  But maybe not until long afterwards.


GRAY PAPER HEART

I once explored a stationery store
for an hour
in search of a sheet
from which I could cut
a gray paper heart

to match the one that’d vanished
when I reached down in a dream.

Somehow I knew
texture was even more important

than color in my choice.
So I traced my fingertips
across sheets of many grades and weaves--
each held its own particular pleasure.
Some felt almost right
which meant:
they were not the paper I sought.

Finally
like a magical moment in a fairy tale
I spied the one I knew was the one
at the end of the middle shelf:
a light-gray standard-size sheet, it was--
the fiber, somewhat coarse
but perfect in its imperfection.

I touched with trepidation
and in turn, was touched
by a material so quiet
yet so alive.

Something inside silently said:
I am that.
To which I replied:
“I don’t think I understand.”
And then no longer felt that something.

Not until the evening
when I began to work my scissors
tenderly into those fibers
did I remember
someone I once saw leaning
against the side of a stucco building
deep in shadow.

No, I didn’t see her face
just the back of her long plain gray dress.
I could hear her tears--
not dramatic, not bereft--
her sighing calm suggested
she didn’t want to but knew
she needed to cry.

I felt pained because
I desired to help her but could not.
So I soothed myself
with this understanding:
she didn’t need me.

Now, as I touch that cut heart
I feel the woman’s strength again.
Though quite human
she was also a vision.
Another lesson
in my education.

33 1/3 New Fables & Myth: ebook
© 2021, Michael R. Patton