
Money Honey 2011 by Drea Jensen
Good fortune is all around us. All we have to do is embrace it.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/money-honey-2011-drea-jensen.html
Swamp Walk – Swallowed Whole
Threshing out old fears
Thread bare costumed old illusions
Shedding these clothes
My nakedness makes me giddy
Feeling the hands of like minded red thread souls
Past and future
While I hold the center of the present
At the edge of my heart.
Tea stained water takes my feet and the tip of my walking stick
I carry to ward off a possible attack.
Looking down before that first step
I see heaven looking back at me and realize I must be floating.
After the first step the water muddies
Hiding any vision of earth or heaven.
Discarded as a weapon
The stick becomes an extension of my toe as I feel my way
Rain becomes Holy Water
But apprehension still
Grips my breath.
And I begin to cry.
With each step onto the aged limestone pathway
Covered in the detritus of all that ever was
The dark water swallows more of me
Until it reaches my hips.
Pond Cypress create a shaded cathedral of vision, sound and touch
The graceful low pond apple trees echo gravity
And greens of all shades…algae, ferns, and broad leafed water plants
Swallow me whole.
As I attempt to hold my breath
My senses are caught off guard by the song of the Carolina Wren
Searching her out I catch a glimpse of the ghost orchid with 27 blooms!
The rain stops,
The frogs begin to sing
And just as suddenly
Stop.
An Anhinga breaks through the water and lights on a limb
Her wings outstretched
Warming in the dappled light
Before heading back into the dark to feed.
I walk on
Winding my way through the dark
Moving with the constant almost imperceptible
Heartbeat of current
Always with wonder turning
Into gratitude and back again
Swallowing, swallowing, swallowing
Whole!
~Rosemary C. Allen