Teach Me How to Burn
by Terri Ward
Teach me how to stand in the flames
of compassion for the world
and burn like a wild fire for truth
without searing my heart to ash.
Show me how to plunge deep
into the waters
of Love’s divine ocean
and swim beneath the waves
without drowning in the salt
river of Mother Earth’s tears.
Take my hand and guide me
to that bridge in the darkness
where together we will spread our wings,
wayshowers lighting the path
back to Love.
Fear’s army is gathered
in the valley of the shadow,
and this tender heart is weary,
wounded and broken open
in battle again and again.
Look into my eyes and remind me,
let your heart whisper
its song of courage to mine.
Look into my eyes and remind me,
show me how to live
with this soul wide open
like empty blue sky
embracing the world.
Teach me how to stand in the flames
and burn like wild fire for truth…
look into my eyes and remind me,
this fire is why I came.
Bio: Terri Hadley Ward gains inspiration from the sacred feminine and from being in nature. Her poems have appeared in The Greensilk Journal, The MOON magazine, When Women Waken, The Magnolia Review, Mountain Ink, Sage Woman, Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing, and She Who Knows: a Magazine for Awakening Women. Her poetry chapbook, Songs of the Wild She, is available through Amazon. She is currently at work on her first full-length book of poetry.
Glitch
by Carolyn Wolfe
Late at night
The glow of my computer screen
Suddenly went dark
I
Being so used to its sterile blue light
Was caught, surprised
Not sure what happened
How could it just
Shut off?
I had just turned away for a moment
Getting a glass of tea
Iced
To soothe my parched throat
I had been reciting
A novel
With Dragon
Speech recognition technology
The latest software
(Don’t you love shortcuts?)
But suddenly
Nothing
No blue screen
No black words on a white background
Just a black screen
I checked the wires
I checked the plugs
I checked the fuse box
I checked everything
I drank my tea
And pondered
There was no explanation
Then
I heard a voice
It sounded more like a buzz
But the words were clear
“Why?”
I looked around
But knew
I was the only one
In the room, in the house
And suddenly
In the dark, as all light went out.
The voice continued.. Buzzing
“Do you”
Now I was in a state of panic
Where did I put the flashlight?
The candles, the matches…?
The voice continued as I swept the room
For any portable, battery operated
light source.
“Need me?”
The buzzing stopped for a moment
And the left side of my brain started working on the question.
Need You? Need Who? My brain stammered…
“To tell your story?” The buzzing rose and then was silent…
The screen suddenly came back on
Two enormous cat-like
Slitted, red eyes
Stared at me.
I stared
They stared
The buzzing came from the screen..
“Answer me please.”
Uh, I write the story… I began
Saying it loudly, defensively,
“aah.” The buzzing said..
“then you don’t need me.”
The red eyes blinked for a moment
I saw a giant head of scales,
a torso, the hint of a wing
A long barbed tail…
Then a sound reminiscent
of air and fire…
Then the screen was brilliant blue again.
I looked, but my story was gone
And my dragon icon too…
I sighed.
Man, I hate computer glitches.
No Halloween
by Carolyn Wolfe
Halloween is at a disadvantage this year
I mean
Come on,
We’ve had
Hurricanes,
Flood,
And Fire
Violence in protests,
Violence from terrorists
Violence for no reason.
Animals being chained, fenced in or crated
Left to drown in the storms fury
Children screaming
People fleeing for their lives…
The dark spirit of Man
The heavy hand of Nature
The homelessness,
The hopelessness
The despair…
So, yes, Halloween decided
To pack it in this year
Give it a miss
After all
Nothing it could do
Could top this…
Bio: Carolyn Wolfe is a free-lance writer, published poet, and author of eight books, four of which are illustrated children's books. Those include, "Am I YOUR Pet?", "The Drowsy House," "The Bedtime of The Sky and Other Sleepy-Bye Stories" and "The Unhappy Little Dragon, Lessons Learned." Her books for general readership include: "Miracle Paws, A Love Story" a story of rescue and light romance, "The Moonsparrow Collection" a collection of her short fantasy stories, " Notes From the Shadow Self" a collection of her original poetry, and an adult Sword and Sorcery novella, "Blade's Magic" which is about dangerous magics and an attraction that spans two worlds.
All her books are available on amazon.com , Barnes and Noble and Books-A- Million- (online)
Wolfe lives with her photographer husband, Scott, and a houseful of her own rescued animal companions. If you would more info about this Author, here is her website info: http://wolfecarolyn.wix. com/carolyn-storyteller