Submissions by Ahavati (Tams)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Don't make me take my pearls off.
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
15th Jan 2024 2:44am
15th Jan 2024 2:44am
Sweet Skin of Fog
For Brigid
A blank page lays open-handed
ready to hold this story
but all that oozes from the veil
is a memory of a memory
You appeared while I was writing
Specter from a past life
my Celtic blood lived
Conversation becomes the hardest thing to carry
under the weight of history
Our own senses become weapons
for and against yourself
over what to believe
Your sweet skin of fog
escaped from its sepulchre
becoming the chill winter morn
You asked if you needed a calling...
A blank page lays open-handed
ready to hold this story
but all that oozes from the veil
is a memory of a memory
You appeared while I was writing
Specter from a past life
my Celtic blood lived
Conversation becomes the hardest thing to carry
under the weight of history
Our own senses become weapons
for and against yourself
over what to believe
Your sweet skin of fog
escaped from its sepulchre
becoming the chill winter morn
You asked if you needed a calling...
#tradition
535 reads
11 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
28th Dec 2023 10:13pm
28th Dec 2023 10:13pm
When We Least Expect
Love, one of the most beautiful things
we'll know during our years on earth
weaves like ether
through the years of our lives
until it catches up to us.
Or perhaps more like a silken sash
that draws near on a cold wind
wrapping around our neck
when we least expect.
The last days of our lives
are beaming gold
but Love is a piercing Light
that turns our tired mind
toward a direction beyond time.
After decades have dispersed
and we feel Love went on without us
it will approach regardless ...
we'll know during our years on earth
weaves like ether
through the years of our lives
until it catches up to us.
Or perhaps more like a silken sash
that draws near on a cold wind
wrapping around our neck
when we least expect.
The last days of our lives
are beaming gold
but Love is a piercing Light
that turns our tired mind
toward a direction beyond time.
After decades have dispersed
and we feel Love went on without us
it will approach regardless ...
#love
#aging
583 reads
26 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
24th Dec 2023 5:44pm
24th Dec 2023 5:44pm
Holy
Visual Christmas
#Christmas
425 reads
16 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
9th Dec 2023 4:45pm
9th Dec 2023 4:45pm
2024
I know what my spirit says
Look how far you’ve come
and all you've done.
Still, shadows lick my feet.
I know I’m blessed.
But what I really wish
is for blessings to be commonplace.
An everyday occurrence
for each human to experience.
I've seen those suffering
while seeking direction
—gazing out the window
from an office cubicle
pretending to be content
with a noose around their neck.
Staring endlessly
into traversing clouds
beyond whatever assignment
is...
Look how far you’ve come
and all you've done.
Still, shadows lick my feet.
I know I’m blessed.
But what I really wish
is for blessings to be commonplace.
An everyday occurrence
for each human to experience.
I've seen those suffering
while seeking direction
—gazing out the window
from an office cubicle
pretending to be content
with a noose around their neck.
Staring endlessly
into traversing clouds
beyond whatever assignment
is...
#HumanRights
519 reads
31 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
25th Nov 2023 8:55pm
25th Nov 2023 8:55pm
The Joy of Knowing
The Joy of Knowing. . .
that in Spirituality
there is room for everyone,
no matter the god they serve,
nor how old or young.
Because we are all Spiritual
beings at the core
of this human cocoon
just waiting to emerge.
that in Spirituality
there is room for everyone,
no matter the god they serve,
nor how old or young.
Because we are all Spiritual
beings at the core
of this human cocoon
just waiting to emerge.
#spiritual
443 reads
10 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
19th Nov 2023 6:27pm
19th Nov 2023 6:27pm
Axis of Offering
As the Sun rises in the East
so too does gratitude:
"Here I am, behold me,
I am the sun.
I am you."
We are all cousins,
brothers and sisters
to everything in existence:
Sister Hawk, Brother Mountain
Sister Bear, Brother Cloud.
Spiritual dust rolls on
through our blood
no matter the name: God
Great Spirit, Allah, Jehovah—
what partially drifts through us
exists wholly as Itself.
As above, so below;
as within, so without.
There is no separation ...
so too does gratitude:
"Here I am, behold me,
I am the sun.
I am you."
We are all cousins,
brothers and sisters
to everything in existence:
Sister Hawk, Brother Mountain
Sister Bear, Brother Cloud.
Spiritual dust rolls on
through our blood
no matter the name: God
Great Spirit, Allah, Jehovah—
what partially drifts through us
exists wholly as Itself.
As above, so below;
as within, so without.
There is no separation ...
#historical
430 reads
19 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
17th Nov 2023 6:01pm
17th Nov 2023 6:01pm
Israel
Peace was a promised land
of milk and honey
after 400 years of servitude.
But there were wars—
and rumors of wars
scattering the twelve tribes
to the four corners of the globe.
Then came ghettos of burgundy blood
dried between cobblestones,
and scientific experiments
pronouncing victims dead or deformed
. . .while the world looked on.
Until it threatened them.
Home was a promised land—
a final return
after many a...
of milk and honey
after 400 years of servitude.
But there were wars—
and rumors of wars
scattering the twelve tribes
to the four corners of the globe.
Then came ghettos of burgundy blood
dried between cobblestones,
and scientific experiments
pronouncing victims dead or deformed
. . .while the world looked on.
Until it threatened them.
Home was a promised land—
a final return
after many a...
#war
333 reads
12 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
11th Nov 2023 2:04pm
11th Nov 2023 2:04pm
Choctaw Cherokee
I channel it often
without even trying
feeling the reservation
beating history's
drum of time
Dust devils swirling
around moccasins
summer heat distorting distance
into fractured particles
across the Blue Ridge
Winter's stillness
under a Moon so engorged
children believed
it was pregnant with snow
We lived simply; rose early
knew our purpose
honored our daily duty
to the tribe as a whole
Never had money
but lacked for nothing
through sharing and trade
...
without even trying
feeling the reservation
beating history's
drum of time
Dust devils swirling
around moccasins
summer heat distorting distance
into fractured particles
across the Blue Ridge
Winter's stillness
under a Moon so engorged
children believed
it was pregnant with snow
We lived simply; rose early
knew our purpose
honored our daily duty
to the tribe as a whole
Never had money
but lacked for nothing
through sharing and trade
...
#historical
353 reads
12 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
29th Oct 2023 9:41pm
29th Oct 2023 9:41pm
Palestine
We burn with stars at night
calculating how many drafts
it would take
to get the poem right
How it could capture and transfer
the weight of dirty water buckets
across shoulders of women
balancing rubble each morning
Or the shrapnel of wind
cutting through the skin
of displaced families
with nowhere to go
We stare down reason
like a vulture, ready for its death
go for its throat
swallow every bloody decision
yet to come
We wade through ghosts
knowing the ground...
calculating how many drafts
it would take
to get the poem right
How it could capture and transfer
the weight of dirty water buckets
across shoulders of women
balancing rubble each morning
Or the shrapnel of wind
cutting through the skin
of displaced families
with nowhere to go
We stare down reason
like a vulture, ready for its death
go for its throat
swallow every bloody decision
yet to come
We wade through ghosts
knowing the ground...
#war
461 reads
9 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
12th Oct 2023 2:50am
12th Oct 2023 2:50am
The Definition of Love
Are you at peace?”
It’s not far-fetched of you to ask me
in your prayers each night
and thoughts each day
The much-known concept of lives
swallowed by the living each year
Firstly, when we are physically birthed
and slapped into breath;
secondly, when we wake to purpose
and life slaps us into a vessel
for something greater than ourselves
The lesser-known concept
of two deaths is fully understood
on this side of the veil
Firstly, when our...
It’s not far-fetched of you to ask me
in your prayers each night
and thoughts each day
The much-known concept of lives
swallowed by the living each year
Firstly, when we are physically birthed
and slapped into breath;
secondly, when we wake to purpose
and life slaps us into a vessel
for something greater than ourselves
The lesser-known concept
of two deaths is fully understood
on this side of the veil
Firstly, when our...
#death
#graveyard
#memorial #love
#memorial #love
625 reads
13 Comments
SPIRITUAL POEM
Published
11th Oct 2023 1:52am
11th Oct 2023 1:52am
Crucifix & Candlelight
In the necropolis
there is no life after sundown
Branches weigh heavy
with its slumber
Here at the ofrenda
we wait for the heart of it
amid sugar skulls
and old photographs
Course salt laid out as a cross
to purify and cleanse
providing courage to remain
and alter a memory
This is the part where we tread
gently, knowing the past is present
camouflaged in the thick space
of enveloping incense
wafting...
there is no life after sundown
Branches weigh heavy
with its slumber
Here at the ofrenda
we wait for the heart of it
amid sugar skulls
and old photographs
Course salt laid out as a cross
to purify and cleanse
providing courage to remain
and alter a memory
This is the part where we tread
gently, knowing the past is present
camouflaged in the thick space
of enveloping incense
wafting...
#death
#memorial
#graveyard
436 reads
6 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
1st Oct 2023 9:39pm
1st Oct 2023 9:39pm
King of the Castle
I stopped playing
King of the Castle
when I was about ten
All that pushing and shoving
to get to the top
lost its appeal for me
not because I was a girl
I was a tomboy
and could hold my own
against any boy
I preferred to watch
others play the game
from the freedom of a swing
or tree
Then I realized something
I hadn't when playing the game
because I was too busy trying to win
or retain that crown
...
King of the Castle
when I was about ten
All that pushing and shoving
to get to the top
lost its appeal for me
not because I was a girl
I was a tomboy
and could hold my own
against any boy
I preferred to watch
others play the game
from the freedom of a swing
or tree
Then I realized something
I hadn't when playing the game
because I was too busy trying to win
or retain that crown
...
#children
446 reads
13 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Ahavati (Tams)
