Perils of the Overachiever
Never go first down the garden path
life’s a journey, it isn’t a race,
and the person who’s first is always the one
who gets cobwebs in her face.
#47
Linda Studley
Can't Put the Pen Down…
Archive for the tag “life”
Ripples and Wrinkles
Ripples in a lifetime.
Wrinkles in a dream.
Choices like a pebble
tossed into a stream.
See which way the wind blows
by the bending trees.
Ripples in a lifetime.
Wrinkles in a dream.
Ripples in a lifetime
Wrinkles in a dream
Don’t be looking down
when you’re climbing up a tree.
Hold your breath and float
like a feather on a breeze.
Ripples in a lifetime.
Wrinkles in a dream.
Ripples in a lifetime.
Wrinkles in a dream.
How deep is the water?
Deeper than it seems.
Rainbow’s to the ripple
as the sky is to the sea.
Ripples in a lifetime.
Wrinkles in a dream.
#22
The Path
When I think I know how the path unwinds,
know the twists and turns like the back of my mind,
even now, and now and then
the path turns back on itself again.
#20
Bread as Life
There is a point in the bread-making process
when the ragged tags and the sticky strings
of dough coalesce.
A point when the dusty, broken surface heals
and become soft and pliable,
a complete entity imbued with life.
Perhaps I am close to that point
because I often feel ragged;
constrained by strings that have just enough
stretch to make me think I’m going forward.
A little more pummelling and
the dusty cracks in my soul will heal.
I will become serene and know
how to bend instead of break.
A complete entity imbued with life.
#16
Wet on Dry
Thirsty paper swells.
Pigment irrigates the nubby surface,
depositing brilliant silt;
fertile soil on the banks of the Nile.
Gems bloom at the end
of squirrel hair brooms
that swish and sweep the bubbles of colour into trees
and rivers, and cloud speckled skies.
But beware the heavy hands of gravity,
clawing the sparkling rivulets
into muddy puddles
at the bottom of the stillness.
#14
Red Wine and Good Conversation
Red wine and good conversation make
the years fall away
and sometimes it’s the telling
over of the past that makes the future
tenable
Sometimes.
Brushing away
cobwebs, sweeping aside
twigs, and kicking stones
can make a path easier;
make the choice of turn
or twist clearer, but
horizons being what they are,
all roads lead to ruin.
But for now there is red wine
and good conversation.
#11
Life Does Not Compute
There is no back button on life,
no control alt delete.
And hard boots are just hard boots,
not do-overs.
Control X won’t erase mistakes
and control Y won’t bring back what’s been lost
and the worms will get us all eventually.
# 5
Wherein I Try to Piece My Life Together Like a Jigsaw Puzzle
Start with edges, straight lines of reason
terminating in sharp, 90 degree corners.
But there are too many corners, the edges blur,
and the scene shifts from white clouds on pale blue to stars on velvet indigo.
Pieces of life can be treacherous.
They do not interlock securely.
Knobs wear down, pockets grow holes,
and the shiny, thin veneer lifts at the edges, exposes the dull grey beneath.
The original box is long gone and with it the picture
of what this life should look like.
Only fragmentary hints of overlapping true colours, larger truths,
and persistent trial and error will ever get this thing finished.
And what then? A window? A mirror?
A slowing fading postcard crying “Wish you were here” ?
I think I shall spend less time straining to find the big picture,
and more time enjoying the potential of the little pieces.
“Falling Awake and other poems” now available online! Follow the link below to order your copy!
My CD "New Traditions" is available for listening or digital download
My CD "Breathe" is available to listen to or for digital download
Linda Studley
Linda Studley is a writer, songwriter, independent recording artist, and sometime graphic artist living in Northern BC, Canada
Linda Studley 