Slipping Through

Static-muffled words
Shared in bits and bytes
Fed through cables
I plug in and check out
Stuff a moment in a pocket
Wait for time to pull it out
Watch it slip through my fingers

© BY Penman 2009 - All Rights Reserved

Electric Souls ~ Word & Image Offering

Knotty Sapling ~ Word Offering

Knotty sapling spreads
Gangly limbs and lofty thoughts
Of life beyond us

© B.Y. Penman 2008 - All rights reserved.





Photo: Poplar Sapling by Carolyn Krause

Wild Yang ~ Word Offering

wild yang to my yin
seeded from these mother bones
mirror to the world
reflecting blue notes and pain
he walks the path less traveled

we begged him to stay-
within that small shell it blazed
teaching from first breath
even then he walked the line
between innocent and wise

gypsy feet stand still
while the world spins and dances
to a mad rhythm
I no longer need to run
when the wind urges me forth


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Hypervigilance ~ Word & Image Offering

Always listening
For the sound of life stopping-
Hypervigilance


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Toward Nothing ~ Word Offering

Over pine needles
And pavement, these gypsy feet
Rush toward nothing

© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Caught ~ Word & Image Offering

Caught between here and
There are no happy endings
Just new becomings




© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

While The Sky Wept ~ Word & Image Offering

Before the old church
While the sky wept for jilted
Ghosts, his hand found mine

Through lead glass windows we peered
Hoping to glimpse yesterday




© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Ghosts & Lovers Walk ~ Word & Image Offering

Too long have I let
Dust gather on surfaces
Awaiting the rain

Over wet leaves and gravel
Only ghosts and lovers walk


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Soon The Frost - Word Offering

All my words escaped
Through this hole they chewed in me-
My pen gathers dust

Soon the frost will come again
And cool the burning within


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Sidestepping

Humbly I sidestep
To get out of my own way-
Clouds part for the sun


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.


A little music to go with image & words. Bedouin Soundclash - Wall Fall Down

First Night Word Offering & A Favourite Song

First Night

Proud smiles and high-fives
Watching from behind the boards
Hockey Mom's first night

Used to struggle to fit in
Now he's just part of the team


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.


The following song is one of my son's favourites. He's a Burton Cummings fan much like his father.



The Guess Who - These Eyes

Life has been keeping me incredibly busy but I've managed to steal a bit of time to write. The above tanka is about my son and our first evening out watching him play floor hockey with the local Special Olympics team. Tonight we passed a major milestone in our lives. Our son participated in his very first team sport and his father and I were able to just sit back and watch our son play and have fun just like any other teenager.

Retrospective Word Offering

Forty In Retrospect

familiar skin and bones
keep slipping
in and out
of comfortable

words come and words go
some just get
stuck
gnaw from the inside out
trying to break free
of should and must

even strong colours fade
like dying stars
the dancing stops
for all in time
and we remember
how it used to be
blue notes and sunshine

students of love and life
gave up on easy
reschooled and retooled
to fit a new groove
grabbing life by the horns
they ride
hard

© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Serpent's Tongue - Thursday Word Offering

Serpent's Tongue

Refusing to be
Silenced or stilled - renegade
Pain eats its own tail

I watch as the words sneak out
In spite of the serpent's tongue

© B.Y. Penman 2007
- All rights reserved.




I've been quiet lately due to life being busy and the curse of a 4-day migraine/tension headache duo of doom which spawned the tanka above. Hope to be back in action next week.

New Digital Abstraction & Word Offering

Image Title - Gazing Into You

Teetering

Endless balancing
Teetering glass on thin wire
Hands cupped, I wait


© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

Acoustic Boogie & Between

Between


Between the sheets
He brings the beach to me
Grain by grain





© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.





Tommy Emmanuel - Boogie

Tuesday Word Offerings With a Little Music On The Side

Vibrations

A life's vibrations
Unnoticed by others
I feel you leaving


-------------------
Caught

Afraid to dance
Caught up in should and must
These bones know how




© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.




Nicholas Barron - This Train


Photograph of The Dancing Tree from Source Of Light Portal - Photographer Unknown.

Wandering Wednesdays - Music & Word Offering

Toes tap in time
A gypsy wanders
Without leaving

© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.


I decided to combine a word offering with my favorite of the week today just to mix things up a little. Along with Blues, I love listening to acoustic guitar and when I stumbled across the following video of Don Ross on youtube today I felt compelled to share. Enjoy.


Don Ross - Jesse Helms' Night In Havana



Photograph of Dance Shoes by Washington photographer Sally Ehrlich Hoffmann.

Unsaid - Monday Word Offering

Unsaid

Where do the words go
All those left unsaid
Do they just vanish
Like socks from laundry
Hid beneath the bed
In deep dark corners
Where nobody looks
Or evaporate
Like thin mist in air
Simply lingering
Waiting to be found



© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.

It's a Jazzy Sort of Day

Time for a little soothing jazz and a new word offering. I'm moving through my day with one eye closed while trying to chase away a migraine. I should know better by now and just hide out in a dark room and rest but I'm stubborn. I like to write through the pain and distract myself.

Moving Through

Riding the pain train
Moving through life with eyes closed
Just feeling the way

© B.Y. Penman 2007 - All rights reserved.




Foolish Girl by Jazz Guitarist Matt Otten