madswirl : poetry of Denise Lumley

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Dreams

I had that dream again last night
The floating bubbles dream,
with people inside.
It’s a beautiful sunny day,
wispy clouds are floating among the bubble people.
We're standing there
My companion and I,
marveling at the lightly floating clear bubbles
and the changing faces of people as they float past us.
We’re filled with wonder and excitement.
Then suddenly.

The reality.

We're not in a bubble!
We're on the ground!
We want to be in a bubble too!
The bubble people look so happy!
Do you buy one!?
Do you have to go to school to learn to float one!?
Do you earn one in some special way of living,
kinda’ like going to heaven if you do all the right things?
Why are some bubbles huge and some so tiny?
My companion and I, in this dream state of being, ask between us without speaking a word.

I think; how is it…in dream worlds…the voice isn't always needed?

Flowing in this world of dream
My companion and I are suddenly sitting in a dark theater
A movie is playing
Music is flowing through our ghost like figures.
In waves,
it fills our souls.
Scenes flicker in black and white across a screen that’s not a screen at all.
A voice softly repeats a phrase.
It’s a secret message.
It’s encrypted.

We think: how will we ever learn the key to the encryption?

Music flows in waves again.
A voice softly repeats a phrase
We want to leave this dark theater…
My companion and I.
We want to be like the bubble people,
but the voice won’t let us leave the darkness.
We haven’t solved the riddle.
Our ghost like figures struggle,
in an effortless battle to exit.
And the voice softly repeats a phrase.

We hold hands,
my companion and I.
We turn looking into our ghost like eyes
And search for the key to this mystery.
And the voice softly repeats a phrase.
That voice.
My companion thinks.
I know that voice.
It’s your voice.
Just keep holding my hand He thinks.
Together we can find the key.

In silence we wait.

And the voice softly repeats a phrase.

“Don’t you know? It’s all about love”.

At the knowing
of the phrase
of the softly repeating voice
My love and I
in our ghost like figures
begin to float.

- Denise Lumley

(featured in the poetry forum 05.08.12)

editor's note: Dream state, awake state; in either state, our pursuits are the same. We possess lighter-than-air existence in the gaze of a loved one's eyes, hear it in a loved one's voice. - mh

KEYLESS

I’m a keyless entry
Don’t you see?
No key can get to the
Heart of me.
No locks, no bolts, no chains or hooks
Keeping you from
The heart of me.
The open heart
Needs no key.
It’s safe
In its own
Simplicity.

- Denise Lumley

(featured in the poetry forum 02.11.12)

editor's note: No lock, no looting; free access eliminates crime. The love police will have to look elsewhere. - mh

Owner

It takes a lot of livin’
To own the life
To buy it with dollars
And tears and fights
To love it for its beauty
Its scars and fears

Life’s too priceless to take the chance
To alter your course
Based on another man’s stance
Trust what you believe
Feel what you trust

To own your life
Knowing the debt’s been paid
No burden of assumptions or judging
Along the way

Freed from the collector
Of guilt and remorse
Freedom to live
Within the life of your course

- Denise Lumley

(featured in the poetry forum 08.26.11)

THE WAIT

I waited patiently
And the words came
Deep in the thoughts
Buried in the mind
Covered over by the day
But it lay
Waiting for the night
When day was helplessly forgot
And it rose
From its hidden place
Needing to be born
Born in a different form
Written in a poem

- Denise Lumley

(featured in the poetry forum 06.24.11)

FATE

The breath catches wanting to escape
The tear holds waiting to fall
The word forms wanting to speak
But the emotions are too strong and too weak
So the breaths heave
The tears fall
The words flow
Because…these emotions are too strong and too weak

There are lives to live and moments to share
With so many shadows and burdens to bear
Blocking the life that so eagerly awaits
Holding hearts hostage and fearing the fates

Life’s doors open and then they close
Entering is an option and no one knows
But the chance must be taken as the moment never waits
Closing the door to your future and fate

So take the breaths
Cry the tears
Speak the words
And enter without fear
Because should you wait…it may cost you your fate

- Denise Lumley

(featured in the poetry forum 04.21.11)

Denise Lumley

A bit about Denise: Denise is a native Louisianan’ and Texas transplant. She’s an artist, sculptor, recent poet and jewelry designer. Her art (Paula’s Peeps) can be seen on display each year scattered throughout the grounds and in the Green House on the Midway at the State Fair of Texas. She has served on the Hopkins County Fall Festival Board, the Hopkins County Civic Center Board, and the Miss Sulphur Springs Pageant Board (associated with the Miss America Pageant Association). She is currently serving on the board for Earth Day Dallas.

Always a lover of other artists’ words and expression through poetry, art and song, she found her voice through poetic expression in January of 2011. Her belief is that through life and experiences we are slowly refined in spirit and soul, and through sharing these experiences with others through poetry... art... stories and verbal expression, we come to realize that we’re all one and connected by the same stories of life. Denise’s desire is that in some small way, her poetic expressions will help others to realize they are not alone.

Denise on the Web:
Paula’s Peeps