Author: Michiru Adrienne

heartbeat of the sun

.Reading time 1 minute.

not all fire is the same

there is the ravenous fire devouring everything in its path
it bleeds a trail bleak and grey but full
of hungry ghosts
drifting like windborne ash
to nowhere

and there are strong and purifying fires
they clear out all the old closets, locked treasure trunks, and forgotten albums
recycling these yawning worn out yesteryears
into some bright new shiny thing
on the horizon
rising

there are cozy fires too
glowing warm and sparking embers
for our toes peeking out from beneath the quilted blankets
on the sofa
our cheeks and hearts
toasty
on a long winter’s night

in our kitchens
an alchemical fire feeds us all
where flour becomes bread broken between lovers
and wine softens an unspoken longing
where the raw materials of life churn
into butter and honey

and in the body of an altar candle
is sacred fire
full
of silence—
and timelessness, and
illumination
a prayer
the soul searching for its way home

not all fire is the same,
but burning within every single fire
is
the heartbeat of the sun
an eternal flame
creation itself
the goddess or
the god
Love
the heartbeat of the sun
the heartbeat of the sun
even in the darkest of nights
the heartbeat of the sun

tokimeki

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

my heart
this wildflower in the wind
is dancing
for her one and only
sun

daisies

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darling
don’t you know you are
the center of my entire universe
every single petal
of every single flower
whispers
i love you
i love you
i love you

gold

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today’s gentle rain
in tiny yellow flowers
falls into my heart

sun dance

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maybe i was just
dancing
a little here and a little bit more somewhere over there
like the alligator shuffle dance
a little lazily
hand in hand
with my demons

but winds shifted and the skies changed color
in one lightning flash
now
spun on a dime
then dipped way way back
i’m sent flying
up and out and through and far far beyond the stratosphere
hurled past all of those burning stars
swimming there
in that deep inky darkness

spun and dipped way way back then flung
fast
furiously
straight like an arrow
to fly
right into the giant beating heart
of
the
SUN

sun under water

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the sun under water
swims
slowly—like a school of sleepy mullet fish
light shifting and shimmering
and onto the sandy seabed
scribes
an ancient script

i trace these curvilinear lines carefully
with fingertips and a quickly beating heart
as this underwater scroll
~~quivering and pulsing~~
comes alive
its sacred poetry of light
is singing
is breathing into my soul
the song
of
the
sun

gems

.Reading time 4 minutes.

here i am
or so it seems
on this rocky sea bed
strange fish swimming by stare
impolitely
at me
i would like to, crablike, crawl
deep into hidden crevices
and seek counsel
from the wise octopi

Honorable Octopi,
i seem to have sunk down
quite gill-less and un-finned
uh, rather hapless here
a mere, terrestrial, mortal in these depths
Could you please perhaps advise?
As nearly everything seems to have gone awry.

five large octopi
pulsing, and
floating gravity free bobbing lightly
look at me
and then at one another
and then at me again

(i anxiously regret every takoyaki i’ve ever eaten and consider
this may not necessarily end all that well
for me)

five pairs of eyes narrow, and
i don’t know how many long flowing tentacle-like arms start
unfurling around my face
landing soft inquisitive pokes and jabs
then suddenly
one arm like a flash of lightening
hurls a small sparkling stone behind me
and i swivel
ready to run away but am stoped by the five octopi

What are you doing, Tako? I ask, both nervously and annoyed
We are not Tako…
But in Japanese…
NO, not Tako!
Um, Yaki? I laugh, unable to stop myself.
A flurry of arms move the water all around sweeping me off my feet,
and ten eyes narrow in on me…
We are the Honorable Consortium of Octopi, we are
Your High Holiness the Grand Octopi of the Deep!
I squirm. All ten eyes seem to burrow into my soul, leaving no stone
unturned
And my long laundry list of woes out of the water surface
bubbling up one by one
bobbing, floating, gravity free
just like
The Honorable Consortium of Octopi

like rhythmic gymnasts, these five octopi begin playing with
and dancing,
twirling and tossing, spinning and balancing
all my woe ball bubbles
around!

You terrestrials take everything much too seriously
said the octopi, laughing
at me
All these woes of yours… what are they really?
Look, look closely, very closely, carefully…
they instructed while holding out one particularly large woe ball bubble
to me
resting it lightly in their long sucker-lined arms

and as i looked, my so-called woe ball bubble was shining softly,
like a crystal ball
drawing me further and further into its round sphere
where memories and emotions slid around shifting like sand
like a kaleidoscope
new patterns continuously emerging into view
one after another, each one
special somehow, beautiful, and entirely unexpected
mesmerizing
i was spellbound

tap, tap-tap…
an octopus tentacle on my shoulder
snapped me out of my woe ball bubble turned crystal ball kaleidoscope reverie
See? Terrestrial, it’s infinite, like mirrors mirroring mirrors
an endless parade of possibility
a playroom, perhaps
or a dance
a gem

and-just-like-that—
poof!
The Honorable Consortium of Octopi
disappeared,
all but right winked out of time and space…

Your High Holiness the Grand Octopi of the Deep,
i whispered
into the watery silence around me,
Thank You.
And, um… No more takoyaki for me. I promise. From now on it’s tomato-yaki.
but, The Honorable Consortium of Octopi
had vanished
without a trace

i take a deep breath and am about to push off this sea bed
to swim back up to the surface
but then i spy
a small sparkling stone
and i see it is not just any small sparkling stone
it’s a gem
smiling, i put it in my pocket
and i know

we’ll be alright

[Image by Erik Tanghe from Pixabay]

evolution

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

here, out on the shore
teetering on edge
i need the warmth of your hand
holding mine
my chest, burning with the ash and smoke of yesteryear
rises and falls,
swells with deep ocean waves

i want salt on my tongue
the grit of sand in my mouth
as i plunge
into the unknown
into this darkness
descending
further and further down
to the very
rock
bottom

to the fissure where
lava meets water
steaming
and hissing like snakes out of nowhere
out loud
screaming
where this primordial earth is churning
and grinding
the bones of my ancestors
into diamonds and pearls
into gold
into the fiery horizon
of new day

and at the break of dawn
hand in hand
we fly

the offering

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the lotus floats, not
on a surface of sparkling clear and crystal waters
the lotus rises, rather
through a dark and shadowy underworld hidden from light
little by little, the lotus
reaches up and out and into
the open air
breathing
and
unfolding
her offering of grace to the sun


In this messy world, I aspire to be the lotus.

beyond

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

~a short meditation on flight, six~

last night
nestled in your warmth
you held
me
you held my heart
wholly
and into the deep ocean of your eyes
this body
bare and unadorned
was swept
swept like the sun’s scattered light
at dusk
swept up into your nighttime arms of gathering dark,
quiet, embrace

and so i
i left
one hundred and twenty two
kisses
on your skin
just
just before break of dawn
and then, out beyond the day

took flight