j-i-poetry

Latest Posts by j-i-poetry

Irish Spring

a raspy laugh, sharp as cheap soap a mind's movie on a honey-smacked whorl

windows open season. waking up to birdsong season. smelling the dewy grass season. twirling in a long skirt season. life feels worth living again season. taking all of my meals outside of possible season. reasoning how far I can get by bike ride and pedaling out anyway season.

Decomposing

Her fingers, the wispy breath of young wheat.

An Ohio summer hangs like a warm towel after swimming.

We kickball ideas over the nylon floor of the trampoline;

She recites revisions for her newest novel.

The dank rot of sweet hay and dirt wafts over memories.

Per Amor Ad Astra

Take only photos, leave only footprints,

The mantra of the visitor

To nature's stoop.

We tread lightly on our mother's carpet,

The grass or soil or sand deforms

Under shoe or sole.

We watch as our cousins trot or sway or chirp

As our brother sets on the horizon,

Brilliant and silent.

Together are we on our little world, starstuff all.

As much of the ground or sky

As we are each other.

Watch as the stars rearrange themselves,

See the passing of eras, young ones,

Rise to your feet and behold.

the lover’s almanac : part one.

I Don't Have Hands

Eating daisies, yellow paint,

Drinking water, taking pills.

Doing everything as I should

Following all the doctor's rules.

Working hard, walking often,

Happy wallpaper, pretty songs

I wrote my feelings in the notes app,

Going to therapy, watching birds.

I have a cat, have a roof,

Have a bed, have a girl.

I don't wanna be sad no more

But my mind has been made up for me.

The ball's not in my court, and I

Don't have hands anyways.

I Take Pictures of Flowers

Who:

For my love, to make her smile

When a purple blossom makes

Me think of her favorite color.

For my Tumblr followers when

I post proof of my wilderness walks.

For my soul, so I might revisit these

Moments of awe and beauty.

For these,

I take pictures of flowers.

What:

A moment caught in my

Binary bug net,

A digital trace of my travels,

A daily commute or intentional stroll.

And along the way,

I take pictures of flowers.

Where:

My cloud storage fills

To the brim, and I deign to

Empty a single pixel.

Yellow, then red warnings of

Limited space,

But still,

I take pictures of flowers

Why:

To preserve what I cannot

Trust myself to remember.

Every detail, every shimmer on

A petal, every ring of color,

Every fold and roll and pleat.

To replace what I cannot have;

With no box or garden or

Sun-exposed pot,

I can only hold onto these beauties

In digital form.

When:

The golden hours escape me,

But they are probably sour grapes,

A cast of yellow hue on a face,

Not meant for leaf or colored bract.

Nay, whenever the feeling hits,

I pull out my device.

No process or plan in mind,

I snap one or two decent photos

And continue on my way.

Moment by moment

I take pictures of flowers.

How:

Only carefully, gently,

Holding the camera as I would

Carry a basket of down.

Motionless, I hold my breath and

Press the button.

My phone, with the help

Of an AI worth my trust,

Or with my moderately expensive

Camera I would like to buy

A macro attachment for.

I know not the specifics of how

My precious ladies make it onto

Film or image, but even so

I take pictures of flowers.

The joys of just opening a window

Nothing

To do nothing but stare at a wall, watch the sun wash over old paint. To cry because something blew into my eye. I thought of something funny and remembered your face. To cut a carrot the slow way, julienning each disc, one by one, to put my face over the pot as hot water boils. To do nothing but fold my clothes as if my hand was an iron. To watch your yawn like a slow-motion movie. To touch the thin film of dust without rush to wipe it away. To write as if I were talking to myself. To do nothing the whole day. To fill it to the brim with nothing, nothing but nothing.

Reblog this if i can send a picture of my OC into your inbox and you tell me what vibes you get from them

Don't Hide Your Wings

Pieced together with scraps

Of holy books, bound with the glue

Of a mad and desperate hope

Hang them on your shoulders,

Shine with the terrifying joy of being known.

Indulge in the sacrament of transformation,

Commune with the highest powers,

Feel your sacred self soar

Out of your bones; float in the whispers

Of thin air and cold mists.

And touch the terrible, destroying

Light of the great and fiery sun,

Falling up into the clear and silent realms

Above; the light piercing through your

Gilded flesh, radiating silvery threads.

Shed your hallowed frame and return anew

Crash and scorch the forests,

Turn the desert sands to glass,

Strike the earth with the force of

Lightning, scream your name like thunder.

Rise, smoldering, skin in embers and blessed

Black char, step from your crumbling grave

Bring new life to desolate plains,

Cleanse the salt from the fields,

Extend your arms, and breathe finally.

Breathe new air,

Breathe in new lungs,

Breathe fire and flame

Breathe nothing and everything

Breathe, at last, you.

We're neither of us angels

I

The crowd of lesser demons gnawing at my thoughts doesn’t come from us –

my mind circles because our moments won’t stand still to be captured.

I only haunt myself when you’re not in reach to remind me I haven’t died.

II

I weave secrets, around you, over you, yet in your presence nothing is hidden,

not even the carelessness of my wishing. You are the pennies winking low in the well,

taunting me. Every past moment of wistfulness for someone I hadn’t met yet arriving

with the grace and fluidity of rain now distils fears to the nightmare of losing this.

III

No angels will save us – still a barter better than any

offered at the crossroads. I’ll love the demons to death.

Farmtown Vibes

Planting seeds in the rich brown of my eyes,

Watering them with the cool blue of yours,

We gaze past irises and into souls

Our identities blurring and blending

Fusing into something entirely new.

The harvest is lush, my basket overflows.

Corn of ideas, creeping beans of love,

The flowing gourds of acceptance and

Understanding give a cornucopia of

Nourishing food for the soul.

THE METEOROLOGIST SAYS SUN

Desert Cherry Blossom

Under lacey shade and golden rain

Desert cherry blossom trickles

Bright desert light onto a bed of pebbles.

A verdin hops branches, calling all the time

Honeyed warble from blue-green twigs.

Florid sprigs along crooked boughs,

Silken sun-drops flit to the ground.

Bees delight in their bounty,

Bobbing from petals, bringing new life.

Soon, these skirts are traded for

Seeds, their pods forage for locals.

Gifts abound from smooth-barked

Florida, this Parkinsonia blessing

All who alight in and around her

Resplendent wings.

Writing Reference: Symbolism of Colors

Colors are proven to have a profound effect on the human psyche and moods.

Territories use colors to represent themselves on their flags.

The significance of colors is proven by the high value that our ancestors placed on certain plants or substances that could be made into dyes, such as the Imperial Purple of Rome that was produced from a mollusk that was valued more highly than gold, or the saffron crocus that produced the sacred color of the same name.

Prior to the development of chemical dyes, the creation of colors that did not fade in the Sun or wash away was a combination of art, science, and magic, akin to an alchemical process.

The impact of the Sun shining through stained glass, painting the interiors of churches with living colors that shimmered and danced, in a medieval world where color was often a privilege of the wealthy few, can only be imagined.

The 7 colors of the rainbow—which break down into 700 shades that are visible to the naked eye—are associated with the seven planets, the days of the week, the Seven Heavens, and the seven notes of the musical scale.

Symbolic Meanings of Some Colors

BLACK

Night, the absence of light; mourning, sobriety, denial; authority; perfection and purity; maturity and wisdom.

Although it’s the opposite of white, both shades are, in fact, due to an absence of color, and technically speaking black is not a “color” at all. This doesn’t stop it having a wealth of symbolic meaning.

BLUE

Truth and the intellect; wisdom, loyalty, chastity; peace, piety, and contemplation; spirituality; eternity.

There’s something cool and detached about blue that gives rise to its reputation for spirituality and chastity. Above all, blue is the color of the sky. Like the sky, blue is infinitely spacious. It contains everything, and yet contains nothing. The color is therefore associated with ideas of eternity.

BROWN

Poverty, humility, practicality.

Primarily associated with the Earth, soil, the raw element before it is covered with greenery. The word for earth, in Latin, is humus, which carries the same root as humility. Religious ascetics wear brown as a reminder of this quality and also of their voluntary material poverty.

GRAY

Sobriety, steadiness, modesty.

Gray is the midway point between black and white, and tellingly the “gray area” is an area of indetermination, indecision, or ambiguity. To be described as gray is rather less than flattering, since gray is such a subdued and neutral color, and implies that the person blends into the background.

However, gray is also a color of balance and reasonableness and is the color used, in photography, to balance all others.

Because people’s hair turns gray with age, the word is often used to describe elderly people and is also a color of wisdom.

GREEN

New life, resurrection, hope; the sea; fertility and regeneration; recycling, environmental awareness; a lucky color; an unlucky color.

Green is an amalgam of blue and yellow, and is the color of the fourth chakra. Green is the universal symbol for “Go!” to red’s “Stop!”

MOTLEY

Wealth; a chameleon personality.

Not strictly a color as such, but a combination of many other colors. The word is generally used to describe cloth or clothing. The rainbow nature of motley means that whoever wears it has as many aspects as there are colors, a chameleon personality, and it can indicate the trickster or fool (as worn by the jester, or the Fool in the Tarot) as well as kings, emperors, and deities.

In the Bible, Joseph’s coat of many colors is the object of much envy.

ORANGE

Balance between spirit and sexuality; fertility and yet virginity; energy; the Sun; like yellow, orange is believed to be an appetite stimulant.

Orange has two aspects that we see time and time again, pivoting between the material and spiritual worlds, which is not surprising given that the color itself is a balance between red and yellow. As such, it represents the second chakra, the first being red, and the third, yellow.

PINK

Femininity, innocence, good health, love, patience.

Pink is the ultimate feminine color, being flirty, girlish, and innocent at the same time. Pale pink is used as the symbol for a baby girl, just as pale blue is used for baby boys. This feminine angle is why the color pink has been adopted as a symbol of gay pride. Pink is the color of universal, unconditional love.

PURPLE

Royalty and pomp; power, wealth, majesty.

Purple, or indigo, is the color associated with the sixth chakra. Since it was first discovered, purple has been the color of choice to denote wealth and power. Emperors, kings, and the more powerful members of the clergy—such as bishops—choose the colour as a way of defining their status. This is because the dye itself was originally available from one source and one source only; the secretions of a certain gland of an unfortunate sea snail called the Murex brandaris. Therefore, purple was extremely costly to produce and strictly the color of those who could afford it, since the dye itself was more expensive even than gold. The most popular shade of the color is called Tyrian Purple (named for the city of Tyre, where it was manufactured).

RED

Vitality and life-force; fire, the Sun, the South; blood; good luck and prosperity; power and authority; masculine energy; war and anger; passion, energy, sexuality.

One of the three primary colors, bright red pops out of whatever environment it happens to be in and grabs our attention more than any other color. Moreover, it is the first actual color that is seen by babies.

SAFFRON

Spirituality, holiness, good fortune.

Named after the saffron crocuses whose stigmas create the color, the harvesting of these delicate plant parts is a labor-intensive and time-critical matter and so the actual dye is costly to produce.

VIOLET

Knowledge and intelligence; piety, sobriety, humility, temperance; peace and spirituality.

Violet is the color associated with the seventh chakra. There are many shades of violet ranging from ethereal pale shades through to the darker mauve, considered the only color acceptable as a relief from the relentless strict mourning convention of black and gray in Victorian times. Violet is a combination of red and blue, and its association with temperance is indicated in some Tarot suits.

The humble qualities of violet as a color come from the flower. The tiny violet grows close to the ground, hidden modestly in among the grass, yet noticeable because of its striking color.

WHITE

Purity, virginity; death and rebirth, a beginning and an end; in the Far East, mourning.

White is both the absence of any color and the sum of all colors together, so in a sense it can mean everything or nothing. This combination of all colors has given white the name of the “many-colored lotus” in Buddhist teachings.

YELLOW

The Sun; power, authority; the intellect and intuition; goodness; light, life, truth, immortality; endurance; the Empire and fertility [China]; cowardice, treachery.

Yellow is one of the three primary colors and is related to the third chakra which lives in the region of the solar plexus. This is apt, since yellow, like red and orange, is one of the Sun colors. It could be argued that yellow is the most dazzling of the three, so the association makes good sense.

Because leaves turn yellow and then to black with the onset of fall, in several places, including Ancient Egypt, yellow is a color of mourning. A yellow cross was painted on doors as a sign of the plague, possibly for the same reasons, and even today yellow marks off a quarantined area.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References More: On Colours

Fresh Laundry

Spring waits in my closet,

A cool-weather jacket at the ready

Washed fresh with the winter rains

Dried in the chilled breeze.

I slide off my woolen coat of winter and

Set it to the side for the summer's dreams.

My last chance for sweaters has passed,

And now is the time of the budding.

I take the hanger and slide the season

Off its mooring. The linen is delicate from

Years of washes, from changes in climate,

From the long wait and the ecstatic fever.

I sheath my arms in spring's sleeves

Its shivery fabric pricking my heat-adapted skin.

The delight of a comfortable afternoon and cool

Night will never get old.

does anyone wanna hold hands until we feel a little braver

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Variegation

Variegation—diversity of colors

Bar code - variously patterned bars and spaces

Barber pole - diagonal stripes of red and white or of red, white, and blue

Butterfly - brightly colored

Calico - blotched or spotted, predominantly white with red and black patches

Candy cane - red and white

Chameleon - changing colors

Checkerboard - having two alternating colors

Cheetah - yellowish to tan coat covered with numerous round to oval black spots

Confetti - brightly colored

Crazy quilt - patchwork without a design; colorful, jumbled

Dalmatian - white with many black or brown spots

Harlequin - a variegated pattern; a combination of patches on a solid ground of contrasting color (as in the coats of some dogs)

Iris - rainbow colored

Jaguar - brownish yellow or buff with black spots

Joseph's coat - having many colors; with variegated foliage

Kaleidoscope - variegated changing colors or patterns

Leopard - tawny or buff with black spots arranged in rosettes

Mackerel sky - a sky covered with rows of altocumulus or cirrocumulus clouds resembling the patterns on a mackerel's back

Marble - veined or mottled appearance

Moire - wavy watered appearance

Mother-of-pearl - iridescent

Nacre - mother-of-pearl; iridescent

Ocelot - tawny-yellow or grayish coat dotted and striped with black

Opal - iridescent play of colors

Patchwork quilt - various colors and shapes

Peacock - tipped with iridescent spots

Rainbow - a multicolored array

Serpentine - usually dull green and often mottled

Shot silk - two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance

Spectrum - a continuum of color

Stained glass - colored glass

Tapestry - characterized by complicated pictorial designs

Tortoise shell - mottled brown and yellow coloring

Watered-silk - pattern like that of silk subjected to watering

Zebra - patterned in stripes of black or dark brown and white or buff

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

As a child I used to pray that I would get cancer

What my young eyes saw as an illness of honor

An illness that people rally behind

I wanted to have people who were proud of me for putting up a good fight

I wanted my suffering to be visible, less shameful

I yearned for someone to see me and know that I was hurting

I wanted doctors, church goers, my family, anyone at all to try to save me

So I prayed

And prayed

And prayed

I never got cancer

And I spent years saving myself

Now I’m an adult with a graduate degree and a mission

I will be the person who sees the child who is silently begging for help

I will be the one who tries their hardest to offer treatment

Because no child should suffer in silence

Praying for a death sentence so they can be seen

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Gray

for your next poem/story

Ashiness - a whitish or grayish appearance that resembles ashes

Cinereous - gray tinged with black; archaic: cineritious

Evenglow - a reddish gray that is yellower and deeper than mist and lighter, stronger, and slightly bluer than opal gray

Fuscous - of any of several colors averaging a brownish gray

Greige - a variable color that blends gray and beige

Grisaille - decoration in tones of a single color and especially gray designed to produce a three-dimensional effect

Gunmetal - a bluish-gray color

Pewter - a bluish gray

Slate - a dark purplish gray

Taupe - a brownish gray

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists

Potent Ponds

Steeping in cool waters

The saffron sun on the

Bowl of the pond.

Taking my vitamins every

Morning, the C in my veins

Mingling with the salt in my eyes.

I ride two buses to my chapel

Of peace, a set of flowing

Waters, unblessed but holy to me.

Pacing the dusty paths of

The preserve, I ponder the

Wild waterbirds, wandering.

The ducks, unburdened by

Prejudice, finding their ways

Along the tiny beaches.

The spice of life, I infuse my days

With the fine herbs of musical

Birdsong and chords of clouds.

Finalizing my day's work,

I board the buses home, busy days

Ahead, but for now, hallowed, heady harmony.

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Orange

for your next poem/story

Apricot - a variable color averaging a moderate orange

Carotene - any of several orange or red crystalline hydrocarbon pigments that occur in the chromoplasts of plants and in the fatty tissues of plant-eating animals and are convertible to vitamin A

Carroty - resembling carrots in color

Jack-o'-lantern - any of several large orangish gill fungi (genus Omphalotus) that are poisonous and luminescent

Pumpkin - a strong orange color

Saffron - a moderate orange to orange yellow

Tangerine - a moderate to strong reddish orange

Terracotta - a brownish orange

Titian - of a brownish-orange color

Vermilion - a vivid reddish orange

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists

How to create an atmosphere: Forest

Sight

tall trees with thick canopies of leaves

alternating light coming in through the moving leafs of the trees

ground covered with a mix of grass, ferns, and fallen leaves

wildflowers adding splashes of colour

animals like deer, boars, squirrels, birds

insects like butterflies and bees add movement and life to the scene

Hearing

the air is filled with the melodious songs of birds

gentle rustling of leaves as the wind moves through the trees

constant hum and buzz of insects

the soft crunch of leaves, twigs, and soil while walking through the forest

Touch

the spongy feel and the soft coolness of moss

the rough texture of tree bark

the cooler temperature in the forest

with a gentle breeze that can be felt on your skin

Smell

the smell of fresh grass

the rich, earthy smell of soil and decaying leaves

the scent of fresh leaves, pine needles, and blooming flowers

the smell of the clean, slightly damp scent of water and wet earth from a nearby stream or pond

Taste

the clean taste of fresh air

the taste of sweet and tangy wildberries

the taste of self-picked mushrooms

the taste of edible wildflowers

the taste of a variety of nuts

the taste of wild greens

More: How to create an atmosphere

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Yellow

for your next poem/story

Aureate - of a golden color

Auric - of, relating to, or derived from gold

Aurify - to turn into gold

Bilious - a yellow or greenish fluid that is secreted by the liver

Citreous - of the color citron yellow

Flavescent - turning yellow; yellowish

Flaxen - resembling flax especially in pale soft strawy color

Fulvous - of a dull brownish yellow; tawny

Gild - to overlay with or as if with a thin covering of gold

Gilt - of the color of gold

Gold - a variable color averaging deep yellow

Icterus - yellowish pigmentation of the skin, tissues, and body fluids caused by the deposition of bile pigments; jaundice

Lutescent - yellowish

Luteous - yellow tinged with green or brown

Luteolous - slightly yellow; yellowish

Mustard - a dark to moderate yellow

Ochroid - resembling yellow ocher in color

Old gold - a dark yellow

Primrose yellow - a light to moderate yellow

Sallow - of a grayish greenish yellow color

Sandy - of a yellowish-gray color

Straw - of the color of straw: pale yellow in color

Topaz - a yellow sapphire or quartz

Xanthism - coloring (as of the skin or pelt) marked by a predominance of yellow pigments

Xanthochroism - abnormal coloration of feathers (as in some parrots) in which yellow replaces the normal color

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Red

for your next poem/story

Cardinal - a brilliant red

Carmine - a vivid red

Carnation - a moderate red

Carnelian - a red or brownish-red

Cerise - a moderate red

Cherry - a variable color averaging a moderate red

Crimson - any of several deep purplish reds

Damask - a grayish red

Erythematous - exhibiting abnormal redness of the skin or mucous membranes due to the accumulation of blood in dilated capillaries (as in inflammation)

Erythrism - a condition marked by exceptional prevalence of red pigmentation (as in hair or feathers)

Ferruginous - resembling iron rust in color

Floridity - tinged with red

Gules - the heraldic color red

Hectic - red, flushed

Laky - a purplish red

Lateritious - of the color of red brick

Lurid - shining with the red glow of fire seen through smoke or cloud

Magenta - a deep purplish red

Maroon - a dark red

Miniate - to paint with red lead or vermilion

Puce - a dark red

Raddle - red ocher

Rouge - a red powder consisting essentially of ferric oxide used in polishing glass, metal, or gems and as a pigment

Rubefaction - the act or process of causing redness

Rubicundity - having a healthy reddish color

Rubor - redness of the skin (as from inflammation)

Rubricity - redness

Ruby - the dark red color of the ruby

Rufescence - a reddish or bronze color

Rufosity - quality of being reddish

Sanguine - a moderate to strong red; bloodred

Scarlet - any of various bright reds

Stammel - archaic: the bright red color of stammel (i.e., obsolete: a coarse woolen clothing fabric usually dyed red and used sometimes for undershirts of penitents)

Vermeil - vermilion (i.e., any of various red pigments)

Vinaceous - of the color of red wine

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists

Staycation

Rooting through yellowed, dusty memories

Those of my grandmother's back yard,

The smell of sweet maple leaves

And the sting of late autumn

We made "potions" in my backyard,

Collected rocks from the stream

In the park, and amethystine bruises.

April, when the slush finally gave way

To the annihilated lawn, the mud warming

Bringing worms for fishing to the surface.

I remember when my brother lost his

Pink fishing rod to a monsterous carp

At the KOA campground pond,

How dad fished for it with his rod,

I can't remember if he got it back.

We never went fishing with him again.

I fold up my hippocampus and stow it neatly

In the chest from whence it came,

Closing up my ribs, I vow to discuss this

Experience with my therapist,

Cleaning off the dust of age,

Hoping his insight can interpret the

Dregs of this old cup.

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Purple

for your next poem/story

Amethystine - a moderate purple

Aubergine - a dark grayish or blackish purple

Empurple - to tinge or color purple

Fuchsia - a vivid reddish purple

Lavender - a pale purple

Lilac - a variable color averaging a moderate purple

Lividity - reddish- to bluish-purple discoloration of the skin due to the settling and pooling of blood following death

Mauve - a moderate purple, violet, or lilac color

Mulberry - a dark purple or purplish black

Orchid - a light purple

Plum - a dark reddish purple

Purpure - the heraldic color purple

Purpureous - purple

Violaceous - of the color violet

Violet - any of a group of colors of reddish-blue hue, low lightness, and medium saturation

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists