“Winter”

Winter

Bleak September rain 

     washes away the end of Summer…

Damp, Barber winds bluster and 

     carry away warm Summer breezes…

The hastening dance of days

     runs ever shorter in fall of Autumn color…

Brittle, dry, crackling leaves 

     fly, dance, shutter, and fall…

Fragile, crumbling refuse 

     of warmer, brighter days.

Cold winds blow,

     snaking round every corner…

Swirling, seeping, sneaking
     into every chilly nook and bower…

Breathing frigid fractals

     ‘pon the frosted windowpane…

Slithering, plundering warmth 

     and weak, dreary daylight…

From hyperboreal frozen,

     merciless, snowbound nights.

Winds howl and souls cower

     ‘neath the crawling, creeping glacial rictus…

Buried in the icy grip 

     of desolate, frozen Winter.

by D. Denise Dianaty

© 12 September 2014

Pick up your own copy of my first 
book of poetry at My Life In Poetry

Words

A poem about the power of words giving birth to poetry. Words matter. They have the power to tear down, to destroy; words can cut deeply. But, words also have the power to heal, to create, to uplift; words can be a beacon to a better future. 

The beauty in words…

Even through darkness…

Dark words seek… find light…

To carry light out of darkness.

Words to hurt

Words to heal

Words destroy

Words create

In the space between…

In the mind’s eye…

Wrenched from the void…

Forming reality of words…

Words to hurt

Words to heal

Words destroy

Words create

On flight of words…

On the precarious summit…

On the razor’s edge…

That’s where poetry is born.

by D. Denise Dianaty

© 05 September 2014

Mother Lost

An old poem from my undergrad days, of discovering buried memories in therapy – from a different time before my mother lost herself, abandoned by a patriarchy that understood nothing and cared even less.

Mother Lost

In her young heart she loved

She wanted nothing more than to give love

She wanted children, a crowd about her

A song unique for each bright star

She loved her babies, sang her joy

Gently cuddled and held them safe

Three times with ease brought to life

Blest gifts, her fair headed delights

Then came the fourth, hard fought

Ripped from her body, at last

With all  her might, the last dram of heart

At last, brought through alive

Why to look upon that face

What darkness left behind

A burden, a sorrow, each shining bright face

Take and take and take and take

Nothing more she wants now, save death

Oh no, say the doctors, the nurses, the society

Lock her away till she learns to lock down her pain

Don’t guide her back through to the light

No more songs, joyless duty and burden are hers

Her anger, her blackened soul, 

Locked behind closed doors

It’s not our concern

Send her home to her babies

No matter their plight

ABOUT MOTHER IN THIS POEM: She was so very different, so loving and attentive before all the pain, that I actually blocked out those good memories for decades -- they were just too painful to recall in light of how bad things got. The thing that always hurts me most, though, is that my two sisters who were already born, when she had the last baby, were too young to retain any of those good memories; and the baby sister never knew that loving and attentive mother at all.

Twelve years she was lost in her madness, torturing her children. The same children she'd pined for and dreamed of since adolescence; she'd only ever wanted to be a wife and mother. See, she was born blind and had to be sent off to a school for the blind, away from her family; she gained her sight later. She grew up very disconnected from them. When she was home, she was the poor little blind girl whom they all coddled and cosseted -- but never connected on a fundamental level. She wanted that closeness of family for herself and her children. That might be the most tragic thing about my childhood… the poisoning of her dream.

Still… If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change anything; everything that happened made the person I am, gave me this “now.” I’d suffer every indignity, every torment again not to miss out on my “now.” Embrace the Joy!

by D. Denise Dianaty
© 20 August 2014

North Carolina Home Sweet Home

North Carolina images from mountain to shore

North Carolina Home Sweet Home
An homage to the North Carolina I’ve always known

Awake to a painted morning sky

Filled w’scent of magnolia and Carolina pine

Reveling in a sun-drenched landscape

Of blossoming hydrangea and myrtle, crape

With azalea blossoms and fragrant rose

Wild jasmine and hyacinth perfume kiss th’nose.

Climbing honeysuckle n’bumblebees

‘Neath sheltering oak and towering maple trees

Mountain to coast steeped in mythic lore

Where ev’ry native road leads to the shore

From homes of native red earthy brick.

A gentle, misty Southern wisdom flows thick

Wreathes the Grandfather’s Mountain spaces

Teaching unspoken lessons for the ages

Life is not hurrying – but sav’ring

In this place… this home ever unwavering

God-kissed from misty mountain to roiling shore

This North Carolina home sweet home we adore.

D. Denise Dianaty

© 01 November 2015

Pick up your own copy of my first book of poetry, entitled My Life In Poetry at D. Denise Dianaty

Through True Love’s Eyes

True love is generous and supportive; it will always set itself apart with a joy that, in comparison, exposes the manipulative self-obsession of users whose interest only ever serves themselves.

I’ve been through fire… left alone to dance…
Been pulled from the ash heap of romance…

At last set free in joy, a gift from above…
To share the soul mates’ journey of true love…

For him and me, a promise… not of ease,
But, we’ll not go alone through life’s unease.

And here you come, thinking that hope to dash,
But, I see true… your words are blackest ash…

With smiles struggling through my tears…
From new eyes I see your barren fears.

You dole out handfuls of mediocrity…
While true love is lost in your superiority.

Your every cause only kindling trauma…
Your Shanghaied pain is naught but drama…

You are nothing…raping, stealing voices of pain
From some other heart’s regret. Your pleas I disdain.
©D. Denise Dianaty
31 August 2014

Shackled Souls

A weak flesh for paltry failing hearts

     Too human in this here and now

            The soul stretching toward heaven

                  Clamoring for a return to the Divine

                        But unruly flesh, feeling too much

                              Turning toward the shadows

                              In immediacy of mortal pain

                  Chaining the eternal… imprisoned

            Too worn by such earthly need

      So heavy with venal desires

Shackled souls weighted for Hell

A Few Scriptures On Peace from the NIV Bible

Proverbs 12:20 There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace.

Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 17:1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 …a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 48:22 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked.”

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Romans 2:9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil… 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good…

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

Raining Autumn Fall

From CityandBaby.com

Raining Autumn Fall

Crunch, schlackle-khrackle, squish…

Phschluppa-khrieck-schlewmp and snap…

Through the late November wood…

Splinter, crackle, scrunch and smatter…

Flurry scurry and fly about.

Flutter and rustle, schlicha-klecha…

By the wet North Wind blown,

Bustling hither and thither and yon…

Falling, falling for Autumn down…

Brown frosted veins of former verdancy…

Crushing delicate detritus beneath

Footfalls under bare boned skeletal trees.

Whoosh and whish and rrurr…

Mechanized winds blow and push,

Pile high the last of Autumn’s fall.

Leap and fly, and land as they scatter!

Crinkle, crumble, crushed dead on the ground…

Rake them up and let's fly again,

To lie beneath as they flutter down

Reveling in the raining Autumn fall.

by D. Denise Dianaty 

© 13 Nov 2014

Pick up your own copy of my first book of poetry, 
entitled My Life In Poetry at D. Denise Dianaty

Shadowed Forests of the Past

A poem of a place I left behind when “Hope was born anew…”

Bad old, dark places…

Places where my life no longer dwells…

Looking back upon the past…

That wasting, dark, drear past…

Come words from a long ago

Where my soul no longer cowers.

A place of wrenching loneliness 

always on the edge of light,

waiting to drag me back…

back into it's embrace….

I just kept trying to hold on, 

trying to hold out for love; 

But, every day that passed without it, 

Loneliness lurked to overwhelm.

And, darker still, monsters lurked…

Monsters lurked at every… every turn…

Soul shattering dramas spun out

in relentless perversions of hope.

Until that pivotal moment…

that time when change began…

Change began and Hope was born…

Hope born anew within my breast.

In that Hope, on angel’s breath…

An angel-friend led me forward.

She led me through the dark

and back to light and Faith.

I learned the true Me…

the truest Me I was meant to be

And learning Me, I learned Love.

Learning Love, I learned to love.

It's a truly blessed state…

In brilliant shining sunlight…

A place of laughter and love and joy…

Such have I found for myself…

After the long, dark road through tortured, 

shadowed forests of the past.

© 19 September 2014 MomzillaNC

The Dance Plays On… 

A delicately sad tale of transcendent love, a perfect kiss, and haunting, beautiful tragedy… 

Sweet Addiction

Sweet Addiction

by D. Denise Dianaty

Steam rising and dancing

Across the rippling midnight pool

The welcome caress of vapors

Sensual and inviting, 

The warming embrace of aroma

Now flooding ethereal white

Swirling deep to rise

Till clink, tink, clank, chink

The pool now renders

A devine decoction

That distillation of welcoming dawn

Smooth and rich and just right sweet

Porcelain vessel of joy!

by D. Denise Dianaty

© 25 August 2014

Pick up your own copy of my first 
book of poetry at My Life In Poetry