No Regrets Journal
Ideas and Images 2021 Issue 33
No Regrets, a journal of poetry, prose and images about the exploration of being and meaning. Clayton Medeiros, Editor, Poet, Photographer, Collage Artist claymedeiros@aol.com Neil McKay (Johnny Trash), Webmaster Submissions are by invitation of the editor Epublishing http://issuu.com/claymedeiros/docs Facebook page No Regrets Journal, haikus, poems and photographs https://www.facebook.com/NoRegretsJournal
Van Gogh’s Grave Accompanied by beloved Theo Surrounded by ivy Post cards strewn Like paintings Across museum walls Messages in every language Celebrate speechless art Such dialogue would please him Language too an art Calligrapher’s brush and pen Ancient roots Of line and letter Bind us to paradise As Zen Masters Enhance poetics In ink and paper Like Van Gogh’s Paintings ease The lives of others
Good Night Crows The neighbor’s garden fountain Visited by the ever loyal crow couple Their deep black elegance Captures the light of day’s end They gently share the stone’s shimmer From falling water and angled sunset Darkness soon follows Accompanied by the crescent moon
Hummingbird Pink and white apple blossoms draw the hummingbird Gentle spring rain filters morning light Over the river emerald feathered flight Back from southern climes with quick wings A watcher in the sheltered gazebo Welcomes the iridescent messenger Bearing colorful tropical tale
Japanese Maple The Japanese maple trees applaud The sun bright spring blue sky As they dance to the warm breeze Show off their rich red seed pods In tethered pirouettes
Clouds Clouds have their own appointments As they rush by island silhouettes Perhaps like Alice’s rabbit They worry about being late
Night Garden In the night garden There is no bumble bee buzz Once in a while silent bats Seek moths and other creatures As they glide through the darkness
Science Science does not need to Drain the wonder out of the universe There is still room for awe Whether you celebrate creation Or celebrate the creator In the face of being alive In spite of the cosmic odds Against life’s likelihood Here we all continue to evolve Consciousness still inexplicable
Future’s Prelude A metal gray morning lurks Adjacent to the day’s expectations Integrated fog banks Clouds without boundaries Demarcations await passing hours Proffer a sense of place and time Unseen borders cannot be pried open With the necessary insights Required to map next steps What may be revealed As past shimmers occlude memories Ever changing perilous possibilities In soon to be revealed futures
Travel 1 We speak of taking direct paths From one place to another But the earth is a sphere If we continue our linear ways We complete a circle While we walk ride or fly We return to the beginning Informed by what teachings The journey offered up
Travel 2 In its local travels The earth rotates around the sun The moon circles the earth With its lit side lover’s gaze The dark side gaze faces Ongoing creation’s cycles Infinite birth and destruction Of stars coming and going Ignores human time and place
Nature Calls The fields that no one tends Offer diversity unencumbered by human hands To see that everything relates to everything else Our clumsy myopic attempts to contain and commodify Inevitably lead to disasters from draughts to floods Northwestern star fish disappearance The demise of Northern California’s kelp forests We ignore the unwritten laws of nature at our peril
Stormy Day Stone gray clouds rise on the horizon Look like they could crush the earth Lightning jumps from one to another Wind drives them as the sky darkens Jagged bright white bolts dive to the ground The deluge of dark rain is a percussion concert With an insistent periodic chorus of rolling thunder
Church Late day sunlight comes through Stained glass church windows Spills rosy red pale orange Shades of purple and gold A transition to dusk Follows with gentle candles
Shared We are the keepers of time Our minds contain past and present We create possible futures Reflect and refine the past in recollection Embellished or diminished as memory narrates We share perceptions, thoughts, images Of what was, what is, what might be The present captured in the story told Joins the infinite past Projects scenarios and concepts That might become the future Without our consciousness and being There’s no difference in past, present or future Everlasting change becomes the only reality
Full Moon Dreamtime Spring full moon breaks open the darkness Casts shadows in spite of night’s late hour Almost but not quite time for bed time stories For dreams that will soon follow Offer a different take on the day’s events Weaving all the history accumulated In the near and distant past Refracted in subconscious images
Darkness Colors dissipate as darkness encroaches Replaces late afternoon shadows that In their turn disappear into night Dreamscapes displace today’s images A sense of time and place no longer relevant Until a new dawn lights the horizon once again
Moment Each moment of the day Each passing hour Has its music In endless improvisation Songs are heard When we are silent Open to melody
Singing Moon The full faced moon Sings the day to rest Sings the night to cover Hills, trees, lakes and rivers Softens the darkness for those With eyes to see the path Sail across the darkened sky No stars yet for company