Category: Words

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 8, 202012:45 pm

Temporal Gateway

I was here some long lifetime ago
Stood on the spot just down there
To photograph the crimson golden gate
Under a crystalline sapphire sky

Here with a love soon to be parted
Here with a secret about myself
As yet undiscovered by me

It strikes me as an odd marker of time
That a place so grand as this is most remarkable

For the reminder that I am not who I was then

Golden Mist
Golden Gate Bridge
From Marin Headlands
San Francisco
California, United States of America

Taken during travels, 2020

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 7, 20205:07 pm

Waves

I hasten out to the beach
Envelope in hand
Fumbling to get at its contents
I don’t even notice the surf

The wave peters out
Just before it reaches me
Its last energy spent
As bubbling foam dissipates

My muscles relax
Tension leaves my body
While the ocean recedes
Back down the beach

I turn over the paper again
Check the wording again
The test was negative

The test was negative

I’m going to live

Another wave comes
Stronger than the last
Soaking just one shoe

Which makes a delightful squish
As I stride back up to the house
Good tidings in hand

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 7, 20209:50 am

The Searing Gaze, Seaside Creek Beach, Mendocino County, Pacific Coast Highway, California, United States of America

The Gaze

The fire came down
From burning sky
Across a boiling sea

And I
Upon the shore

Felt the searing gaze of shame

Breathe

I whispered to my heart
As I breathed the cool sea air

That eye is but your own
Turned upon you
By the shameful one

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 6, 20207:59 pm

Family and Friends, Seaside Creek Beach Sunset, Pacific Coast Highway, Mendocino County, California, United States of America

Family & Friends

Is there anything more reassuring
Than the love shared and amplified
By a gathering of family and friends

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 6, 202011:46 am

Kelly & Fiance, Marin Headlands over San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, California, USA, January 3, 2020

Quarantine ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #227

Self-Isolation
Week Two; Day One; Six Days Left
I could use a hug

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 5, 20209:25 pm

Morning Fog, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California, United States of America

The Fog

In the morning, the fog
Commuters fill the lanes
On their way into the city
They cannot see
But know too well

It’s there
In the haze
Diminutive towers
Shadows beneath a piercing sun

As they are shadows
Piercing the shroud
Beneath a sky of mottled blue

In the evening rush there will be no misty cover
Crystalline clear; hard-edged architecture

Though the fog lays still upon commuters

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 5, 202010:21 am

Between the Golden and the Blue, Douglas Family Preserve, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America

1,000 and Three

Departed

Lingering

Glory

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 4, 20203:58 pm

Chink in the gloom once unbroken, Panamint Valley, Death Valley National Park, California, United States of America

Compass Rose

Through chink in once unbroken gloom
Evanescent hopeful gleam
Turn of night
Will soon enough extinguish

Glow yet held clear and bright
Deep within a tempered heart
A compass knows the way to north
Light, the steel by which love reckons

Ever should the dark engulf
I shall find my way
Illumined by the rose within
No shadow may diminish

Night gives way to morning
Clouds soon enough are lifted
To the souls of seeking hearts
Horizon always beckons

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 4, 202010:59 am

The Trek to Bad Water, Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California, United States of America II

Questions Asked by Earth and Me

How could such small things
Cause so much trauma
To something so big as me?

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 3, 20202:42 pm

We Hapless Beautiful Many

These awkward, fumbly, funny humans
Gawd! We hapless, beautiful many!
I love us all, with all our flaws
As we stumble through uneven times
Struggle to find our way in uncharted lands

Is there nothing quite so extraordinary
As a gathering of the confused
The bewildered
The shocked
All finding comfort and strength
Through others no stronger than we

We discover
In our collective strength
And courage
And wisdom
And tenacity
How much of these
We each ourselves posses

Armed with them
We super humans of faith
And possibility
We master what was unmasterable
We triumph when tragedy seemed certain
Oh, we magnificent beings

Who would ever suspect
We were capable of such things
When observing ourselves
In just the everyday?

None but ourselves
But that is all we need remember