Here is the latest installment of Poet’s Corner, presented by the Edmonds Poetry Group.

A New Earth

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true. Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me!” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” – Harold Arlen / E. Harburg © 1939 

When did I stop hearing the lullabies of my childhood?
Where are the songs of rainbows that brought respite to my fears?
When did the beginnings of my youth end and the endings begin?
My ruby-red slippers don’t ‘click’ anymore… uncertainty overwhelms me!

Wake up, O Sleeper! Your day of reparation approaches like a plague of locusts and roaches!
Do you see it on the horizon? Are your lamps filled with oil?
Are you seeking Holy guidance and direction? Do you hear Creation’s groanings,
the cries of Mother Earth and the wailings of her children?

I contemplate the Pleiades and Orion, the Seven Sisters
blazing hope’s luminescence through the twilight of thousands of years.
The culmination of tears that watered your promised Canaan land –
you were there once before, do you remember?

There will be no rest until you return, long sweet dreams remind you of this!
Beware now…all the veils have been rent, there is no curtain, and there is no Wizard!
The road has unexpectedly diverged; you must trust the unpredictable path ahead.
Become who you were created to be. Listen with your eyes. Watch with your ears.
Hold your creative energy as a precious treasure.
Nurture your individual divine artistic expression.
Appreciate that unforeseen current events will birth opportunities of a newer calling!

Embrace the Light,
become friends with Wisdom and Truth…
we’re heading home!

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~

Shadow

We are traveling the periphery of divine light
while simultaneously wandering
the minute edge of darkness,
the precipice where shadow is birthed.
Shadow illuminates the form of
our constricted humanity,
evidence of heavenliness within us
often unacknowledged or unconfessed.

Daybreak transcends to twilight,
evening transforms to morning;
quiet moments of timelessness reflect
shadow in the windows and mirrors of our mind.
Burdened by cultural expectations,
we are pregnant with
unfulfilled possibilities, and
undiscovered destiny.
Shadow exposes sacred spaces
where insight and revelation congeal.

Hidden treasures of darkness
emerge as unlikely teachers,
heart-breaking, soul-splitting situations posit
new levels of mindfulness previously resisted.

Moreover, when we finally grow weary
of being overshadowed by shadow,
liberation and self-actualization propel us
deeper into the perimeter of light.

Continuing our pilgrimage there,
stolen blessings are recovered.
We are gifted by the breath lingering
between unshared kisses of our lover,
the peaceful rests between notes of music,
the unspoken love of children and elders in our life,
the ebb and flow of journeys of beloved souls
who crossed over before us as
the power of shadow is broken.

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~

Rumbling

Are you listening? I can still hear it…
21st century technology hasn’t deafened my senses.
Fear is the root of suffering rumbling in the world.
I feel vibrations pulsing heavenward from the Earth’s core.
The world seems to be spinning off course, but
my grounding is secure.

Wisdom and love protect my soul from crumbling
under the weight of adversity enveloping me.

Anger and hatred assault my mental acuity,
spawning negative mumbling and grumbling.

Ridicule and animosity disrupts the stability of all
while Holy Ones comfort with angelic harps strumming.

Can acceptance and tolerance transmute my consciousness,
preserving me from the crushing weight of deception?

Repetitive cycles of gain and loss are complimentary
companions amplifying personal and cultural holocausts.

The unravelling of one aspect of life becomes the
catalyst of transformation for the next.

In continuous symphonies of prayer,
wisdom and insight induce the surrender of denial and apathy,
enabling us to assimilate the tsunami of changes in our world.

I’m living in a revelationary time!

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Donna began writing poetry and prose during her adolescent years growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania. An active participant of several writing groups in the Puget Sound area, she’s an award-winning EPIC poet, a member of the Academy of American Poets and teaches poetry workshops. Her work has been published in Soundings from the Salish Sea in 2018, the Skagit River Anthology in 2021 and 2022, as well as previous issues of the Edmonds News Poetry Corner. She was a contributing poet for the 2022 Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans held at Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds. She’s a retired technical writer and enjoys filming the wildlife near her home in the Cascade foothills of Arlington. You may contact her at dmrudigerauthor@gmail.com.