Category: Poetry

Sep 23 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXXI

Now there’s a man with an open mind-you can feel the breeze from here!

– Groucho Marx

Contention

Dominance Games

Why is there demand

for our spacetime

our attention

agreement

with only one side

your side

in answering

a question

that essentially

has no

correct answer

or maybe

has many?

Demanding an answer

does not make one exist

Vehemence

does not generate

truth

Is there no room

for diversity

of thought

in your world?

Who are you?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 19, 2007

Muse in the Morning

Sep 22 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXVII

When I feel well and in a good humour, or when I am taking a drive or walking after a good meal, or in the night when I cannot sleep, thoughts crowd into my mind as easily as my mind might wish.

– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Partisan

Presence

Some of us are here

to save the world

to advance the society

to repair the errors

in the structure

of human culture

to guide the course

of human interaction

with and in

this universe

But some are here

to be entertained

they think

by arguing

for pointless

personal gain

that quite frankly

advances nothing

Which are you?

Who are you?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 4, 2007

Muse in the Morning

Sep 21 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXIX

Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.

– Margaret Mead

Trapping the Demon

Emerson or Thoreau?

I am not

devoid of feelings.

I can be

hurt by words.

I can feel

anger at slights.

A stick swung

at someone else

will still hurt

if I am

the one stricken.

A stone thrown

at someone else

will do me damage

if me it strikes.

I can and do

feel outrage

when any group

is disparaged

anytime

anywhere.

This place

is not immune.

Where is the honor

in attacking

a Phelps of Topeka

for bigotry

if we practice

the moral equivalent

in this virtual realm?

Where is

the high ground?

Where is

our center?

Is the tent

in this place

too small

to contain

people like me?

Where is

your outrage?

Where is

your anger?

What is

your response?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 8, 2005

Sep 20 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXVIII

If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.

– Heraclitus

Circuit

Perspective Be Damned

Escher had it right

when he showed us that

it was all about perspective

Up and down are relative notions

as are darkness and light

Is this reality simply

the reflection of another?

But even Maurits

would be hard-pressed

to find validity

in the fabric

of truth and untruth

woven to justify

this war

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 7, 2005

Muse in the Morning

Sep 17 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXVII

I’m looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

– Henry Ford

Shell

Metaphors

Sometimes when you

peer inside an egg

all that you find there

is the inside of the shell

holding in darkness

A brain can seem as empty

A heart can seem as black

Courage can seem as fragile

as an empty egg shell

I am reminded of the wizard

It was all for show

with smoke and mirrors

Impressively awesome

with very little substance

The parallel is clear

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 29, 2005

Muse in the Morning

Sep 16 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXVI

One change always leaves the door open for the establishment of others.

– Niccolò Machiavelli

Bouquet

I grieve for us

One more life

extinguished

this time in

California

on our dime

in our time

in our name.

Who is to blame?

We all pulled

the plug.

This candle

was snuffed out

Now don’t we

feel better?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 13, 2005

Sep 15 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXV

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities-always see them, for they are always there.

– Norman Vincent Peale

Dust

Reconsider

I hear and understand your song

I just do not choose to sing along

You say no one will win election

unless they believe in resurrection

In Jesus must the faithful believe

No different path can you conceive

My soul you tarnish, my heart is rent

Our country was not from Heaven sent

How will you make your restitution

for so flouting our Constitution?

It says our nation is based on laws

so release it from your greedy paws

This can never be the land of God

or our world will War grind down to sod

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 9, 2006

Sep 14 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXIV

The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.

– Pablo Picasso

Black and Gold

Tarnishing the Gold

Jesus

he was a handsome man

handsome of soul

if not countenance

He should have been

what he wanted to be

a breeder of peace and love

He told me I should

do unto others

as I would want them

to do unto me

He never told me

it was a bargain

or payment

or investment

to expect benefit

compensation

or return

— nothing —

except

for the knowledge

that I did the right thing

Those who want more

have tarnished his name

and denied his dream

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 20, 2006

Muse in the Morning

Sep 13 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXIII

We are at times too ready to believe that the present is the only possible state of things.

– Marcel Proust

Devotion

Faith

Faith is the certainty

that we are not alone

Some people need the presence

of Someone who will intercede

for them before their

Higher Power

Some people need to know

that they belong to one group

only because they don’t belong

to another

I only need to know

that someone else also realizes

that we can’t be alone

if we are all here

together

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–date unknown

Muse in the Morning

Sep 10 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXII

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.

— Henri Matisse

Folds

Each conclusion

is an initiation

a fold in the fabric

our our spacetime

One phase

passes into another

a relationship ends

another begins

creasing our stories

writing our narratives

in the available media

The wrinkled origami

thus formed

is a life

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 21, 2006

Sep 09 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXI

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

— Helen Keller

Storyboard

Performance Art

A life is a play in many acts

each day a new scene

Sometimes one is the actor

and sometimes the script

but a life only attains

full measure or meaning

when one assumes

the role of director

–Robyn Elaine Serven
–November 30, 2005

Muse in the Morning

Sep 08 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XX

Sit down before facts like a child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses Nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

– Thomas Huxley

Options

Fate

An individual’s fate

consists of the place

time and circumstances

that attended birth

What comes after

is the result

of decisions

myriad choices

made by everyone

everywhere

hosts of checkboxes

billions and billions

of option buttons

an uncountable multitude

of drop-down boxes

to select from

Hardest of all

are the open-ended

responses

Luck is the word we use

to describe the fact

that we have no idea

how the conglomeration

of these choices

will affect the lives

of everyone

at least most of the time

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–April 13, 2006

Muse in the Morning