Mind Like a Steel Trap

OK.

The fierce attention

called forth by this challenge

has crested,

and I feel the bead-like pulse

in my armpits,

and the sensation that

my body lags a few steps

behind my mind

so I might stumble or fumble

or mumble

And yet the pure power surge

has forged such an incisive

trail through thought

that there is no question

how I must proceed

and there is no doubt

about the force

that sears through all obstacles

and wins its goal.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 5, 2015

Fishing

When I came back

to my old haunts

they didn’t fit anymore —

The old hauntedness

could still ring through me

but the old exorcisms 

— industry, to do lists —

were completely useless

and the old stories

made me tired

I must remember

how I learned to cast my net

on the right side,

how the emanation

of Spirit within

brought forth so many

bright shining fish

full of life and the flow

of continual offering,

turning and flashing

and flocking in sweet laughter,

filling me up with

everything I desired.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 4, 2015

Purr

I curl in the domestic purr,

the gurgling dishwasher,

the music in the other room,

the goldening of light around the lamp

as evening falls outside

The coziness breathes through these

but it is made of the collected warmth

of this day’s gifts —

the affluence of feeling

they have been enough

to sustain me through this curve of time,

to stoke my inner lights

and this day’s grace.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 3, 2015

Wrestling

I was wrestling my mind —

Oh, it was stubborn

and tenacious and strong.

It fought like something wild

struggling for its life.

I pried a finger up

but it grabbed back again,

harder, in another place —

It didn’t want surrender

I let it run awhile,

pacing like a caged cougar

along the old trails,

assuming, soon, the steady

disconnected trot

of one who must keep moving

but has no place to go

I challenged it: This is not

what you want, I said.

It turned to cling to me —

It would not listen

or let go

Till finally I saw

neither of us could win this battle

(so equally matched we were)

We had to give it up

for something higher,

Let ourselves, together,

be embraced,

be washed,

be tickled,

be home.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 2, 2015

photo by Jennifer Lopez-Santillana

The Halftime Show

How dearly did you pay

for this chance

to be the moth that burned —

everyone watching. gape-mouthed,

your breathless splendor —

many wishing they could be so graced,

not knowing

you were passing

so very quickly

from flame to fluttering ash,

swept away to the oblivion

of all who let themselves be mouthpiece

for the machine.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 1, 2015

Work Day

Low fog and high stars,

cold of early morning,

wrested good byes

as headlights pull away

and head for traffic,

a plan we sense

nothing is right about

But the highways of thought

have been rushing awhile before this —

Same jarring lights and traffic jams,

same life-suppressing channels

You go, you come

as do the weeks,

the weekends too short

to let the natural pattern in

Days watch,

whether we notice or not

for when the honor of their pace

will be reclaimed.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 30, 2015

How to Fly

I hold the curiosity 

of what is —

what is you, in this moment,

what is me,

what is the vibrant space between us

with its tensile pull

we follow onward

through the dips and surges

of our eyes, our smiles, our dance

It’s not my thoughts so much

as my heart’s swift pulse

and the rush behind it

that my body cleaves to

as I hold the channel open

and go further in

where the whole counsel of myself

encounters you

It finds you on your land,

It finds your feet at home,

It finds you ranging

through the rhythm of your days,

your shadow easy in its arc

and in its evening slide

back into the velvet of the hills

I find you

to my surprise

beyond the stretch of my resistance

where I find I’ve settled in,

close and content,

to the comfort of your eyes.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 29, 2015