Wednesday, November 5, 2014

White Queen to Black Knight



Players in the Chess Game

Some claim that  they are at the mercy
of unseen forces
playing chess with their fate
White queen to black knight..
checkmate.... you're dead....

And isn't that an easy way out?

Some claim, they have no power...
victims shoved into... the tower...
Clapped into chains...
but Prisoners only in their own brains........

And isn't that an easy way out?

And some would say...
hear me crying...
take time away from your own joy...
and join me in my dying....

And isn't that an easy way out?

They would be angered by the rejection...
of their perceived subjection...
But love does not encourage...
that entourage 
of doubt...

They would say...
how wicked...
how lacking in compassion..
that you did not listen...
to the bleating of my lamb...
as it was being slaughtered...

But, you  know...
you are NOT  that little lamb...
and the falsehood of your being  that tiny lamb will be devoured....
by the teeth of your own lion...

Its tiny bleating, ,
calls for its own dying,,
For this is a necessity to your becoming...
the lion, who within you roars....  !

And that IS...
the chess game...
that we are playing....
And your white Queen will take
your own black Knight....
But only if you let it !














Friday, May 16, 2014

Wandering the Wild Places

As I walked,
the wild path of no path,
the fingers of the fields and forest stroked my feet, my knees
with willow wisps of trillium, wild grasses and dandelion seeds.

As I drifted,
down that lazy river,
the currents and eddies which carried me in slowly dissolving perfect concentric circles
filled me with quiet, subtle, murmured tales of miracles

As I gazed,
out toward that restless ocean
listening to the symphony in the sounds of its forever motion,
the simple sound of tumbling stones, stilling all my inner commotion


My soul was brought back to life,
and I was reminded...
of....
the absolute perfection,
of a resolute and powerful connection,
the ease of having no set, particular direction,
the openness of being without any predilection,
the freedom in myself uncluttered by some silly subjugation
the simplicity of myself without complication,
filled with precious moments of quiet realization,

my heart rests...
fulfilled
by the air,
the sand,
an invisible hand....

my soul renewed ,
by the quiet,
the exquisite beauty,
of the open spaces....
my feet free to ramble...
of their own volition......
stopping all...
for awhile...
to renew my connection....




















Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I will meet you there !


Beyond the pale human definitions of right and wrong...
Behind the usual ordinary of what is seen and what is sung,
There is a garden....
I will meet you there

When time stops and silence is the only sound that thunders,
in that space beyond all human tragic, manic... blunders....
There is simple cove...
I will listen for your coming.... there


Where all the road maps end, and kings and queens of only single moments lie,
When all the thoughts and desires are quelled by our collective contented heart’s sigh,
There grows a lily....
and I will wait for you there


There, in the mountains and in the valleys, where only children play,
There, where the rivers are made of laughter and all the oceans cannot hold the towering waves of love at bay,
Within the trueness of that world....
Surely....I will find you..... there


After all the secret wounds have lost their power...and we have voiced all that could be spoken,
After all the deeds we thought must be done....lie discarded....their fragility broken,
Under the spreading arms of a wind swept cedar.....
I will rest with you, there
there.... my friend.....there
I will meet you, there

Carolyn Jackson 4/22/14

Saturday, April 5, 2014


The GUEST

Heaven is not an empty promise of priests and oracles,
The palace of Divinity is not the man made magnificence of ancient cathedrals
The “word” was never written in any archaic language, changed from book to book
its significance lost to those who hunger to know, those whose eyes are not too blind,  to look

Wisdom is not learned through the efforts of scholars,
Mercy displayed  in the stiffness of starched clerical collars…
Charity does not live in the empty halls of big business….
its amount free from taxable interest…

Hope is not something preached from pulpits and podiums,
offered to starving people, with grandiose promises,
Clarity is not gained by wearing glasses,
not an object to be sold to empty handed masses….

Love is not a quality that can be  limited by a calculating mind,
its virtues choked by the complications of that entangling vine…
Joy cannot be made to follow appropriate protocols,
limited by sanctimonious impossible laws….

A human heart contains them all,
A single breath, the power in its motion breaking through this constructed wall,
Of all that we were taught,
All that we thought, we fought, we forgot….
All of this….laid to rest,
In the presence of the “GUEST”

Saturday, February 1, 2014


Learning to  Love

Love is not the beautiful reclining woman...as I was told...
It is not the superbly muscled man on horseback... I had been sold...
but an invisible, permeating presence,
a shimmering mass of light filled particles,  making up my very essence.....

and I have said, in my own ignorance....
oh no, not me...not them...
Undeserving people, undeserving me..
but love did not listen to the whispers of my mind
instead,
simply,
loved me anyway...

and when I tripped, fell into its currents
somewhat reluctantly, allowing myself to be taken by it...
all that I ever thought I knew
about love...
drowned...
in its generosity

I began to realize that...
I had inadvertently entered its doorways
shyly peeked down its shimmering hallways...
and fallen in love,
with LOVE itself......

More bravely, then....
I have...
undertaken to explore its pathways
more boldly, begun to climb the heights of its stairways...
and in this time....
it has welcomed me,
in its kindness....helped me,
to fly.....
high..--
without so much fear of falling....
balancing still somewhat tentatively,  on the tips of its gossamer wings
it is,
to my surprise....
delighting in my company......









Friday, January 10, 2014

The Choice

The Choice


Long ago, I left the safety of the water,
fell deaf to the wisdom of my father,
discarded the sweet kisses of my lover,
and turned away from the comradeship of my brother

To wade and search upon life's murky shorelines,
called to by hawkers with neon flashing billboard signs,
drawn to their gaudy veiled booths full of choices,
intrigued by the sound of their brash laughter and noisy too loud voices

I have indeed begged there at those merchant stalls,
taken in by the sound of those hollow calls,
for a drop of love,
to fill my empty heart
for a crumb of truth
some intangible sustenance
to satisfy
the hunger of
my starving soul

And I received,
and often believed,
their plastic promises
spoken with sarcastic false omnipotence

I did drink of the bitter "healing" potions,
disguise myself in their perfumed lotions,
and I was ever as empty 
as I was before

Until, I felt the softest lulling,
of a gently river calling
the invitation
whispered invocation
to know
of what lay behind my breath
the power of this beating heart within my breast

I fell into the dampness of its love filled currents
felt them flowing 'round me
moving thru me
coming from me
the might
the height
of their massive breaking waves of joy

and it was...like that,
without a look back
I left the emptiness of that shore
and prayed to see it nevermore

For the river pulled me closer,
pulled me within itself ....deeper
as if to answer my desire with its own need
to hold my heart...my soul....indeed

with its peaceful flowing deliberation,
and infinitely patient concentration
it made its way, carrying me
into the great arms of this loving sea