Soft as Feathers

the soft edges are frayed, folded paper, folded like wings, folded like feathers.





I left a message for you in a book.
It is like me to mark provocative phrases,
to shake them out in ponderous verses.
Do not read too much in the fallout,
the notes in the border are for nostalgia’s sake.
I dreamt of you again last night,

Your aura lingers though I can barely recall your essence.
The suffering is not in knowing what is real but in what is not,

“This, only to tell you the color of the day and my thoughts. A day for silence, nakedness, shady rooms, abandonment. My thoughts are the color of your hair. Soon they will be the color of your eyes.”

Albert Camus … Letter to Maria

Blood Rose

The night is wet

drops of rain glisten

on the slick sidewalks.

In my hurry, I dodge

the  dark puddles that

glisten in the misty glow

of amber street lamps.

There is a trace of rosy

blood where I have bitten

my lip but my eyes brim

with life and nonsensical love.

When we meet, we smile

and kiss silvery lashes

The taste of blood rose on

shivering lips.

For the moment, we forget,

You want too much and

I will take whatever you give.

All I Need To Know

It was a damp hot summer,

the air filled with dragonflies and

the buzzing drone of cicadas.

A bird built her nest of fragile twigs, strands of hair, and silver tinsel, beneath the overhang of my porch. In side are three blue eggs dropped down from a turquoise sky.
I wait and watch intently for the miracle of life to emerge from cracked shells, being careful not to disturb the miracle.

All I need to know is there are birds and nests and eggs, that there is a river flowing to the ocean. That I will have your shoulder to rest my head on, your hand gentle at my throat . I’ve entrusted a heart to you , knowing you will never let it break.



Arlington

As far as the eye can see,

dotted with chiseled teeth that jut through the verdure

vanish over the wilted slopes fade into the horizon.

Dead twigs trapped in wrought iron arms

rustle in the forlorn zephyr trapping

wayward leaves in bronze

They designate where valor lies.

Worn flags, stiff with age,

quiver like the hearts of caged doves.

Red poppies in the common droop,

overcome by the copper scent that fills the

fields of treasure that flourish hereforever,

As far as the eye and beyond.

Buffalo Springfield – -1967


Neil Young

All art copyright Resa McConaghy

Neil Young (born November 12, 1945) is a highly influential Canadian-American singer-songwriter and musician known for his distinctive voice and raw guitar style. Emerging in the 1960s with Buffalo Springfield and later CSNY, he forged a prolific solo career, often backed by Crazy Horse, producing iconic folk-rock and grunge-influenced albums like Harvest and Rust Never sleeps. He’s sKnown in for blending acoustic folk, country-rock, and heavy, distorted electric rock (earning him the nickname “Godfather of Grunge”).

  • Key Albums: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere(1969)After the Gold Rush(1970)Harvest (1972), and Rust Never Sleeps (1979).

Art by Resa McConaghy

it wasn’t meant to be this way

We hesitate to call ourselves

human these days

That stone bruise of loss,

the lingering sting

filleted by the bludgeon

of  scorn and hate,

not the same way or on the

same day.

Inconsistency is the surest way

to weaken the bark,

wrench the roots,

slowly wither beneath the boot

of fear and despair and the

never ending needs of ego.

Sea Breeze

When we speak, the air tastes of salt,

our words wet with fluidity;

silvery vines of fingers entwine.

We are a tranquil sea.

The tide sweeps in,

still the moon is not

strong enough to part us.

the sweet-bitter enchantment

of life carries us forward

beneath a sky of endless colors,

the sea breeze scattering us across the

windblown sand.

“Sun rays touch the coastline
Warm our feet, show the glare
We walk through the sand in the warm night
The water will take the weight from us

And all our lives we’re told
The stream will take us home
And all our lives we’re told
The stream will take us home”