4/14/20
Another day
another news briefing
depending on who says
the weight of it all
heavy or heavier
in the daily fog
of uncertainty
I am choosing
and again and again
to mostly not listen
not in denial
head in the sand
but in determination
to not drown
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2020
Every day trying to find the balance between knowing enough, but not too much. Perhaps you too?
Bridge Reflection, from my Life Support Cards (TM)
9/25/20
Way back
I would stand on the bridge
or stand by the river
and throw petals on the water
letting my troubles float
downstream.
It was a relief
I often sought
the peace, the beauty
the soft insistent water
sometimes higher level, sometimes lower.
I no longer remember
the last time I went
or why I stopped going
why that place of solace
ceased to bring comfort
but though I still live near
I never go there.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2020
I wanted to post a poem that was not about chaotic current events, but reflection. Maybe some peace and calm.
Tulips and Grape Hyacinth, on the Bridge, from my Life Support Cards (TM)
10/18/17
what do you most fear, part 2
Every fear
ever invented
is stuck in
someone’s throat
as if
everything is darkness
All the fears
loneliness, isolation
not-enoughness
the doom of the times
we seem to be in
and yet…
on the good days
we breathe
on the good days
sun shines or rain
falls on the wild fires
on the good days
we can sleep and wake
before we remember fear
And the bad days
we all have
we won’t speak of here
but to acknowledge them
as part of universal life
As I scroll down this list
of over a thousand comments
not reading each word
but blessing each
vulnerable human
who took the time
to write on the chance
it would matter
to someone reading
or someone praying
or someone writing a song.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2017
IL Route 22, Sept. 2017, copyright MDMikus
7/24/17
On the good days
what comes between here and there
the before and after, now and then
the necessary transition
the clarifying calm after the storm
the personal and the political
is messy but manageable
On the bad days
fear overrides all good instinct
kindness mistaken for weakness
brute control at any cost, manipulation
mistaken for power and yet…
even here in abject darkness
a sliver of light, or a crack
that lets light in or a smidgeon of hope
What kind of question opens the door
to the path, not laid out in advance
but created new under each separate footfall?
Why tell you this—or ask you
to consider not losing hope, not despairing?
We are each a dot in a context
a deliberate point in a pointillist painting
It is the context, the perspective
I offer for consideration
And we are each a universe entire
autonomous yet connected in a web
of strands seen by some, felt by others
maybe you are one, if what you once knew
when you came here has not been pounded down
If you can still recognize what is true:
We were made for these times
To remember, hold to beauty, inspire
Not as in human cold marble statues
of superficial shallow perfection
but embodied spirits, warmly human
unwitting gods of creation, fragile and powerful
at least a bit willing.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2017
In looking for something else, I found this poem and realized I had not heard from my friend, Geary, in quite a while, since we had met for dinner at a favorite Thai restaurant. I realized I had not sent him the poem that came out of our conversation. I decided to email it to him to check and see if he was ok. He got back to me right away and had quite a story to tell. As he said, once again our lives were in parallel. Here is this poem for you too. What has inspired you lately?
Chicago Roof with Pigeon, by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2012
6/5/20
I am responsible.
I am one who said to the Universe:
“Let the Truth be known”
and now Truth is spilling out
all over the place.
Voices being seen and heard
that had long been silenced.
Except by the Truth-averse
of which there are many
maybe diminishing.
In this time of chaotic
tumultuous upheaval
Love steps forward to help, to serve
Fear continues acting from apparent self-interest.
And to the Universe I now say
“Let Love transform Fear
with all necessary reassurance.
Let deep healing of chasms begin…
and soon please. Thank you. Amen.”
We are One
standing in shadow, in sun.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2020
I “heard” the opening lines of this poem for a week or more before I was willing to follow them and see where it took me. (The original title was “I Was Reluctant, This One Insisted.”) Some poems come to me easily and even intact, in their final form. Some, like this one, come slowly over time with words that shift and new lines that come out after several weeks of patiently checking in and reading the poem aloud over and over. In this case, once the poem was finished, the title no longer fit and I sifted through many possibilities before this one settled.
Thank you to those who read it or listened, encouraging me that it was good enough to let it go.
These are extraordinary times of upheaval, with great potential for lasting change. What we do with this healing opportunity, each in our own small ways, is our responsibility. For me, writing and releasing poems is part of my contribution, however small. Perhaps this poem speaks for or to you or someone you know. Please share it you think it may help.
Peony from My Driveway, Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2007