Category Archives: poetry

Poem: Election Day This Tuesday

11/6/16

Election Day This Tuesday

two days before

The limits have been tested
and found to be limitless
of what would be believed
despite the factual evidence
when despair and desperation sets in
and along comes a slippery cynical con man.
What is belief but trusting
without seeing the water to wine
drinking the Kool-Aid when told it is time.
Hypnosis on a mass scale
without the ability to read or reason
the ground becomes sky
and the sky is falling.
And here we are with our roles to play
in the greater drama unfolding
without assurances or certainty of safety
will we —as a country—
be on the wrong side of history?
What has been set in motion is no less
than revealing the deepest shadows
lancing the boil that was always there
but ignored. Loosening the noose
that might have eventually strangled
healing the chasm between “us” and “them”
and re-building…stronger together.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2016

Reading this poem now, it seems prescient. But at the time, it looked like Hillary Clinton was going to be the next president of the United States. I was trying to express some of the craziness and turmoil that seemed to be all around.

For those of us who had hoped for an inclusive, historic, and continuing progressive path for our country, there is a time for grieving and that will be ongoing for a while. There is also a time to do what we can. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” (Arthur Ashe) This is that time. I am a poet. I am a healer. This recent poem is what I can offer right now as support. Perhaps it speaks to you or for you. Perhaps it offers some clarity or calmness or perspective. The work is never over. Who are you in relation to all this? Who are you becoming by your choices? As opera singer (teacher and humanitarian), Joyce Didonato, is asking: “In the midst of chaos, how do you find peace?” Please share.

November Walk, MDMikus Copyright 2016

November Walk, MDMikus Copyright 2016

Coping in These Crazy Times: A New Poem

Life Lesson

Night Ladder, Albuquerque, NM. Copyright 2012 by MD Mikus.

I suspect you are like me, at least a little bit, and perhaps you have some anxiety about what is going on in the world, in our country (USA) right now, and where things seem to be headed. I try to remember that transitions are always messy—both personal and cultural. And right now a lot of truth is being revealed. All this is essential for healing, and ultimately for positive change. But I am risk averse, I struggle with change, even of the potentially positive kind. Stress levels have risen and the election is still not over. For weeks I have been sick with a respiratory virus that went into lingering bronchitis. Nothing to be done, but stay the course. Every day I try to do something productive. Yesterday I took my blood pressure and it was elevated and I realized there were a number of possible causes. And this poem popped out. Perhaps it will help you as it helped me.

10/18/16

Rising Blood Pressure
as an Indicator

Our collective blood pressure
has risen as we simmer
in a toxic stew
as we see or hear even
without wanting or meaning to
of the worst in us without
regard to all the rest until
it seems beauty and generosity
has been banished
But no
do not fall into that trap
of believing how it seems
is how it is
Stop
Step back
Breathe
OK, one more breath
Remember
one good thing
that happened today
or happened to you once
when your heart expanded
for a moment or
you were deep-down warmed
Hold this thought
as antidote
a touchstone to go to when
you almost tumble down that cliff
when you almost lose yourself.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2016

Thank you to Kip and Crystal for listening to this poem and encouraging me to get it out there. What good is it sitting in my files?

Dealing with Darkness

Sunset Walk, Copyright 2016 by MD Mikus

Sunset Walk, Copyright 2016 by MD Mikus

I don’t think I am alone in feeling a lot of personal darkness these days. The news is filled with it. A Facebook post yesterday from Karla McLaren, M.Ed., reminded me of this poem from my CD, Full Blooming:Selections from a Poetic Journey. I chose poems for the CD to represent all of life and this was one aspect. Please feel free to share. Thank you.

12/22/02

Darkness So Absolute

When I am in the darkness
so absolute no light escapes or enters,
I can consider the idea that light exists
and remember and reminisce.

Though the tunnel seems eternal,
and I navigate by running ragged hands along rough walls,
I am willing to entertain the possibility
that eventually I will again escape into sun.

It has already been decided,
much to my relief, that I will not take my life;
love binds me here and I accept that as fact.
And so, in darkness, I sit or I walk

or I wait or I pray for the lifting of heavy sky.
And thus far, it has always lifted.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2002

Listen my reading on track #40. The CD is available in digital or physical form.

cd-cover

In Remembrance and Healing

Should We

be known
by our scars
or by how far
we’ve come since
that wounding?

Could we
look at
where we are,
not
where we’ve been
and what’s been done?

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 1996

I wrote this poem in August of 1996, after surgery for breast cancer and right before chemotherapy. It came to mind today in honor of remembering 9/11/2001. And all the various kinds of scars of life. This is one of my poems I know by heart…and use still in all kinds of challenges. Please feel free to share.

AEAB-front-cover

From my book, As Easy as Breathing: Reclaiming Power for Healing and Transformation

cd-cover
Listen to it on track 9 of my CD, Full Blooming: Selections from a Poetic Journal

Read these previous 9/11 posts:
On This Particular Day
Poems as Memory

Choosing Expansive

State Street, Chicago Copyright 2012 MDMikus

State Street, Chicago Copyright 2012 MDMikus

I wrote this poem when I was a mentor for a 7th grade girl through the Spark Program. I would drive 30 miles into Chicago and we’d meet at an Argo Tea shop downtown after school. After a snack, we’d talk about and read poetry. She’d write from prompts I gave her or her own ideas, and plan and carry out her project.

In 2012 the high school graduation rate for Chicago public schools was low, about 60%. The Spark Program (begun in San Francisco, now in four cities) was meant to give individual attention and apprenticeships to students to encourage them to stay in school and graduate. I wrote while I waited for her to come, and in my car afterwards, and elsewhere inspired by the whole process. I also took Chicago photos, which I love to do (see above). She ended up creating an amazing collection of her poems paired with her vividly colorful designs (including glitter stickers) and presenting it to the entire group at the end. Very cool!

Here is one of my own “Spark” poems:

Choosing Expansive

(Spark #2)

A door opens
walk through.
Opportunity knocks
answer.
A boat glides up to the dock
where you stand waiting
to take you to your dream
no explanations
no guarantees.
If you don’t go
you will wonder
and if you don’t go
what will you do
and if you don’t…go
when will you find out
just what you are made of
just what you could be
if only?

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2012

From Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing