The Winds
by Leslie Noyes
Can you see the winds?
Or merely the dust they move?
Motes dancing on air
Particulates swirl
Rising high on thermal waves
Swept beyond borders
Across the oceans
Your specks mingle with my own
Touching the same light
I watched the news, the pictures of a man climbing El Capitan alone. A solo feat, no wires, no safety net,
Only chalk and hands, feet and guts. I struggle climbing stairs. I’ve fallen on level surfaces, tripping on my
Own shoelaces, or worse yet, over nothing at all. I’ll drink a toast to the man and his mountain, and ask for help getting to bed.
It’s a really long walk, and the tiles are slippery.
Little white daisies
Sweet petals to pluck in play
He loves me, or not
Lovers of the light
Faces turned toward the sun
Bathing in its glow
Demurest blossoms
Woven in virginal wreaths
On a summer’s day
There is a gargoyle living in my gut. His gruesome stone snarl scraping against my colon. The heartburn never ends.
He must have moved in as a pebble, a tiny worry about what could be, and every minute since that shitty November day he’s
Grown more abrasive, more corrosive, taking up too many centimeters of my being. He spits acid from a contorted tongue,
Searing the lining of my duodenum, creating blisters that won’t soon heal. Resistance hurts, but acquiescence kills.
In Control by Leslie Noyes
See this old witness?
She has seen every cold move
Nothing moves her now.
Look past her beauty
Don’t be fooled by winsomeness
She shot the sheriff
Do not blinfold her
She deserves to see her end
Always in control.
Like a glacial landslide
Inexorable, inevitable,
One mere inch at a time
The panic grows
Humanity waits alone
At the bottom of the hill,
Daring the drifts to stop
As progress slows.
The cries are anguished,
Circumstances advance
Like a cancer on the skin,
Yet everybody knows.
Keep the tides at bay
Hold the line, tote that bale
Slam shut the heavy doors
While despair feeds the crows.
In these times of drought
We celebrate rain’s promise;
Exult in renewal.
We worship rainfall,
Beg for its munificence,
Make wishes on clouds.
Earnest entreaties,
A worried mother’s prayers,
Please, don’t forsake us!
Evil’s here, close by
Its crypt-cold breath taunts hot skin
Watchers on the wall
Before we sleep now
Folded hands beneath bowed heads
Keeps the wolves at bay
In these darkest times
Superstitions comfort us
Lord, hear our prayer
King Belshazzar summoned Daniel when these words first appeared:
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upsharin, their meaning wasn’t clear.
Daniel knew when first he read the writing on the wall
Trouble was a’coming and a kingdom sure to fall
He predicted a Babylon at war, their people overcome
Death and destruction raining down; the end of days for some.
Where, oh where is Daniel now to interpret what’s been writ,
By greedy politicians, lacking compassion and/or grit?
A document that few have read, still fewer comprehend,
Has power over life and death; what suffering it portends!
No, we have no need for Daniel to show us what seems plain:
Rich white men aren’t worried about your suffering or your pain.
The phrase “the writing on the wall” refers to Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel in the Bible when King Belshazzar sees a hand appear to write the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upsharin on a wall. Belshazzar summons Daniel to interpret the writing, which Daniel translates as “Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.” Daniel tells Belshazzar that the writing means that Babylonian kingdom will be invaded and divided among the Medes and the Persians. The term “writing on the wall” has since been used to refer to any omen that predicts a bad outcome.
And When I Die
by Leslie Noyes
When I die I pray someone will mourn; that a song so achingly sweet will be offered up, and
People will sob in response. I also want a celebration, though, a praise service with dancing in every aisle,
Worshipful arms upstretched to the heavens. God only knows where I will turn up. I have not
Lived a blameless life; how interminably boring that would be, But still, I think of the ecstasy of
Being taken up by a heavenly host of angels, rising on wings of gossamer, when I die.
https://youtu.be/1BPoMIQHwpo
Praying for Eyebrowz 