Author: Linda Sue Grimes

Image:  Created by Grok inspired by “What Is It?“

What Is It?

sun is medicine.
rain suckles the peppers.

but what is this in my feet
that moves me down rows of tomatoes?

what is this in my hand
that moves me to pick peas?

Image:  Created by Perplexity inspired by “Yea, though I Walk“

Yea, though I Walk

Through the valley where rock faces stick out of the moss—
I walked that day until my feet had darkened like clay
The color of rust in the sun sheeting off old automobile
Bodies abandoned to the weeds by owners who
Could no longer tolerate their undependability.

My heart stole the music of the thundering oaks
Sharing their leaves and birds there in the coming rain
That I smelled moments before it soaked my hair,
My clothes, my skin while I had planted my feet
In the ancient floor that curves and curves.

Upward, the hill led to the road and my dripping body
Plodded the bend until a rainbow appeared in the east,
Perfect, it stood one foot on Grimme’s fence
The other on Richardson’s pond and my eyes worshiped
The light and the process of creation and the ability

Of the mind to carry me through this valley
Back to the road back across the grainfield

Along the edge of the water across the stone bridge
To the other side of pain left by the still winter
Until once again I had lowered my worn body

Until once again I could believe my soul would rise.

Image: The Garden of Withered Souls

Withered Soul

Speak to me, withered Soul,
Sagging under the burden of work,
Too excited by the five sensations—

Stop a while,
Lay down that load
Of wit and wonder,
Sip a tea never brewed,
Taste a wafer never baked,
Take up this thread of thought
And converse a while 
Here around the dinner table 
With angels,

Then walk a mile with me
And let me tell you about Spring;

Listen, withered Soul,
Laboring under the delusion of this world.
You cannot wipe from your eyes
The grime of the city
Nor the dirt of the country.

Come into the closet
Where safety begins in silence.
Seat that sluggard animal
You carry around with you
And begin to tame its wants.

Soul—
Spring comes and Summer follows
As sure as birth and rebirth—
Ease out from one season to the next
Lest you feel that tear and sting of dying.

Image:  Last Will and Testament

Will & Testament

To Wisdom, I bequeath my restless mind—
   Thou wilt calm it with tranquil truth.
To Hope, I bequeath the empty vase of my doubting heart—
   Thou wilt fill it with roses of faith.
To Courage, I bequeath my numbing fear—
   Thou wilt restore vitality to every limb.
To Health, I bequeath my diseased cells—
   Thou wilt chase them from the body house.
To Work, I bequeath my lazy hands—
   Thou wilt teach them to make and do.
To Wealth, I bequeath my impoverished purse—
   Thou wilt replenish it with wealth.
To Happiness, I bequeath my naked misery—
   Thou wilt weave it a garment of joy.
To Life, I bequeath my mortality—
   Thou wilt drown it in the waters of immortality.
To Love, I bequeath my burning hatred—
   Thou wilt extinguish its flames.
To God, I bequeath my soul—
   Thou wilt train my soul to be still and know.

Image: Created by Perplexity inspired by “Great Wall of Silence“

Great Wall of Silence

Thou hidest behind a great wall of silence.
And though Thou remain’st mum,
I will hum Thy name, O Divine Belovèd.
I will sing for Thee song after song
Until Thou breakest through—
For just a whisper is all I beg.

Though Thou remainest mum
Hiding behind a great wall of silence,

I shall meditate on that wall.
I shall keep the incense of my love
Burning on the altar of my heart
Until Thou breakest through—
For just a whisper is all I beg.

Image: Created by Grok 

Waiting in Shadows

“It is hard for me to give up the world.”   —paraphrase of Emily Dickinson sentiment

The things of this world are shadows
of the great divine self— 

incense, weed, & music hung a rose-glow
around things as we talked until dawn 

between my skin and soul looms a vast world
of playgrounds, factories, meadows, and temples;

outside my body roam many ghosts,
yet the divine flames in my own eye

a sacred place in my brain is free of smoke and ash
and a sacred place in my heart flames clean, searless

I want to dissolve my being into the great divine self—
until that time I am waiting in shadows.

Image:  Created by Grok inspired by “Wailing“

Wailing

more than anything else i want to know you
O my soul!  you, who are draped in Spirit!
you, who are the First Cause! of my being—
i say these things from second-hand knowledge,
i know these things with my mind because
my guru has told me—O my blessed guru!
i bow to you for telling me these things
and you have also told me that i alone
can walk that path that leads to my soul!
i alone can bring about the conditions
of mind and body that allow the soul!
to shine through.
O my soul! i wait, and suffer, and snuffle
and wail, and bitch, and whine—lift me
lift this fallen consciousness, lift this blathered
life, lift this booby-trapped angel, lift this
slithering coil to the place where you are,
where i want to be, where i want to meet
my soul!  my Spirit, 
my God—O Great Spirit!
O my soul! more than anything else i want to know you.

Image: Created by Grok inspired by “Survivor”

Survivor

After a lover severs his kiss, 
Divine Beloved soothes your tongue.

After a lover divulges a pack of lies, 
Divine Beloved delivers a bouquet of truth.

After a lover pierces you with indifference, 
Divine Beloved pleases you with bliss.

After a lover confuses your words, 
Divine Beloved communes in silence.

After a lover wearies of your love, 
Divine Beloved whispers, “I will love you always.”

After a lover eclipses your heart,
Divine Beloved enlightens your soul.

Image: Created by Grok inspired by “Summer God”

Summer God

Spring lilacs hint at your arrival
As does rain on blades of grass.

All summer you play hide & seek 
In the moss rose.

Fall, you play your game of colors 
Dazzling me with harvest.

Winter finds you tempering me for the thaw 
As the nights grow longer and colder—

Let me make my life a soft, sweet spring
That flows into you, O Divine Beloved Summer!

My Soul in Search of Divine Romance

I looked in the river & the river just kept rolling on out to the sea.
I looked in the ocean & the ocean was just too big to see across.
I looked in your eyes & saw nothing but the blues.  I looked in the sky
& the stars got caught in my corneas.  I looked in a book
& the words just snaked across the page. I looked in men’s hearts
& saw bottomless pits of darkness. I listened to the wind 
& heard not one word that sounded like a lover’s confession, 

so I listened to music pounded out on a piano, flowing out of a guitar 
& men’s throats & women’s throats & found no lovers. 
I listened to liars who made love as useful as a moth-eaten sweater,
whose affection was just slick, swollen sticks of flesh 
& I pushed & sucked until I realized this is not love, this is friction.

I stop listening today, now I will wait.
Only You know how to love me
but I don’t yet know how to understand—
the mud of this world sticks to my thighs
& the slime of lovers who have tricked me
for over half a century—

but today I renounce it all—
I will no longer look for You
in the disappointing automatons 
who inhabit this world.
I will not listen to the tacky voices 
that pollute the hallways of my ears.
Let them all grab & squabble & grow fat & drunk 
on the blood of desire. 

I renounce it all—
I cut out my eyeballs,
& hack my eardrums to pieces, & flay my skin,
& chop out my tongue, & snuffle my nose,
because my soul has no need to carry such baggage 
traveling in search of Divine Romance.