Origami Microchap

Click title to download PDF microchap

Cover collage:

Spiral Galaxy with Camille Claudel study

Starline

Primordial cataclysm
to star ignition

energy birthing
matter birthing
sun moon planet

volcanic mayhem
to dawning life

paroxysms of being
protean fertile mobile

to this infant’s first breath
lungs of the cosmos expanding

Vocabulary of Joy

This new life holds me:
now is all

yesterday and tomorrow
mere make-believe.

Braids of trust enwrap us,
our heartbeats complementary

eyes speaking one meaning,
truth absolute

our embrace the universe—
being’s entirety.

We want for nothing
in this holy moment:

this purity,
this love

this elemental joy.

My Daughter, Hen

Her covey of chicks
she goads along,
clucking permissions,
squawking disapprovals,
her wide gaze weighing
temptations and threats

but woe to the wanderer
who breaches her limits—
a stern nudge,
a penitent cheep,
then on to meander,
learning the ways of the flock.

Lesson in the Clouds

Incremental redemption—
this taste of innocence,
this joy our children share with us
as they animate the high blue plain
with cottony giants and castles,
lions, dragons and bears—

a small step on the steep path
cautioning us to become again
as little children, humbly to waive
our grown-up griefs and strifes,

relearning that essential goodness
known before our eyes came to see
only troubles looming in clouds.

Walking Grandson Home from School

He’s a light-year ahead,
swept-wing sleeves flapping,
sneakered feet flashing in sunshine,
his backward cap surveilling
this lumbering dinosaur
on the verge of extinction
uttering unheeded warnings—

The kid’s already banking left,
dematerializing through our hedge,
dumping school day at the door.
He’s like a ransacking raccoon
rummaging for crunchies and sweets,
hightailing upstairs shouting about
recess, baseball and Spinjitzu masters.

The hallway clock tolls the situation,
Lego pieces clinking in combat,
music of the spheres rocking my chair.

Breathing In, Breathing Out

On the Earth
spinning in space
around the Sun
spinning in space
within the galaxy
spinning in space

until mind
ceasing to spin
weds space
endlessly spinning

time’s window
opening again
to all possibilities.

•

Darrell Petska © 2022

Windows and Doors

Click title to download PDF microchap

Cover collage by JanK

•

windows and doors

their sheer
unoccupied
openness

that seminal condition
preceding “is”

as when the gods
from dusky nonexistence
stirred to life and yawned

that moment!
their prodigious mouths
yet to exhale,

the breath of possibility
the merest
tickle upon their tongues

*

A Day in the Life

Day holds its breath,
scarcely stirring the leaves.

   Enter the grandchildren:
      sturm, drang und cookies,
         shards of glass and feelings
            spent upon the floor.

Sun naps in the treetops,
bees' eyes filling with pollen.

    Shadows lengthen and depart,
        heart retreating to its hole,

a pyre of thought against the dark,
a votive flame, a prayer.

In Us We Trust

Hard times, hard streets, hard faces
like manhole covers seeming—
closed, heavy, forbidding.

We trust, underfoot, the city's toiling
viscera—pipes, wires, valves, gauges—
bringing comfort to our homes.

Children of our cities, we, too—
every cell, muscle and synapse
behind our steely demeanors—

labor in the name of subtle mechanics
some call heart, others soul,
creating meaning in our lives.

*

Through My Window

Through my window lies a door
to a tree, a mailbox, a street

inviting me to see
what my eyes aren't privy to

light's play through a keyhole,
sweet suggestions of sight.

My drawer of keys is useless.
I've not yet picked the lock.

Should ever I succeed,
my eyes reaching that prize,

would I care to look back
to see if I'm still here?

*

Darrell Petska © 2020