In Between

The days the storm whips and snaps
The evenings the breeze lilts and sighs
And everything in between

The morning's frosty winter wraps the world in cold
The night's late summer hugs the air with humidity
And everything in between

The green grass of the highest hills looking out over the horizon
The sapphire surface of the sea looking out over endless ocean
And everything in between

The smiles and laughter and moments of joy
The frowns and frustrations and moments of tears
And everything in between

The days of stress and deadlines and trials
The days of success, of learning, of progress
And everything in between

The highs and triumphs of the journey well travelled
The quiet moments in tranquil reflection

And everything in between.

Wildflower

She is a wildflower
Carried by the winds of time to a place that is not her own
She does not call home
The place where her roots have taken hold
Resilience, not beauty, is her purpose
She patiently awaits the day she blooms full flower
Upturned to the sun to absorb the simplicities of life
Bracing against the elements, taking all that comes her way.

Settled down, taking hold, she settles in for the long haul
Certain but unsure, she knows her heart is still wild, still free
The wildflower waits for a day she cannot see


Yet.

Contradictions

Dance in the gentle rain of a warm summers day
Swim in the winter ocean in the crisp morning air
Walk down the centre line of a forgotten, dusty, country road
Let unorthodoxy be an addiction
Be a contradiction.

Burn the midnight oil and let your soul pour out across the page
Sit down at the piano and let your own song rain across the keys
Wear something that celebrates you, not just what is all the rage
Put pen to paper, artistic friction
Be a contradiction.

Drink coffee on your own amid the bustle of the crowd
Read a book beneath the tree when everyone else is talking loud
Close your eyes and see with just your heart
Instead of talking, be one to listen
Be a contradiction.

Heartsong

The sun rains down on the water's surface
And the sea blushes brilliantly, radiant
Silent but sparkling, the subtle glimmer speaks louder
Than the waves dancing along the shore.

Sunshowers caress the sand
Shimmering as the sunlight embraces each raindrop
Silent but gentlre, the damp warmth speaks louder
Than the waves dancing along the shore.

Her heart pounds in time with the crashing of the waves
And she is wrapped in a blanket of sun tinted rain
Silent but strong, her heart's joyful song sings louder
Than nature's symphony on that seashore.

Dance

Piano discordant,
The keys faded from their ivory white
Play familiar notes in
Unfamiliar harmony

The strings of my heart, tentative, untangle
A new path set alight by curiosity.
Soft sounds of sweetness sing
A new song, a new story.

Discordance dances towards harmony
Delicate, but determined.
Stars align, and the melody sighs
as softly but surely a tune begins to emerge.

Discordance surges into a major key, as
The melody tiptoes forward on an unknown path
The harmony smiles knowingly alongside
I know not how this song will end -

Teardrops

Raindrops danced across the pavement
As the weather turned grey
Her teardrops danced alongside them
And that was all she had to say.

Intro to Poetry

I have just posted my first poem (which I wrote yesterday), so feeling proud that this blog has now had a complete makeover (huge thank you to my beautiful friend Sinead over at sineaddreamingagain.blogspot.com - head over and check out her amazing blog!) and that I have posted my first poem, which I hope will be a core component of my blog. So I wanted to follow up with an explanation of why I write poetry and what it means to me.

When I was five years old, I wrote my first "book" - which was a story about a little butterfly who got lost and had an adventure trying to find her way home. Complete with disproportionate illustrations. I don't remember much about the storyline, but I do remember the very last page, where the little butterfly had a cup of tea with her mother in their "home" in a tree (where the butterflies were the size of half a tree - what a terrifying prospect) and the little butterfly was purple (my favourite colour at the time). I vividly remember asking Dad for a stapler to staple my book together and his surprise at my casual, airy "oh I just finished writing a book".

I grew up learning to read at an early age, and after that "book" I remember my main dream in life was to be an author. I spent endless hours reading books and writing short stories and planning novels. As I got older, I turned more to poetry and my reading horizons expanded and dominated my academics as well, flourishing in written subjects more than logical sciences or maths.

Even after I put down the pen on regular personal writing, writing and words has remained important to me. I studied English, Classics, Anthropology, History and Ancient History in my Arts degree at University. My law degree seeemed a natural and obvious choice for someone with a penchant for word-smithing and wanting to help people.

Poetry to me, even when I haven't been regularly refining my craft and writing as much as I used to, still speaks to me. There is something in the craft of fitting words together like a puzzle, in striking a balance between simplicity and thought-provoking that I find so rewarding. It is a therapy for the soul, the search for words helps me to express who I am, what I am experiencing and trying to put even the raw and painful moments of life into something that exudes beauty. I like practicing different poetry, from ones whose purposes is to evoke or portray a singular emotion and the turbulence that sits underneath one emotion; to a poem with a plot line which involves more of the senses and tries to create a vivid visual image in the readers mind, to tell a story. I love being able to share my imaginative stories, but also connect on an emotional level in a way that is both personal and disconnected - as poetry is at it's very core something that comes from the heart.

A part of this blog is to enable me to share my poetry with the online world, but most of all to encourage me to write again, in whatever form that ends up taking. I hope some or even just one of poems strikes a chord with you or speaks to you in some way.

Resilient

Tendrils of listless waves watermark
The sand-strewn shore
As she slowly stepped from dune to dune
Wondering whatever for

Whatever for she felt the need
To trace out her escape
The exit route, the road ahead,
The fastest she could take.

The ocean sighed a gentle song
In simple sympathy
By nature's voice her spirit woke
And sang in harmony.

The sunlight peeped and warmed her heart
And brightened up her view
Resilient and constant sea,
She knew she could be too.

Tentative

A tentative start... 

After a long absence from the art of writing of any form, I have created a new space on the internet which I claim as my own, to share my writings in whichever form they take, seeking refuge from the storms of life and batten down the hatches in the solace and comfort that writing brings.

As with every other blog I've ever started (there's been a fair few, and like all diaries and journals have been cast aside as the years roll by...) an explanation for the name...

I wanted a name with connotations at the least, of the great outdoors. Being a Far North girl, the outdoors and environment are deep in my heart and I wanted to reflect that part of my identity. So came "oceans". Growing up at the beach and by the sea was especially key and so the ocean was an clear component.

I wanted a name that contained a verb to express action, happenings, movement of some kind.

I wanted a name that conveyed the struggles, the difficulties, the less bright sides of life, to show that life is not always smiles and roses, but to address the rawness and sometimes brutal aspects that life inevitably brings, especially those you cannot escape but must confront. So came "Roar".

Finally, I wanted a name through which I could allude to my faith and tie to a verse from the Bible. Being a Christian, God is at the centre and foundation of my being and my every day, He is my strength and my salvation and I know no matter what storms I endure, whatever raging waves life throws at me, He is my anchor and He can still any ocean and calm any storm.

So here is Let Oceans Roar. 

"You rule the raging of the sea; when it's waves rise, you still them" - Psalm 89:9 (ESV)

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you..." - Isaiah 43:2 (ESV)