Slumber

Slumber

That time between the worlds, secession

Where sleep is dream and wake is a question

Where our souls get closer to where our spirits dwell

And oceans wander and the deep does swell

Where light and life and echoes cease

To be just yearnings and are released

There the call of wonder comes

It beckons for the light of sun

Yet is saddened by its appearance for

The soul does long and cries for more

Of the time between the worlds in slumber

Worlds where what is not is number

Worlds where what can be are living

Worlds where what we need are giving

Everything our heart desires

In living waters and spirit fires

We step into a flowing river

That brings us warmth and makes flesh shiver

Until it seems it is no more

Where last week’s sky is this week’s floor

And all of this wrapped up in time

To walk along in slumber’s rhyme

Is to be so close to heaven we can taste it

K, Duane Carter 12-22-10  

I was going through some of my older journals, just looking at where I was at last year and thinking over the past year, and I found this.  It sparked something on the inside, so I thought I would share it.  I pray it sparks a flame in you also :).  Happy New Year.

Footsteps

Footsteps

Tonight I heard the sound

My heart, my soul, my flesh have longed for it now

I heard, I felt, the rumble

The rumble of God taking a step

He comes, with light in His eyes

With goodness flowing from Him

Love flowing from His every breath

Life arising, felling death

I heard it again, another rumble

Deep, shaking, earth-trembling

But what is this?

The sounds grow closer and closer together

Until it joins into a thunder

A mighty, shaking thunder

Faster and faster it rolls

Until I realize

It is my Father

Running to scoop me up into His arms

I fear no more

I fear no more

The rushing wind of His mighty arms sweeps me up

I am raised to new life

The thunder is now a roar, the roar of the Lion

The roar of billions of angels

Saying it is time to rise, look up, arise

The Father’s face I recognize

Though at first all I knew was the sound of His footsteps

It’s amazing at what happens in the silence

K. Duane Carter 12-29-11

Reflections

Reflections

Years have slipped on by

As I have wandered this grassy knoll

I have steadily wandered further west

Until the ocean has hemmed me in

Now I stand with this familiar feeling again

Of the unknown, the untested, the unseen

The wondering of what everything does mean

While all the while not really having to know

Doubts are fading, peacefulness grows

In this garden that I have come upon

Where I never hear a familiar song

Yet my heart has heard them all before

My eternal eyes see an eternal door

My mind does not know how to unlatch it

The yielding does know how to catch it

Entering on the invitation

Not striving in dark gyration

I simply walk into something so much bigger than I

Not remembering the when, not understanding the why

I simply walk in realizing

Good Father led me the entire way

He’s led me far today…

Right in the midst of the stillness

K, Duane Carter 12-1-11

Let There Be...

Darkness, steeped to the foundations

Chaos, the only stirring in the night

Until a ever silky breeze enters in

The ever-listening heart of God

Hears the Word of the Painter

He smiles, and He silently opens His wings

He hovers

A gentle voice, like that of a lovely woman

Goes forth

Simultaneously the universe trembles

And it has never stopped since

There, cutting through the darkness and chaos

Was light, and life and color

Beauty and wonder

The laughter still has not ceased

Neither will our wonder at it all

See this is all above the fall

The Laughter never ceases

It just continues to expand and expand

In every direction

Through every parameter

Blowing through all of our paradigms

Misting through all of our walls

Showing up in all of the oddest places

Where it perfectly fits the all

K, Duane Carter 11-26-11

I was deeply inspired to write this after listening to a song entitled "Let There Be" by Gungor.  If you're interested in listening, it is off their newest album entitled "Ghosts on the Earth."  I was going to title the poem something different, so I wouldn't have to bear the guilt of feeling like I had plagiarized it, but the title was just too perfect for me to give up.  Thanks to the Gungor crew for releasing such beauty and creativity and sharing it with us all.  By the way, if they are ever in your area GO SEE THEM.  You will never forget it.  They put on the most powerful and beautiful live performances I've ever seen.  Don't miss it if they are close by.  :)

Formulae

Formulae

The thing I don’t like about formulas

Is that it takes all of the magic away

Yet at the same time they are woven throughout the universe

Dancing throughout the night and the day

Why is that?

Please don’t say that is just how it came to be

For I have seen the grandeur of the ocean

I have felt the complexity of the tree

I have delighted in flights of pure wonder

I have known the great mystery of Whom

I’ve been enraptured by the beauty of flower

I’ve seen life as it comes forth from the womb

See, the thing I don’t like about formulas

Is that it takes all of the magic away

Yet at the same time they are woven throughout the universe

Dancing throughout the night and the day

And I’m just beginning to hear the music

K, Duane Carter 11-25-11

The Entry

The Entry

Narrow is the gate into the kingdom of beauty and wonder

Yet within the way is very, very broad

In fact, it is eternal

It dances in the clouds

It moves into the depths like the waters

It is older than the mountains

Yet younger than the sky

It moves on without hesitation

Never stopping at the why

It is blue as blue is meant to be

It is promise of coming life

The entry may be narrow and hard

Yet within there is no strife

So don’t mistake the universe for the entry

Don’t settle down where there is no room

Keep stepping toward the bluest depths

Where the sun always rests at noon

K, Duane Carter 10-27-11

answer

answer

so often we want answers in black and white

yet that is not how they come

that isn’t how it was designed

sure it makes it so much simpler

because things are so much simpler when they’re dead

so our answers come not at all

or when they do

they’re red and yellow

still missing some points

but that is not the point

the point is to enjoy the beauty and the wonder

as it contrasts against our blacks and whites

living things amongst the dead

the answer comes in yellow and red

K, Duane Carter 10-27-11

Hidden

Hidden

I feel like this

I have been created to shine

Yet my wings are still folded

I quietly rest sublime

My head bowed slightly

But my eyes open

Though they are still covered up

By His hand

He readies me to see His face

He roots me in the land

Green surrounds me

It brings in nourishing light

Just when no one is watching

Just in the midst of the night

I will burst forth

Because I will have seen His glory

Life will come

It will never end

I will be more than servant or friend

I will be son and bride

With nothing to hide

Nothing to hide at all

Even if I’m forever hidden

K, Duane Carter

9-10-11

Take the Step

Take the Step

I stand on the precipice

The place where if I leap

I leave behind all that has given me life

Yet have I had life

When I’ve stood alone?

All alone in my self-reliance and my achievement

I see that if I leap there is a great valley before me

I can’t even see the end of it

Yet there are also great mountains

Incredible forests

The running river

And wind

I can’t stand here any longer

Nor will I retreat

I step off an edge into the unknown

Feeling a breeze beneath my wings

That I didn’t even know I had

I breathe in glad

 K, Duane Carter 9-1-11

A Call from the Ancients

A Call from the Ancients

I sense Your presence

Like waves of wind

Passions of fragrance

All amongst the generations

The nations, the genders

My father, long passed on

Still looks at me and calls me on

Time to bring the heart to life

Time to bring the heart to life

The drum begins to beat, growing stronger still

The sound of rushing waters, the blood is flowing

A cry rises up in the Spirit

A cry for overcoming on earth

Where the arrows in our quiver are fiery love

The casualties bring on new birth

The horses release a mighty thunder

Lightning guides the way

We bolt and thunder behind the pillar of cloud

We swarm behind the Fire of Day

Never taking our eyes off the Prize

Never, ever taking our eyes off the Prize

For victory is not my yearning hearts goal

It is the Victor Who I want to see

K, Duane Carter 8-26-11

Birth

Birth

The droplets are forming

Condensation from the heavens

Right at the point of final release

That finally brings on the beginning

All things new

Many things few

Until they are one

Just like the molecules

Forming the droplets

There is power in the union

There is momentum in the making

There is movement in the stillness

There is moisture in the dry

There is an answer in the why

There is formation in the sky

I feel it beneath my feet

It’s about to consume the street

Of every tongue and every nation

Of every curve and fenestration

There is a condensation forming

Where no one will be afraid

We will all be covered in love

Look, it’s forming clouds above

No death, no darkness, no childish fray

Will stop, delay, or mar this day

For nothing stops the gravity

Nothing stops the majesty

When the sound, the roar falls to the earth

The drops are forming, a windswept birth

I saw a droplet on the sidewalk…

Now I feel one on my face…

Feels like grace…

K, Duane Carter 8-24-11 

Through the Glass

Through the Glass

I see the jay prancing on the porch

He’s eyeing the suet at the corner

But then

He sees a shadow that is I

Beyond the other side

He waits, fearful, unsure

Pecking with short grasps

One eye on me, one on the prize

Not knowing it was I who put the prize there in the first place

I move

He flitters off

I sit back down

He returns, wary

Suspicious but needy

Wondering if the risk is worth it all

But then

Suddenly I see myself

K, Duane Carter 8-17-11

Surrounded

I walk along a path of stone

Ground by years of wear

I suddenly sense a Greatness near

Yet I know not why or where

I lift my head and see the vastness

The granite, the stones, the trees

I suddenly sense I am surrounded by Love

I stop and I go to my knees

I am completely encircled by Someone beyond

I am completely enamored and awed

I am so mesmerized that I barely can breathe

I just know I must give Him my all

The mountains cry out and speak His name

The trees list silent in the winds

I shrink to the size of a quark of a seed

I hear His voice call me “friend”

I am surrounded

K, Duane Carter 8-15-11

Iconoclast

Iconoclast

I look out the morning window

The sun taking its time to rise

Orange and amber everywhere

Stillness in the skies

And yet

I see the wind chimes moving, drifting

A pendulum of dancing glass and light

They show a stirring of the wind

They show an ending of the night

And yet

In this box of paint and glass

I feel not a thing, sense only sight

Yet no experience, no heart felt stirring

Only a hunger to know the more, no more night

So I step outside

Wind touches every facet of my skin

My life, my love they begin again

Inside the shadow of the hummingbird does fall

But outside I hear his wings, his call

I breathe in the air

I feel the stirring

I know the sunlight

I hear the whirring

I am truly alive

K, Duane Carter 8-8-11

God's Country

God’s Country

I have come into the land of God

I am closer than I have ever been

Yet I have never been further away

It isn’t that my heart has strayed

Rather I am steeped in an aloneness

I’ve never had this before

This pressure that molds and forms

It makes and shapes and recreates

Something I could never have dreamed or imagined

I sense Him coming after me

With a passion that could only compare to a fiery wind

A heat, a power so massive that no one and no thing can stop it

Yet I fell nothing, see nothing, hear nothing

Knowing all the while it is right there behind me

Waiting to surprise me with such an abrupt suddenness

That my rocky heart must crack and bleed

A new one will take its place

Then the stagnant will erase

I have come into the land of God

I simply wait

I simply walk on

To the way where He’s already been

K, Duane Carter 7-28-11

The Call

The Call

I have felt the call to go up this mountain

Though I am here all alone

Yet still, a small voice calls out from beyond

For me to go to places never traversed before

Though the summer, the snow is still in place

The mask comes off, and reveals the face

All is done and all is well

I feel the sense of expectation swell

I begin the steep ascent

K, Duane Carter 7-20-11

No rmal

No rmal

There’s nothing worse for a poet

Than to have no poem

But even darker still

Is a life with no desire

An existence with no burning fire

Long has it been quenched and calmed

Into a vicious and nasty state

Known as normal

It’s time to arise

It’s time to arise

To stretch out those broken wings to fly

(For how will you taste healing unless you fly again)

Feeling the winds of yearning begin to lift you up

To taste the sweet and bitter cup

Of the real and untamed and glorious Fire

Of the deep and haunting chalice of desire

Begin to dream again

Begin to call impossible friend

And watch him yield to the sight that is within you

Who makes all things new

K, Duane Carter 7-13-11

Folding Laundry

Folding Laundry

such an endless eternity

seeming to go on and on and on

more coming in than going out

turning your heart into a Dead Sea

Yet

let your heart connect with Life

let your being connect with a River

and all of a sudden

every towel you fold

every wash cloth you put away

releases color, light, and wonder

it is an act of worship

it releases a fragrance of love into the home

it causes the angels to fly and roam

into your spirit, soul, and life

it puts a veil of the miraculous on all who live there

and even those who don't

suddenly you are an ambassador of the King

releasing heaven into earth

Life then sings, "Come up higher"

Welcome to the delight of folding laundry

it is the place of your promotion

a simple choice to avoid emotion

living out of a greater place

You iron a shirt

And there you see God's face

Isn't it great?

K, Duane Carter 7-2-11

Sitting Outside at Starbucks

I sit with my back to the mountain

feeling the breezes blowing my way

sunshine brings the warmth

the wind brings the cool

the mixture can be intoxicating

Invigorating, restoring, rejuvenating

The breezes bring the fresh air

the flowers dance to the music

releasing their fragrances to the skies

bypassing all of the whys

to simply enter into the why nots

Country music breaks the sounds

but then that just disappears

a new sound comes and takes its place

but that fades into the distance also

Yet the breezes still continue on

a gentle sound of all the frequencies 

Stirs all around

Orthodoxy, priesthood walks on by

I feel no fear, no pain, no hate

Just a simple truth that God makes all things great

We're all just trying to find more of Him

The best we all can

In the process we find He's been after us

He was telling us that in the breezes

He was speaking to us on the mountains

We just didn't turn around

But now that I'm found

I turn my face to see His smile

I feel the flowers dancing

I smell the cold of snow

I see the sounds of life and love

Only Him do I want to know

K, Duane Carter 6-24-11

Crimson Curtains

Crimson Curtains

Crimson curtains drawn down

Closing out the closing scenes

Longing for the hope, the dreams

I wonder what tomorrow holds

Beyond the veil

I wonder if I will fly or sail

Or walk or run or stroll or crawl

Will I make a bridge?

Or will I build a wall?

Whatever it is

Whatever I become

It is covered in mystery, in love

With little glimpses of moonlight

Silver slivers slipping through

All things covered, all things new

All things wonderful, all things true

I’m just dancing in the flowers of the cloaking

Within the promise of the moon I’m soaking

There must be a greater source of the light

I fly by day and swing by night

Simply looking for the breezes

K, Duane Carter 6-8-11

Flying (Again)

Flying (Again)

Sometimes I wonder what would happen

If we would just let loose

Let go of this imaginary control we have over ourselves

And ride the winds of free and fanciful

I wonder where that would go

I wonder if the world would know

Just what it would be like to be completely transformed

Into a world of dreamers and dancers

Artists and enchanters

Who simply live the impossible things

Instead of searching for golden rings

By analyzing the metallic content of it all

I sense the wonder, I sense the call

But am I willing to let go of this fear

This strange anxiety that keeps me here

In a land of concrete logic and visible truth

Where wisdom is ignored, and worshiped is youth

Yet I see cracks in the pavement

And the flowers are growing there

Before too long we all will simply let down our hair

And run like there is never to be a tomorrow

For it will always be today

It will be this way on earth today

When we let go of these ballasts called fear

Trading them in for the wings of love

Soaring we’ll go to heights above

Heights where others said we could not go

Peace will be our oxygen flow

The mountaintops envious in their lowness

We dance with might, we dance with zest

We simply dance instead of walking in dreary routine

We don’t see what all of the mysteries mean

But we embrace them all just the same

We blow a kiss, we speak a name

We care not for fortune, we care not for fame

I awake from dreams, never the same

I feel the grass beneath my feet again…

K, Duane Carter 5-31-11

Traverse

Traverse

a temple spire

like a god

rising up from the water

poiseidon it is not

steel girders

arches

elegance and beauty

we remembered, we forgot

the elements of our being

but here we find it freeing

to behold the beauty of the sight

bursting forth like candle light

in the midst of a misty forest of steel

I reach forth and take the wheel

Traversing forth into my destiny

A new day begins

K, Duane Carter 5-29-11

Image by Scott Wyden

Written for onestoppoetry.com Photo Challenge

Thunder

Thunder

Can you hear the roar?

Or better yet can you feel it?

Can you feel the thunder of His paws treading the earth,

Can you sense the wonder of the coming birth,

Can you smell the breath of life?

Can you feel the tremble of the groan,

As earth welcomes the Lion as its own,

The One Who made it and has come to reclaim?

I feel the tremors within my soul

My spirit charged with the power of the roll

Of thunder and lightning and color and light

I hear the darkness now it screeches in fright

And soon they will all be a vapor

They will all just be a vapor

No cancer, no autism, no poverty, no death

I can smell the release of the Lion’s breath

And it smells just like the rose, red in its depth

But brilliantly white, brilliantly light

Release Your roar O Lion of Judah

Release Your roar into this night

Release Your roar O Lion of Judah

Release Your roar into our darkest of nights

And we will watch Your glory rise

We will watch the bluest skies

Come forth like a bride in her beauty

Radiant and beaming and whole

Healed in body, spirit, and soul

Clamoring, pursuing the love of her life

Crushing darkness, crushing strife

Under the delicate feet of peace and love

Release Your roar into below and above

For the time has come to make merry

For the time has come to feast

On all the wonders of Father’s goodness

From the greatest to the least

We all come hungry for Your Love

I hear the Thunder

K, Duane Carter    5-4-10

Quiet

Quiet

The wind blows through the sea oats

Flavors and aromas of salt

Water and air

Stirring the feathers, moving the hair

Like a thousand spirits dancing

To the music of the sunlight

All the colors of the rainbow

Exist in the yellows, reds, and blues

But none of the blues exist in me

For within the light, within the wind

I am free

Free to fly when I wish

Or free to stand on the shore and feel water between my toes

Within the grasps and throes

Of movements far beyond my grasping

They are there for just the simple asking

I relish these moment of quiet

And the Quiet relishes me

K, Duane Carter 5-21-11

Drop

Drop

Baste

On the brow

On the brow

Taking thoughts away from me

Seeking life

Seeking life

Where I just want to be

Drop these chains

These dark remains

Of a pain that creeps inside

You won’t win

Won’t win again

For I let you go into the night

Let you go

Let you go

Fly away from my days

Clear away, clear away

Drop the vapor from the haze

I see you now

I see you now

You just run away afraid

You don’t scare me

You can’t scare me

I am walking alive, alive, alive, alive, alive

I am coming alive, alive, alive, alive, alive

Yeah, I drop the chains

Yeah I drop the chains

Only love remains…

K, Duane Carter 5-12-11

Cadence

Cadence

A nasty fog

With a nasty grip

I feel the tendrils

A chill, a rip

As my heart gets invaded with the fear

A beckoned sun

Rises on its own

I feel the beams

A light, a warmth

Rising up like a great shield

Warming heat

Brightening light

Birth of life

Death of fright

The flower blooms in majesty

K, Duane Carter 5-12-11 

Reality's Paradox

Reality’s Paradox

Everything I see

Is a vacuous nothing

Compared to One Who I cannot see

One Who causes me to be

All that I feel, all that I know

Is just meaningless drivel

Compared to the Wonder

The Mystery flow

All that really is

We mistakenly see as really not

Everything that brings all to us

We actually know not what

Or Who

Open our eyes

What is not seen is greater

Than what we say we see

K, Duane Carter 4-27-11

The Hallway

The Hallway

I didn’t make it to the place I thought I would

What seemed like a simple journey forward

Has ended with me here

Staring at the floor

No one else to get me to the destination

Impediments and hesitations

Have left me here in this place

The place where no one sees my face

And I can’t see the Beauty right beside of me

The dust and dim have hidden him

The silence just keeps calling me friend

Yet my right hand is still on the wheel

My direction is still toward the goal surreal

I sense a helper coming from way beyond

A fuzzy figurine, the green, the frond

The changing autumn leaves are not a sign of impending winter

They are a sign that death will splinter

I will make it to my home

I will make it to where my heart can roam

Though my body stays in this silence

I will make it…

I will make it…

My right hand still rests on this turning wheel

K, Duane Carter 4-24-11

Image by Greg Laychak.  Written for Onestoppoetry.com Photo Challenge.

The Walk

The Walk

I traveled a pavement path today

It took me to recent, distant past

Many things arose

The good, the bad, and yes, the ugly

Yet, these things had no hold, no hold

They could gain no hallowed ground

For there was something greater still

That took the past and drowned

It

The greater was the present

It was the sunshine radiating off all alive

The skies so rich with blue

The green of the new leaves on the trees

The wind was whispering new

Songs of life and hope and peace and love

All of these things were more than enough

To erase the past, to place it where it should be

I think I’ll simply rest beneath this tree

Slipping as a dream into my future 

K, Duane Carter 4-23-11 

Ribbons

Ribbons

I close my eyes to go to sleep

In the place right in between
Awake and not

I see a funnel of white

Ribbons of white coming to me

Beckoning me to go to another place

Another time, another hope, another rhyme

Yet my mind cannot handle the promise

I feel my being, my being pulled to this place

My mind cries out in fright of being left behind

Never to be found again, never again to know a friend

Or the kisses of an enemy

I slide into a fretful sleep

Interrupted by the disappointment

Yet at its foundation is a greater hope

I am finding the doors to great journeys

They are opening for me to see

Soon I will be stepping through

I will be a spirit in the Mist

No longer shaking violent fists

I will just bask in the unknown

Being molded by the hands of God

Being shaped into a shepherd’s rod

So His word may strike the earth

The earth will know His goodness

His glory will stream over the lands and mountains

All will know, all will see

From highest mountain to tallest tree

All will know, all will see

The ribbons of white are coming down toward me

K, Duane Carter 3-29-11

Flight of Fantastic

Flight of Fantastic

I am flying on the back of a winged being

Not a creature for He is not created

I cannot get a glimpse of His face

Nor a glimpse of His form

I only know I can feel His gigantic wings move

As I hold on for one glorious, terrifying ride

It was the music that led me here

Riding the waves of sound

A white ribbon, a torrent of movement

I find myself in a cloud, thick with warmth

Feeling the breeze, knowing I am in safety

Yet not knowing hardly anything at all

If I hold on, I will not fall

We come out of the shadowy clouds

Before me a great mountain

Stony spires rising high to the skies

Sunlight setting right behind it

A city of immense proportion

Yet more stunning was its beauty

I sat breathless wondering what world was this

Without words, it was spoken

The flying One speaks without sound

Only the beating of the wings

“This is an outpost of heaven.  It is one of the rooms of My house.”

I always thought a room was, well, a room

Not a gigantic beauty tucked into the mountains

A sunlight ethereal shining behind it

Air pure as the snowy sky

No fear, no doubts, no more of the questions why

Just a heart content, dwelling in the beauty

“I wonder how good this moisturizer works?”

I am back on earth

Yet the journey stays within my heart

The journey with the Spirit

Not just the sights I saw with my eyes

Left me mesmerized

K, Duane Carter 3-29-11

Jacob's Dream

Jacob's Dream

Dead man walking

Making not one imprint on the world or its lands

Imprisoned in the hell of mere existence

Chains and stocks and fetters encircle my hands

I come to the final resting place

Never understanding why they call it a rest

When all is dead and gone

There is nothing more and nothing less

The chains pull me to the ground, the sound

Is almost like infernal laughter, hyenas howl

There is a shadow now above me

I am about to exit the now

The air from the shadow does stir me

It calls me to lift up my head

With everything, anything within me

I lift my eyes from the grip of the dead

I see the outlines, the masking of a ladder

The ladder does reach to the sky

As my eyes take this image into reality

My spirit releases a sigh

The release of the sound calls the angels

They begin to descend and ascend

I feel life beginning to rise in my being

I feel the chains lifted off by the Wind

The Wind then becomes a great Vortex

Pulling me up off my knees

It pulls all that binds me off of my spirit

It then stirs the leaves of the trees

I sense the smells of lavender, vanilla

I hear the sounds of the stirring of winds

I see light coming in all around me

I see angels that still ascend and descend

God was here and I didn’t know it

Right here in the place of my death

He reached out and sent forth His ladder

Simply waiting for the release of my breath

Everything changed in a moment

K, Duane Carter 3-27-11

the Abstract

image by Roger Allen Baut

the Abstract

truth is found in layers

yet light is always at it’s center

moving and weaving through all

a sine wave interrupted but never stopped

crystal clear, it shows us here

the truth will not be robbed

of its clarity, its purpose

even that which is just seen on the surface

reveals what is deeper within

K, Duane Carter 3-27-11

Created for One Stop Poetry's Photo Challenge