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

Surprises

image by James Rainsford

Surprises

Sometimes God shows up in surprising ways

He comes upon us and messes up our left-brain strays

Waking us up from our slumbers

Our endless, stony days without numbers

Just waiting outside the realms of the religious

Calling us to spread out our wings and fly with Him.

He rests sometimes right above our heads

As we longingly look elsewhere for our bread

Standing outside in the rain and storm

Forgetting, ignoring our original form

Where the light caught our wings and lifted us higher

We have taken stones and form in place of fiery desire

It is less painful, but is not living

God patiently waits, He patiently waits

The light and the music continue to wake

The waves move within our souls, and our minds

To our hearts the melodies one day will find

Then breath will come, warmth will come

The stony caricatures will be undone

We will all find our wings and soak in the sun

Our songs will never be quite the same

K, Duane Carter  3-20-11

Written for One Stop Poetry Challenge

The Wait is Over

The Wait is Over

I can feel God in the chord progressions

I can sense His love dancing on the air

I can accept His touch in the words that fly

The ones I can and cannot compare

I see His order as it falls in the shadows

The light from the sun on the vines

I see His dance as He moves on the spring winds

Not knowing the depths of His glory that are mine

I see the call of new life in the flowers

I hear His voice in the sound from the trees

I see His foundations in the blades of the grasses

I sense His awe as I go to my knees

I stand in the midst of His glory in springtime… 

K, Duane Carter 3-19-11 

Is At Hand...

Is At Hand…

I search photos for the poetic

While sitting in the midst of the birds’ chorus

Outside in the midst of the green, the trees

Bees are buzzing about wintertime dreams

We all know that the universe is poetry

Held together by rhyme and rhythm

Mystery and surprises

Exfoliating the old, always birthing the new

Resting on blades of grass is the morning dew

Reflections of majesty

For those willing to get close to the ground and see

For those willing to look away from the image

To embrace the real

The real must be now more surreal

Just like the reflections in the droplet of water

Wider, taller, movement in stasis

Smaller, purer, found in ecstasies

It is amazing how the living long for stillness

While the dead walk right by life

I search the photos for the meaning of the poetic

While sitting in the midst of the birds

Singing their dreams

K, Duane Carter 3-19-11

Motion

Motion

Lonely

Disenfranchised

Longing

Hoping

Cared for

Loved

Accepted

Family

Favored one

Favorite one

Placed on Father’s shoulder

Whispering in His ear

Feeling His laugh through my being

No longer alone

No longer alone

I am one with the Creator of the universe

He laughs with me

I am no longer alone

I never was alone

Reality is such an incredible thing

There is nothing like being with Dad

His laugh seems to always open my eyes

He heals my heart

Accepted

Welcome

Home

K, Duane Carter 3-17-11 

Pristine

image by Fee Easton

Pristine

I dwell in the shadows of precision

Pristine chapels wonderful in their symmetry

Yet just blurred in the background

Bricks and glass arched like the sun

Yet they are blurry shadows

My unkempt hair blown in the wind

Sharp, defined, and seen

But from life I have been weaned

Now I just draw what I can from the elements

No use for shadows, no use for sacraments

I will draw everything out of life that I can breathe

While all of that draws the very life out of me

Can you see my soul?  Can you sense my spirit?

They lie hidden behind my eyes

Which lie hidden behind my darkness

Yet all is clear, all is seen

You see life and know what it means

When you look at the contrasts of me

You can feel my sadness, you can sense my fear

When you take the time to see that I’m here

Seeing beyond the three’s and the flow

I am here in the depths for you to know

Not to be blurred into the background

With bricks and glass arched like the sun

K, Duane Carter 3-13-11

This poem was written for the One Stop Poetry Photo Challenge.  This is a great link to check out each week because there are always incredible photos and excellent poems to peruse.  It is a fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Son, I Am

Son, I Am

I have gone through doors unopened

Completely unaware of it

My only sign the winds that stirred

I felt, when in the midst my vision blurred

I have stood before wells

Piercing the skies, feeling the wails

Water pouring forth from above

When all I did was raise my hand

Father wanted to hold mine

Connection was created, rivers flowed

No effort at all

When all seemed barren and dry

I have danced before no one

Nothing to see

Heaven moved and right before me

The universe became my playground

Yet for all this depth, all so profound

Everything visible was moved

With the release of a breath

Silence stilled, canceled death

Hurricanes averted, trembling ceased

Depression lifted, joy released

As the earth shook gently beneath my feet

In all of the stillness…

I have borne the weight of the quiet

Lying heavily on my chest

And in this place of quiet rest

Winds of change do blow

The only thing that I do know

Is this is what sons do

When Father makes all things new

K, Duane Carter 3-11-11 

Frustration

Frustration

When frustration is a large brick wall

That I continually am running into

Even if it is a small brick wall

It still hurts.  It still bruises.  It still shames.

Yet I refuse to let it squash the names

The name I have been given

The name of the One I know

And when toward that wall I go

Once more and once again

I reach for the hand of my Brother, my Friend

Bursting through the banner, entering the battlefield

To fireworks, smoke, and laughter

K, Duane Carter 3-10-11    

Wonder

The curtain has been raised

And this is what is seen

What to others looks like a giant mess

Yet to my Maker it is serene

He sees the beauty in the silks

He sees color, symmetry, lines

He sees life is drifting right in the midst

He sees wonder in the chaos that is mine

The curtain has been raised both for me and for you

So what has been stolen and plundered?

All of this is just a beginning for Him

A beginning of art, glow, and wonder

K, Duane Carter  3-6-11

Written for onestoppoetry challenge.  In honor of my son, Eli, whose birthday is today, adopted from a Chinese orphanage four years ago because someone saw the wonder in the chaos.

Discovery

Discovery

I sit here quietly, pondering

Waiting for words to drop like the rain from the sky

A constant, a constant wondering why

Looking for reasons that don’t exist

In the place where I understand

Things formed by a greater hand

Infinitely great, infinitely small

Infinitely vast, infinitely all

Which is why I am quiet in my pondering

Somewhat afraid to journey into that

For when could I ever return?

For when could I ever learn,

When there is no end to the learning?

Yet I cannot deny the burning, yearning

Heaven strikes its most beautiful note

And my heart just sings and rings

Sounds I don’t understand

Lyrics I don’t comprehend

Yet they are placed right here before me

In the faces of my wonder-filled children

In the smile of my beautiful wife

In the breath that flows through my being

In the Presence that gives me my life

I take the step,

Discovering I actually have wings

See what happens when heaven sings?

My heart still rings…

K, Duane Carter 3-5-11