Poetry: Tinder

At midnight, the tree,
it teetered and fell
and it's always assumed
it died from years.
But, maybe it died from
loneliness instead?
Maybe it no longer
had the heart to stand.
Its trunk bears its scars,
like that August
it was struck by a bolt
and almost flamed out.
Or the initials gouged
deeply in its side
by a life with a knife,
to express and confess
a once-burning love
that's long since gone.
Its felling exposes
the secrets it kept,
its abandoned nests,
the confessions
it held onto
from those who sat
under it and wept.
Two hawks scatter around it
in a circular swell;
they say their goodbyes
to the tree where it lies.
At the break of dawn
the hawks are gone and
the sun rises up in the sky.


© Sherri Brannon

It's been awhile. I've been filling my poetry journal with page after page of thoughts, but having a hard time forming them into cohesive poems. The struggle is real! (photo taken with my iphone and edited with various apps).

Music

My poor soul
and her love
for wild things
while always held back
by my human fear
and caution, by
my aging frame and
ever milder disposition.
Music is the thing; it
draws my soul out with
its harmonious tones.
A song I love
enters my ears,
spiraling down
to my heart chamber,
reaching my soul there
where she lives.
The chorus comes in
and she hears the
round, pearly notes;
she strings them together
as a necklace
around her throat.
She grabs my hands
and we move in time
to the beat, we
sway to the rhythm
of her wildness.
And she smiles
and I smile,
or I cry
and she cries.
And her voice
and my voice
both sing along.

Music and souls.
Both are wild,
both are tender,
neither can be seen
in the mirror.
Neither can be touched
with the span
of a human hand;
both transcend
place and race,
age and gender.

© Sherri Brannon


Music has always been one of the joys of my life, from the time I was a little girl (thank you, Dad). With it, I can endure so many things. It empowers me to keep going. It helps me dig down deep and find the roots of things. With music in my ears, birds flying across the blue sky seem ten times more beautiful.

Sometimes I search for a song that will sing in time with my pain, like putting on rain and then listening. Other times, a song will make my heart burst and unfold with gladness. With music, I can dance my way out of the dark, close my eyes and dream, smile through grateful tears...it helps me through so many things.

Many thanks to the music of BTS. Their deep, meaningful lyrics have inspired me in recent months - I’m writing more poetry than I’ve written in a very long time. Great music always does that.

Bells

I dreamt last night
that every blooming flower
had a bell sound,
and I walked with wonder
across the ringing ground,
ankle deep in chiming blossoms,
with blades of grass swaying
and cricket beats battling
in time with the song.

And deep-heart colors
leaked from every
singing bird's throat,
scarlet flung
from a cardinal's beak,
indigo from a bluebird's notes,
the juice of it dripping,
staining their wings
while they sang.

And sunshine on our human skin
felt like a million kisses,
to help all the lonely people.
It dappled the oaks
with green tints and tones,
and both the trees
and the people
leaned into the wind
to clutch the sunshine's gold.

© Sherri Brannon

[iPhone photo edited with Glaze and iColorama apps.]

Blue My Mind

These days I’m all about
the softness of my soul
her quiet voice
at the bottom of my lungs
her tender voweling
the taste in my mouth
that her poetry brings
and I let her flow
because pooling her words
in my throat
not letting them flow
makes me choke
Words are only breath
floating out of the mouth
on the waves of the soul
I write thoughts like this down
but I don't believe
these words are my own
it's my soul who is speaking
her eyes that are seeing
her words are my breath
this is my strength.

A touch of ancient sorrow
came with me out of the womb
but it hasn’t taken me
it hasn’t won
my brain loves to brood
it loves to blue my mind
but I've realized some things
how, when a linear mind
fills up with the roundness
of soulful things
sharp fears lose their edges
how, even prayers can be
self-delusions
when spoken with the dread
of a human
I lament the fact
that my soul's deepest thoughts
can't be expressed
in earth's language
the pureness of her intentions
gets lost in crude translations
and I know by now
that happiness is rationed
along with pain and passion.

Can I find God
with the burden
of a mind, I wonder,
when fear steps in
with hope and love
and they all
intertwine together?
Three's a crowd,
my soul says with a whisper,
You're not here to learn,
you're here to remember.


"Don't let your mind see through your eyes." ~Mooji

The soul always knows.

None of My Friends are Poets

In search of serenity, I walk.
My spirit moves to the
rhythm of a song, my
poetic thoughts unlock.
Later, I'll get back home
and my pen will overflow.
I'll write too much,
because the ego needs
too many words
to say so little.
But for now, I walk, and
a pelican flies over me.
We'll never touch,
but I send up my love.
I smile as its shadow
merges with mine
on the ground and,
just for a moment,
our souls intertwine.
I walk by the murky
gray-green of a pond,
the same color as my eyes
but, when I look again
the sun hits its surface
and it suddenly shines
like diamonds.
A beautiful song plays in my ears
in a language I don't speak,
but it doesn't matter
because music is a wonder.
Love. I say that out loud
when the song ends.


Walking, poetry, music...three of the joys of my life. Oh, and also the fourth: taking photos, which I did while taking my walk. Thank you, BTS, for the beautiful music!

Poetry: Dear Moon

DEAR MOON

Dear Moon, come find me here.
You've been hiding and it's been awhile.
I see you've come full circle again.
What is it about you that I can meet you in the dark
and pour out my heart when I'm struggling?
You make it easy, cratered as you are with your flaws.
Like I am.
It seems I feel safest when I'm loving from a distance,
and I can see it on your face
that you'll keep my secrets.

This world has me weary from the gravity of things,
how it's given itself up to the cutthroat keyboards.
I've stopped letting that into my house.
Hearts here have gone half dark, and
it's so hard to talk to the halfhearted.
I wonder, do you feel invisible when the sun comes up?
Do you feel blue when earth turns its back?
Thank you for hearing me, for your tender reflection,
and can I confess? I've stopped searching for myself
on other people's faces. It leaves such an empty feeling.

One thing I know for certain, my heart has been pulling at me,
moving words inside me like you move the seas,
spitting phrases at me when I'm not prepared to hear them.
It's been awhile
since I wrote my heart down.
Tell me, are you the keeper of the stars? Do you grieve
when they burn out or do you surrender and let them fall?
I ask because my soul stays seventeen, yearning for itself,
but sees another in the mirror. And, this earth tries to tell me
dreams must die with age, just like skin and bones do.

Dear Moon, please don't worry, I'll be fine.
My journey here is a frail and finite thing,
with the anguish of a mind, the reality of time.
I'll keep seeking the secret to this duality of life,
its mystic double entry. And, there's such joy,
such sweet attraction to a thousand recollections:
poems blooming like love flowers in my throat,
teardrops falling from the grace of an inner knowing,
that divine spark of always becoming,
even while headed towards dying.

© Sherri Brannon


Art work created on iPad Pro with Procreate, Glaze, and iColorama apps.

Red, White and Blue

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

We are
souls in a body
soft spirits
pressed up
against the harshness
of our minds
gentle lambs consumed
by the lion
of our brains
living in a place
where cynicism
is an epidemic
breathing in
the poison
of its blue breath
and we are
thick-lipped
with the sting
of its scorn

We are heart brutes
drowned out by the
clank clank
of our thought chains
finite bodies
all fear and quick
gritting our teeth
while drones loom
reveling in
the mock and hollow
of hate and debate
our rib bones bleached
white with spite
we, in the round,
with our square screens
and our rush of blood
we are ego
bleeding out
like red wine
staining the carpet.

© Sherri Brannon 2017

The state of humanity...stark words that feel clipped and harsh on my tongue.

I created the image with apps - I took a photo of my hand and then overlayed another photo of birds soaring in the sky. In Procreate, I added the heart and tears.

It has been awhile since I've posted a poem...my writing always comes from whatever energy I'm feeling at the time, and lately it's filled with the turmoil and divide of our world.

Poetry: Heart to Heart

HEART TO HEART

Night makes an entrance
saying hello, bowing low
like a cosmic gentleman
listening to my words
as I pour my heart out
in the white-starred silence:
This sad earth of ours
is falling apart
all the people
in our troubled towns
with their angry mouths
have forgotten they're made
from long dead stars
all this mess of life
that strains itself
through cynical hearts
bitter thrones
spirits struck down
choked off, falling hard
and it shows
stardust hearts
have turned themselves off
burned themselves out
it's hard to share
my feathery thoughts
with stony hearts
and it's not in me
to put my fists up and fight
with these bird wrists of mine
this story book mind that
always looks to the skies
that wants to love softly
and fly
I plead with the night:
please help us to
sort it all out in time
and out of the blue
the sky answers in kind
sending me a tender sign
tossing down a falling star
a celestial offering
from its own carbon heart
to mine.

© Sherri Brannon 2017

A falling star is absolutely magical...I saw one recently and my heart overflowed. A split second of a miracle for my eyes only, or maybe not. Did anyone else at that exact moment happen to be looking up at the sky right when it happened? If so, we were supremely lucky to have shared that moment together. Separately, but together.

The state of the world...the ugliness we're showing to each other...the vast separation...it weighs heavily on me these days. Almost all of my poetry is about this subject right now. I like how this poem runs together in a big jumble, just like my stream-of-thought when I'm standing alone looking up at the stars.

My photo started out as a daylight photo I took in Hilton Head a month or so ago - I put it through several apps and it began to look like a night photo. I thought it would be a great photo to support my poem.

Grace is always present. You imagine it as something high in the sky, far away, something that has to descend. It is really inside you, in your heart. When the mind rests in its source, grace rushes forth, sprouting as from a spring within you. ~Ramana Maharshi

Poetry: Wild

WILD

Most people carry the husks
of their wild oats
in their pockets
and every once in awhile
their hand reaches in
to scoop out an old piece of rebellion
turned to sawdust
and it makes them smile

But I was that child
whose only version of wild
was to raise my hand to read out loud in class
in my own quiet way of daring
and it turned into a lifelong thing
this cautious mind, with empty pockets
lost in an inner world
deep within the confines
of my careful cage of a body

It's all okay, though,
I'm coming back around
I was always afraid of my own shadow
but God was just making sure
I was breaking it in
growing me into a better version
of that bookworm child
teaching me to see
beyond the hard edges
of my knowledge

And I have come to love
my own way of the wild
the soul-side kind
curve of spirit, circle of dreams
soft epiphanies and wonders
spiraling behind my eyes
which may have aging lines
but now seek out the light in others
because the eyes
can never tell lies

My wild oats are alive
and they're with me even now
I shake them off my fingers
collecting them
between the pages of my journal
soulful word husks
pressed into the grain of the paper
where I can sit in my wild silence
and read them, and smile.

© Sherri Brannon 2017

Watch out for intellect,
because it knows so much it knows nothing
and leaves you hanging upside down,
mouthing knowledge as your heart
falls out of your mouth. ~Anne Sexton

I was never a rebel growing up...I was the quiet, studious one. I was the good girl who was afraid to step out of line or get into trouble. I'm perfectly content with that now. It suits me perfectly. We all have some sort of wild in us...mine was (is) just quieter, and more internal. What kind of wild did (do) you have?

As a creative challenge, I tried to come up with an image to go along with my poem. I don't know if I succeeded, but it sure was fun trying. I blended two of my iPhone images together in Superimpose (one being a shadow photo of my hand). I recently discovered the Slow Shutter Cam app and I'm having fun trying to figure it out. It'll take some practice!

Poetry: Grounded

GROUNDED

I seek out the water
and we breathe together
I look into the
honest eyes
of the dusk flowers
and we see each other
I love these moments
how my soul
takes time to notice
I have long resisted
that my sensitivity
is my strength
we fools of the world
there are days
I'd rather not
have my fragile heart
be my super power
with my soft approach
my love of dead poets
my lofty thoughts of God
all tethered down
by this ball and chain
of a brain

I seek comfort in nature
its wordless wonder
with no malice or sting
there are no greedy stars
with cynical hearts
I think about the sound
the moon must make
when it brushes
against the water
and I'm forever grateful
the herons don't mock
they have no sharp tongues
no sorrows that burn
no eyes filled
with fire and ego
I watch them fly
daring me to follow
and I stand there
earth-grounded
as they depart
for the sky
to their paradise,
their star-God life.

© Sherri Brannon 2017

The jewel is the awaring presence, not the object being seen. That’s why we can be bored and disappointed while gazing at the Swiss Alps and ecstatic and blissed out over a crumpled cigarette package in the gutter. The beauty is in the quality of the seeing, the awareness, the presence, not in the object being seen. ~Joan Tollifson

This is my first poem I've written in well over a year...it's nice to be back. Real life has been very busy. The image was taken with my iPhone and edited with Stackables.

App Stacking Edits: Waterlogue, Tangled FX, iColorama, Distressed FX

App stacking has become my only method of altering my photos - I'm actually starting to forget how to use Photoshop Elements. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite recent edits.

For the first photo, I used Tangled FX initially, and then merged that photo with the original one in Superimpose to make the effect more subtle. I added the birds with Distressed FX. I also played with the image in iColorama using the "Raise" effect. I've discovered if you bring the opacity way down on the Raise effect, it sharpens the image in a very pleasing way. I believe I also added a paper texture in iColorama.

I was thrilled with how the second photo came out - I had forgotten about the Waterlogue app and hadn't used it in awhile. I love the wonderful watercolor look it gives. After altering my photo in Waterlogue, I merged it with the original image in Superimpose to achieve a happy medium between the two. I then used the iColorama "raise" effect to sharpen the image, and I love how defined it made the tree limbs.

Thank you for stopping by! I'm "sherribrannon" on Instagram.

Poetry and Procreate: Thinking

THINKING

My memories lie
Folded within me
In a perfect spiral
Each whorl a sheet
Of fragile thoughts
Delicate letters on
Onionskin paper
Tucked inside
Sheer envelopes

Some memories rest warm
Worn from a loving touch
While others lie cold
Keen along their folds
Glued tightly shut by
My dry tongue
Their sharp edges
Having left a
Bead of blood

Memory coils
In flawless symmetry
Unfolding their contents
Like a deck of cards
Dealing my soul a
Soothing sip of comfort
From a sun’s teacup
All sweetness and honey

Or, with an unlucky draw,
A swift unrolling of
Shadows across my heart
A callous tickle from
The oily wing of gloom
Its feathers fanned grandly
Across my spiraled
memories with aplomb.

© Sherri Brannon


I wrote this poem awhile back, but have never shared it on this blog...I have another poem in the works, but it's coming along slowly.

My girl is the result of more fun with Procreate and other apps - I drew her in Procreate and added one of my painted backgrounds. I then moved her into iColorama and used Distort and Effects to create the patterns and double exposure effect. I thought the pattern might give the effect of "whorls" and memories. That's the wonderful thing about apps - you can take a drawing that's not very good and make it look much more artistic!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Memory only slumbers—never dies. ~Thomas Paine

Poetry and Procreate: White Flag

WHITE FLAG

It's time, my child, we have lived as one
for far too long...they say nothing ever changes
unless there's some pain. There's a prayer in me I whisper
each day, hoping for a healing, that this fear we've shared,
its pale white jaws, will finally be silent,
become bone dry and burnt down to their sockets.

Safe travels, my child, as I watch the small moon loving you from afar
I'll be the keeper of your secrets, I'll beg the heavens to bear
your burdens as you falter. I'll pray your rib bones
curve with the river as you wander, and I hope you remember
each stone in that river fell from a star
and contains the vastness of God.

Hear this now, I've learned there's belief in things
you can't see, like faith, and angels, and serendipity,
and I've learned little girls should never step on battlefields
armed with only the innocence of a child. I'll be strong now for both of us,
I'll shake my soul till the glory falls out, I'll wave my holy white flag
and be soft inside, and stabilized.

©Sherri Brannon 2015

A loving send-off poem to that scared little child who still resides in me, even though I'm all grown up. I've written more than one poem about this...poetry always reveals my biggest struggles. The poems are coming SLOWLY these days...but at least they're still coming, even if I'm only writing one poem every month or two.

I'm taking an online class right now and trying to learn to draw and paint with Procreate on my iPad. It's fantastic! The name of the class is Paint & Pixels, in case any of you are interested. If you read this and would like to get on the waiting list for the class in the future, click HERE. It is taught by Ivy NewPort and Robin Laws, two wonderfully talented artists - I admire them so much and they are incredibly generous with their knowledge.

I'm just a beginner, so my girl is amateurish...this is my first figure attempt. Is it possible to feel embarrassed and giddy at the same time?? Because that's how this image makes me feel...I'm cringing at the glaring flaws, while I grin from ear to ear about the new possibilities this process brings me! The thought of creating images to go along with my poems makes me really happy. I can't wait to practice and evolve.

On a side note, I want to be sure and mention that for the beautiful woods background above, I used an image from Unsplash. I LOVE their "free to use for anything" photos. (I put the image into Glaze to make it a bit more painterly).

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself. ~Samuel Butler

Poets United: My Blog of the Week Interview

I am honored to be the "Blog of the Week" over at Poets United. I was able to answer some questions about my poetry and also share a few of my poems there. My interview can be seen HERE. Thank you, Poets United!

Poetry is one of the biggest joys of my life, and I'm so glad it found me in 2006.

I added some of my own poetry to my iPhone photo above - these flowers are in my front yard. They're so pretty, a gorgeous periwinkle color.

Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

I was happy to see Kathy's Song-ography prompt back this week - I was out for my morning walk recently and captured this beautiful flower all aglow from the sunrise. This is why I love having my iPhone with me at all times! When I looked at the photo, Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" song immediately popped into my mind...and I've been humming it ever since.

Thank you for stopping by!

Poets United: The Lonely Hours

THE LONELY HOURS

We have purged wonder, sitting alone with the silent furniture
in our dressing gowns
with our firewalls and collecting of Friends
like gold medallions
crafting big words in a Godless code, but saying nothing
spilling our souls from virtual thrones, but no one's listening

There's a loneliness that beats like a second heart
wireless illusions leave us uninspired, so very tired
at the break of dawn, sleeping with the TV on
playing pretend with our stories
exporting our seeming, deleting our being,
queuing up our sticks and stones to throw

The doves with tender eyes have gone blind, and
we don't seem to mind
communion with the stars has gone, and we with
our cyber wiles, our encrypted smiles and faux glories
reveling in this hum on the earth, this
"you show me your ego and I'll trump yours with mine"

The trees still know everything, outside our curtained windows
offering up their holy treasures to ears gone deaf
to their lessons...and their hearts must break, as they wait
in every wood, lonely for us listening souls
with our closed off minds, our tightly closed blinds,
our numbing escape from the sacred flow.

© Sherri Brannon 2015


The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention. ~Kevin Kelly

I've been wanting to write a poem about social media and technology for a long time...let me first say that I love my iPad and iPhone for all the wonderful things it allows me to do. I love the interaction with fellow photographers and poets in the online world. My iPad and iPhone have become the prime source of all my creativity...amazing! That's the positive side of technology, and I'm extremely grateful for it.

This poem is more about the addictive, toxic side of the worldwide web...it's a fine line that's very easy to cross. It's the side that makes us feel rushed and unable to listen or take notice of life beyond the screen. Too much technology can make us feel disconnected. Too much social media interaction can deplete us with its "my life is perfect" presence. It can also be a vast playground for bullies and cruelty. It can be a bit soulless, and big with ego.

For the photo above, I used an Unsplash photo and edited it with apps on my iPad. I used Brushstroke to make it more painterly, DistressedFX to add the birds, and Repix to add the stars. Stackables helped me make it more moody. Even though it was a completely separate project, I was pleasantly surprised to realize it tied in really well with the fourth stanza of my poem. Unsplash.com releases photos each month that are public domain and can be freely used however you'd like - check it out, it's a great site.

Thanks so much for stopping by - this is the first poem I've written since last November. I was sad about it, but several weeks ago I just started writing and it all flooded back...the poems never go away, they just patiently wait for the writer. It feels good to be writing again!

I'm linking up today with Poets United. Click HERE to visit and see some wonderful poetry.

Painterly Hibiscus

Out of gardens grow fleeting flowers but lasting friendships. ~Beverly Rose Hopper

We have the most wonderful neighbors here in our new Florida home...we live in a community of villas, and that can mean close quarters. But, we won the lottery when it comes to the lovely people who surround us. Their kindness and camaraderie reminds me very much of my experiences as an army brat growing up on military bases. The whole neighborhood knew each other, took time to say hello and chat, and looked out for one another. There is the same caring energy here and that makes me very happy.

As an example, one of my neighbors brings me blooms from her hibiscus trees every week...the blooms only last for one day, so she wants to share the beauty. It's a small thing, but it's the everyday kind gestures that stick with us, don't you think? Seeing these gorgeous flowers in my home on a regular basis is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to live here.

I took this photo with my iPhone and edited it with camera apps (on my iPad). The apps I used were TangledFX, Stackables, and Superimpose. I love how TangledFX brings out the details of flowers - it's always so striking! I'm linking up today with Nature Footstep's digital art meme.

iPhoneography: Clever Painter App

Magnolia blooms are everywhere down here in Florida at the moment...they're so beautiful. I edited this iPhone photo using the Clever Painter app. It's a great little app and I need to remember to use it more often when I want a painterly look. I also used the Charcoal feature in Repix to further "smudge" the petal edges. I loved the results.

Wordless Wednesday: Landscape

It is only a little planet, but how beautiful it is. ~Robinson Jeffers

Hmmm, Wordless Wednesday...it's hard not to say any words? And I can't not include a quote with my photo - it's impossible.

This image was initially taken with my iPhone and processed with apps. But I moved it into PSE this morning and edited it further, cropping it, putting it in Radlab, sharpening the pines, blurring the sky a bit...it was good to practice my very rusty Photoshop Elements skills. It's been awhile!

Thank you for stopping by - Happy Hump Day to you.

iPhoneography: Stacking Makes me Appy

I'm happy to hear about another digital art prompt on Saturday of each week - thank you, Claudia, for telling me about it. I'm happy to participate!

I'm sharing an iPhoto I took at a wonderful restaurant recently. They had the most delicious southern cooking, with lace tablecloths and napkins...and real china on each table. It was mismatched, and eclectic, and simply lovely. I won't even think about the fat content of the Salted Caramel Chocolate cake we shared for dessert - all four layers of it. Sometimes you just have to splurge, right? It was our wedding anniversary so I think that cancels out the calories.

I did a lot of app stacking with this image - I put the original photo into iColorama and used Edges to create a "lines-only" image, which I saved into my camera roll. I also put the original image into Glaze and chose a painterly option I liked. I merged those two together in Superimpose - the lines from my iColorama image gave a little more detail to the painterly one. The background was a little busy for me, so I used the Charcoal option in Repix to smudge the background a little and make it less distracting. And my final step was to move it into Stackables, which is always my favorite app for adding more grunge and texture.

If you'd like to participate in this prompt, or just see some beautiful images, click below to visit Claudia's blog.