Defiant is the Word 

keeps sneaking into my dreams

like a girl with long thin sandy braids

on her screw-on metal roller skates

Twirling

 

slithers into my daily labor in the garden

bare hands weed, dig, prune, tenderly

treat those thorny things, noble thistles

Laughing



spending time memorizing new locations

street names, turns, maps, when GPS seems

bent on making us helpless, unable to survive

Without

 

definitely using cash, rarely that plastic card

robbing us in split seconds, keeping our fingers

from sensing paper, deciding, counting, valuing

Quietly



all that is offered to us as convenient, as necessary

easier, cheaper – tyranny of more – the price is high

yet we follow, follow news, fashion, others, ads, fads

Blind

 

costing us an arm and a leg, not taking time to muse

speak and act for ourselves, it accumulates, the gladly

mindless habits of copying – rusted, repeated same old

Sentences



defiant – needed quality to escape the slippery road down the drain

to hell of excess, to death of spirit, do we mean what we say, yes, painting

garage doors memorializing the dead and the freed, entrance gate squeaking

Brazenly

 

defending territory of original thought, listening to heart’s musical voices, choices

getting lost, waiting for raindrops to tickle eyelids, nose, lips, cheeks daring to receive

gently, slowly – rather than being sheep, becoming shepherd: tenacious steward of earth

of my own wild dreams, weaving light and dark, envisaging beyond our limited lifetimes 

Awake – doucement defiant


Archeological finds in Karinaland

Over the decades, many treasures, shards of glass and porcelain, small intact bottles,

rusted tools, and this screw-on metal roller skate, like the pair of my childhood.



Where and how are YOU defiant? 

let me know



Comments

Summer said…
These hillside artifacts are wonderful, especially the rusty skate. Defiant? I perhaps do things, eschew things that others might consider 'defiant,' but I never feel defiant enough. Or maybe circumstances haven't fully tested me. I think we all feel that those tests are pending.
Summer said…
As always, your words strike deep!
Fern said…
Powerful words. Beautifully defiant Karina. In the madness that is our world, I defiantly refuse to let go of Hope. In the words of MLK ""We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope"
Alex K said…
Your poem defiantly :) provokes me into awareness of how many ways I go to sleep, dissociate throughout the day. This is especiallly dangerous in the times we are living through now. It has left me thinking where am I defiant where are my soul and spirit fed? I'm thinking wondering...
Aysha said…
After reading this, today I am singing in my car, nonsense mostly, because I don’t know the words to the song. It is special now that I don’t know the words, as that app on my phone used to play songs that the algorithm selected for me, often gave me familiar tunes. Now with my new stereo I have radio again! But still my singing morphs quickly, becomes part of my fantasy road trip with my fantasy lover, or part of my fantasy house party with my fantasy friends, or… I catch myself, surface, my regular commute so long and so much fun, and so much fighting, struggling for presence, the fantasies so close sometimes closing in on me… today I am more defiant, riffing about the used car lots and the flies and the ominous lighting.
Ken said…
My current defiance, internal and inadequate as I may feel it to be, is to not give in to despair given what is happening. Not despairing is against my nature, so perhaps I should give myself more credit. How defiant, how courageous will I be when the masked army of thugs come to the streets of Oakland? That very much remains to be seen.
Ecraig said…
<333 Thank you for this dear Karina! My current defiance is observing shabbat, choosing rest when my brain/theworld tells me I need to DO DO DO or I wont be enough, won’t be safe, won’t be cared for. Rest not as a reward for being productive but just bc my body is asking for it
Karina said…
Thank you all for sharing. Yes, feeling safe requires us to do less, make time for listening. And be defiant in self-affirming ways, be kind to ourselves and others – "doucement" means gently. So many visionary and future-affirming things are going on next to the repression. This is the beauty of America, and life.

Defiance to be pulled into the "morass" of the lowest human instincts – a current real danger – is important. It makes us stronger, more alive, allows us to rest in courageous appreciation and presence. Gratitude and Kudos to all...!

Popular posts from this blog