SEA, SKY, SILT, SUN

Sea, Sky, Silt, Sun

Seen in a magic mirror

Water, Air, Earth, Fire

Elements nevermore clearer

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Sea of tides and sharks and flotsam

Shells warehoused for quick sales

Water is emotionally mutable

Harboring minnows and whales

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Sky an airy multi-hue

Clouds can cry and sigh

Lightning jagged, zig-zagged

Flipping between wet and dry

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Silt, hey, can you dig it?

Go deep among the jewels

Or just like many people

Merely shallow pools

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Sun a fiery stun gun

Zapping, rapping on the door

Central to our spiritual life

Shining evermore…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE:  4 S Elements

MY BEAUTIFUL GRANDDAUGHTER

My beautiful granddaughter Eliana made this video last year in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. She has a wonderful message for all of us that I want to share. Thank you! xoxoxo

JEWELED KALEIDOSCOPE

(another autism poem)

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ONE:

Autism represented by a jigsaw puzzle

Because we’re difficult to figure out

But I say we’re kaleidoscopes

While Neurotypicals are like a telescope

Seeing the acceptable reality

Many of us Neurodiverse

See patterns of light and darkness

Mirrored in endless combinations

The Autism Spectrum

Like the Color Spectrum

Diverse, yet part of the Universe

TWO:

So me, I’m in the middle

Not like the Rain Man

Caught in a world of apartness

Not like Temple Grandin or Elon Musk

Geniuses in their chosen fields

Just regular me

Able to see who I am

Yet must confess

Like the Rain Man

And maybe Musk and Grandin

I share the loneliness

THREE:

Familiar with Sabian Symbols?

Autism, for some of us, is like

Aries 7:

“One who is successfully

Expressing herself

In two realms

At once”

Of course,

Like the kaleidoscope,

A flick of the wrist

Changes the broken pieces of

Colorful glass

And a new reality is born

A Sacred Geometry

Of angles, circles, lines

Reflected in the mirror

Showing the signs

Of what can be

Or sadly

What cannot

FOUR:

Kaleidoscope

Derived from the

Greek words

Meaning

“Beautiful form to view”

And so true…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE:  Kaleidoscope public domain free image

LIVE OAKS LOVE SONG

We were trees together

Growing face-to-face

Leaves delicately entwining

Like earthy bridal lace…

Below the mammals scurried

Carving out their frantic trails

While we stood patiently

As they tripped over holy grails

We see their futility

Though they bravely do not quail

They have the Earth to roam

But reality is so frail

We bow to none but the wind

Safe in our sacred space

And we trees would never trade

Rootlessness for love’s embrace…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE: Live Oaks Entwining

WIND & WATER

Wind, rain, trees

Bending to earth

No sun, but not hiding

Like fire sign me

No, just giving the

Other three elements

Their stage

And on cue,

Sky cracked and you

Entered my world finally

While my lost warrior

Wandering aimlessly

Through my mind

Found herself

And fear disappeared

I stood in the flood

And to you said

Enter stage left

And you did…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE:  After the Storm

TANKA (HAUNTING)

Dreamed I was dancing

On winding paths paved with stars

Uncertain about

Your persistent mystery

Tangling mind with emotions…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE: Starpath

ACCIDENTAL ART

Writing poetry, for me

Is like recording in a diary

But often, real art

Is done accidentally

On New Year’s Day

Under a tree

Roomie

Plucked a yellow

Flowery weed

And handed it to me

With a flourish

Wanted a picture

Of the brightness

So fumbled with the

Phone camera

And Bandit

That 5-pound genie

Sitting on my knee

Turned to gaze into my eyes

And I snapped a piece of art…

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© 2022 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE: Bandit & flowers