The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

My friend, Krista Nolen, writes amazing flash sequences and I wanted to share two with you all. If you have a moment, please share your thoughts about them. I know I don’t get many comments on this journal, but I hope that I will get some today on her work so I can share them with her.

The second two poems are my own.

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Soul Wound

This week has a death-mark.  I walk willingly into the temple of smoke. I swallowed a storm and spoke in tongues made of seaweed and salt. My anger is my guardian beast, stitched from sorrow and set aflame, it pierces my bones with love in its many eyes. I dance in its teeth. I bless the wound again and again. I am not healing—I am remembering.

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Soul Storm

I’ve been howling in the shape of a person. Wearing rage like a wet halo. This week, the clocks stopped behaving and the mirrors won’t look me in the eye. I let my soul get moldy on purpose, just to see what would bloom. Love is there—feral, sticky, wrapped in barbed lullabies. I’ve fed it to the crows in my chest. They sing backwards now. My grief is a prank played by the moon, and I am laughing through my cracked molars, throwing rose petals into the abyss just to see if it blushes.

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I think exotic animals make terrible pets. Especially chimpanzees and big cats. Sometimes an exotic is pretty harmless, like a capybara, that isn’t going to hurt anyone, but I still think we should stick to domestic pets as our companions. Wild animals need space and specialized care and unless you are running a specific sanctuary with many acres of land at your disposal and proper large enclosures, a house with a typical yard, and even worse, an apartment, is not a place for wildlife.

Here’s an overview of my New Year’s Resolutions this week. On most of them I didn’t do badly. There was some room for improvement, especially in the fitness area, but as to getting back on my feet after losing some ground in March, I’m not doing too shabby so far.

1. Creativity – write a little bit every day – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) Achieved! Managed to write a little every day
2. Routines – get back into a morning routine, a mid-day routine, and an evening routine. – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) Mostly achieved. I’ve been pretty good about my evening routine and walking the dog mid-day. The exercise portion of my morning routine has been lacking.
3. Follow a budget – eat out only once a week and don’t buy anything online except for once a month. – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) Mostly achieved. I ate out twice this week but cooked all the rest of the days, nothing purchased online
4. Fitness – continue training for the half marathon by running 4 times a week, run the half marathon on April 19th, do strength training twice a week – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) I only ran 3 times this week and no long runs, did not strength train at all. Trying for better next week.
5. Food – eat 1500 calories a day, get in 65+grams of protein and 25+grams of fiber, avoid sugar and ultra-processed food as much as possible and aim for none at all. – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) Could use some improvement but some headway made. Had sugar only twice this week, ultra-processed food at dinner twice, ate 1500 calories 4 days of the week (and had about 2000-2400 calories on the other days), got my protein and fiber goals in 5 of the days
6. Weight – lose 4 pounds in April – Starting weight week 1 (136 lb.)
7. Relaxation – in the evening before bed meditate, read a couple chapters of a book/some poems, go on social media for 30 minutes, and play video games (start playing video games April 14) – Week 1 – (March 31 – April 6) Achieved!