"PERCEPTIONS"
hello. i'm feeling rather hardened today.
unsarcastically enough, it's hard to be two ways at the same time.
but i'm not that way.
i'm just one way on the inside,
and another on the outside...explain that one.
sometimes i wish i looked like my shadow
a play of light, a ribbon so beautifully dramatic.
can i try on your thoughts for size?
i've never heard anyone's but mine.
i move to another place and time in my life
shrouded in a case of metal and glass
i see everything
rushing
but you can't see this side of me
i keep her hidden somewhere...deep.
so as not to get hurt,
or at least not so easily.
but i always see through these eyes
and maybe the secret to all of this lies
in that the same sheet of glass is between
the way we see
and the way we are seen.

i feel like a fragile skeleton frame
open for you to see
please just don't play with me.
it puts cracks in all the wrong places
and makes me just
want you to go away
so i can be ok
stop teetering and just push you away
because i've never been good at games,
even the ones i play.
i'm sorry for the things i do,
the way i know i'll hurt you if you stay with me
but please, please, just don't play with me.
break me if you must, but don't keep playing with me.

tonight, the stars are
city lights, and twilight
wraps them in a beautifully
singing play of shadows,
contrasts of all kinds
flashing their rainbow faces.
the cold melts off my eyes and
they begin to dance about, moving
here and there, following the lead of
what catches them, softly stepping about
the dancefloor. music invoking
an inner and physical smile, hearing
both sight and sound. overwhelmed
with peace and enchantment, and wearing
a french beret, i sigh- these are my
artist's eyes.

dreaming tapestries
each thread holding mystery
of beauty and sadness-
so is the cost of observancy
but would i rather close the door
and not see
the intricate tragedy
that weaves all around me?
for in this current surrounding
i see and hear something
that resonates within me
softly humming so gracefully
building, raising from underneath
echoing off the walls
of this cathedral.
i stand back
and am overcome
by the pull
of the deep

©Karyn Blanchard