Improvised poems from concert

Parameters: Spring , Homonym, Squamish Landmark

The Awakening Elder - by Farrah Theresa

The smoke that rises on our granite
In the early changing seasons
Is a cloud that blankets us
A rainforest fur that never leaves us

With a a velvet green carpet of moss
And a canopy of leaves
As it meets the sun again
The smoke that curls its way uo
To the crown of the stone elder

Is a reminder of the reverence
Of what it is to altar
To give life and gratitude to that which feeds us
The wee ones below

So that we may always know the beauty
Of what rose long before us
What was carved and splintered
And now watches over as we

Find ways of listening as the spring
Brings itself in again

Climbing up its walls there is ice no longer
But the clinging ferns and intrepid humans
Giving their praise to this ancient watcher
As it watches over

Parameters: Spring, Squamish River, Words: Green, bud, awake and bonus for euphemism

The Moving River - by Farrah Theresa

The awakening spring has stepped in
And announced itself
And starting at the icy waters said
‘I let you go’
So the waters may flow down
Along the curvy bends of the Cheakamus

Where the blossoming bud of the thimbleberry
Cannot go amiss

Awake as she is now
The verdant green is telling stories once again
Weaving us into her tale as we
Forget the cold and embrace the warmth
Even if it is running a little bit behind

As is customary between these valleys
Where we come to soothe our minds

Oh these high rolling rivers are a beautiful hello
To the movement of this land
Anda reminder of the sacred ground
On which we stand

Community - by Farrah Theresa

Tap me on my shoulder I am here for the very first time
staring into your eyes you are no longer a stranger and not yet a friend but you lend
your hands out like a feast for me to dine upon and
oh my good goddess god
it tastes good to be welcomed
in to be enfolded in the very skin
that is woven from mix matched kin
where hearts find each other to sing and to dance
where bodies unleash years of misery to become entranced
again by the light of the moon and the rivers that run infinite
isn't it just..... beautiful?
what i thought was once glimmering is now taking on new shine
as i learn how to be human again in the confines
of many rooms and shared walls where whispers sound like my own thoughts
that's right when we share a home we share
much more than just a place to rent
we share each others spent days and broken hearts and learning ways
to keep on becoming some version of what we think we're in for here
in this chosen life we have been given again
and that tap on the shoulder that little smile that invitation
to stick your hands into the soil of a neighbours summer crop
is a sweetness that has long since dropped
out of the bottom of our hearts
and yet here we are standing up with
apples in our pockets and zuchini squash and zoodles
because who knew a rainforest could produce these oodles
of abundant juicy foods for us to feast on
and who knew how it would weave us together simply to know
the seasons first frost or the springs first blossom
and to see in the eyes of the humans who breathe and laugh next to you
the same knowing that somehow together we are the ones who keep this going
what a strange story it would weave and yes these trees
too still hear what we do
we are not separate from their movement or their many feathered furry friends
whose footsteps quietly greet our own
oh yes the crops and the humans and the non humans too
they make up this communion that we call community
oh yes the waves and the wild wind and the silent sleeping granite
yes they are who and what we are woven into as we become collected
in rooms and in gardens and in songs and in poems,
we are the ones always calling us home.

www.farrahtheresa.com / ‘Where the Heart Lingers’ poetry book available on Amazon.com