Red Carnival Glass: Sunburst, Pin Wheel

through rainwater pools of red carnival glass

I splashed through sunsets where nothing smashed

nothing was shattered

only a watercolour blur

only a whispered word

and iridescence spills into the poems

I write and I can't help it cried

the princess weeping pearls as she fled

this is what happens when you're

enchanted;

whenever God calls after you

mary angela douglas 24 march 2015

It's Made Of Mother Of Pearl, She May Have Said

[to my Grandmother, Lucy W. Young in jeweled memory...]

it's made of mother of pearl she

may have said one afternoon

regarding a ring on her hand.

to me it seemed

as if the words she said then

were mother of pearl

and in more instances than one.

she made words glow

when she said them

I don't know if it was the music in her

that did this. but all my life

it comes to me the same way:

some words are mother of pearl,

some are the milky jade.

some have wings like silver birds

and fly away.

mary angela douglas 2 march 2015

Still Life, Come To Life! (With Blue Birds)

they are that shade of blue that made you happy as a child

like turquoise mixed with the milk of pearls and they

could fly and you could follow them then to

no bitter kingdoms but now they stay in groves

of pink clouded trees the winds won't stir but

if they did you would stand under the delicate branches

delicate as you were

holding your breath and showered in pink flowers

of course you could be but now the branches

blend

into a light that cannot rise or set and you feel restless

and you are here wishing with all your might

the birds in the iridescent hedges of the night

would come to life and the kingdom the kingdom

painted in fine colours on the flowing air

why

you would suddenly just

be there

mary angela douglas 18 february 2015