Interrupting the Melancholy of Absence

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ Leave a comment

Interrupting the melancholy of absence

I dreamed we were sitting

In the backseat of a Mayan taxi

Cobblestone drifting below

Red, orange, and pink patterns

Fluttering strands

Between us and the sun

I couldn’t help myself

Blissed by presence

I stroked your foot with mine

Cuddled my face into your neck

You said, “I am a pool of water”

And I knew exactly what you meant

Fox Medicine

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ Leave a comment

In still air and changing light

While giving horses alfalfa

A snapping twig turned my eyes to

Feminine power, shape-shifting creativity

Revealing herself

From the forest across dried grass

Entering the corral through its broken-open gate

In high black boots and sleek red jacket

Bold, light steps obscured her behind a berm

I nervously circled behind the stalls

And waited beneath oaks for her next move

Cresting the threshold to follow my path

She reappeared

And sat facing me in the warmth before twilight

Like she arranged our appointment

We gazed at each other for so many breaths that

A new world opened

And she guided me

Into the space between realms

(Cover art by Hannah Willow @hannahwillow.artist)

Betrayal

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ 2 Comments

I

She pulled into their gravel driveway to find

The table they picked out from the vintage shop down the hill

Matching chairs he gave her as a birthday gift

Baskets he brought home to cheer her up one day

The blue bench they put beneath their bedroom window

Her desk, their couches, bookshelves, her artwork, and end tables she painted

Piled into a haphazard pyramid

She stepped out of her car in confusion, leaving the door open 

Not knowing his secrets

She made a procession around their belongings

II

He came out of their house carrying bags of her books

She collected since childhood

His face, strange and distorted around his lips and eyes

Contempt and arrogance wrinkled his brow

What are you doing, was all she could muster

This is your fault, was all he replied

As he dumped her books into the mess

She pulled at his arm and begged him to stop

He pushed her away

Tears poured down her cheeks as she plucked books from the jumble

And tried to salvage

Their home their comfort their love

Their connectedness to each other and this place

Relics of their little family, their shared life and time

But he yanked her away

And threw her to the ground

III

She crumpled and watched in hopeless horror 

In anguish and sorrow

As he poured gas from the cans they bought for off-grid adventures

His heart aching, his wounds projecting

Just tell me you understand, he spat

But no, she had turned herself inside out to get where they always wanted to be

After so much work, they had arrived

Wasn’t that miracle — enough?

He lit the cloth torch soaked in gas

And tossed it

Spiraling destruction scorching their world

IV

Watching her life combust before her, she dropped into the void 

And was no longer afraid 

Mistaking the bonfire for the flames within her heart 

She stood, feeling no other place that she belonged

With her back to the fire, she faced him and reached for him

Not knowing his deceits

She squeezed his hand and stared into his eyes

Reflecting chaos and pain

Inhaling deeply, she let go, took several steps backwards and leapt into the inferno

Her body convulsed into shock

As she lay dying, devoured by the pyre

She believed, or imagined, it was his warm arms that enfolded her

His ego smiled, watching her engulfed, finally satisfied to know 

The extent of her love

V

When only embers, hardware, and her jewelry remained

He stepped to the wreckage of their life

In that moment 

From the ashes of his darkness

A bird of light burst forth like a call from the heavens

Her wings fanned open, gleaming gold

Her long, luminous tail feathers unfurled

She floated like a star above the ruin  

In the bright radiance of her beauty and truth

Grains of sand, pieces of his reality he couldn’t contain

Spilled from behind his mask

The sight and sound startled her like a door slamming shut 

Pressing against the air, her wide wings 

Effortlessly took her over the trees

On an incandescent flight

Union Divine

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ Leave a comment

At the end of fall, I sit burned and jagged, hot and dry

Remnants of my life scattered upon me

Monuments of destruction

And you find me like this when you arrive as clouds that cover

Shielding my skin from the sun’s burning rays

Until you are mist, preparing me

To accept you as rain

Mixing with my ashes, creating fertile compost

Forming puddles under rocks and cleansing my pain

Softening the shells of my long-dormant seeds

You return as snow

Blanketing me with your cool, soothing balm

Held and holding, gently protecting my wounds

Layer by layer, inch by inch

And in perfect timing, you melt away

Caressing me, pouring into my veins

Saturating my sediment and filling my aquifers

The seeds that sprout in our entwined elements

Grow upon me, out of my ashes, in the warmth of your love

Forgiveness

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ Leave a comment

Water cascading in ribbons down mountains

Traveling through gorges, forests, and meadows

Gliding over rocks and boulders immense

Softening rough edges, each one to her will

Shifting into nourishment, soil, and roots

Exhaling as oxygen through pine needle tips

Letting go into sky into freedom into space

Transforming my heart into Divine living faith

My Eyes

~ Chelsea Lynn ~ 2 Comments

When he told me he fell in love with my eyes,

I remembered

I was ten

And

Before I knew he chose his death

My grandmother,

Who never spoke of him, said:

“You have his almond-shaped eyes.”

And

More than twenty years later,

At the end of her life she asked,

“Why did my true love leave me?”

I looked at her with his eyes

And

Said the only thing I could think to say:

“He was suffering.”