EVA WALDAUF

 

Beauty Is

 

beauty is our planet and existence,

in all dispositions and eras,

the green, wild creatures and humans

 

actions towards ourselves and living beings

can be ugly, killing, war, abuse of our earth

and those who appear to us, as separate, different

 

concealed by our pride, to the reality before our eyes,

the rare, cosmic events that united, cascading,

a once in a million chance

 

to create our lapis blue, jewel planet,

spinning elliptical, in space,

solitary, to our knowledge, eons in the making

 

spider's pattern, a dainty, iridescent web, ripples,

ocean's rush, splash on cliffs and powdery dunes,

sunlight on bare skin, a heated tickle and serenity

 

ecstasy of sensual and enduring love,

parents, siblings, children and grandchildren,

ages, cycles of flora and rumbling of seasons,

developing to adulthood and evolution

 

our ability, to expand understanding,

merge our physical, though arts and dance,

encounter spirit, the divine, through myriad ways,

it's all beauty, let it flower, to become luminous

 

 

Magnolia, I Am

 

I reach my branches to daybreak,

my plump, luscious blooms unfolding,

sun overwhelms me in summer, parching my roots

 

my arms leisurely lower and drift up,

as night descends and heaven glitters above me,

revel in moonlight and Venus

 

noon day illumination,

transformed in dusk, to crisp shadows,

the turning of days has no meaning,

only seasons of torrid heat, rays, snow and showers

 

branch tips swell in sun, fresh branchlets pop,

foliage, ever more leaves, unfurl

to tumble, in considerate and harsh winds,

yet I endure, unbroken

 

day-star rises, in compressed hours,

autumn resolves, postponing frost,

sprouts decline, release, shift hue,

fronds transition, wilt and shiver to earth

 

my night movements unhurried,

boughs arise and curve down, arise and curve down,

I enlarge, persist, through cycles, decades and lifetimes

 

 

Cosmic

 

planet permeated with love, affinity and turmoil,

universal forces dilating,

Quarks ripped apart, recoil,

clutch each other, much is unknown

 

dark matter occupies so much mass of the universe,

an enigma, so far unexplained,

impresses us, perceive ourselves as being trivial

 

in our chemistry, our bodies,

a majority of all elements exist,

cosmic humans we are, even if unaware,

we are a fragment of infinity

 

rarity of occurrences that coalesced, to create

our solar system, sun, earth, ecosystem,

plant life and animals, is singular,

exists nowhere else

 

instead of consuming all, abusing it,

we can protect our planet and ourselves,

as celestial beings,

it's all remarkable, our profusion of life

 

EVA WALDAUF

 

EVA WALDAUF is a performance poet, visual artist and cat lover. In the locality of Vancouver, she has featured at diverse poetry events, for the past 16 years. Eva's latest feature was at WIN UNESCO World Poetry Day, March 2022. Eva is a self-taught poet, beginning her creative writing career at midlife, after 20 years of painting, printmaking, collage art and teaching art to adults. She graduated from Ontario College of Art (4-year Diploma - Drawing & Painting: Experimental Arts) and Simon Fraser University, achieving a BA in Arts & Culture Studies. Waldauf's free verse is published in many anthologies, including Royal City Poets Anthology, Life in Quarantine 2021 and Climate at Crossroads 2022 - Virgo Publishing. Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, Red River Review (USA) and several E-zines have presented her writing. As part of Telephone Project 2021 (Project of 900 International creators), she created poems in response to abstract video, from an artist in Rio de Janeiro. Eva has two books of poetry, both including her visual art: Howling Heart 2011 and Atlantic Adventures & Big City Romance 2015. She's a Director of Pandora's Collective poets. Eva's website of poetry, video and art is: www.oceanheartscollide.com