Poetry
Poetry is the medium through which I live, breath and think. To read a little more about my affinity with this genre, click through to my bio.
What follows is a small sample of my poetry comprising both partial and full poems. If you like what you see and you want to see more or you want to purchase a copy of a poem or an anthology, do please contact me. Otherwise, simply enjoy.
my saving grace
katie flaxman
my saving grace
Clamouring through the mayhem and chaos
With senses drowned and numbed by confusion
We desperately seek a course
And try to fight a way through
But find obstruction in every direction
Options seem only to be; keep fighting
Or be dragged along in conformity
Watching life pass us by
Occasionally we are goaded by the surrealism of reaching an empty clearing
But see only tangled paths ambiguously strewn over distant hilltops
And then we are thrown back into turmoil
When the seemingly secure unexpectedly transforms
Without chance or warning
We are propelled by a yearning to fulfil youthful dreams
And growing ambitions
But restricted by not only social impositions
But moral private duties
And yet
No matter how rough the sea
There is always a rock
A rock that stands steady in the torrent
And triggers a stillness and calm that clears the raging water
To reveal the teaming exquisite reef below
An unswerving force that grounds emotion
And brings clarity to an unruly outlook
A constant that forgives easily, judges never
And creates simplicity in the seemingly most complex disorder
The sun may emulate a delighted mood
A great mind may set order into chaos
And a glowing fire may lift melancholy spirits
But few single entities can faultlessly do all three
I know of only one
why should we care?
For every insect that crawls or river that flows, we build up an army of thousands of foes
We hack and we chop. We burn and we flood. We build and we flatten. Turn forests to mud.
With thoughts cruel and careless or no thoughts at all, we watch as we cause populations to fall
We infect like a virus with fumes and with smog but ignore the effects on bat, fish or hog.
But we love the animals, yes really, we do, give money to guide dogs and feed stray cats too.
We take quite an interest in the lab down the street, help out at a shelter and hardly ever eat meat.
Trouble is, this extinction, it’s up on the rise and the things that we’re losing aren’t really surprised
They hide from us quietly and go one way of two;
Live like a human or die?
Yes please do.
Those that live with us and eat out of our trash, become pests and frustrations like germs or a rash
Our cables they chew on and gardens they roam but your bricks and your mortar were once their oak tree called home.
Think of a world where you talk to your daughter. You describe lapwings flying or turtles in water
Koalas surveying from textured gum trees or red squirrels finding their acorns in leaves
Think of a world where all you describe are just pictures in text books, not really alive
Things that you saw and will always remember but things that our children will have to surrender.
Conservationists? Well, it makes them quite mad. I personally think, that it’s just rather sad.
That all it would take to keep all life living are things that really don’t cost us in giving
A change in awareness, in attitude and grace, transformed into actions that could slow down the pace.
Halt the extinction, keep species intact. Give all those great creatures a chance to react.
“Why should we care? Stop preaching!” you cry
So I will try in my way to form a reply.
When the last bird has sung, last glider is dead. Last plant has wilted, last tree rested its head.
All will go quiet and we will become vexed. As a voice whispers softly,
“Do you know that you’re next?”
Poem 3
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poem 4
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poem 5
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