offeringofsky

Latest Posts by offeringofsky

Artist: Laura Berger Source: Virtual Art Curator

Stout Women

Hold each other up A collective of acrobats

Balancing upon each other So, no one will

Fall.

-Skye

Photograph Title: Striptease club, Tokyo, 1951. Photographer:  Werner Bischof

Striptease Club, Tokyo ‘51

Painted faces and smooth skin Lounging among dressing room clutter Channeling palace concubines For the average man

Emerging from feudalism

Tokyo girls All bouncing breasts and Swaying hips Take the stage.

-Skye

Painting: Anguish, 1878 Artist: Friedrich Schenek

Feast of the Ravens

Too early late winter lamb Still and cold in the snow

The ewe bleating Pleading for her child To come away

The ravens’ assemblage Eyes bright and mystery deep

Unperturbed by anguish Fluffing iridescent midnight feathers Against the murderous cold

The forever hungry host Presses in Speaking harsh hard beaked Threats

The defeated ewe Abandons

Her lamb

A feast for Jostling jovial birds Scattering gore In the snow With bacchanalian Abandon At the end of Winter.

-Skye

Title: Rabbits and Triangles  Artist: Schinako

Bunny Math

Bunnies in the Garden Bunnies in the grass

Far too many bunnies Large and small Big and fat Black and brown ones Some snowy white

I cannot believe it They multiplied over Night

The garden is in shambles The lawn is such a mess I love the little bunnies

But to this I must confess I must share some regrets That freeing two little Easter bunnies Has had such exponential effects.

Title: The yellow kitchen Artist: Mary Sauer Source: unsubconscious

Our First Place

Just before we left the rental On Howard St

I looked back The clean Swept tiles Lifting a little Here And there

The sink with its hidden leak The stove in its random corner

One wonky cupboard door Chipped Formica

But the extravagant yellow I fell in love

It wasn’t grand It was haphazard and spare But we were happy Here.

-Skye

Source: thewitchywench

Cat in a Hat

On Brighton beach Where I often went Walking I came upon a Little black cat Sporting a top hat Looking out at sea

I watched this little soul So jauntily dressed For a water side stroll First in wonder Then in distress

Just where was His waistcoat and tie?

-Skye

Source: visualstatic101

Tides

Mooring lost Battered upon the sharp reef I could only be counted as flotsam A bottle with no message Driven out into a howling sea Without a cry

Stranded in this bottle I lost the sea Peering out through the wavy glass I saw nothing I felt nothing So fearful was the loss

The bottle has long broken There are bits of sea glass That can’t cut anyone Even me Scattered now Among my bones

You ask me to examine them now These old hurts and betrayals I see only soft light The kind you find both at dawn and sunset

We are all subject to the tide I suppose, It steals our voice and brings it back again.

-Skye

Source: shadechamber

The Raven

Great Auntie kept a raven under glass in her dusty living room full of curious things

Mother and I sipped tea there on Saturdays Mother and Auntie sipped and chatted While that long dead bird Stared at me with its glassy eye

I sipped seen not heard Under the gaze of this bird Wishing terribly for another cookie

The ladies gossiped and tutted Auntie even reached over and pinched my cheek “Such a good quiet girl”

The raven just stared at me Seen not heard Sealed in its glass

I imagined it soaring Under a blue mild sky Instead of being seen not heard At this Saturday tea

We had a lot in common That dead bird and me.

-Skye

Artist: Even Liu. Source: Peepchic

Lovers on a Rainy Night

I would tether a cloud for you Because you love the rain at night

With a smile soft and wise you Pull me close and whisper I do not wish for a captive cloud

A lone cloud bound by rope Would weep cruel tears endlessly That would be a torture love

Let the rain drip From the eaves of its own accord Like tonight

You are here The rain is here I am happy.

-Skye

Artist: Nester Formetera Source:peepchic

The Last Kiss

We came together in the end Lips pressed close Eyes closed to who we had become Just before parting.

-Skye

Title: Despair (1926) Artist: Kazys Simonis (Lithuanian, 1887-1978 ) Source: dreams-of-mutiny

The Mother

It was the fall of everything The moment the war came into focus and the house caved in

Choking in the dust my baby dead my mother dead

Me digging the rubble With raw bloody fingers To be broken under the house would be better

Me holding my dead little one under the rubble

But In my despair I could only weep over the shattered house Digging with bloodied hands.

-Skye

Subject: Darcy Padilla from Drill Baby Drill, USA, 2013 Photographer: Lisa Kereszi Source: letaobloquista

Washer Woman

It’s dusty Sleepy Dying Here One main street in the middle of nowhere

A liquor store A quick mart A laundromat

One sun wizened woman with a rag Sharpened through the spotless Washer Door

No one washing No one drying No one folding

Just the washer woman Beating back dust.

-Skye

Artist: Meimaro (Work from their solo exhibition ‘Devotion Bound’) Source: Beatifulbizarremagazine

Fame and Fortune

Whispered making promises I let myself give way

It was easy in my innocence Allowing the Adoration of thousands of fingers Strip the flesh from my desirable bones

Until all that was left of me was Make believe.

-Skye

Photographer: Tunguska  Source:  hknnvk

Death of My Muse

While you were sleeping I etched a poem across your back In soft gentle pen strokes Aching with love for you

You didn’t stir Not once You remained softly breathing Miles away from Me

In the morning my words for you are faded Smudged across the sheets Smeared across your skin

Divine inspiration in an astounding State of decay I have no more words for you in the harsh light of day.

-Skye

Source: elzamine

Life’s Detritus

Mundane bits of life’s detritus Collected and pressed In a leather-bound book

Bits of butterfly wings Flowers of spring Flowers of high summer A seed or two for good measure

Carefully preserved To revisit later In the twilight When one pulls the bits of one’s Life together Into one last story.

-Skye

Photographer: Jamie Cuen Source: angiefalanji

HAIKU-River Children

Children splash and swim, heedless of the dangers found in deeper water.

Title: Levitate Artist: MIKKO RAIMA Source: dadalux

Levitation

Rising fast the trees can’t keep you From being carried away You are dissolved light Mere bubbles in a watery atmosphere Stirred by the moon.

-Skye

Photograph: Desolata by Vigano Alessandro Source: Fallowstore

Purgatory

Cloaked in the weight of human shortcomings The regrets you carry with you Are not the currency of the ferry man

Death does not release you from your debts Shuffle along with the masses Through the vast grey nothing You have miles and miles to go.

-Skye

Image source: mikemelrinho

Beltane

Be merry and drink to the verdant Lord of the Wood The earth waking as we frolic The Lord waking this very hour As you ravish me beneath the bower.

Dressed in cloth of wood and field The Lord strides out to join the dance Regal in his leafy splendor Wise knowing grin, gaze fierce and tender.

Darkness gathers and the fire licks the sky The Lord is dancing faster now We follow in like cadence Spilling our mead, full of revelry But utterly devoid of prudence.

The morning comes the Lord retreats Back into the misty glen Pious life resumes, muddled we retreat from the ring of stone But how can I forget you dear, nine months hence, Raising our “Merry-begot” alone.

-Skye

Image: Poland,1932 Photography: Henryk Poddebski, Poland 1932 Source: polishcostumes

Dziado

Came from Slavic wheat Farming Polish fields under the sun Breaking bread with his mother and sister At end of day

Peasants they owned nothing Not the land Not the wheat Not the roof above them On cold winter nights

War washed him from the continent And off to America With his wife and baby girl

And though he is long dead I still see him

Caring for his cows Feeding his pigs Cooking his eggs With his garden onions Under his own roof.

-Skye

Artist: Andrew Domachowski Source: thecuriousowl

Anna and the Dragon

At dinner Anna asked for a dragon Her mother harumphed a bit Her father spit out his soup Her brother giggled and gestured that she was crazy

“Dear little Damselfly … you know you could never ever handle a dragon,” Father placated “I’ll get you a puppy. Now be a good little girl and eat your soup.”

Anna sighed and sipped her soup, so very tired of being a good girl.

The moon woke her, She loved the moon She loved the night

But she especially loved the dragons that flew Their moon shadows soaring in her tower Anna danced with them twirling To melodious dragon calls

But not this night This night “Father’s little Damselfly” Who woke with purpose Set about ripping up her dresses

She was a good girl She knew how to braid and embroider So, the rope was long enough and strong enough To carry her out of the tower

Once on the dewy ground Anna followed the dragons home all through the night She met them as they landed Fearless in her desire The dragons measured her fierce gaze And welcomed her home.

-Skye

Source: hella-compendium

Misty Mornings Next to the Potter’s Field

A dark angel inhabits the margins Coming into the field on misty mornings To dance with the funeral horses Resting there

They come up from their dozing To sway with the angel Unfurling her raven wings They prance solemn and slow As if pulling a hearse In black feathered headdress Through throngs of mourners Tearful and morose

The crowning sun touches the dew She dissolves away with the mist The horses lower their heads Nibbling the clover in morning’s bliss.

-Skye

Image: Fish inside a jellyfish Source: Sixpenceee

HAIKU- Ocean Predicament

A fish’s worst dream To be dissolving away In a jellyfish.

-Skye

Photograph Title: “Angel of Death” Sculpture of a Funeral Gondola, Venice 1951 Photographer: Paolo Monti

Gondola

May the angel go before you and clear the way

I will ride with you but only to San Michele

Gliding by Our favorite haunts The rainy doorway where we met Our favorite espresso The hat shop where you bought me that Fantastical hat

My memories, My loud weeping My love so still in your box

During our last gondola ride.

-Skye

Image Credit: Shusaku Takaoka Source: angiefalaji

Saturday Night on the G Train, 1972 (As told by Old Joe at Valley Vista Rest Home)

Swaying with train car Home bound after a long night of drinking I was looking down At the dirty chipped and gummy tiles Feeling a little sick

I heard the door grinding open And she plopped down in a rustle of beaded lace Sitting legs spread wide Like a man with a come-hither body Topped in a rabbit fur coat Right there in the corner seat Almost across from me

I looked up Into Mona Lisa’s Smirking face

I swear it though no one ever believes me Don’t blame them 1972 was a rough one I really was fucked up back then

But there she was in all her glory That smile I will never forget

She asked me for a cigarette Just before the next stop

And when the doors opened Off she went Clomping a little in her righteous rhinestone platform shoes Right off the train, onto the platform And back out of my life.

Image Subject: Friedemann Vogel Ballet Dancer Photographer: Not known Source:Peepchic

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity is possible Consider when you left me I stayed in perfect Balance In defiance Of the inescapable Magnitude Of Your

Receding

Just prior to crashing to the ground.

-Skye

Source: magnificent-winged-beast

Nyx

Look at you carrying around night in jar Daughter of Chaos

Empty your vessel as the sun retreats And let me sleep under the liquid deep

Endless Ocean Of universe Sprinkled With stars.

-Skye

Image Credit: Max Scheler, Border of Heringsdorf, Usedom, 1964

On the Heringsdorf Border, 1964

Barbed wire strung along the Oder-Neisse Line carries on right into the sea In ‘64 East Germany to one side and Poland to the other No good choices One side as poor as the other One side as occupied as the other One side as cruel as the other

We stood ankle deep in the Baltic Contemplating the sea and the exchange of tyrants At the Potsdam conference in ’45

As far as borders go The fence was slovenly and careless You could crawl under here and there You could swim out into the sea

Steal around it and cross easily to

The other side

But patrols caught no one crossing here Cause neither side was free.

Source: calmerra Image Credit: Foxes, circa 1913 by Franz Marc Medium: Oil on canvas 87 x 65 cm

Foxes

The woods behind the house are deep Dark tangles of brush Damp Loam soft under feet

This is where the foxes go in the morning After prowling along my borders Teasing my chickens All through the night

I have a sturdy hen house

The chickens are safe

Besides

The foxes are sleeping now Somewhere in the wild wood.

-Skye

Source: Demonlure

Entanglement

Let us dance in the wind Like trees Tangling our branches Reaching for the sky.

-Skye