“Nature, the gentlest mother” is the first of Aaron Copeland’s song set for soprano voice, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, orchestrated in 1958. This song holds a special place in my heart as I chose it to end my senior voice recital in college. I fell in love with the piece when I first heard … Continue reading Nature, the gentlest mother
October
Tropical October Every day the purple rain petunias in my garden will fall by 5pm to be reborn by morning. Rain, sun, rain every day. My banana plant will fan new daily greens. The dolphins flipping in the distance are the only changing things that tell me it’s not summer anymore. Warm and clean the … Continue reading October
River of life
In this life we are gifted a soul-compass to navigate through all that dances: water twirling into water, joy and pain in waves that roll — ballets in concentric circles. We are rivers never stepping in their same selves twice. In water-rapids, pearl-white, we flow- resist. The precipice draws closer to the fall. Indefinitely effortless … Continue reading River of life
Following the fairy tales
Interstellar Cinderella I knew time too intimately. Her imprisonment, like an evil stepmother, reduced me down to just a pulse and steadily stole beats away— left only crumbs of memories. Not even fairy godmothers could break her spell or deathly grasp of entropy until that night a force revealed love’s transcendence of time and space... … Continue reading Following the fairy tales
Masked forest
Life had been pruned into a precise forest. Any potentially disagreeable limb severed — painfully tossed into the stream of emotions to swiftly leave — not attending to the costs as long as all of the other chipmunks approved of every river rock stacked, plastered and polished into a wall. Then nothing could enter ... … Continue reading Masked forest
Ocean Passions (Poems)
Ocean I’m hypnotized by the rise and fall. I try to match my breaths in sync with the waves — soak in sights, smells, tastes, ( galaxies... too vast ) the breeze on my neck ( too much ) . I will sleep with just the thought of you. Mermaid Lost at sea, sound or … Continue reading Ocean Passions (Poems)
Rapunzel by the sea
Locked in manic-tower thoughts, I’ve found a walk beside the ocean, beach-combing along the sunset’s water-braid aglow to be the best of Earth’s solutions to the bursting of my mind’s latch opened to a staircase leading back into my body, spiraled down into the sand around my feet. And in breathing in the love of … Continue reading Rapunzel by the sea
Beach Finds (Haikus)
A nameless beach rose Only it knows why it’s here How love finds its way Goggles left swallowed Swimming in forgotten day’s Memories of sand No better magic When shells fit on fingertips Like the silky seas Writing and photography by: Katy Claire Funke
The Silversword
This is a true story. … There is a plant who can survive in only ash and ice, and the harshest light. They are warriors planted in the sky from the rebel grounds of ocean floors. These plants are known as Silverswords. These plants grow only here. They wear their suits reflecting sunand fight the … Continue reading The Silversword
Sea of Dreams
When I wrap myself in the world you write I can fall asleep for days. Every word washes me — over, under, rocking me from sand to pearl-star. And I know it’s only you, the infinite ocean I taste and crave. It’s only youwho knows my darkand glows my dreams this way. Before I knew … Continue reading Sea of Dreams