Keeping Watch

 

Seeing a world not of my own

A breath of fresh air at first

Watching the rhythm in their unfamiliar patterns

I study to compare them 

to mine

Though I know nothing of their seasons

Or the roots that have grown 

beneath this identifiable crust

There is one thing I do know

In this very moment 

of time

I am a great ship on the sea of my own seasons

Rich in galley and hull

And when this great ship returns to port

With a brand new pair of eyes

I will sift through my own treasures

Remembering those quiet movements

In the changes of 

the sea.

Joni James 2017 road trip to Anacortes

My Beacon of Sorrow

My beacon of sorrow

looms in golden stone

reaching high on a city hill

making false promises

of my father's happiness

that never came~

Each graduated sculpture

of its tragic peaks

brag in grandiosity and hope

and of possibility in healing the past

But not for me...

And so she looms

With a history in her walls

Only her surface glows in the sunset

Of society's madness

And within me

May a dawn emerge

in truths.

Joni James 2006 

The old vet hospital where my father received psych treatment in the early 60s

Little Moth

 

Oh little moth

On my swing's post

Tell me the answers where truth

lies most.

Is it in this family 

that abides so near?

Or is it in the nomad's life

where truth is more clear?

How will I ever know

when duty holds me here?

Whether truth lies in responsibility

or in a wanderer's life more clear.

Then,

I heard your small voice,

you said to me,

"Be quiet, be still, for both lives are free."

Joni James 1997

Momentary Friend

 

Passing my time

On an old park bench

What's on my mind?

I let my thoughts just 

float away

And in this moment

I see a wise and lonely face

He takes a seat beside me

Caught in his disadvantaged grace

As he asks a question

I can see it in his eyes

He wants nothing from me

So I think I'll lend an ear 

this time

I feel our differences

As the stories start to unwind

His journey's not the same as mine

But it's funny, I see myself within 

his eyes

Now I hate to end it

But my time is running dim

So regretfully I stand & say goodbye

To this momentary friend 

in time.

For Ben 2013 joni james

Pictures of Life Passed

Our lives are passing Photographs

of remembered tears

and gathered laughs

Tucked away in an old drawer

in a silk scarf

folded in half

Scent rises from glossy finish

memories come in a flash

here to hold

in a hand

Part of Life Passed.

Joni James 1999 

Joe

 You say

that it's just your way

on that road you call

Somewhere

I try but I don't understand

cause my wings won't fly that way

So fly, fly away

Before you go again

tell me everything

cause I'm just that way

You see I'm learning

by your experiences

how to live today

So fly, fly away

I need you, but I can see through your eyes

I need you, but I'll keep you in my mind

So fly, fly away

Fly

Fly away

Joni James May 1997

(written just a few days before Joe passed)