Robyn – Page 124 – DocuDharma

Author's posts

Sep 25 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XXIII

Art Link

Knit

Finding my Way

Life in shambles

I took a chance

spoke my piece

used my words

defended myself

everyone watching

I tore the fabric

of their reality

chipped away

at the barriers

with the sharp

blade of right

Mighty is the sword

of revelation

Relevance grows

empowering

newfound voice

E-space is a venue

where we can thrive

virtual avenues opened wide

provided a wedge

to crack open

the narrow path

I navigated

from what was

to what could be

I found a way through

I did not choose to lead

but some chose to follow

That frightened me then

and still does

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 18, 2006

Sep 24 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XXII

Art Link

Solitary

We are Normal: a duet

Would you please

Lend me food?

I am hungry.

We do not know you.

You are alien.

You are not welcome.

We are normal.

Can I please

Share your water?

I am thirsty.

We own the water.

You are strange.

You cannot have any.

We are normal.

Will you then

Share your fire?

I am cold.

We need all the warmth.

You are other.

You must go away.

We are normal.

Is it too much to ask,

To be able to live,

To be able to be?

We don’t like your kind.

You are different.

You make us think too much.

We are normal.

But all I want is

To live in peace,

To be happy.

You have no right to be happy.

You offend us.

You hurt us by existing.

We are normal.

I know how to love,

How to care,

How to hurt.

You are not one of us.

You don’t belong.

We want you to die.

We are normal.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

—June, 1994

Sep 23 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XXI

Art Link

Hearts
(This is larger than full size)

My Love

As I walk in the brisk autumn air

And the sun warms me but a bit

You are walking with me.

As I stop amongst the trees

And listen to the wind in the branches

I hear your voice.

As I bundle myself in my coat

And rearrange my hat and scarf

I feel your arms surround me.

As I walk through the garden

And see the last flowers of the year

I see your face.

You are forever with me

My Love

Eternally by my side

In my dreams

In my life.

To feel your touch,

To see your smile,

To hear you laugh,

I long for these.

One day, My Love,

We will be together

And the word Love

Will gain new meaning.

Soon, My Darling,

We will be together

As our spirits

Have always been.

We will meet

And the world

Will be our garden

Forever, My Love.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–November, 1993

Sep 22 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XX

Art Link

Sextet

Love Does the Finding

Love departed when I changed

or at least what I thought was love

but it came with conditions

I could no longer fulfill

I despaired of ever finding it again

though I searched for it begged for it

cried long hours and days

at its demise and denial

Eventually one stops looking

I dedicated my life to helping others

while I resigned myself to being alone

It was then that love found me

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 13, 2006

Sep 21 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XIX

Art Link

Breaking Out

FREEDOM!

Free from the prison of my mind

Free from the fear that bound me

Free from denial and guilt and pain

Free of the sorrows of the past

Free to experience passion and joy

Free to grow, free to feel, free to love

Free to laugh, free to cry, free to sing

Free to live rather than merely exist

Free to walk my own path

Free to follow my dreams

Free to embrace the splendor and the beauty

Free to explore; free to be me

–Robyn Elaine Serven

—September, 1993

Sep 19 2009

Friday Philosophy: I sat down on the floor…and I can’t get up

By Robyn in GLBT

I had an alternate title: Frienemies with Aging. This could be part two of a very slow-moving series: On Aging was published March 7, 2008.

———————-

When we got home from teaching last night, and with Debbie not having to teach at City Tech this morning because classes were canceled for Rosh Hashanah, I decided to use the fact that we had no classes this morning to do something to make the place slightly more livable.

Like assemble the cat tree we had purchased online and that arrived via UPS on Wednesday. Photos of the finished project will be interspersed among this story of pain and fatigue and just growing old. Now I didn’t have the camera with me last night when I was stuck on the floor, so I went the extra mile for verisimilitude and got back down on the floor in order to show the view from there and during the struggle to rise up against my oppressor: gravity.

Sep 18 2009

For Jane

By Robyn

This past Tuesday I was called upon to deliver some words about my colleague, Hui-Chuan (Jane) Cheng. The following are the final text of my words, which I promised some people I would make available.

Besides being a full professor in Computer Information Systems at Bloomfield College, Dr. Cheng also taught at the Chinese School in Livingston, NJ. Besides teaching Chinese heritage there, I have no doubt that she created their web site.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Jane’s death hit many of us hard. It is difficult to imagine…it has been difficult to cope…with her not being here anymore. I mean it is possible that a day could go by that we don’t discover that something that Jane always took care of didn’t happen. Hasn’t seemed to happen yet, but I suppose it could happen.

Sep 18 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XVIII

Art Link

Glimmers in the Dark Recesses

A New Life

There was a man whose life was meaningless

Filled with self-hate and bitterness.

He was an empty husk of a human being

Because he denied his core existence.

As the days slowly passed by

He wondered what life was meant to be.

As the years slowly accumulated

He wondered what love was.

Inside the dim recesses of his mind

Was a glimmer of another life.

Crouched in the corner of his brain

Afraid of the light of day.

The man came to a place and time

Where there was no point to his life.

He gave up trying

To find the path to happiness.

But as his life crumpled into non-being

The sliver of consciousness in his brain

Asked if it could have a try

At finding love and acceptance.

The man gave up his body

To the new being who fearfully

Peeked out from the prison

That was the man’s fear of living.

She was a timid being

Having known no other emotion

Save an all-consuming fear

Of being discovered.

Now she had nowhere to hide

And was forced to learn how to survive.

As she came forward to greet the sun

Society drew back in horror.

She tried to show

That she was better now,

At last a whole person.

But Society was filled with fear.

She changed the man’s body

Into something she thought

Society would accept.

But Society would not forget the past.

So she was cast out from the nest

Alone in the wilderness

Of loneliness and desolation of the soul.

And she could not understand.

How could Society be so fearful

That it preferred the desolate

Former inhabitant of that body

To the loving being she had become?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–July, 1993

Sep 17 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XVII

Art Link

Abyss

Time enough tomorrow

At the edge

of the abyss

I looked Death

in the skull

gave myself

permission

to jump

or fall

no need to rush

borrowed time

is golden time

Every day is

not today

Fear gone

becomes anger

becomes me not

Best to bathe

in the river

of my truth

and invite others

to join me

while I laugh

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 13, 2006

Sep 16 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XVI

Art Link

Weed

Is There a Place for Me?

Is there a place for me

Among the beings of light?

Or must I grow like a fungus

Alone in the musty dark?

Am I like a wildflower

Providing beauty in the wilderness?

Or am I like a weed

That needs to be removed from a lawn?

Can I find someone

Who will love me as I am?

Or am I to be doomed

To a life of loneliness?

Is there a place for me

Where I can thrive and provide beauty?

Or am I forever condemned

To the dark ugliness of society’s cellar?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–July, 1993

Sep 15 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XV

Art Link

Eyes

Exuviation

Like sloughing off

old skin

leaving chunks

along a life path

flaying myself alive

stashing a lump here

and a sliver there

One must tear down

before one rebuilds

sometimes embracing

portions of the past

bits left behind

sometimes not

always hoping

that joy might arise

from burying pain

and trying to forget

where it was left

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 24, 2006

Sep 14 2009

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

A Transition through Poetry XIV

Art Link

Incompletion

Unfinished Woman

Some assembly required.

Includes non-factory installed equipment.

Read instructions completely before beginning.

Mistakes are not correctable.

Insert tab A into slot B.

Batteries are not included.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–June, 1993