Many Lives

Once, in a past life reading, a psychic told me in one of my previous lives I was a black man living on a southern plantation shortly after the Civil War.

In this life, I was in my twenties, recently ‘freed’ and hungry for change. Late one night, I packed my few belongings, kissed my mother good-bye and headed north. Little did I know it would be the last time I saw her in that life.

I’d heard many tales of the north. After all, they fought for us, didn’t they? And because they fought for us, they saw us as equals. How naive I was, for the stories were not the truth. My remaining life was one of intense struggle. You can try to run from inequality and injustice, but you can’t run from the color of your skin. No matter where you are, you’re still (insert color here), and there will be those who hate anyone different from them.

white woman today
black man many lives ago
has anything changed?

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Author’s Note: I know this sounds bizarre to some, but it is a true story. I went for a past life reading the year I turned 33 years old. I was on a quest, to know myself better and to try to understand the world and all the injustice around me for it affected me deeply. I was reading a lot about Edgar Cayce, and his psychic abilities. Whether the reading was true or not, it brought about immense change in my life. And while being a white woman today is extremely different from being a black man of yesterday, women are still bound by limitations that society thrusts upon us. We talk about breaking the glass ceiling and all, but that glass is multi-layered and damn thick.

dVerse Poetics On Privilege

In a Spring Garden

Gentle breeze and sweet sunshine in a spring garden

where vivid green tendrils vine and climb

murmuring to wild roses blossoming spirits

Come, feel the quiet solitude of verdant trees

for harmony is here in ancient forest boughs

while wandering the yielding mossy path beneath

and listening to the poetry of bird song above

wrapped in the silence of nature’s peace

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Ragtag Daily Prompt

Spring is in the Air

the sky is bluer
birds are singing once again
caressed by sunshine

©Kim M. Russell

spring buds breaking through rough bark
cherry blossoms blushing rain

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Carpe Diem Tan Renga

Promote Yourself Monday – February 18, 2019

Hi All- It’s Promote Yourself Monday at the Go Dog Go Cafe. Stop by and share your latest. Be sure to read others’ work while you are there!

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Welcome to Promote Yourself Monday.  All Go Dog Go Cafe readers, guest writers, and baristas are invited to post one link to one specific post (600 words or less please!) from your blog into the comments section below.

If you post a link, be sure to read some of the other great writing people have linked to.

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Not My President

Flickr.com

driven by ego
destruction of habitats-
not my president

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Author’s Note: Every time I think of this border wall, and the impact it will have on our environment, I am sad and disheartened. When will we ever learn? To read more on this: Sierra Club

Written for Frank Tassone’s Haikai Challenge

Hope with Wings

the sound of the surf
enters my home through the open window
and a butterfly

© Chèvrefeuille (2018)

symbol of resurrection
hope with graceful vibrant wings

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai : Tan Renga Challenge

Fortune

One’s fortune should not be chains of gold
nor glittering diamonds or a
jewel encrusted chalice,
But rather sweet desire’s
nuance on rose lips,
luscious potion
of fervor
bathed in
love.

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge