Charmed Chaos

The First Time

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life where things fall in and you just can’t reach them to pull them back out. So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward. You have to stop worrying about who’s not here and start worrying about who is.”
― Alex Witchel, The Spare Wife

Long shadows fall across this face
hiding the march of time
the scars I’ve bore,
deep wrinkles now more
no longer of any concern

I took a gamble on you
and I did not lose
for you see me for what I am
inside still a red haired girl, outside silver curls
you brush away from my failing eyes
Yet in my ghost memories, I still see
the lonely way you looked at me
so long ago that very first time.

Written for Shay’s Word Garden

Author’s Note: Dedicated to my sweet husband Pete. On September 28th, we will be celebrating 26 years together!

dVerse Poets Pub: Open Link Night

Morning Tears

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

51 Comments

Image by Krzysztof Niewolny from Pixabay

“The morning was full of sunlight and hope.”
― Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Morning tears and last night’s rain
White jasmine dripping with dew
A lazy snail saunters, sipping fresh water
As hummingbirds dip their beaks deep
Into throats of yellow trumpets
While early sun peeks through uncertain clouds
Wondering if more rain will come this dawn

Author’s Note: Written for dVerse where I am hosting. Today’s prompt is the Quadrille and the word is Morning. Come join us! The pub opens at 3PM EST. I have a dr. appointment so De will be opening the pub for me, but I’ll be along once I get home.

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 26 years and their latest rescue, Jackson “Jax” Lyberg. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com and view anthologies containing her work here: Amazon Author Page

Lower Than Angels

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

23 Comments

“Nobody’s perfect. We’re all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.”
― Jeannette Walls, Half Broke Horses

We sit under a tarnished copper sun
tethered to stones of transgressions
for the sins of our ancestors are scars we bear
with every sunrise, with every day done

What brought us to this hopeless abyss
where malaise overwhelms the broken, the weak
and ominous clouds hide the luminous light we seek?

There is no haven in the shadows of our souls
for we are lower than angels so they wait with love
until we lift our empty eyes to the turquoise sky
and pray for forgiveness for all we have done

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 26 years and their latest rescue, Jackson “Jax” Lyberg. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com and view anthologies containing her work here: Amazon Author Page

Written for The Sunday Muse #223

With One Final Breath

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

32 Comments

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

With one final breath
A precious life is gone
Scattered with billowing winds
A dandelion’s fate
Left to chance
Where it will fall and land
A spirit seed planted
Into a bright new soul
To grow, to thrive, made whole again
As a new world opens up, begins.

Author’s Note: For The Sunday Muse and for Beverly. Soar among the stars sweet soul.

And the Rains Came…

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

24 Comments

“If people were seasons, she’d be monsoon. After every downpour, the garden laughed like her, wild and free.”
― Meeta Ahluwalia

Summer monsoons come rolling in every night
offering a respite from harsh intense heat
As lightning and thunder light up desert skies
fat drops of hot rain fall to offer relief
Mourning doves rush from swaying trees, taking flight
Seeking a refuge from the resounding beat
I sit on my porch as the wind swirls around
creating tornados of leaves from the ground
I watch as the storm builds with tremendous force
grateful to be witness as nature takes course
While the gods play with this earth without remorse

Author’s Note: Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Grace is asking us to write an Eleventh Power poem. The Eleventh Power is an invented stanzaic form introduced by Christina Jussaume who requests the subject be uplifting. The elements of the Eleventh Power are:

stanzaic, written in any number of 11 line stanzas.
syllabic, 11 syllables each.
rhymed, rhyme scheme abababccddd or ababababccc.

I love our summer storms here in Arizona!

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 26 years and their latest rescue, Jackson “Jax” Lyberg. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com and view anthologies containing her work here: Amazon Author Page

Time to Fly

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

31 Comments

“Never love a wild thing…If you let yourself love a wild thing, you’ll end up looking at the sky.”
― Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories

Days of youth when nights never end

a wild haired gypsy child-woman

Silver earrings dangling

gaudy bracelets clanging

dancing to her favorite songs.

Caught up in a whirlwind

of colorful young men- yearning

to capture her body’s bright soul

tether her to their hungry embrace

put her spirit in its ‘rightful’ place.

But yet with sweet grace, she resists

elusive as a lace winged butterfly

she flits from honeyed bloom to bloom

never lingering in a heart too long

She takes to the skies, soaring ever higher.

Author’s Note: It’s our 11th anniversary at dVerse and I am hosting today’s Poetics. The prompt is choosing one of 11 lines from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and using it to inspire a poem. The pub opens at 3 PM EST and I am serving pink champagne and lemon cake to celebrate. Of course, we’ll have our regular fare as well. Come join us!

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 26 years and their latest rescue, Jackson “Jax” Lyberg. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com and view anthologies containing her work here: Amazon Author Page

#Quadrille: Simple Joys

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Linda Lee Lyberg

33 Comments

“…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”
― Vincent Willem van Gogh

Although there’s not much to celebrate
with what’s happening these days
we can always find joy in nature’s scenes
Two yellow butterflies at play
Tiny hummingbirds darting about
Iridescent wings gleaming in bright sun and
Painted sky at dusk when each day is done

Author’s Note: Come join us at dVerse where we are celebrating our 11 year anniversary!

Linda Lee Lyberg is a wife, mother, artist, published poet and author. She resides in Mesa, AZ with her husband Pete (aka The Big Viking) of 26 years and their latest rescue, Jackson “Jax” Lyberg. Linda writes various forms of poetry, as well as short stories. You can read more of her works at: charmedchaos.com and view anthologies containing her work here: Amazon Author Page