New Podcast: Soul Stories. Episode 1

I have started a new podcast series called, “Soul Stories.” Soul Stories airs on the Cloverleaf Radio Network. We interview poets and speak with them about their writing. Then they also read their poetry. So far there has been three episodes. Episodes air on Anchor, iTunes and Spotify…. I will also be posting them here. I hope you enjoy them!  If you would ever like to be on “Soul Stories” and read your poetry, I’d love to have you! You can contact me at arianathepoet@gmail.com.

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Soul Stories with Poet Linda Crate–> Click here to listen to Soul Stories Episode 1

In this episode, host & author, Ariana R Cherry, will speak with poet, Linda Crate. She is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Linda has five published chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (September 2017, Flutter Press), and Splintered With Terror (Scars Publications, January 2018).

https://anchor.fm/cloverleafradionetwork/embed/episodes/Soul-Stories–Poetry-with-Linda-Crate–Episode-1-e21ljr

Follow Linda Crate on Facebook:
www.amazon.com/Linda-M.-Crate/e/B07DGMG241

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Inspirational Poetry: “Forgetting That I Am Human”

Forgetting That I Am Human

***********************************

The cool beckoning wind brushes against my face

As it curtsies a hello, whispering in my ear…

 

…Inside my soul dances

As it leaps, trying to fly…

Forgetting that I am yet,

Just a human, with my feet firmly grounded to this dusty earth…

 

…High above, the welcoming sunlight warms my heart

Sending love, radiating energetic waves

throughout my anxious spirit.

 

So much, I wish to rise above,

to blow a kiss to the one who wakes me

With its loving light each early morn’

But then yet again, my feet, are firmly planted to the ground

Upon this dusty earth.

 

I am only human…

But yet, inside, I am a soul of hope, love

…and a ray of everlasting light,

Yearning for beyond an otherworldly place that

Neither human eyes nor the human heart can comprehend…

 

But yet, each day, such a soul as mine feels torn….

Between the beauty of this dusty ole’ earth

that catches my eyes and heart…

And the yearning, for somewhere beyond

….something heavenly…

That only those that have gone before us can explain….

For their anticipating stories await us….

 

But for now… I am only human…with my feet,

firmly planted…to the ground.

 

– Ariana R Cherry

Poetry: Eternal Haunting

Eternal Haunting

———————————————–

 

She fought within her mind,

the origin of her own mortality…

The completion of it all…

Her own eternal being would haunt her…

 

It seemed as if death itself, the dark knight,

beckoned upon her doorsteps,

rapping at her door in rhythmical undertones…

 

The young soul, sat, perched in her black leather recliner,

hunkering down in fear, hoping for the rapping to quiet.

 

Her mind would shout louder than the fear that trapped her.

But those mindful conundrums wouldn’t drown out

death’s rhythmical rapping.

 

Eternity was craved, yet still feared within her heart.

She ached for warmth and light,

and for the darkness of death to let her go…

She hoped for a brilliant eternal light instead, to show.

…and to just, blow away the coldness of death

and its ever, mindless endless rapping.

 

– Ariana R Cherry 2018

Perfection and You- A Poem

PERFECTION ….and You- A poem

————————————————————-

p…e..r…f..e..c..t..i..o..n

We may seek perfection…

But, we too, falter…

Perfection is unattainable,

No matter how hard we try…

…What is perfection to you?

…Why is it so important to you?

…do you feel the need to impress?

Or…have you spent your entire life trying to please-

Because of that unattainable attention you craved for

When you were young?

Were they not pleased?

…perfection.

“I try so hard to be perfect.

To do everything right.

Complete.”

…Those words you wrote just didn’t say what you wanted to…

They weren’t elegant enough…

Your hair…it just isn’t straight enough…curly enough…pretty enough.

Who is that reflection that you see in the mirror?

Is she perfect enough for you?

Was she perfect enough for others?

….Sometimes you can’t recognize her anymore…

… I spend so much time….straightening up…cleaning up…

For the perfect abode…

…that picture isn’t straight enough…

There’s a speck of dust in the corner…

So much dust…

Dust that needs to be swept into the past…

….You just want to be comfortable…

But each tiny irrelevant item shouts loudly at you…

….P..e..r…f…e…c..t..i…o…n won’t let you rest…

Perfection is unattainable.

Who do you want to be?

….Is the person you want to be attainable?

Who are you trying to please?

….Can you be happy…with just…being you?

…Perfection can be stagnant.

– Ariana R Cherry 2018

Poetry: Foreshadowing in Life

FORESHADOWING IN LIFE?

Foreshadow-
A warning…or indication of a future event.
Throughout our lives, events take place.

We question their timing…
The why’s…
…and when…
So many questions
Lead to impossible conundrums and
We look for clues.

Were we warned?
Did our divine father
leave simple hints?
Or were we blind to a truth that we didn’t want to see?

Does our life contain foreshadowing
For our mind to perceive…?
Or for perhaps our searching hearts, to feel?

Is our road life mapped out, with foreshadowing planned-
So we can see the construction up ahead?

….Can destiny be twisted ?
Or do we ultimately have faith, to let go of the reigns
From time to time?
Will we see the bumps on
this trail of life?

There are trials that
invade our safe spaces
and revelations that come to dawn…
yet, we move forward,
sometimes too quickly –
or not quick enough.

…We seek truth…
But, will the wisdom escape,
from the tip of our silent tongue,
as we await to be carried…
or do we seek the ultimate truth that is stored in the depths of
our heart strings…

– Ariana R Cherry 2018

Poetry: All in a Minute

All in a minute
*************************

within a tenth of a second,
we breathe the breath of life. 
Inhale the gift of air…
…and sigh…

In a brief moment,
we blink…
set focus to see…
To see…our life
in all of the wondrous amazement that it is…

In contemplation..
for seconds,
we may stare into the oblivion
trying to rationalize this state of living…

And all in between, our heart beats its life rhythm…
Allowing us to know…and feel that we are alive.

We are here…
In this fleeting moment.
This passing moment of living.

Within that precious, often under-analyzed
or perhaps even unintentionally under-appreciated moment…

an imprisoned tear escapes from our eye…
A much needed laugh is bellowed from the pit of our stomachs and out our mouths…
and a warm uplifting love is radiated
from our open awaiting hearts.

Our eternal souls are
flowing pools of unexpected human emotions.
We are alive…

All in a minute…

All in a minute,
it all can change…
so unexpectedly…

Appreciate the moment..
Live through the minute…

****************************

(Ariana R. Cherry 2018)

Poetry: “Dream World”

DREAM WORLD

 

So lay down thy head

into the awaiting dreamland that awaits

upon your soft beckoning restful pillow…

 

Prepare for the journey of your nighttime slumber,

traveling through the spiraling tunnels of timeless consciousness

and all the numerous echoes of thy day…

 

Into the nigh, we travel to a world beyond the sky

… past the midnight moon, using the starlight as our guide.

 

So many memories,

yet so many nameless keys

Oh where do they lead?

 

“In a dream, vision of the night,

When sound sleep falls on men…

While they slumber in their beds...”

 

Thoughts that seamlessly dance together,

creating untraveled sublime lands…

in which we walk among the radiant clouds,

weightless…feeling light as a feather…

 

To where do we go, beyond the late nigh?

Just after twilight…

but before the moon rises high…

 

In those bewildered scenes,

those tormenting moments in our haunting dreams,

We search for desperate answers

a hopeful escape…

 

“And then you frighten me with dreams…

and terrify me by visions…“

 

To what, do those troubling dreams, really mean?

So far from our reach,

yet…living within our soul.

 

…but then there’s serentiy,

a calm like the blue sea,

That heavenly peace that washes over us,

leaving no confusion or schemes to discuss…

 

Yet as we float, so light within the nigh,

we wonder, just where do we go

traveling to uncharted territory

within our minds…

 

In a dreamworld, so far, beyond the sky…

Yet…so close to our human beating heart

and dreams so alive, running deep within our soul…

 

We ache to remember by the breaking of day,

but in the same moment,

we may wish to forget, as the light of the moon grows dim…

 

…for we wait our travels, when slumber visits us,

into the next upcoming nigh,

 

When we float so lightly beyond the starlit sky.

 

– Ariana R. Cherry 2017

 

*(Scriptures from Job 33:15 and Job 7:14)