AboveTheRayne

Canadian Cynthia Sharp is a regular contributor to the Melvina & Friends Poetry Group.
She has been published in Toasted Cheese & Haiku Journal and was nominated for the
XXXVIII Pushcart Prize & Best of the Net Anthology. She enjoys the beauty of the west
coast, where she is at work on her first fantasy novel.

A New Poem from Cynthia Sharp

(Notes on the Back of Photo)

Sundays at Riverside

the ease of her voice
in the handwriting
on the back of the photo
my great aunt
sent my grandmother
in the collection of prints
entrusted to me
a connection more real
than all the pretending
I do on the back of pictures
making me crave
the same right to be honest
to have someone in my life
as safe as Cathy felt
with her elder sister

my aunt still breathes
in that moment by the riverside
with the love
she was allowed to choose
reflected back to her
their joy still speaking
to future generations
from that afternoon
by the water in the forties
the most real
of all the scraps and
mementos
held in my basket of time

the wind in the present
drawing me from reverie
I wonder what little girl
I will leave it to
and if I will adore her
as much as my grandma
esteemed me
the image a reminder
to trust your soul
and be with your heart’s love
follow only your own intuition
and have a sister
who values your happiness

(Notes on the Back of a Photo
was inspired by my
Godmother and great aunt’s
handwriting on the back of a
picture of my long deceased
Godparents. I was sorting
through a basket of pictures
from all the parts of my own
and my grandmother’s lives
entwined together, a project
more about process than
completion, when the image
spoke to me in a whole new
way.)

Into the Heart

Cracked from the core,
the wounded self surrenders
to the healing turquoise
love of the universe.
To break is to let the light in and out,
where it is renewed
in the source of all,
to give beyond what kindness
we thought possible,
like winter trees
reaching across the stillness,
the fractured pieces of ourselves
truly more beautiful
for their wisdom in the flow of life.
When sun shines on shattered clay,
when water smoothes its edges,
we hold our brokenness
in our open palms,
trusting the privilege to serve.
Made strong in Him,
the mature heart reaches
to the depths of its core
for grace.
In brokenness we release
the construction of perfect images,
to be made whole
in His love,
in our humanity,
in service,
spirit rising like a phoenix.
and Baptism for my second replacement poem on your site

Baptism

Bowing before Jericho Beach,
twilit in rose,
I dip delicately into
the saline womb of the sea,
let the ocean water
flow through my fingertips,
pan across the Pacific horizon
to the harbour,
where the calls of gulls
override the garrulous city behind.

Salient pearl-capped waves
entice the shore,
wend along the winding coast,
coalesce in memory,
abrade the jagged rocks
of my soul,
wash over me
as I await entrance –

Transcendent touch of grace
trickling across
the mosaic of broken shells
like a wind chime
sifts the remains,
gently letting go
of all I never needed.