I like looking at the sky. My favorite California sky is deep azure and spotless, without a cloud, without a trace of chemtrails, these ugly graffiti crisscrossing the blue far too often... In March 2019 we were blessed with a few beautiful mornings.
I also love clouds, the natural ones, that arise from evaporation after the rain, and sometimes are shaped by the wind into beautiful alien starships, toroids, and cakes... Imagine what you will, but this bunch of lenticular clouds carved by wind into solid shapes, did look like an alien fleet, that came to our assistance. Thank you, Pleiadians, if it was you! Would it be nice to have these ET angels floating around, filtering the nanoparticle dust of chemtrails from the air, and spreading the energy of love all around? Some people believe it already happening, I'll believe it when I see it.
What I see here, in the sky, is so fascinating. After-rain evaporation clouds sometimes dissipate quickly and just a little spot is left in a middle of a spotless expanse... looking quite silly, and on its way out, under the heat of sunrays...
One afternoon, there was a series of hearts and arrows and declarations of love, and birthday wishes, and "kiss me, please..." from a lovestruck young man, to his beloved, for all Los Angeles to see. It must have cost a fortune, four sets of images and inscriptions floating away in the sky, one after another. . .
On the Day of Love and Death
I look up
One white heart of clouds
pierced by an arrow
and Happy Birthday, Sue
I look down
Leaves blackened and soggy
on my succulents
killed by a sudden frost
I look up
The second heart and arrow
dissipate in the breeze
Hugs and kisses
signed "from Monish"
I look down
Crabgrass spreads where
daffodils should be
Gingerly, I kill the one
to save the other
I look up
More white letters in azure sky
"Please give me one kiss"
With a smiley face.
Love conquers all!
I look down
as I drive by the crime scene
yellow tape, black shoes
and jeans under white tarp
on asphalt, the bike stands by
unharmed, not even broken
I look up and up and up
Clouds gather for the next
torrrential winter rain
of tears of joy, of tears of sorrow
Tears will flow
The sky will change
from azure to indigo to charcoal
then bright sunlight, turquoise
and azure again
Up and down
Change and flow
I look
(c) 2019 by Maja Trochimczyk
It was a strange afternoon, to see this earnest, lovestruck message, and then a young teenager killed on his motorbike, in a senseless accident, leaving his family to sorrow and loss. He had to go, he was here for such a short time, but he had to go. It was time.
Another "looking" poem of mine was recently published in the California Quarterly, vol. 44 no. 4 edited by Margaret Saine, a master poet and translator. I do not think it would hurt anyone to reproduce it here. California Quarterly is the flagship journal of the California State Poetry Society and since February 2018 I'm the Society's Acting President. The wonderful, energetic, talented and dedicated Acting President Dr. John Harrell retired from this role (remaining as Treasurer) so I volunteered to help. It is a wonderful organization and I'm proud to be involved.
Oh, the Art of Looking
Look ahead –
wave and wave and wave
dance in the moonlight
a silver path across the ocean
shimmering horizon – stark intensity
of the Pacific
Look up –
the Milky Way. What do you see?
The spine of the world? Buttons
made of stars? Indigo cupola with diamonds?
Look inside –
Deep into my eyes – electric currents
flow in an arc of brightness connecting us
into One – the Oneness we forgot
Now, we are alive, we are
One – clear azure of windswept sky
ruby wine hidden in the roots of the Earth
Look around –
Wake up and see – truly see
where you are – enveloped in a blanket
of time, carried from now to now
from wave to wave to wave
from Earth into Sun into
One
(c) 2018 by Maja Trochimczyk, published in the California Quarterly 44/4, 2018.
Spring means California poppy mania. Everyone, and I mean, just about everyone in Los Angeles, or at least 200,000 of our residents decided to go to Lake Elsinore at the same time to see the profusion of orange, golden, and violet blooms, painted on the hillsides by nature - California poppies and lupine. Delightful.
I saw some hills from the distance while driving by. But then, my desert is in blossom too. There is a yellow meadow of mustard grass, even though an invasive species, it still looks pretty when it paints the slope gold. Sunlight through clouds does that too, so I wrote a poem about that.
Outside My Window
A round spot of gold light
appears on the slope of my California hills
green in the spring, shaded by rainclouds.
Suddenly, an epiphany of light -
a hole in the sky - in the midst of
thickening shadows, dusk approaching
soon, much too soon.
As I look the bright circle stretches into an arrow,
points west, along the ridge, and the gully.
The arrow of light, my arrow
tells me to go, do, act, lead and follow
be the light, bring the light, enlighten.
Before I can even reach for pen and paper
to write down this command, this call to action,
it is gone. All is shadow now. Murky darkness.
Yet, the memory of the cloud epiphany lingers,
etched into my retina. This spot of light,
this arrow, will always be with me.
Every day, every morning, I will turn
my circle of contemplation into the arrow
of action, the sun into a comet
inexorably flying to reach its end.
Is it not the story of my life?
This spot of light on a mountain meadow
after one winter storm, before another?
I catch it and hold it and keep it safe
among my treasures. Things not to be discarded.
Thoughts not to be forgotten.
Another pearl for my most precious
necklace of brilliant moments,
jewels of a well-lived life.
(c) 2019 by Maja Trochimczyk
While others find poppies and lupine, I see white buckwheat, tiny yellow, pink and purple flowers and a carpet of reddish hue that is also a blossom of the most miniature kind. These flowers of my desert bring me so much joy!
Life is good when you know yourself, know where you came from, where you are, where you are going... I was thinking of the importance of recognizing and acknowledging our darkness, in order to cast light into the darkest corners of our hearts, and understand where it all came from, and what purpose does it serve...
Think of the ancient symbol of Yin and Yang, two halves of white and black, separated by a sinuous line. They are equal in size, and balance each other. If you say that one is masculine (white, light) and the other is feminine (black, darkness), the end result is horrible discrimination of women and treating the feminine as a symbol of lack, absence, and everything on the wrong side of track. Just listen to Mozart's Magic Flute and the arias of the Queen of the Night, with hatred and vengeance in her heart, she is a liar, evil monster of darkness... No, this is not right.
The purpose of the two semi-circles separated by a sinuous line is to understand that there is darkness within and only by knowing it and understanding it may we disarm it. Darkness also means the time of trial, actions and consequences of actions that are painful and hurt. These are lessons to be learned from, these are experiences that propel us forward to greater understanding, compassion, love. In the book of Job, Satan is sent by God to test the faith of Job by taking away everything that Job loves and cherishes, until only God remains. It is not easy to survive such an ultimate test, but some people do.
For the more ordinary folks, we could think of our own past "mini-disasters" as trials of our own making. Each negative experience was a lesson to be learned. If we did, we moved on, if not, the experience would repeat, magnified in its impact, until we finally understood its purpose. I have had series of those in my life, for I am a slow learner...
Finally, I found my golden path of light and will stick to it, for it fits me well. Here I find fragrant orange blossoms and sparkling waters in the spring stream... Here, my skies are always made of perfect azure, sapphire, indigo, of purest colors that I love.
