Flapping Soul, Words in Verse: A Collection of Poems

By Marleen Rita Duckhorn

Our souls are like sheets on a clothesline flapping in the cosmic breeze. We are pinned to them all our lives. They never fail us. They are gateways and our entrance into a divine cosmos, which includes a peaceful union to all of creation. Sometimes there may even be humor if the clothesline collapses due to a gust of wind or storm, but we always pick the line up, hang our hat and clothes out to dry, and start over. It is always thus. Now with Duckhorns latest book of poems, Flapping Soul, Words in Verse, you can enjoy a positive read through our relationship with our soul from a poets viewpoint plus related subjects all with her lighthearted style of writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493101436

Marleen Rita Duckhorn

Marleen Rita Duckhorn is sixty-seven and lives in Southern California.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Marleen Rita Duckhorn.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. Date: 02/28/2014

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CONTENTS

Book Summary

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Author’s Note

A Peasant’s Dream

Happiness Versus Bliss

Why Writers Write

Flapping Soul

Visions That Chafe

Poems And Words

Magic Balm

Break The Balloon

God’s List

Safe Inside My Temple

Boasting Bonnets

Friends And Foes

Time Dazzles Us

When I Was A Child

Why Not, The Sky Said

The Scam Of Existence

Contemplation And Imagination

To My Guardian Angels

Innocence Tugs At My Eyes

The Beast Of Love

Hurdles Weep

Other Poets Write

A Chance Meeting

Blinded Are We By Leisure?

Coincidental Verse

Prayer Is A Very Fragile Thing

The Dousing Of The Universe

When Chrismas Comes

The Weeds Are Charms

The Living See The Dead

Circumstantial Are Genetics

Poem When I Wake Up

Compartmental Mind

Animals

One Shift Of Sand

The Mental Angles

A Poem Is A Tap

Apple And Bard

A Morning Poem

Foretell The Mystery

My Perception Of Math

Galaxy Supreme

I Find Clarity In Poetry

Help The Devil Man

Hummingbird

Volcano

I Am Drawn To Speckled Skies

Getting Old Isn’t Bad

Someone Said

My Song Of Christmas

How Does The Desert Monitor Time

Fun To Think

We Share Planet Earth

Reading The News

Disinterested

Typical Day

Little Gems

Study The Rivers

Words Are Islands

Soul Knowledge

Is It Better To Be Reluctant?

The Diffrences Between Plant And Animal

The Heart Yearns

What Poetry Is To Me

Meditation Lifts All Curses

Mowing The Lawn

Encased In Mortality

Blaming God

If Alabaster Roses Dream

When We Know Something

If A Thought Fades

Weather’s Open Innuendo

Through Circumstance The Angels Greet

Who Would Want To Be Complete?

Place Your Wisdoms On A Tag

Life’s Oversight

Do We Carry On The Same

Ups And Downs Of Life

Self-Worth

When We Tift With Spirit

Grain Of Wheat

The Best Thoughts

Bell’s Balms

Ignorance Is Bliss

Leaping In A Song

Since You’ve Gone

Haunted Tree

Character Weaving

As I Combine My Memories

Ancient Remnants

In A Broader Spectrum

The Exclusivity Of A Snowflake

Father, Son And Holy Ghost

Writing Can Take Me

Poetry Has A Way

Mosaic Morning

We Speculate Timorously

I Don’t Want To See God

Open Door

There Are Orchards In The Lower Fields

Caught In Writing’s Trap

To Commence These Words

Birth Of An Enigma

Comfort In The Dark

Tiny Fairy

Poetic Diary

Moonlight Sonata

A Silent Little Secret

The Pinwheel Of The Master

Self Confidence

Big Stars Live Short Lives

Humor

Hate Love

The Day You Perished

The White Owl

Nature’s Party

As Horrible As Death Is

Two Died When Carmie Died

Ups And Downs

The Bark Of The Tree Had Initials

When A Blizzard Overtakes A Field

If An Eagle Made A Patchwork Quilt

The Galaxy Is A Clock

Will An Ocean Be Our Savior?

Overdramatized Rendezvous

Uniforms Are Buttons And Medals

The Rock’s Tumult

Hercules

The Christening Of A Mountain

Pure Style Is In The Heart

Care Is Automatic

Only Summer

Why Does Everything Have An Opposite?

The Whereabouts

A Really Red Rose

Forced Salvation

The Picture Frame

Heaven’s Walls

Small As A Grain Of Sand

Peeping Tom

Flower Pod

What An Angel Says

Which Way Do Angels Fly?

Clarity

My Version Of Heaven

Love Is Here

Missing Link

Spokesperson For The Soul

A Fishing Lure

If Earth Survived The Dinosaurs

According To The Cat

Moss

Breath

Seas And Oceans

So Little A Love

The Eternal Surfer

Sadness

Definition Of Poetry

Wisdom Of The Soul

Internal Intelligence

To Seek A Love

Hawk Rockets

Heaven’s Artist

Explaining The Emptiness

Dawn Patrol

Imagine God

Reference By Soul

Post Dawn Blues

Our Savior Soul

The Cross

Rain Birth

True Religion

A Roomy Universe

The Despair Of Blue Jays

Butterfly Angel

As Purposeful As Twilight

Our Earth Is Our Home

A Poet Belongs

Life

The Spark Of A Pearl

The Ocean’s Seed

Space

Attachment

I Don’t Feel Like Writing Anymore

Measure Your Mind

Astral Summit

The Poet At Eighty

Love Is The Ocean’s Seed

Privacy

Pine Tree Blues

Love Face To Face

Spilled Wine Of Love

Open The Lids

Oh, The Irony Of It All

Parasol

A Special Book

Muted Time

When Truth Is Learned

Technicolored Altar

Altars And Prayers

Somersaults

Matrimonial Discord

In A Writer’s Zoo

The Foxhunt For Soul

The Art Of No Punctuation

Calm Seas

The Best Thing

Blue Jay

Success

Frozen Land Mistakes

I Work At Gaining Clarity

Salvation Is A Poet’s Vision

The Wind

Smudged Coat Of Reality

Raised By My Soul

As Slow As Time Allows

Topical Writings

Always Words Instead Of Riches

The Only Mountains I Trust

The Road To Heaven

To Emerge A Stronger Flower

A Clean Existence

In A Mountain Clearing

In The Kind Hands Of Creation

Heaven Is A Prison

Picture Perfect

She Flew To Heaven

Rest

What Makes Me Happy

Yards

I Extracted A Potion

A Global Warning Poem

Human Toil

Death’s Tiny Waves

Tracks Of Morals

A Strange Cloud In The Sky

Organdy

A Bee Sting

The Morning Goblins

In Request For Love Again

Practice Makes Perfect

People Are Designed

Interests In Life

A Rose

About My Cat, Carmie

One’s Heart

The Redwood Witch

Only Your Soul Goes To Heaven

Time Or Tide?

I Adjust The Blinds

Spring Flowers

This Little Saying

Are We Similar To The Dinosaurs

An Ounce Of Independent Glory

A Truthful Mind

Machines

Chiseled Verse

Failure To Speak

If The Sky Wore A Suit

The Highest Spirit

Triple Are The Lanterns Lit

A Crescent Moon Speaks

Why Poetry Seldom Sells

The Carrots Of The Sky

Be Yourself

The Moon Is A Peeping Tom

The Self

Potential Lover

Magicians Are A Clever Lot

Worship The Sea

Time Made A Crucifix

What Does A Soul Look Like?

No Time

The Faintest Cricket Sound

Does A Starfish Need An Altar?

Poet’s Dream

Iron Clad Heart

The Sea’s Shoulder

Emotional Declaration

Drunkard

Destination For Heart Beats

The Soul Only Goes So High

Blossoms

A Mysterious Love

Stillness

Adequately

A Poet’s Diet

Laws Of Love

Dialogue With A Ghost

Nocturnal Soul

A Safe Place

The Most Dramatic Tale

Can Love Top Itself?

Who Proposed The Concept Of God?

Dreams Versus Reality

The Heart’s Eternal Fast

Magical Woods

What A Joy To Share

Purpose

A Legacy

Christmas Dream

Ports Of Call

Vacation’s Horizon

Cat Traveling

The Forward Stride

Crime

Are We Ready For Infinity?

With A Nail In The Coffin

Who Praises Nomads?

A Parisian Ant

We Never Give Back Time

Stout Soul

Do Souls Merge In Heaven?

The Supremest Vow

Bees

A Soul Is

Bells Poem

A Quandary Is

The Beginning Of Time

If The Idea Is Worth Having

When Years Disappear

Words

Immersed In Eternity

Tonight The Sky Looked

The Little Gift

Diamond Cutting

When A Beloved Pet Dies

Recipe For A Cosmic Stew

A Poet’s Struggle In Society

The Fireplace

When A Loved One Dies

The Round Table

What If God Should Die?

Precious Eyes

The Birth Of A Soul

The Motion Of The Heart

A Penchant To The Heavens

Overlapping Souls

Religion And Reincarnation

Derived From Dust

When You Miss Someone

Weather Vane

The Desert

A Philosophic Game

To Re-Encounter Grief

To Face Our Fears

Rain And Reflection

The Cold Ground

If You Wonder

Unyielding Sonnets

The Prophet Gasps

Why Do Poets Suffer?

Who Knew The Kingdom Was Surrounded?

Hope In Nature

Poetry Expands The Heart

We All Think Of Death

Mars

What Does A Question Do?

Catchy Phrases, Catchy Endings

When Retro Is All You Know

The Core Of Everything Is You

Jesters

When Corporate Climbers Climb

What Perfection Lies In Living

How Can A Poem Be Short?

The High Destinies Of Faces

The Infamous Death

Nightcap Bar

I Used To Sit In A Tree

It’s Possible To Start Over

Pirates

The Sea Before The Sea

A Good Poem Slows Down All Time

We Are Trapped By Soul

I Will Think Of You

A Nod To The Diversity Of Life

Ode To Being Homeless

Rain And Lawn Poem

Banshee Vacuum

Hitch Hike To Heaven

Mummies

Inside The Limits

Golden Sand

What Color Is The Open Sea

Rock Star God

Principles Of Flying

A Bee’s Path

Eclipsed By A Psalm

My Soul

Education

Seasonal Readiness

Room For More

A Poet’s Soul

A Castle Tree

Witch-Cat Scar

A Minute Of Now

I Do Not Wear Diamonds

A Beach Day

Noah

Imagining Death

A Poet’s Love Of Poems

Perfection

A Writer’s Altar

Trombones

To See A Soul

The Ecology Of Heaven

Flute’s Intrepid Soul

Your Soul

A Flower’s Cycle

What An Alien Soul Looks Like

A Tub For Everything

Something Unexplained

Holding Tank

Poet’s Storm

All The Answers

A Super Frightening Moment

The Past

Cramped Quarters

Magic In The Tides

Shivered Timbers

What Lasts Forever?

Source Of Forgiveness

Dear Angel

Flapping Soul, Words in Verse was written following the death of the author’s beloved pet. Her poems about the loss of a loved one, her initial grief, and her subsequent journey through the stages of grief that followed are expressed in this book in such a contemplative, provocative way that it helped guide me through my own difficult journey when my 35 year-old daughter-in-law passed away.

Bernice Walker

Secretary, Salk Institute

La Jolla, California.

BOOK SUMMARY

Flapping Soul, Words in Verse is about various aspects of the soul. From this poet’s viewpoint, our souls are like membranes on a line flapping in the cosmic breeze. They are forever gateways to the divine cosmos that include a peaceful union of all creation. They stay attached to us despite gusts of wind or severe storms. When knocked down, we just pick up the line and start over again. It is always thus. Flapping Soul, Words in Verse provides a positive approach to the soul, plus related subjects all in lighthearted verse.

AUTHOR BIO

Flapping Soul, Words in Verse is Marleen Rita Duckhorn’s tenth published book of poems. In this book, the poet contemplates the grand regard of the soul in its highest concept while dealing with down to earth situations. She is bold at times, speaks her mind and can be humorous. It is this strength that gives her work appeal and makes her voice worth hearing. The variety of topics make for an engaging read with just the right use of phrases, for which Duckhorn has a special knack. Her style is singularly refreshing. You will feel like she is talking to you, it is believable, and truths are told. She exudes in her work a passion hard to deny. Her use of meditation to muse on the subjects is seen and felt throughout her poems. This reflects upon the close observations of the essence of topics on which she writes. This is the poet’s favorite book and she hopes you enjoy it too.

Other Books by

Marleen Rita Duckhorn

(In chronological order)

Red Daughters in a Foreign Spotlight

Soul Beams

Zoom Lens

Double Decked Nature

Gravel Pit on the Moon

Rocks on the Road

Poems of Gratitude

Written Rhythms of Space Travel and Earthly Things

Say Yes to Time

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mother Dorothy M. Severson and her husband Edward for their kind outlooks on these poems.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my husband David H. Neidner for his love and care; Karen Turner and Jude Cortes for their friendly encouragement; Shawn C. Barry Ellard for my website layout support; Christina Walker for her excellent proofreading of this book and suggesting the artwork for the cover; Tlaloc Quetzalcotl for his unique cover art rendition of my beloved cat, Carmie; and Bernice Walker for her outstanding technical support.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Upon the death of my beloved cat, Carmie,