An Unconditional Moment

By Franki deMerle

An Unconditional Moment

This is my fourth (and who knows? maybe my last) collection of poems. My three previous collections are Ripples on the Surface, Child of the Universe, and A Call to Contemplation. Ripples on the Surface includes poems starting when I was fifteen years old. Of the latter three collections, a large number of them were

• Language: English
• Publisher: Best Books Media
• Release date: Oct 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956095173

Franki deMerle

Franki deMerle is an American author who has published three collections of poetry before this one (Ripples on the Surface, Child of the Universe, and A Call to Contemplation) and three novels. Her poetry collections, including An Unconditional Moment, together with total of 977 poems. She was originally published in numerous anthologies by The National Library of Poetry, including one which also included poetry by her mother.She began writing poetry as a teenager but didn't attempt to write a novel until she was in her 50s. Her published novels are: Deception Past, a reincarnation novel set mostly in the southeastern United States; Dragonfly Dreams, about a recently retired Army officer and a woman escaping from domestic abuse, which mostly takes place in the United States Pacific Northwest; and Five Flowers, a historical reincarnation novel spanning fi ve centuries in which fi ve women (each one represented by a different flower) reincarnate as historical figures (in their third incarnation together, anagrams are used instead of the real names due to the nature of the actual characters). She has been a featured author with the Independent Author Network and has previously published through KatMoran Publications.Franki deMerle was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in the early 1950s, and grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement and the original manned spaceflight program. She studied ornamental horticulture in college. She has worked as a professional musician and as a civilian for the United States Army. She was president of the Huntsville, Alabama, Classic Guitar Society, and performed on guitar and sitar in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, and Washington. She was a founding member of The Build the Dream Foundation, which was responsible for the building of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial in Washington, DC.deMerle likes to garden at home in the Pacific Northwest. She shares a house with a cat, parakeets, and her sister, a classical pianist. Together they removed their front lawn and created a pollinator garden in its place for bees, butterflies, and the hummingbirds that winter over in their maple tree. Her DNA comes from the Scottish Highlands, and she also currently enjoys playing the Celtic harp, reading, and knitting.

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An Unconditional Moment

Franki deMerle

Copyright © 2021 Franki deMerle.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-956095-18-0 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956095-19-7 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956095-17-3 (E-book Edition)

Book Ordering Information

Best Books Media

132 West 31st Street, 1st Fl.

New York, NY, 10001 USA

www.bestbooksmedia.com

[e-mail]

1 [phone]

Printed in the United States of America

Prior Poetry Collections by Franki deMerle:

Ripples of the Surface

Child of the Universe

A Call to Contemplation

Novels by Franki deMerle:

Deception Past

Dragonfly Dreams

Five Flowers

Special thanks to all readers for their interest, open minds, curiosity, their own creative endeavors, and their kindness.

"… in expression and quality,

deMerle may have surpassed Dickinson."

–Brown University

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For Karen

My sister, housemate, and lifelong best friend,

pianist and gardener.

764.

Sounds against silence

Regular rhythms

Come from the heart

Not the brain

What I choose to write

Cannot diminish me

If not

I am still the same

✵✵✵

765.

Butterflies dance

In holographs

However much time is left

Choreographed

By wind and wings

Winter comes

Memories are left

And the wind sings

Mourning

Its partnership

✵✵✵

766.

I only see the stars in summer

When the clouds and rain take their leave

I’ve come to love the cloud cover

More than the sun and stars

Blankets of water

Protection of life

Rainforest textures

Preventing wildfires

I used to fly among the glittering stars

With a gentle silver dove

Now I listen expectantly for the rain

That waters the earth with love

✵✵✵

767.

Chalk blends together

Mixture of colors

Bringing a scene to life

Of something I dreamed

Inside my mind

Breathing life into blended

Colors

✵✵✵

768.

Pain is misunderstanding

Pain is fear and loss

Pain dictates reaction

And tells me something’s wrong

The business of selling your labor

The business of money as king

Is business gone sour

And causes great pain

Drama is excess

It can entertain

But drama in real life

Is a big source of pain

Life just wants to be happy

Accepted as it is

Content with what it has

And lack of suffering

Lack of extremes

And chronic advertising

Lead to inner peace

Lead to happy

✵✵✵

769.

A day no matter how well-planned

Is always unexpected

Life is made of surprise

And we are affected

Society expects us always

To be in each other’s faces

But staying within your boundaries

You know just what your place is

Souls can merge and know each other

Novelty peaks the high

But each is different from the other

Mismatched for daily life

First I have to know myself

And the borders I can abide

And then I’m true to someone else

Whatever he decides

✵✵✵

770.

One must know

The nature of Nature

To understand life

It’s basic and internal

Innate

Without lies

Waves do not lie

Only particles—

The invisible lines

One can read lines

Different ways

If one tries

And gain understanding—

Deeper meaning

Of life

Different perception

Is not always a lie

But many ways of life

✵✵✵

771.

We read for entertainment

We read in hope of enlightenment

We read because we find ourselves

In the words of others

We speak because all beings do

We hope someone will listen

We share feelings and passion

And hope not to be forgotten

✵✵✵

772.

All things automated

Cannot be controlled by an individual

They belong to the world

Interconnected

But difference of purpose

Reality in multiples

Conscious living in metaphor

Different meanings for individuals

While the skeletal process is simple

It is possible

To recognize distinctions

While living the blended whole

The quantum level

Pursues many goals

Within macro-minded conflicted souls

✵✵✵

773.

Keep it simple

Be concise

No one wants

A diatribe

I don’t know

Why words must rhyme

But it makes them easy

To memorize

That’s why the singer

Sings the song

As long as vowels

Get along

✵✵✵

774.

Time consumes us

Until we stop

And let it go

Nothing is wasted

But we come to know

Ourselves in this moment

And we are whole

✵✵✵

775.

There’s nowhere else I wish to be

Nothing more I wish to see

Except what life has to show me

Here is wherever I am

I’ve no desire to change the clock

I’m delighted that it hasn’t stopped

And I’m still who I am

Only experience changes us

Being lets us change ourselves

The show is in the first person

It’s what we show ourselves

We’re all upon this planet

Wherever we seem to be

We take part in this galaxy

The beauty