Hope's mirth

Lines and colors meet
A drumbeat
Fields of wheat
Shrouded fears
Silent tears
Hope's birth
Raiment and mirth
A stolen glance
Souls dance
By chance
Broken silence
Aslan's guidance
Lines and colors meet
A drumbeat
Fields of wheat

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
10-03-2016

Autumn Embers

Simple and plain
Orange, yellow, browns
Leaves dance
On a country lane
Hope drowns
A stolen glance
Thunder and rain
Embers fall down
By chance
Fire's tearstain
Empty playground
A gothic romance
Or is it feigned?
Cast down
Caught in a trance
Words unexplained
'Send in the clown'
Push, pull, bodies advance
Melodies unchained
Deep down
A dream perchance
Stars ordained
Voices cry touchdown
Echo in the expanse
Together unashamed
Whispers all around
Walls collapse
Hand-in-hand unafraid
Beyond rejection's burial grounds
Writes new maps
As autumn colors parade
Flint sparks a winter's flame.

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
10-11-2016

Letters

Darkness envelopes
Silent stars hung
Lanterns in a blue abyss
Shrouded hopes
Threads unstrung
Sweet first kiss
Traverses without ropes
Amazing grace sung
Otherworldly bliss
Steadfast oaks
Woodland canopy overhung
Tears' reminisce
Where poppies sprung
In this
Despair clung
A world amiss
Hearts wrung
Souls transfixed
Unspoken words on the tongue
Blood moon eclipse
An empty swing swung
Letters upon a new script

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
10-12-2016

Ruins

A nor'east's wisp
Threshold's kiss
Across a stage of dreams
Echoes in quiet streams
A thousand days
Cathedral ruins lay
Fog's mistral greys
Tomorrow's doorways

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.

Summer days

Protective hands unseen
Plays out a scene
Hand upon heart
Set apart
Breathless moments
Cross's atonement
Hesitancy and joy
Grace employs
Brillant blue crashes
Beauty from ashes
Hope beckons
Railroad tracks reckoned
What was and nevermore
brother and sister cross Jordan's shore
misty shroud hides
the turn of the tide
darkness drowns
abandoned mills and shuttered brownstones of downtown
mist shrouds
sacred vows
Conversations
lay foundations

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
07-13-2011

Where is the Rose?

Reality shatters
Darkness and light scatter
Broken heart
Moments depart
A dreamer's eyes
Hope dies
Love waits
Fate
Faraway smiles
through trials
Yesterday lingers
in pictures
Left behind
to find
today grows old
past is cold
tomorrow unfolds
a melody plays
Friendship's gaze
an endless search
an empty church
Grace finds
gives sight to the blind
Unspoken words burn
Fires dance as souls yearn
Laughter rings
Thunder sings
Where is the rose?
Lines that poets compose
Blood stains on blue
I love you

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
Originally written: 01-19-1993 Rewritten: 02-24-2017

The Sojourner

Cross’s narrow road
Arms stretched out in love
To the sojourner
Beckons, calls, knocks
Friendship’s footprints
On the path’s inscription
Hand in hand
Love’s grasp tight
Storms splash in momentary might
Cross’s narrow road
The Rock
Justice, mercy, and grace
Beckons, calls, knocks
The sojourner
Heaven’s expanse stretched out before thee
The unknown yet to be
Cross’s narrow road
The sojourner
Mountains, valleys, deserts, wilderness
Hand in hand
With Eternity’s heartbeat

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.

Phoenix Rises

Hell-fire smokes
Flame gropes
Darkness cloaks
Blood soaks
As an earthly candle's glow flickers
With a broad stroke triggers
Tears rain fears
Blind seers
A shadow emerges
To requiem's dirge
As the bullet surges
Senseless violence
Innocence silenced
As the phoenix rises

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
07-25-2012

Legacy

A feather rests upon a sepulcher
The stone etched speaks a name
Ashen gray the sky cracks and thunders
Darkness envelopes
The tempest whirlwind surrounds
The soul's shattered shards lay
The feather dances to the piano key's chords
Dried roses
Withered
When our lives breathe is taken
What is the legacy that we leave?
Memories echo
Tea under jacaranda blossoms
Words spoken
The wind whispers and whisks the feather away

By Shannon McKemie, M.A
06-06-2012

Kindred Spirits

Stars hang in silence
The trees thunder in laughter
Like death's cloak darkness encloses
Memories dance in the shadows
Reality clothes the ambiguous road
I am alone
The night speaks of fairy tales and legends
I reach out for your presence
But find emptiness in your stead
The strum, the beat, the voice
Merciful eyes grasp the loneliness across the divide
Stars hang in silence
The cricket chirps in the void
Souls touch in the melody
The road is empty again
The stars hang in silence

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
February 1999

My heart

Love touched my heart
Jesus gave me the peace
When death knocked on my door
Love touched my heart
Friendship blossomed into a rose
And kissed my lips with tenderness
Love touched my heart
Jesus gave me the peace

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
1994

June 6th

The wave breaks
Heart aches
Time stands
Threaded strands
Jordan divides
Turns the tide
What once was and will never be again
Remember when
Lost years
Heaven's tears
Drip on the mahogany wood
Memories of childhood
Whispered names Picture frames
Gravestones
Under the bridge
Blood-stained railroad tracks
Earth cracks
Unfinished chess game
a phone call left no one the same
A long ago day echoes
Ashen gray thunder cracks and bellows
Lightning sparks
Mortal hallmarks
Voices fade
Words prayed
Laughter silenced
Reverberate the sirens
Moonlight's breath
Another death
Goodbyes spoken
this gypsy heart holds the token

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.

Buried Hopes

The moonlight casts shadows as the stars wane
Van Gogh's blue swells as tears stain
Broken silence as the heart aches
Veiled crimson quakes
Tin-type memories leave one awake
Lantern lights shimmer upon the lake
Words spoken
Worlds broken
Abandoned token
A voice haunts
Ravaged and gaunt
In silent agony
I whisper to the stars with their pageantry
Beloved, my love
I am here
Before the graveyard of buried hopes
By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
10-04-2012

Look upon the night

Stars dance in friendship tonight
Yet goodbyes we write
Look upon the night
Shadows and light
Gentle breeze shatters
Friends scatter
New beginnings arise
Memories paint the skies
Look upon the night
Distance separates
Kindred spirits fates
Yet goodbyes we write
Stars dance in friendship tonight
Look upon the night

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
Originally written:01-31-1992
Dedicated to Jessica Barnes
Edited/Rewritten:02-22-2017

The Lamplight

The raven crows
Under twilight's glow
Silent screams pierce night's cloak
Muted tears at midnight's stroke
Requiem's vale
in shadow's veil
where engraved stones wail
a beautifully lily of the lamplight
the butterfly takes flight
where angels tread
reunited family threads
words said
as pastor breaks bread
you and your daughter's silhouette dance
by perchance
Alone in the dark
the raven crows
under twilight's glow

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
07-18-2013

The Call

The sun bids adieu
Stars breakthrough
Dusk's majesty
Moment's agony
Bubble bursts
Soul thirsts
Road waits
Grace captivates
Holy feet tread
Christ broke bread
Do this in the remembrance of me, Christ said.
Only on bended knee
do my blinded eyes see
Sweet peace touches
where sin crushes
holy hands grasp above
for my Beloved
Lamb's blood cleanses
destroys my defenses
comfort in His plan
unseen beyond my empty hands
only on bended knee
do my blinded eyes see
Words spoken
Spirit broken
Living water springs
Lifted on eagle's wings
the call

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
Originally written:12-2000
Rewritten:02-22-2017

Twilight's Crown

Luthlorien's sacred ground
Tree's twilight crowned
Estel and Evenstar betroth
Hope clothed
Sword sheathed
Tolkien spoken:
...A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be the blade that was Broken,
The crownless again shall be King
Eldar and mortal wedding
After darkness vanquished
Love that cherished
Beyond the breaking
A winter dusting
Amidst the twilight's crown
A shadow fades.

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
08-08-2012

photo credit: Julie Herrick

Whistles Dixie

Ashen gray envelopes
Thunder cracks hopes
Words entrenched
Dagger clenched
Gatsby's green light haunts
Letters cast from a typewriter's font
Daylight shatters
Darkness scatters
Pinks, Oranges, yellow splatters
Hope arises
Words bleed
Scripted deed
Blank page
Actors backstage
Caged mockingbird sings
Water trickles from springs
Travelin' man walks
Whistles Dixie down the blocks

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
Originally written:06-14-2012
Rewritten: 02-22-2017

Raven's call

Morning fog shrouds the raven's call
As gunshots pierce the mall
Ramah's soil bleeds red as Rachel weeps
In darkness nations sleep
As Humanity washes ashore(#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik)
'Merica and Fortress Europa abhors
Children of men scorn
Lives shattered and torn
Salat al-Janazah, a wooden box, and a father mourns
Drops trickle, a stream flows
An endless walk as bodies decompose
Hope abandoned
Refugees branded
Thirsty
Dirty
Hungry
Stones substitute bread
Waves splash upon the dead
Hope drowns
The raven's call are the only sounds

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
09-04-2016

Photo credit: Dominic Robinson at https://www.flickr.com/photos/dropstuff/2840632113

I am a writer

I am a writer
The blank page is my canvas.

I am a writer
Language is my playground
The rhythm, beat, and sounds.

Dear Editor,
If you choose my art
Why do you maim and mute
Erase and replace
Red-stained
With your agenda and interpretation

I am a writer
This is my mosaic
Imagery captured in tin-type pictograph
Words brought forth across the veil
That straddles eternity's realms.

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
07-23-2012

Dear Brother

Life's tapestry fills with many colors
Water trickles
Memories ripple
Majesty's pillars stand
Friendship's cords are one strand
Rand's journey
Min's vision blurry
Castle-rock mountaintops
San Francisco raindrops
Lamentations and sorrow
Father's hand on the sparrow
Acoustic guitar strums
Heart beats to a Jim bay drum
Songs of a New Jerusalem
Caged bird sings
Of deserts with new springs
On eagle's wings
Fiery embers burn
Night of your return
Ocean crashes
Hope rises from ashes
June days
Friends always

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
Dedicated to Jeff Szolomayer, Happy Birthday!

Memory's Fragrance

Daybreak cracks the stillness suspended
As an interlude wakens the choir's ballads transcended
Memory's fragrance from faded days
Of hallowed halls and caged lockers' empty shadows replay
Classrooms and concrete numbers
Yearbooks, K.I.T., and the long summers
Memory's fragrance from faded days
Silhouettes like a candle's flame ablaze
Etched names upon ebony
Time's brevity
Memory's fragrance from faded days
Black and gold tasseled visions
That stands upon a threshold of ambitions
A chapter's nightfall
The Class of Nineteen ninety-four's last call
Black and gold tasseled visions
As the first light shatters
One by one--our class scatters

By Shannon McKemie, M.A.
06-06-2014
Dedicated to the El Dorado Class of 1994 and my fellow classmates whom have passed on:
You are gone but not forgotten. In Loving memory of: Jennifer Twohy, Chris Weisz,
Todd Williams, Chelsea Glass and any unnamed others.