From an Upper Floor

It Is Life Everlasting. . .

In Memory of a last day. . .

In his last days before leaving Earth David asked, knowing what you know, how could you go on living? And I said there were three good reasons. Tresy, David and John, the jewels of my life. Never to have known them? That would have been my greatest tragedy. Unthinkable! There is nothing this life could give me to match the gift of them. They have been my best teachers. Thank you for choosing me as your mother.

When David Died

I say that David took the hands off my clocks.
It was the greatest gift he could give me.
I tire of running my life with a large hand and a small hand.
No time for this, hurry for that. Do this now, do that before.
I hate it. With a passion.

I want to immerse myself in time and swim in it.
Feel it around me yielding and yet holding me up.
I want to feel the eternity of it and I want to see my
house and yard at different times under the sun.
To be able to say that in the morning
this is precisely how they look.
I want the information stored in my Memory Bank
for those times when I feel bereft.

I want to see the moon rise and give way to the sun.
I want to see the rainbow around the moon
and say again, we are in for a big snow.
I need to revel in the mundane task
of shaking out the kitchen rugs
on the back porch and feel
the cold boards beneath my slippers and
the cold air stealing beneath my clothes.
I want to keep looking at the moon with a glance,
because no farmer stares at the moon too long
and say hello David.

And when I feel very homesick, I will again
as I have in the past, take my coffee
out on the porch and sit beneath the midnight sky
with the stars daring me to look up
and identify them and again

revel in this multifaceted existence called Life.

March 25, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Drunk of the High Wine. . . .

It was a difficult lesson for me to integrate. It is for most people. One of quantum premises is that all time is simultaneous. Those who follow my blog know I speak of this often. It is difficult for me to write of experiences if I neglect to incorporate a fact that makes my work understandable. Especially when it has taken fifty some years to be comfortable with the fact.

I had another dream Wednesday morning the 21^st of March about 4 a.m. when I was aware of my French connection again. I prodded myself to remember this. It was a different household, but still with members of family. I had a granddaughter celebrating a birthday and I was invited out with them for cake and ice cream. She did not look like my California granddaughter but mine, nevertheless.

What made me take note of this was that I had been preparing dinner as I often do but the food was unfamiliar. I was not inept with handling it but the thought was that it was different. The thought injected perhaps to alert me to this parallel life we all have but wave off.

It reminded me of a post I wrote of when I awakened in the night and sat up speaking French. I do not speak the language but I was in vivid conversation going a mile a minute. I was pulled down and went back to sleep. This happened in the summer of ’85 I had journaled.

I also wrote when I dreamed as a monk in the summer of ’83 that I walked up a hill with a group and I made note in the journal that it was the year of 1790 and time of the French Revolution. I dragged a cross on my shoulders portraying Jesus’ crucifixion. Windows were boarded up along the way and evergreens shining in the moonlight and everything was dusty. Vivid.

Coming to mind especially was the meeting with the German VIP in Munich who scolded me because I had not told him the previous week in Paris that I would be in Munich the following week. I informed him I was not in Paris and had never been. He became very angry because our conversation was prolonged he said and friendly.

He was insulted and righteously because his was an important job because of his ability to remember people and where he met them. (Tourism is vastly important to all countries.) I could not convince him when my husband appeared steering me away. I have never in this life as Veronica been to Paris. Many places, but not ever Paris.

It all makes sense and convinces me that we are more than what we appear. I firmly believe we will one day on bended knee say thank you to our fellow man. We just don’t know how heavy his burdens.

We’ve Laid A Mark or
I’ve drunk the high wine. . . .

Upon this time we’ve laid a mark.
Because we were and are. Sometimes
not much to be sure.

And will be forgotten in time,
but those we leave have upon them a mark,
cherished.

They say it is hard won because much
was demanded. I say, earned, because
they produced by work.

Both right, altogether, a symbol,
to be wrought or cast in iron
to be remembered.

As important as the tablets
brought down from the mountain,
though this itself was chiseled with sweat.

Workers both, to be certain, honored
and to be brought toward the frontispiece
of a life lived

with reverence to a lifted chalice.

March 22, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
We Don’t See What We Don’t Know To See. . . .

Most of us have heard of black and white holes in space. When massive stars burn out gravity causes them to collapse and shrink out of sight. A black hole appears and matter disappears into this. Matter then appears elsewhere in our universe or other universes. My understanding is simplified.

Everything has energy especially our thoughts and emotions and those things that enliven us. When I said the cosmos views us as dim or bright bulbs this pretty much is on target though simple.

When this tremendous energy is given off we can say similarly that it drains through black holes and is enormously magnified and returned into our world through white holes.

These coordination points have great energy and earlier civilizations before going down the tube used these points to plan their infrastructures to great advantage.

This is a good point to keep in mind when news of ancient cities are discovered and we wonder how they managed to stay intact. The reason being that consideration of these energy points greatly stabilized structures and were highly utilized in building.

We hear of thermodynamic laws and closed systems and laws of entropy meaning there is diminished energy available to work. We have only our narrow focus of this physical world. We don’t see what we don’t know to see.

Physical laws are suspended many times. Women lift cars and tractors to free a beloved and save a life. In wartime suspension of laws is called courage and awarded with medals. When they happen in our lives, we say nothing and family looks askance and try to forget anything out of the ordinary happened.

Be careful what you say I was cautioned. I would have to deny my life lived. And because of journals kept for a half century, I would have forgotten many things.

How did you do it Mom, our eldest would ask as a child when the 3 cushion sofa was moved up and down the steep stairs. My young neighbor said I moved evergreens about my lawn with root balls of enormous size like lawn furniture and replanted them. And this same young one helped me move an old heavy desk from the garage through basement stairs. I would move it to the other part of the basement through two more doors.

I got stuck. Neither the desk was able to budge nor I pinned with my spine to the jamb and with little breath. The door frame bulged and I thought he will kill me if he has to call the fire department to free me.

In less time than it takes to write this and I have the journal entry, the desk collapsed and stood upright on the other side of the door and I whispered my thank you. I then moved it with no problem through the other door to my workroom.

From one of my poems is a line that says ‘thorns do not a rose make but intensity of purpose yields the bud.’ Many times I have been told things have not been worth the energy I put into them. Not comfortable to live with I have been told.

Yet we don’t know how that intensity is utilized nor how we feed worlds or are fed by it.

March 20, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Truisms. . . .

The heart will determine what the head sees and put into the eyes the meaning of it all.

*****

Time is not of the essence, but quality of thinking is. For the thought was already a thing in process before the action cemented it.

*****

By their actions you shall know them. By their actions you will see the fruits of their days. And by our action, the heavens know the thought processes involved.

*****

Some prayers are answered and some are not. The final question should be, why not mine?

*****

To change even one behavior pattern will demand that all behavior patterns be changed. And many are not equal to the work.

*****

It would also say that there was a deficiency in behavior and the need to say I was wrong. And with advancing years can we wipe out a life while still living?

*****

Heaven is an earned order and until one approaches the place where admission is qualified, one cannot enter. The homework first has to be done and the mind alerted.

*****

Work has taken on an onerous meaning. Play has taken on a sensual meaning. Neither are correct. Neither give full sway to the correct and apt meanings.

*****

A creative shining spirit is fun to watch. It is one, on whom the heavens bank their monies.

*****

It is far easier to prolong a situation waiting for it to work itself out. Confrontation is not for everyone. Especially when history has shown the one on whom the workload will fall.

******

Sometimes the need to be wanted is only bested by the want to be wanted.

*****

Kindness is never out of date nor is it old fashioned.

March 18, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Love Is The Answer. . .

Love, But Not Without Work. . . .

It was with derision that laughter came because I said love was the answer. Naïve I was called and impractical. I was told I did not know how the real world works.

But not without work I added. Love needed work. Wherever we were, the boots had to be put on or the thinking cap. That is where we begin.

By magic meals appeared on time, clean towels flew to shelves and clothes to closets hung all by hocus pocus. The real work was the hand on the sick brow, emotions calmed, anger abated and crises averted with lives prolonged by hearts transplanted. Fears were laid to rest.

So now I work and find some words to describe my feeling. Yet I even wonder now if these words are mine, except I do know that they are of me, my fabric and what it is I have lived through.

A romantic? I am and just maybe I put into words what others think and cannot articulate. Claiming my romance. . . I learned it somewhere. I knew it at a time. . . but what time and where, this life does not tell me. When we claim knowledge of a something and this life has not taught the principle, then we must claim it from somewhere. Else how do we know?

To know means the lesson was taught at some juncture, long ago or perhaps with such vitality we could not forget. It has become part of our fabric and knowledge and therefore we claim it. It is not to be uprooted by an ill wind blowing from wherever, because the knowledge is innate.

I write what I know. At the moment I may not be cognizant of the fullness of the words, but they are brought up from that place where memories lay hidden and the greater self speaks. And if the fences have been dismantled and the stones knocked down, it is with grace that the knowledge once again surfaces.

Love Is. . .

oh trembling soul,
that has seen beyond
to know the wonder of love.
Whose magnificent hand has shaped
the universe and all within with love?

What visions have the eyes seen unfolded
to cause the soul and mind a oneness,
heretofore, unknown?
Who loosed the shackles of
the mind encaged and sent man’s
Spirit soaring?

Love that has impregnated and nurtured
and caused man to grow upward

Is. . . .

artwork by Claudia Hallissey

March 16, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Kiss The Morning. . . wall quilt

Because I love doing what I do and am addicted to learning new ways when my abilities diminish due to aging and its consequences, I keep trying.

And remember a teacher’s admonition, that you are not a machine. If you wish perfection, buy a machine made whatever. So I do not give up.

I love this quote in particular; Kiss the morning into Being for it has long won the battle over night. A reader who works as a nurse with the elderly, said she loves to wake up looking at this wall quilt in the morning light. It gives her hope for the day.

I have the original that I wake to and have decided to work on a smaller version. The center panel is 8 ½ in by 11 in. And the borders according to what looks right.

I am still working to photograph accurately. When I concentrate on one thing, I overlook another. I seem to eye focus on one thing and don’t see another. I remember when this was not the case and it is frustrating!

I remember a dear friend saying to me that she does not invite younger people to her home whose eyesight is perfect, especially when they are fashionable and fussy. She knew she would then be the gossip of the day with her housekeeping and appearance. Ahhh I can relate.

She once asked me if she should wear the same outfit she had worn before to lunch with friends I was having at my home. I was silent because I was blank. After a minute she laughed and said to me you are the perfect friend to have. You never see other than us, the who we are.

Fashion I am not aware of, but I do hope I notice when someone is in their ‘altogether.’ And cover them up!

I know I will become more adept using the modifications I have learned. If you are interested in any of these small wall quilts, contact me. They are for sale and I will be putting them up as I photograph them

March 14, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
We Need Balance. . .

Inadequate. They say I make them feel inadequate. I require something of them but they don’t know what. I tell them they do but they have misplaced the skill they had when they would grab thoughts and run with them.

It was an exciting high brought on by them mastering life and know they were equal to it. An exuberance within them that had them glad to be wholly alive. Why had they let it be stolen?

We struggle for balance. We are not of the ‘suffering servant’ school nor of the ‘life can be beautiful’ one. It need not be one or the other, but remember this is a classroom. Its purpose is unfolding and our potential is becoming. What is the wonder and will continue to be the surprise.

Prolonging life by avoiding life’s problems only casts them for another time. Emotional discomfort, physical infirmities and mental upheavals are those things one grows on. And growth in these areas are of prime necessity for human potential.

We were taught since early times that the purpose of life is to learn. It is not to be happy and to be in a perpetual la la land with no discomfort.

How and what we do with the problems that life in this physical state doles out simply because the pieces fall where they do and form a puzzle, is for our growth and maturity.

Life is not meant to be one big romp in bed or a continual buffet table. How we confront and use the common sense we were born with to meet problems and hopefully distill some good in our wake is the prime motive for life.

It appears common sense is not so common, do you think? Or prefer not to, think, that is.

Evolution I . . .

In my yesterday
a thought was born.
Suited to my self,
we were complete, whole.
Today I find the thought
sufficient only for my yesterdays.

Awakening now, the mind itself,
impregnated with yesterday’s truths,
finds the spirit eagerly embracing
tomorrow’s dreams.

By what means and by whose devices
are yesterday’s truths
made today’s realities?
Except . . . perhaps by man
living out his dreams?

Elusive substance, beclouding,
misting, penetrable only
by man’s eternal hunger.
Satisfied only

by man’s indomitable spirit.

March 12, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Life’s Observations. . . .vast. . . .

Life’s Observations . . .

Sometimes one tires of treading lightly on psyches with cushioned feet. Perhaps there are times to wear what once were called old army boots.

*****

Power comes to those who are able to bow down the strong. And it happens at every level. When knowledge becomes the tool, then it is apparent where the weapons of war are used. It is called manipulation.

*****

Let others tend their own gardens. They planted the seeds and now are unhappy with the fruits?? Poor babies. . . .

*****

We all find eventually that every day is a day of generous offer. Need to say that again???

*****

Keep this thought in mind when complaints lace your language ad infinitum. Ad nauseum. There are lives lived beneath the furry evidential of every day life. That there are memories of past lifetimes, of lifetimes still in the process of completion. This is what is meant by the quantum theory that All Time Is Simultaneous. Just an example of the past is still happening.

*****

Our narrow focus keeps us zeroed in on what is our reality. And makes the lessons easier to learn. Best we get on with what is ours to do today before tomorrow’s needs make the burden heavier. Your language then might curl hair if heard.

*****

Words lacerate. A bite that breaks the skin by either a child or puppy requires a tetanus shot. It is too bad there is no tetanus shot for words that break hearts. An I’m sorry is not enough. Just doesn’t cut it.

*****

A change in values is the most difficult change to make. Change directed at a value system, injecting it with heart is the only change that makes the difference. A value system is how a life directs itself.

March 10, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Psalms of Love . . . in paperback now

I am so pleased to be writing this post to let you know that the paper back edition of Psalms of Love is now available in the Amazon.com store. I want to thank you for being so patient with the ambiguities of publishing and getting it altogether to match whatever the specifics were. In this day of state of the art devices, getting all factors working simultaneously and without conflict takes some doing.

I want to thank my family, all of them, for allowing this sometime not very state of the art mother and grandmother the idiosyncrasies commensurate with my lack of knowledge about how things work. It seems that a workable language should be understood but life today requires more than that. Aahh well, I try. I try. And they are good people to put with my foibles.

I am proud of this work and if I think about it for more than a minute I will make another ocean. There is something about a creative endeavor that brings on the tears, however much of it is a Given. I said that I reached very high for this work, so high and the cost was dear. But the result has been a peace that surpasses understanding with a knowledge that has no meaning except to me.

For this time and this place, it is done. In another place, another something will be demanded, and because this was accomplished, I may approach with trepidation, but I will approach the task. I have been gifted magnificently with our sons and the loves they have chosen. There is nothing this world could give that matches all of them.

I will continue to write until I know it is time to lay down the pen. To have a voice has been another gift that I do not take lightly. It is a responsibility as well as deeply satisfying to be able to state my views from a lifetime of thought and study.

I have no credentials, just accumulations of classes and books that fueled the beating of my heart. Even two cardiac arrests and two strokes convinced no one my work was finished, least of all the cosmic element. So we begin again. And again.

The daughter of one of my best friends asked to hear me read and said in a whisper, why do I think God is talking to me in your words? I don’t aspire to her beliefs but I reached for the highest and best in my belief system. I hope I help you to relate what is highest and best in yours.

March 6, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.
Upon Entry. . . a warm fire. . .

So much weather and all else happening that it is time for a light repast. It is time for a warm fire and a hot something with a bit of spice. It would be looked upon favorably. It is time for the head to rest and the body to recline. But only for a time. And then again we pick up the cudgel to make a new path. For that is our destiny. And we revel in it. With a large ahhhhMennn!

Upon Entry

Upon entry, we shed
the mufflers and the gloves,
the vests and boots,
ready as any warrior to fight the cold.

The hot tea is
a choice companion for us,
as we sit and warm ourselves
before the fire.

A promised relief
we find in each other,
as we no longer find the joy
in battling winter’s discontent.

We know our blood thins
and our patience ebbs
since we do not run and jump
with glee as snow inches up.

We remember though
this once held joy in things
not common to advancing age.
A straight shot of something

would not be unwelcome in the cup of hot tea.

March 3, 2018

Veronica Hallissey has been writing since the 1960s, with her poetry published in a variety of small press magazines. Born into a farm family in Lockport, NY, and educated at the University of Buffalo and other midwest institutions, she brings and unusual point-of-view to her poetry, combining strong natural images with a deep spiritual language. She lives in Ramona, CA.