Poems by Kimberly Burnham 2017

Kim BurnhamLife spirals. As a 28-year-old photographer, KIMBERLY BURNHAM appreciated beauty. Then an ophthalmologist diagnosed her with a genetic eye condition saying, “Consider what your life will be like if you become blind.” Devastating words trickling down into her soul, she discovered a healing path with insight, magnificence, and vision. Today, a poet and neurosciences expert with a PhD in Integrative Medicine, Kimberly’s life mission is to change the face of global brain health. http://www.NerveWhisperer.Solutions/

Abundant Loss

years of love moves on
one day celebrating loss

April 20

A Gift of Time

Unbidden a goat
intersected my life
today a gift of time
and care for my love

Red Blossoming Van Gogh

The fastest color
a sunset budding all around
the springtime eastern sky
cradling the white of almond blossoms
– Red Blossoming Almond Tree

Blue and green clad workers
speed through the fall harvest
grapes ripe on the vines
turn shades of red and golden
as the sun sets on another year
– The Red Vineyard

Heat rises from the valley floor
in waves of red and blue
energy flowing up through thick tree trunk
branches and leaves touching the sky
one ends and another starts
but the red hot energy flows through all
– Red Fields

All Doors Are Open

That is what they say
but I feel more
than see the hard wood
closed against my dreams
where all the doors are open
and I am free to be

Amimia

Amimia joy arrested
expressiveness lost muscles
no longer brightening running
across my face your face never
unclear what you feel
my face falling frown

Wonder

Wonder cannot be commanded
it slips quietly to the surface
in poignant moments

Wonder cannot be commanded
it booms through the silence
and will not be denied

Wonder cannot be commanded
rather cultivated by attention
paid to what passes unexplained

Savored Moments

Rushing red lights blaring
the urgency of life can be heard

High on a mountain top
time slows where air is scarce

Served up 24 hours at a day
the abundance of each moment savored



Found A Soft Evening’s Read

The editor collected poems
people who have cared
loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease
The writers range
prize-winning poets to amateurs
share in common a passion
experience evokes
emotions
rest in the crystal of poetry
the dark terros
reveal an ancient truth
love is stronger
than …
A found poem: “Their poems illuminate the dark terrors of this most disabling and dehumanizing disease, and, perhaps surprisingly, reveal an ancient truth: that love is stronger than death.” —Coe, F. L. (2011). “A sudden lift of wings” Poetry and prose about Alzheimer’s disease.” Perspect Biol Med 54(1): 106-114. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21399388

Trees

Without the wind …

A landscape without trees

reaches for the horizon

No seeds blown here or there

all sits still

Rain clouds do not sail from the West

drenching a parched earth

Oxygen giving trees no longer

breathe life into our world

Soccer

The soccer ball pure white sails

powerfully propelled now

the goal zooms closer hearts pump

as it catches net

April 11 Offering

selflessly
looking into another’s eyes

generous money
sharing time and effort’s rewards

setting aside
one’s own desires an exchange of joy in a child’s face

education
giving out without bound knowledge experience wisdom

yearning
for that sense of being special in the beholder’s sight

Piano

Solid it rises in the hallway
where she plays a few notes each time
she walks by
another child yells
stop
she doesn’t
knowing she must practice
and happy
just a little
that she is taking up space
in this cacophonous world

Standing Before Freedom

The light just right
like a wood cut
block painting
she stand before the Torah
looking into the face of freedom

The lines of her black and white shirt
a zentangle of crisscrossed lines
white and black mingling gathering
strength in the shadows set off

A black skirt high heels
dark hair with a little salt
contrasts the clear white
of her kippa

Beside her the blue and white
of the rabbi’s tallis shines out
below golden hair
women … and men prepare

Two days before the journey to
freedom starts again in pink
and white of spring blossoms
a counterpoint to green
outside the window
the light just right

The Face Of Mystery

Living in the face

of mystery

the unknown looms

leaning awkwardly forward

The words of the heart rise

swirling around

the light from the mouth

Illuminates the dark side of

the mystery of life

And I can walk

ahead

Speckled, Spotted and Streaking Haiku

Speckled abundance

gratitude spotted ahead

life streaking forward

Water, Stones and Land

I laid out the hoses today
planting sweet peas in the garden
and thought about a time
when stone wells gave water
my garden water comes from a well
at the crank of the tap
Still saving water in rain barrels
gathering this precious life
giving substance from the sky
falling on the stones and grass alike

Watercolor Farm

The colors blend together at the edges
bright green spring sprouts up
around a large brown pile of branches
remains of the tree that died last fall

Gray and orange the puppies
descended from working shepherds
play in a freshly raked pile of leaves
golden tan and yellow
in the shade of a maple tree

Beyond the yard
a large garden waits for spring
the way cherry blossoms wait
tucked away until the one sunny day
they explode like pink popcorn

And farther away towards the horizon
stand tall green pines
perfect for climbing
now that the snow has gone

All of it lit by fading sunlight
this April day

Numbers

Numbers along the way
the world comes into focus

5 stop signs set there to pause
enjoy the view and live another day

3 grocery stores full of resources
do I have enough

243 trees breathing out oxygen
with a collective sigh

18 people neighbors
some are friends, some are children

3 birds: a duck dipping for fish
a woodpecker searching for insects and a crow

23 horses running and kicking
the wind at their back speeding their way

301 houses where families are at home
having completed the journey

59 years have brought me home
today

Greener Grass

Certainty grows greener
beyond the gate

I catch a glimpse from here
with rising desire to travel through

But disappointment lurks
with fear beside the gate

What if what I have is really better
I know what is mine here

Vision clearer
because of what I see beyond

Light

Darkness first
split open by amber light
gold rising into blue
green edges emerging
sapphire surfaces shimmering
seeing eyes grateful
for beauty, knowing
and light chasing the darkness
day by day
as we spiral around the sun