Indigo Summer

...my favorite season and a yearning mood...

Indigo Summer

Suburban scene, Glenellen Drive
Soft morning sounds, dusky rose following a
nightlong rain
Colors as soft as this new July day
slowly sneaking into a world still indigo quiet
Breakfast on the deck
with earth dry tan under the deck
dry earth beneath the heavily rainladen leaves of the trees

Lunch at the restaurant at the mall at the end of
Main Street, way cool blue
Bright colors in the windows of the
house at the end of the street at the
rim of the park
yellow and cranberry, with inner-city edge!
Now seen: clear skies and hot sun

And felt: humid nights and desperate, yearning
music, restless talk

Scene at the beach
hot sand, sparkling sand
wet sand and breaking waves
The night still desperate, white and hopeless
longing for dawn
while waiting in hope for hope

© Leah Chang

between...

BETWEEN...

Between the silence and the pain
My sorrow and waiting

waiting

as though
hope might be a promise

Between the memory and the feeling
Is there a place for us?

For us within my silence
Inside my pain

© Leah Chang

Streetlife

And one about the city...about the SunTree in the city!

STREETLIFE

StreetLife! Sounds like a song!
I live in that song
Central city, inner city
Get on the bus and pay my urban fare...
ride around urbania.

Back on the city streets
catch those smells
frying food, fragrant planted posies
whiff of truck exhaust
catch the signs
Sushi Special 4 NEW TIRES $100
signs and...the SunTree!

SunTree! say the word again: SunTree!
and again: SunTree.
Where? You just can’t believe this one
You didn't answer--WHERE?
right THERE--in the Financial District!
orange and yellow. It's all mine.
What? Mine. Claimed it the day it first transfixed
me
Now it's transformed me.

So today I'm hangin' out high on my urban turf!
Hangin' out street easy on these city streets
Left the rest of the world behind.
Gotta get a Szechuan beef with rice,
city taste.
Vanilla ice cream, city flavor...
and then...
Cloudburst! Sunshower!

StreetLife.
Listen to the city.
Home of the middle person, middle class
home of the people, yes the people
watch the people, again the people
people with a heart
You'll hear horses, crowd control
but traffic's quiet and sooo slow
traffic jams then the car horns go WILD!

Sky's heavy blue while the Earth's Star
BLAZES into the city,
beyond the city limits
glimmering off glass
overheating the pavement so it
rises up and hits you hot in the face
Hangin' out
On my very own urban turf

Then looking out my window into the street
below
Guys and Girls in Blue cruisin' by
Inline kids bumping and falling over each other
Here's my friend and we're up to the roof.
Freeway whizzing by with its usual whir
Lyin' on the roof to dream with my ghetto box
between us
Dream of tomorrow, out again on our urban turf
Both of us cityborn and urban bred...

© Leah Chang

Truro Morning

This one's about the Cape Cod town of Truro:

Truro Morning!

...new morn again!
jump out of bed
into some clothes
run down the stairs
through the kitchen
onto the deck
spirit through the sand splash
into the water...

© Leah Chang

City Blues and Brights – City Lights

That we can be "City Lights!!!"

CITY BLUES AND BRIGHTS — CITY LIGHTS

It's a morning glow - the kitchen at dawn.
City blues. The kitchen at dawn.
Come on, get up, wake up!
            It's a brand new morning!

Look out the window, look at the sky...
Watch the stars fade
            the night stars
             lights of night fade
          take some stars into your heart
Quick! Look up in the sky – look quickly.
          quietly, softly, look
            while still there's time
Circle some stars circle some stars
          to bring them into your heart

You're up, you're awake. You’re ready
You're ready, you're alive
          It's a brand new morning!
          It's a beautiful morning!
Hold onto the morning, day is breaking
        night is over
This is the sunshine place
It's a city bright

Take that heartful of stars you've
          borrowed from the sky
there's a basket over there
          set some of those stars
            into that basket
You'll need them in the darkness of your night.

Day's breaking
Day's broken all over the city
City blues     the city at dawn

Sit and savor the sunrise
            savor the day
bask in and savor the kitchen at daybreak
Watch that basket of stars
          guard that basketful of stars
Are the stars still in your heart?
          Delight in them    Hold them dear
          And share them
            Share them...

City blues, urban blues that is.
Sun's up     Morning's here

Morning's ready! There's a city out there
A big city out there A Great City
          get on out there and scratch for
            life
          hold on, hold on
      hold on.     Don’t let go.
Keep those stars in your heart
          and give all of them away.
There’s lots more where those came from.
This city will be a sunshine place.

Day's done, it's end o'day
Watch those stars in your heart,
            in that basket
Morning's over, so's afternoon
          it's evening now
            night's closing in...

It's sundown. Night's right at hand
Watch those stars in that basket,
            on that table
Watch them closely
          night's...almost...here

What promise will you offer the night?
What answer will you give to the night?
Night has dawned upon all of us
Night's here now
Now is the season of night
          sleep

You made a covenant with the day
The stars you show are its sign
Will your covenant enfold the night
            as well?

It's night now, darkness time
Stars in the basket on the table
Stars in your heart
          In your heart       Sleep quietly
            ...now...
Morning's on the way


© Leah Chang

new blog!

Hi Friends! Here's my new blog! Maybe you've visited my other blog, "Desert Spirit's Fire Alive," the one I began for my theology. I decided to move all my poetry over here and I'll also be posting some other thoughts, feelings and related.