Venetia Ghozlan

MORNING WORSHIP

sitting on my steps
in the morning mist
I gaze, at crystal drops
glistening
on virgin, verdant grass
in this cathedral silence
while the world teeters
between sleep and consciousness
I, the apostate
sit alone, on steps
watching crystals drop

* * *

A HOSTILE TAKEOVER

I have heard it said that love starts with one's self...my conundrum - what happens when even the most basic component of one's body commences a revolution...causing pain, blindness, confusion and paralysis...when these bastard neurons hijack all the other better parts...causing mayhem, discontent and disorder...I tell you - it is bad enough to lose beauty, youth and grace, as one ages...bad enough to lose family, friends and lovers to accidents and other misfortunes...but when the body attempts it's hostile take-over...when your bathroom has become a miniature pharmacopoeia...when neurons mis-fire like an epileptic, drunk...whilst doing ballet around an oak tree, daubed in blue and howling at the moon, simultaneously...then this has become a battle I am tired of fighting...one that I have decided to concede...let the neurons have their vainglorious victory...let them have the spoils - my broken body...

Venetia Ghozlan is a disabled, 52 year old of mixed cultural heritage, an atheist, humanist...she works for SSA (her daytime grunt earn the gruel gig) and says, "I have written since I could breathe...or at least think, cognitively. I am inspired by the whispers in the wind, the screams contained in the thunder and the silence of mutes..."