moments of time (new poem)

moments of time
by Tim Kavi

did you ever notice
when you really love someone
I mean really love someone
that you wanted to be with them every moment?

and it is a love so full in the moment
in those moments
yet so empty and time less
that it seems as if time stretched forever

did you ever notice how time stretches
when you're with them?
how you are creating memories of them
in moments of time

although such moments and memories as these
can never replace the person that we love
when we are apart

It is as if we remembered those moments
we created
and if we want and try real hard,
it can be as if these moments
can capture those moments
even right now

when we are most alone

you and I  are in my memory
and even if I am imperfect
because of my many failings,
and have my own self doubts,
somehow I know I have been deeply loved


if not in the sorrows of those moments passing
if not in the joys of remembering your love,
for is it not in the moments of love
that we are truly loved?

is it not, that we are?
that we have
existed in those moments

think about it
when you were feeling that love
when you felt so incredibly in the moment?

like when you held your baby son or daughter
for the very first minutes they breathed
or when you were bedside by a loved one
about to say goodbye for the last time?

those are the moments
we feel love and are loving in a way
that transcends all time...

that exists in a love that lasts forever
and never dies...

those are moments in time
rooted in the presentness of love
and shadowed and forgotten never
even in the afterlife, if it comes

I am never alone

in those moments of time
in those moments of love.

My Grandma the Poet (A Memoir) (repost with New Foreword)

new foreword:

Today would have been my maternal grandmother's 112th birthday.  I am reposting the following blog entry about her as a tribute (originally posted here in 2008).  I cannot tell you how much she means to me.  She was my earliest poetic influence and taught me much... Happy Birthday Grandma. Love, that's the biggest reason I write poetry. ~~TK  BTW, the style is open prose, so forgive [sic] the lack of punctuation and informal qualities. 

My Grandma the Poet (A Memoir)

A true story from my hometown life:

I grew up in a small town and loved grandma and visited her house
I stayed there lots of weekends
even until my late teens

she made homemade candy
and treats, good homecooked meals
and the holidays everyone in the family came there

aunts and uncles and lots of cousins
there weren't any boy cousins
although I had two brothers
(they were much older than I)
I made mudpies with my girl cousins
who giggled incessantly
and told me how to cook
fine pies in the mud

grandma tended to her kids
but when she got older she worked a little...

grandma was the town "cookie" cooking burgers that all the teens loved at the soda five and ten

you know the malt shops with soda jerks? in the 1950s...

post war bums with some slicked back hair and cars with big fins

susie was over in the corner
eatin' grandma's burgers

grandma was behind the counter and she grins

watchin the drama unfold
susie ignored the man's advances
and all the other cooks
cackled

susie was a real good looker

I had a burger there in the Soda Fountain place in the late 70S before they tore down the place
the same owner was there but he was Cookie now, and grandma was living in the twilight of her life. the place was empty, but the food was still good and you could get a lot for your money all the noise was down the street at some fast food place. There wasnt even a battle of the bands no more. The owner worked there with his son who never had another job and stayed with his daddy till the end even though he was all grown

I went to grandma's house for a visit soon
after seeing her old working place

grandma was rockin
in her rocking chair
writing poems and crocheting and watching Bonanza, Highway to Heaven (she loved Michael Landon) and, Portland wrestling

when she gave advice you listened

I never forgot her
her love was the most patient teacher

any grandson could have
and I often told her I loved her so

from as far back as I remember..
I have memories like this:

grandma would say Timmie
and was happy to see some of my first poems
scrawled in crayon
or pencil
so grandma and me would write at the same time when I was little and she was so big in my little eyes


her gentle ways taught me more about the
goddess than just about anbody
I know

I think grandma was a goddess

she would write poems by the hours
on sheets of typing and notebook paper college ruled
and writing tablets

all handwritten in very large letters

I was high enough to peek over the arm of the chair to watch what she was doing

if I was good and asked real nice
grandma would read me some
out loud

she had a way with words

these were lyrics and fine ballads

born in 1900 on a homestead she was a country girl
grandpa was a sharecropper
they seemed poor
but rich in so many ways

but we were so happy

grandma liked reading romance magazines
in that rocking chair
songs of home, heart, romance

and her and grandpa were married for more than 50 years

you know grandma taught me
a lot

and every once in awhile
when I write a poem now
I think grandma sees it

I hold it up to her just like I used to and you know what?

she grins

and that still makes me pretty damned happy.

here's an excerpt from one of
grandma's poems:

Tomorrow's End

My wonderful kids
How I love you so
I must know if there is a place
For me, or a home to go.

I won't need many extras
Just a bed at nite
A place to love my grandchildren
And my poetry to write.

Could I have a chair by a window
With the sun shining in
That would make me so happy
As my eyes grow dim.

I'd be all settled in comfort
Shielded from the cold
What a glorious feeling to know
Then I am growing old...


author's note: grandmothers can be terribly important. as you can tell, mine was extremely important to me. the poet "gene" certainly runs in my family...my grandma, my mother, and both my daughters write prose that inspires and moves me across all time.~~TK

Seeing Eyes (New Poem)

Seeing Eyes
by Tim Kavi

if a poet
looked
in her eyes

if a poet
listened
to her heart

felt the Spring
in her
life giving
breath

there would only
be love
there would only
only be life

and in that
is no death

at all

then hasten
the day
I see
you coming

hasten the
music
I hear you
singing

for what love
is that
you are
bringing?

if a poet
saw you standing
there

what would
those eyes see?

shining
living
being

beauty
in your own right

music
to his own sight

filling
every nook
in space

filling
every book
in grace

adorned
by his words
yet
revealed
in your own
majesty

if a poet
saw you
standing there.

Second Collection: 'Ascending Goddess' is Published (Blog Entry)

My second collection:  Ascending Goddess has just been published by TiLu Press.  First as a Kindle edition, but don't worry other eReader versions will follow and all my collections will become available in paperback as well. You can use the links here to order the eBook, or simply use the graphic to your left on this page which allows you to click through to the Order Page. (Remember you can download apps that will allow you to read a Kindle eBook on any kind of system that you have).

This collection is a  very strong collection that depicts an interesting journey to the Goddess. If you have been following my work you will enjoy this edition which celebrates a mountain journey to encounter the manifest Goddess.  On another level, these poems are interesting love poems which celebrate that special person in your life.  Hope you continue to enjoy my work, reading the poems and essays here in this blog as well as in my collections.  Thanks for supporting my work.~~TK

Here is the book's official description:

Ascending Goddess is a second collection of mystical love poems by Tim Kavi that celebrates the Sacred Feminine, Goddesses from mythologies past and present, and emerging goddesses everywhere. These are sacred love poems that celebrate spiritual and temporal planes of love and devotion. In this collection, celebrate the journey to the Goddess as you travel up a mountain path to fully encounter Her. Celebrate the love between you and those that are special in your life

ASCENDING GODDESS AMAZON ORDER PAGE

Romantic Swoons (New Poem)

Romantic Swoons
by Tim Kavi

breathless
no strength to tarry
in my wait for you
I soon realized
your love had invaded
my heart
As I reached the top of the hill

You were there
coaching me
soothing me
of all my hurts and fears

how could I not call to you?
calling out many years

lonely seeking nights
and finding you
in the days of your love?

until a great
and mighty wave
of love made our love

collapsed our love
into one expression

days and nights
you and me
until quietly
there was only
a lasting hug

wherever I went
alive in your eyes

I saw you standing there

goddess revealed

as sure as Kwan Yin
compassionate arms reaching
speaking breeching seeking

breaking
rendering in two
all the cultural walls within

until it was only Our love
that mysteries
held in swoon

brought forth fruit
and found only to
be ever present all the time
never missing really
never empty
never rendered

to see it and know
only it has ultimately mattered.

Valley of Moon (New Poem)

Valley of Moon
by Tim Kavi

in the valley
of moon the jade flute sings.

You are my sun at sunrise
and my ocean at the beach stretching endlessly.

I wake up and look out my window
Spring has come and I see where
your love has been
busy as everything is growing now
it has even dripped a misty rain on the lilacs
in our garden now

there is a purpose to all that is living
to appreciate the rain you brought
to give thanks for the food we had sought
for your nourishment is never empty and never brings drought.

cracked and dry earth is no longer parched
the flowers in the dirt bear pretty designs
that which ate and destroyed is kept silent and lifeless
captured and dead before your loving eyes.

So let Nature and I be dancing
let the stars swing by me
I am tapping on the Earth with lively feet
dancing in the romance of your love that reaches
so that wherever I go is never dragging
my spirit is freed in space and time
I will get there yesterday and tomorrow
for everywhere I am alive!

and lest you think I am joking
I closed my window blinds and sensing your presence had filled the room
I saw the dark place full of light
and I know now that even when you come and go
every moment I am never alone
and I am always loved, sweet valley of moon
I play the jade flute now

tomorrow I am your happy groom.

Valentine's Day (New Poem)

Valentine's Day
by Tim Kavi

I say to you and answer you
yes I will go with you
Come to you wherever you call me from

I am clothed in any garments
the warmest of all if needed
as long as I am clothed with your love

I am safe too in all that you do
your wings are spread out for me
as Goddess I know

sweet and full of joy
laughing
you will carry us both
on the wings of love

to the Milky Way
and far away from here

I know wherever we go
I will be safe
and we will return to our people
and to each other again and again

loving free
no matter what each dawn does bring

I am yours forever
and you are mine, gentle seraph
in a portrait of love
painted divine.