A Sort of GPS for Traveling through Life

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graphite drawingWhile I’m Rabbiting Around

Out in the widest open spaces, and the wildest places, too,

I have the tendency to racing ’round as rabbits tend to do;

I get a wild hair and I tear off just as often as I can,

Run all harum-scarum into Nowhere–yes, like any man,

Woman or child who senses freedom, hopping haplessly amok

With no goal or real direction, until suddenly I’m struck

With the knowledge I’m abandoned, lost, no compass-point in view,

Leaping like a rabid rabbit, with no hope, so far askew

From a purpose, from potential friends and comforts, joys and dreams

That I realize my running’s not the freedom that it seems,

That the beckoning horizon’s better when it holds a prize

I can dash toward, ears pricked upward, light a-dazzle in my eyes

And the scent of grand achievements drawing me to hare ahead;

All of this makes great the dashing and the derring-do, instead

Of tangential, random rambles, jumping pointlessly around,

And I’m glad to race and rabbit onward now, to higher ground
graphite drawingMy Inukshuk

Should I leave my friends a signpost

Where, I wonder, will it lead?

What will mark my place of passage;

Will it serve them in their need

For direction or for comfort?

Will it offer strength or hope?

Should I leave my friends a signpost,

Can it guide them up a slope

To a vista rich with promise,

To an exponential view

Always growing and expanding

With delight, as it should do?

Should I leave my friends a signpost,

I would like to have it guide

Them to grand and gracious places,

To that glorious countryside

Made of sweetness and of pleasures

Great as travelers can see;

Should I leave my friends a signpost,

Love is what the sign should be

30 thoughts on “A Sort of GPS for Traveling through Life”

  4. Kathryn, I am in awe! Thank you for your Inukshuk, in image, words and example! The signpost is there, I can see it! 🙂

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  5. The rabbit poem was extremely adorable. I loved how you used hare and rabbit as verbs. That was a creative twist.
    As for the Inukshuk…I feel like I have a really personal tie to that symbolism since it’s a prominent symbol in my province. I feel like we don’t pay enough respect to the native people of our land – yet that’s completely off topic.
    Your poems about finding direction…I feel like they truly are ways to find our way through life again. Sometimes we just need a little help and I liked the feeling I got from this.
    Oh the heck with it, I just loved your poetry.

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    • Thank you kindly, Bluesander! Are you from AB, then? Edmonton was our part-time home for over a dozen years and where I became fond of the Inukshuk and other First Nations legacies.

      Hope your travels through the winter are peaceful and joyful *wherever* you are.
      Kathryn

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  8. Both poems were wonderful to read this morning and even better to re-read now. Your word choice & usage, along with the imagery, make for a very enjoyable read. If you haven’t already, when will you be publishing something?

    Kathryn, here’s wishing you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season!

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    • Thank you for the kind wishes. Given your family, I can only assume you will be having a DELICIOUS holiday season yourself, my friend, and I truly hope it will be glorious in all the hoped-for ways!

      I’m glad you enjoyed your reading homework here today! Celi asked me something similar about being published/publishing a while ago, and here’s what I said to her:

      “What you see is what you get! I do have about six or seven thousand poems (stopped even estimating at some point) and a couple thousand composed pages of poetry/image books (on things like nature, food, invented alien creatures and wacky beasts, and the lighter side of death, for example) sitting around in storage, but the publishers I’ve sent them to thus far haven’t been remotely interested. I put it all on a back burner and started re-editing a bunch of my artworks for possible giclee/digital printing as posters and stretched canvases so I might be able to sell prints. Then I was getting hung up on how to show, sell, market, etc. *those*. So Richard, a very fine and brilliant man despite his silliness in marrying me, started nudging me to blog. And while I realize this might be TMI for your innocent little inquiry, that, in a nutshell, is what’s what.”

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    • Thank you, dear lady, and I wish you a beautiful and joyful Christmas and the very happiest New Year! We saw this movie and loved it. What a great Christmas greeting it makes! Warmest greetings to you!
      Kathryn

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    • I wish you the best in the holidays as well, my friend! And I look forward to many more of your marvelous posts too, after you’ve had a good dose of holiday happiness to refuel you!

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  13. Such “tangential, random rambles, jumping pointlessly around” are what bring on the Muse with glorious strokes of brush, sounds of music and words profound…

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  14. Ahhhh…. I do believe I like the signposts you point us with. Kathryn, you write with such positivity and hope – and you have a way of lifting our spirits just when we need it the most. My night is much happier now, thanks to your words! Muah!

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    • Muah! Muah!

      I’m finding that writing positivity helps me feel it a little better myself when it’s running a little low in my tank. Who knew! But I’ll admit to being pretty darn happy with my excellent life most of the time, too. 🙂 I’m especially happy if the good spirits can come through to others and be contagious. (Throwing many handfuls of it your way!)

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