Magic
Magic in the moon
Early morning
Sub-zero walk
No one is about
Ground crunches
Snow
Sky is clear
Nothing blocks
View of space
People are home
Snuggle each other
Snuggle the cat
Snuggle in blankets
But I am out
Walk to breakfast
Hot coffee
A tramp outside
Between
One warm inside
To another
Winter in small doses
Reminder of childhood
Play, romance
Simpler times in my life
-Copyright C.M. Mounts, January 2018
Authentic
Study people
They are baffling
There is no manual
No history book
No way to guess
Who they really are
Who they wish to be
Who they project to be
In the current moment
Are often all different
Society blasts us with messages
Advertising self-dissatisfaction
So we will buy their products
How to remain authentic
It is a harder road
Road less traveled
Someone once smugly said
The road less traveled
Is less traveled for a reason
Get over yourself
Get real
-Copyright C.M. Mounts, June 2017
New Moon
Peacock perched
Overnight in the tree
Its magnificent train
Eyed covert feathers
Invisible in the new moon
Pearl in mollusk
Pried hinge
Oyster knife
Murky water
Lotus emerges
Can you see it?
Crack the geode
Grey hard exterior
Purple crystal heart
Do you seek
What is hidden
Out of fear of smiling faces
Once you find
What you dig out
What you thought
Tick or sliver or boil
Is none of these things
What then?
-Copyright C.M. Mounts, August 2017
P.S. 2017
Dear Friends,
In 2013, I lost most of my belongings to fire that incinerated my loft apartment. Included in that was the electronic versions of most of my writing. Remarkably, all of my hand-written drafts and two 3-ring binders with printed versions of different novels survived. They have some water and smoke damage but are still legible. Fire is funny that way, random in its violence.
That year profoundly changed my life and in 2014, I made the choice to start this blog: cmmounts.com. Although I continued to write, I only got seven blog posts written that year. I just couldn’t keep it up. I had put pressure on myself to only share my new and best writing. I wasn’t writing fast enough or with enough regularity. Cycling long distance is funny that way, consuming all your time.
By 2017, I finally got tired of not sharing my writing in any kind of real way. I started to participate in open mics around the Twin Cities. I finished and published my friend Todd Park’s memoir, my first effort as a book editor. I made the choice to post any of my original work that I thought was decent, whether written recently or not. And I tried out writing a travel log for the first time- which I guess for a nomad like me is better late than never.
I view my blog as a self-published catalog of my different styles of writing, a tool to hold myself accountable to my goals, and a way for my fans (what!) to enjoy my work. And what fans I have! For many blogs, my statistics are modest but in 2017, I posted 42 times and attracted 730 visitors who made 1,178 views. I gained 56 new followers and not all of them were my mom! Actually, I do not know most of you and that blows my mind! Thank you so much for reading my poems, stories, and other ramblings… I am humbled.
In 2018, I will continue to post my work to my blog. I will continue to read at open mics and look for new opportunities to share my work. And maybe most importantly, I am working on a draft for a fiction novel for the first time in ten years. I hope you will continue on this writing journey with me. The best is yet to come!
Happy New Year!
Christine
-Copyright C.M. Mounts, January 2018
