Three Poems from Janet Rice Carnahan

LIGHT

 

Crept up in the night,

A stalker of all things dark,

Hidden intent,

Without words,

Or bare resolve,

Unseen,

Until,

It burst free,

Slight crack,

In the beginning,

Avoiding,

The obvious glare,

How did it dare?

To break free,

The very first time,

What courage sparked?

It’s most original move,

Toward that moment . . .’

Of freedom!

 

 

 

FLAME

 

A darkened strike,

Amazing energy was born,

Arriving in an instant,

Before there was nothing,

Not even a hint,

Of a new creation,

Or even such a reason,

For a greater anything,

Like clarity,

Awareness,

Vision,

Was it a grandiose idea?

Or something purposeful,

Whose time,

Could not be put off,

Heat had to happen,

Cause and effect,

A certainty,

Passion . . .

A must!

 

 

 

BURNING

 

With sudden light,

Flames high,

Igniting,

Such an awakened pulse,

Fire cannot lie down,

Without a reason,

It isn’t destined,

To be calm,

Quiet,

Or resting,

For long,

If it stops,

All dies

In its path,

Of obvious destruction,

Or,

Because of its way,

Of scorching,

Torching,

Isolating,

The tearing down,

Of what had been standing,

Yet, once gone,

Like the phoenix,

Rising back again,

The new is given . . .

One more chance to shine!

 

 

 

Janet Rice Carnahan was born into a large family on the northern California coast. Earning three college degrees in human development related fields, she had a twenty year career in Early Childhood Education, including owning and operating a nationally accredited preschool. Janet’s love of writing expanded after reading the likes of Dr. Seuss, Ogden Nash and Shel Silverstein to her two children, Courtney and Scott. Taking graduate classes in Children’s Literature and Advanced Poetry and teaching a community college course for early childhood educators, “Language Arts in the Preschool”, she has developed the love of writing over 20 years. Janet was first published on a tee-shirt for a school contest and recently, along with three of her poems, had a photo with caption chosen for the cover of an anthology, “Prompted: An International Collection of Poems”, by RLYB, December 2011. Janet currently lives in Laguna Beach, California with her husband, Bruce, a retired physicist.