Straight Talk

 

Asked, "Do poets ever use 'straight talk'?

                                        ... and I in response ...

I choose words that are known by the heart, understood by the soul, bear witness to the wonders of nature, the intelligence of creation, the depth of feelings, the language of the emotions that seek beauty, resolve, and love. How one hears this deliverance, is how open one is to acknowledge that 'straight talk' can simply mean what goes straight to the core of BEING and the call of LIFE.   

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

www.thepoetspen.com

Life, BEING and the Sea

within a sea of emotions cresting real

waves of pain, of joy beyond conceal

this day marked with tides gone by

a pause, a reflection, a deep deep sigh

confusion and dismay

be news brought our way

passions and longings to assail

a vision of resolve, and change we to hail

beyond the shadows cast our light be known

by the love and mercy our hearts have shown

there is a rhythm within Earth divine

and so too, of BEING, yours and mine

this ebb and flow, the constant there be

this of Life, BEING and the Sea

we hold to the call, the sea cresting within

and hushed be the discordant, this raucous din.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Photo Credit: John Raheb 

Don I

don I the royal robes of resolve, shed I the cloak of despair
know I the grace, the blessings, the light of God's loving care
when oppression and fear beckon to this heart
from blessed grace, the knowing of love, ne’er I shall depart
upon my soul a golden shield of everlasting light and love
this with eyes to earth and eyes to the heavens above
be I of breath in the presence of the NOW
be I of spirit in an eternal vow 
to the divinity of love and grace, the soul in expressions shown
be this the bloom, the bounty, the breath, the beauty of BEING known.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York 

Photo: Iris ensata 'Royal Robe’  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mshades/484918094/

When visualizing, "royal robes of resolve..." I envisioned a robe of violet velvet that caught the light, shoulder decoration and tassels of brilliant gold, symbolic of crown energies, and the graces of alchemy, regal, stately, and flowing. I was not aware that a flower existed that mirrored what was perceived, nor bore the name, "Royal Robe." 

⁠

The poem was fully penned when I set to search for a fitting image. When found within a flower, I felt deeply validated, blessed and grateful. Within the words of my poem its beauty was conceived. 

⁠

Beauty beheld,

⁠

⁠Rose Marie Raccioppi⁠

Beyond the darkening veil...

'Tis Resolve you do hail

And lifted is Doubt’s darkening veil

To Despair no bond shall you hold

Within is an unfinished story told

A vision, a being known divine

No longer betrayed by haunts of past time

Resolve and Freedom’s quest held anew

Beauty, Love and Truth your rightful due.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

To An Artist

~

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191031.html

The Ghostly Veil Nebula 

D I R E C T I O N

D I R E C T I O N … BE it of…

Deliverance

Inspiration

Resolve

Exchange

Creativity

Truth

I AM

Oneness

Nurturance … of time, of place, of BEING…

Rose Marie Raccioppi

La Republique...

The beauty, the artistry, the justice, 
the love of the FRENCH people 
will ever be Blessed... 

In prayerful devotion
PRAISE BE.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Monday Morning... a reflection... BEYOND

Beyond the clamor and chaos
Beyond the trials and pain
Beyond perceived illusion
Beyond the darkness and dismay
Is the gift of LIFE itself this day
LIVE the moment, heed Spirit's call
Within each breath, the giving, the receiving, the ALL
Change be it known, the drama, the resolve, the grace
Love and peace within our hearts HE does place
And with this play of light ever divine
Be the joy of BEING,  this the gift of life and time
Beyond the clamor and chaos
Beyond the trials and pain
Beyond perceived illusion
Beyond the darkness and dismay
Is the gift of LIFE itself this day.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Beyond, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi,

 http://www.thesoundinglight.blogspot.com 2014.

An Arrival

...the storm...

an arrival
from storming moments
from pain beyond understanding
from deception and false realities
from the daunting echoes of oppression

an arrival
from the din of judgments 
from the cacophony of opinions
from haunting doubts and fears
from care coupled with resentment

an arrival
to the blooms of Summer
to the colors of Fall
to the surrender of Winter
to the delights of Spring

an arrival
to the majesty of the heavens
to the divinity of the moon and stars
to the splendor of the dawning day
to the light behind the storm

an arrival
to the wonders of BEING
to the exploration of cause
to the power of intent
to the resolves of time

an arrival
to the embrace of SELF
to the WORD known
to the gifts of CREATION
to the SOUL revealed.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Light Behind the Storm, Watercolor, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2013.http://www.apogeeart.com/

In answer to ... "HOW..."

In answer to ... "HOW..."

How does a poet, an artist, process the news that speaks to corruption, deception, maligning controls and abusive encounters? It hears the plea of TRUTH beyond the lies, it sees the HUMANITY beyond the abuses, it feels the "Quake and Storm," that ever calls to the light. It lives the knowing that beyond all oppression lies RESOLVE...

Revelation
Evolution
Spirit
Oneness
Love
Vivacity
Eternal... and so the word expressed... the light cast...

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Quake and Storm, APOGEE Vibrational Art, http://thesoundinglight.blogspot.com/ ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2013.

Reflections on BLACK OUT.."Peace...No War!!"

Thank You dear Maurizio Bignone... touched I am and so...

Reflections on BLACK OUT...

the mounting loss
the heartache and tears

what be this devastation that prevails
why these imposing fears and travails
are we not to go beyond the illusion of gain
are we not to perceive war's depth of pain
are we not to hold reverence for each gift of life
are we not to create a world beyond bitterness and strife
what calling plea shall we answer this very day
within our hearts and visions PEACE PEACE be The Way
when all refuse to destroy their fellow man
PEACE PEACE will be the prevailing command.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

SECRET BE... Birth Eternal..

 

the Spirit

the Eternal
the Creation
the Resolve
the Evolution
the Truth...........................................

Haiku in Reflection

considerations

beyond measure and reason

TRUTH and GOD be known.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Blaise Pascal, musée du Louvre, Augustin Pajou, French, 1730-1809.
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) studying the cycloid,
engraved on the tablet he is holding in his left hand;
the scattered papers at his feet are his Pensées,
the open book his Lettres provinciales.
Exhibited at the Salon of 1785; the plaster model was exhibited at the Salon of 1781.

Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662
so wrote:

"Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth."

"It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason.
That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason."

"It is incomprehensible that God should exist,
and it is incomprehensible that he should not exist."

"For after all what is man in nature?
A nothing in relation to infinity,
all in relation to nothing,
a central point between nothing
and all and infinitely
far from understanding either.
The ends of things and their beginnings are
impregnably concealed from him
in an impenetrable secret.
He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness
out of which he was drawn
and the infinite in which he is engulfed."

for more detailed information of Blaise Pascal
Telling The Stories That Matter:
Blaise Pascal, Scientist, Follower of Truth
http://www.ttstm.com/2008/08/august-19-blaise-pascal-scientist.html

Blaise Pascal, Scientist, Follower of Truth

"Blaise Pascal had a very keen mind and a tendency to apply it freely and easily to the thoughts and concerns of his day. He was born in provincial France but his mother died when he was only three years old. Consequently, his father raised him and his two sisters alone. They were taken care of but they lacked their mother and would spend many long hours yearning for her presence. Further, though they were Roman Catholic by birth and self-description their faith can best be described as nominal and insincere.Blaise found consolation, adventure, and release in mathematics. He was comfortable in the ivory tower of academia. He applied himself fully to his studies and was soon noted for his astounding brilliance and was acclaimed as a child prodigy.

He was already publishing mathematical studies and proofs as a teenager. It cannot be denied, even for a second, that Blaise was a brilliant man with a mind fit for precise calculation and consideration. He expanded the disciplines of geometry by leaps and bounds, pioneered new patterns and theories in probability, laid the groundwork for the disciplines of calculus and economics, added to knowledge about fluid dynamics, clarified thoughts concerning pressure and vacuums, helped construct a mechanical calculator, and provided other advancements to knowledge in applied sciences and mathematics. Neither his academic rigor nor his value to modern science and mathematics can be dismissed. And, yet, he found himself unfulfilled and unsatisfied by these pursuits. So--he turned to philosophy and theology hoping to find meaning.

Blaise wrote, "Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth." In writing this, he engaged in confession and autobiography. For Blaise, there was no rest unless it was found in truth and knowledge. He had been so trained to chase after truth that it permeated his every thought and action. Though this sounds like a good argument for ignorance, Blaise had the awareness to identify this human drive for truth. It wasn't simply a personal preoccupation he was naming, it was an innate restlessness common to all people living in a world of shadows searching for something of substance.

Blaise's much hallowed reason was justifiably dear to him but his philosophical and theological explorations led him to a place where he could see its limitations. Blaise never came to a place where he dismissed reason--as it was a valuable and important tool worthy of respect an appreciation by all--but he did, eventually, arrive at an understanding of reason rightly known--a tool (and a fallible one at that). So, even though reason was to be used continuously to analyze and consider the events and circumstances of the world, it was to be understood to be as weak as the wielder of it--in other words, reason and science aren't the problem, misuse of them is. 

For Blaise, reason was unfit for the ultimate pursuit of truth because truth was more than "the case that is" or some long list of propositions but, rather, it was a person(John 14:6). Blaise writes, "It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason." Further, he deduced: "It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incomprehensible that he should not exist." For Blaise, reason was an incomplete tool by itself and required right use to be effective. When he attempted to fill the hole he felt, he found that reason and rationality could not persuade and were, in fact, as weak as his will to use them. 

He concluded: "For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either. The ends of things and their beginnings are impregnably concealed from him in an impenetrable secret. He is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness out of which he was drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed." This was not because he doubted reason and science but because he doubted the ability of the part of the system to understand the whole that formed it--he doubted the ability of the creation to comprehend the creator. Blaise had found the right place and limitations of not only reason but, also, himself and everybody else.

Ultimately, for Blaise, truth was found in earnest seeking after God. He experienced numerous mystical events including a healing of a woman with fistula lacrymalis and a mystical vision. It was in these moments of mystical truth that Blaise found comfort--not in his moments of great academic achievement. For a man to whom astounding intellect was a foregone conclusion, it is notable that he found his greatest satisfaction and fulfillment in the pursuit of an elusive mystery like love of enemies and redemption of broken people and sinners. It was not cold rationality that brought about Blaise's conversion to truth but, rather, the hallowed pursuit of the one who is Truth. In the end, Blaise contributed again and again to theology and philosophy and died as a Christian committed to following The Truth. He died a Christian and found the rest in the Truth that he had been seeking all those years."

Passage Credit: http://www.ttstm.com/2008/08/august-19-blaise-pascal-scientist.html

SPIRIT

                                                  

 A word... letters that call to its meaning...

                                                                     

                                                        the Silence heard
                                                        the Power known
                                                        the Inspiration lived
                                                        the Resolve revealed
                                                        the I AM
                                                        the TRUTH eternal.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Image, Spirit Light, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2012.

...with palette in hand... Quake and Storm

..with palette in hand...

Quake and Storm

the line be it beauty perceived
the light be it TRUTH revealed
the shadow be it time cast
the color be it passion known
the stirring, the quest, the resolve
quake and storm
'tis the artist's way.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Quake and Storm, Image and Text, ©Rose Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2011.

The work, "Quake and Storm," is on Display/Sale at "The Food Evolution" in Bardonia, New York. (w63" x h33" - framed in wood hand finished brown/bronze) For more information contact me directly.

Upon expression of the heart's prevailing word and the soul's felt vision, a Peace is known.. Peace is ever the gift and celebration of love and creation... it is the resolve of light and shadow, it is the knowing of grace, the living of TRUTH, and the blessings of life eternal.

Yours in gratitude,
Rose Marie

He wrote...

Before me words upon paper cast
What is said and what is masked
What do these words deeply convey
What is it that the heart need say
The emptiness and fullness of life be told
By the words that seek to unfold
To make sense of all that comes to evolve
The soul ever in reach for TRUTH and resolve
What contradiction is there to live
What understanding will this day willingly give
Pain and dismay may not to others be shown
This torment held within to Self be known
Confines and pretense these shackles to unbind
And free shall be these taunts of heart and mind.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Le génie du mal, St. Paul's Cathedral, Liège, white marble, 1848, Guillaume Geefs. 1805-1883.

Winds of Change

The ears deafened by the din of despair
The eyes blinded by the glare of illusion
The heart ravaged by the pain of betrayal
The soul hidden within the shattered self
Waves of destruction crest a sea of confusion
Life’s shores besieged by fear
Spirit summoned in the wake of the storm
Behold its calm resolve
The winds of change can now be heard
The distant shores now seen in the light of the rising sun
Rhythmic this heart with the cadence of the ocean tide
Undaunted now by the resounding ebb and flow
And the constant winds of change.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


A Dark Sky Over Sequoia National Park, Credit: D. Duriscoe, C. Duriscoe, R. Pilewski, & L. Pilewski, U.S. NPS Night Sky Program
Astronomy Picture of the Day, August 27, 2009

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In The Mirror

In the mirror my image in reflection
Is what I see real or is it illusion and deception
What am I yet blinded to see
That lies in secret depths within me
What word now upon my soul be a darkening veil
When it is resolve and faith I justly hail
Taunts, taunts, no longer to hold domain
Healed be this heart, I longingly proclaim.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Mariana in the South,1897, Oil on canvas, John William Waterhouse, British Painter, 1849-1917.

Special Announcement:
THE WIND AND THE WILLOW
Now available in hardcover and softcover directly from Publish America.
Click on title, place title in search bar of Publish America Entry Page.
Thank you for your order.
ENJOY!

And the Mask

Reveal, I hear this night command
Cloak not the quiver of shadow close at hand
Remove pretense and the mask donned to conceal
The TRUTH, the deep knowing, this while knowing real
Confront and resolve, the petition summons a call
Beyond all consideration, TRUTH to lay bear ALL
To the plea of this petition I do heed
And TRUTH be ever my rightful creed.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_mask
http://joolyone.blogspot.com/2008/06/venetian-mask-carnival-of-venice.html

'Tis Resolve

’Tis Resolve you do hail
And lifted is Doubt’s darkening veil
To Despair no bond shall you hold
Within is an unfinished story told
A vision, a being known divine
No longer betrayed by haunts of past time
Resolve and Freedom’s quest held anew
Beauty, Love and Truth your rightful due.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

To An Artist


Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) http://www.antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090524.html

Stormed

The ears deafened by the din of despair
The eyes blinded by the glare of illusion
The heart ravaged by the pain of betrayal
The soul hidden within the shattered self
Waves of destruction crest a sea of confusion
Life’s shores besieged by fear
Spirit summoned in the wake of the storm
Behold its calm resolve
The winds of change can now be heard
The distant shores now seen in the light of the rising sun
Rhythmic this heart with the cadence of the ocean tide
Undaunted now by the resounding ebb and flow
And the constant winds of change.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


Light Behind the Storm, Watercolor, Rose Marie Raccioppi, www.apogeeart.com

Known Be His Hand

If not for the depths of love and despair
Know I of God’s word and embracing care
Each moment of darkness, doubt or fear
Each loss, hurt, pain or tear
Awakens within a knowing sublime
God be ever present in blessings mine
A purpose unfolds, known be His hand
And held I in God’s loving command.

Rose Marie Raccioppi


The Creation of Adam (Genesis 1.26a, 2.7.) Michelangelo's portrayal of God's hand reaching out to Adam's
The Creation of Adam (fresco), detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.