Poems by Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO

You are what you do Not what you get, got, have Cause patterns consistent...become you Whether of humor, vinegar, or like those of a knave What you get, got, have Could they have arrived so independently? While you yourself shun the good and choose the bad? As though you’re fearless of the Almighty Consistent patterns...become you Aspiring to repeat, repeat, repeat Until...long overdue You’ll choose to retreat, retreat, retreat.

Take a stand and join hands ...Doing...as small and as good as grand.

IN TRANSIT

Cool, calm chameleon And more... Neither wealthy nor poor; I scored headfirst Easing to fresh breezes, not strife And though different rays Of life’s contradictions have Held me captive in motion I am morning’s soft light, Luminous of new joys... As I ease, ever climbing.

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis THIS SUMMER

This summer I wed before a hundred folks Then packed and drove, and Followed miles... We pressed on by grace; U-haul accompanying... Then passed our house Adorned with balloons dancing... And saw us surprises most welcoming; We’d arrived in dark of late night To big sky country.

This summer I go from the Big Apple To big sky country To Best Western in New Jersey To early rising For late arrival back home To big sky country.

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

ODE TO HORSES

To horses housed or running wild, Horses at home or on foreign soil Your gentle giant self in black, white, brown Or in between How divinely given... By faith of nature’s course you looked up— Took no hostages, spilled no blood for might, And all the while you fared a magnificent quiet machine Energized by simple means of earth’s green grace Left and right, up and down, all around You are in tune...not out of touch, No laziness befalls your talented Sometimes gifted self— Hell knows no real horses Wild or trained; You flee from fires... While down-to-earth you fare As if there’s enough of heaven.

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

SIMMERING FOR THE NIGHT

Such quiet warmth This Saturday night, I must recall... No long lights lingering On our flowered porch; Just us two... Simmering, Reminiscing, Rocking... It is twilight of our evening; And with nostalgic Gulf breezes, Comes to mind Belize by the Caribbean Sea— But smooth array of cars Cruise by, beneath night’s navy canopy Of big starry sky, The phone rings... Mobile in hand, I am spellbound In New York state of mind; But then I realized, It is the honey, Vocalizing... Charming, Enticing...

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

FIVE HAIKU

Nestled on green leaf sand-colored butterfly flies Telling me it’s real.

Just above water Small head of turtle peeking Unafraid of space.

A slender canoe and lone man upon vast lake Dark and still and void.

Time and time again thunder and breezes I hear Without joy of rain.

The look, smell, and feel of the Caribbean Sea Always in my mind.

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis

THE COST OF CHANGE

In various tones of vibrant yes Change becomes a done deal As negativity we arrest And expound positives we gut feel. A different sky and trees we see A different space sits lush Like thicket of possibilities Vibrating with new day’s hush. We know now not to take light, change But envision ourselves so empowered Views and choices we arrange Enriches, we’ll soon discover.

Neither stifle nor abuse unending change, For with each recovery we’ll have to reckon.

Iris Elizabeth Sankey-Lewis