Welcome to Poetically Yours. This segment showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s featured poet is Rhonda Parsons.
Parsons discovered she had a talent for writing when she elected to take creative writing at Hononegah High School. The first assignment was not a poem, but a story inspired by the wind. To prepare for the assignment, the class went outside, linked themselves together and ran into the wind. She said it was such a unique way to become inspired. The story was to be read out loud with a piece of music accompanying it. She chose instrumental music, and the wind was metaphorical. Hence, the title: Written on the Wind. That story earned the first of the positive feedback she received that semester. It encouraged her to continue writing after the semester ended.
Since then, she has received an award from Rock Valley College and the Rockford Writers' Guild, for her book, “If A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.” She’s also shared her vision in newspaper editorials and performed publicly at Holy Day celebrations.
Besides writing, Parsons enjoys painting, hiking, meditating, and playing with her family’s chihuahuas. Here's her poem “Becoming the Sun Rise.”
“Good morning, Blessed Beauty
Good morning,” I say wanting to be the sun rise
The sun may have thrown the covers off
but I’m not feeling the glow
My sleepy self needs brewed Grounds and Hounds
or some other fair-trade brand
wearing a pillowy bourbon caramel cream hat
dusted with the spice of all
Hot mug warming icy hands
A meditative moment
That’s what is
Got me on par to feeling like the sun-streaked dawn
Swirling with colors as morn ticks by
Till the news,
tasks of being human
makes my body heavy
dims my heart’s candle
My feet want to move like gentle rain
my mouth wants to be the Sun
no means to get there
but sing, sing, sing in remembrance of you
until the flame’s magnificent
“Good afternoon, Blessed Beauty
Good afternoon, Prince who brings peace to the world “
My inner self now is buzzing from drinking a new kind of coffee
The world doesn’t appreciate how heavenly it is
Me, I just want to sip, sip, sip from the bottomless cup
For the joy of feeling alive
This is the means to do good things with love
To see real solutions
It’s time to stop the finger pointing
So. let that 02 flow
Let me take it to my blanket and pillow
So, I can reflect and see just how well I did human
And strive for better each day
The moon and stars are gleefully playing with the cloudless sky
And I just want to be a source of light
Best means to get there is to say “Good night, the Great, Great I Am. Good night.”
“Thank you for showing the mirror of myself, the dust along the shine”
I’ll fill up my lungs in gratitude
And never say "it’s only a breath”
For it’s the reason I step
And love filling up the lungs has a multiplying effect
One breath is all that is needed as my head hits the pillow
And when dawn comes, I can be a ray of the sun illuminating the Great Day
