Our bodies were meant
for the sun, the rain,
the gusty winds,
starlight and moon baths,
fresh air and seasons —
So why do we trap ourselves
in indoor cages?
If we can’t hear the
birds chirp, feel the breezes,
how are we to be refreshed,
to heal, to know the world
beyond the borders
of our bodies?
—Terri Guillemets
Standing in a silent still-dark February morning
Cool dewy grass grazes half-bare sandaled feet
Lo! Saturn arrives as Jupiter saddles Sagittarius
Mars burns red near the glowing crescent moon
Serpens slithers against a vaporous galaxy border
Antares winks green and gold, crimson and rust
As Scorpius swings its tail at the southern horizon
Libra starboard and upward of the crowded scene
Balancing askew over the poor impaled lone wolf
Ophiuchus a bystander in the busy celestial show
—Terri Guillemets
I translate stars into daydreams
I make rain and rainbows into
freshly squeezed joy
I breathe the air of possibility
I swim deep in rivers of passion
I use my loneliness as
a stepping stone to love
I am on the march to freedom
I tend to my blossoming soul
—Terri Guillemets
Some things in our lives are as constant as the sun and others as fleeting as a shooting star. But we are thankful for all light that brightens our paths.
—Terri Guillemets
Poetry staggers, drunken but wise, amongst the stars.
Philosophy plots its own steady course to the sun.
—Terri Guillemets
We all have those moments in our lives that transform us — something small or big happens and we’re never the same.
Sometimes we remember these moments in our personal histories as leaps, or falls — or just serendipitous wanderings — from one life segment to the next.
Or we mark them like stars on a map of self — constellations of life-changing moments. Some seem crazy small and wouldn’t even register as stars in others’ systems. But in our own they blaze bright.
Or maybe our days are raindrops and our lives rolling clouds and these moments are lightning strikes.
Raindrop days, lightning-strike moments.
These maps and moments imprint our souls, our minds, our memorious hearts. Our stories of self are made from them.
—Terri Guillemets
Life is enhanced by the light of souls and other assorted stars.
—Terri Guillemets
Night speaks a language of shadows and of the soul. 3 a.m. is poetry translatable only by the moon and stars.
—Terri Guillemets
I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine — she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. I love my father as the stars — he’s a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart.
—Terri Guillemets
I swing like a kid
and fall like an adult;
cry tears of gratitude
and pray in smiles;
hug and love, and later
hide under the covers;
wildly and humbly living
from dawn to the stars,
and ever back again.
—Terri Guillemets
There is no need to reach high for the stars. They are already within you — just reach deep inside yourself!
—Terri Guillemets
Campfire flames kiss the night
Stars in distant skies blaze bright
Ghost story whispers all affright
Rustling sounds just out of sight
—Terri Guillemets