I am a story now
A simple word in the ancient book
That has always been.
I am
The ink, the paper
The plot twist and the author.
A small part in a novel
More brilliant than any I will ever write.

I am a verse
In a poem of epic desire
The mortal woman that set the gods afire.

I am a girl in a painting
I am a painter looking at the girl.

I wanted to be part of a great story 
And now the story is mine
And I am only a word
A word passing through
A ballad of love
Chance meetings
And truth.

I am the woman that waits
The man that fights
The sailor that travels guided by light

Over the ocean 
Through infinite night

And still as ever
Just a simple word in a legend
A legend written by the hand that writes them all.

...

Am I the word
Or the hand
The hero
Or his muse
Am I the dreamer or the one he dreams of
Am I all of these
Or none of the above.

It doesn't matter...
It is enough
Just to be a word
In the telling of a story
That has always been.

Charity 

December 2014

​​When she falls
She falls
Like waterfalls
Crashing into the sea
Beneath
She's Niagara to me
Fierce
Rushing
Dangerous
And Lovely ~
When she falls.

Charity

In the way you make your art
Art makes you.

A bridge
A road
A channel through
What you would never say
Or hardly do…
It all comes to be
A part of reality
When you create ~
Art screams
Your quiet unseen
And tells the story
You would only dream.

When you write
Paint, create
Your soul
And all you hide
Pours forth
From within
And fills an ocean
Of exquisite
With the you
You thought was hidden.

You.

Inside
Unseen
Covered with care
Hiding from need
Explode
From the depths
Of your soul
Of your heart ~
You
Appear in your art.

Your inner being
Surfaces on a page
In a song
Or splashed across a canvas
Your restless subconscious
Emerges
And says to the world
This is me.

In the way you make your art
Art makes you.

~Charity J

10/13/2014

Amidst the chaos of life
Despite moments of total and utter defeat
Regardless of loss
Pain, heartbreak and disappointment in love
(Or the hope there of)
We
The artists
Are driven to create.
And this
(No matter what else happens in our lives today)
Is what is remembered.
The art is what carries on.
Civilizations rise and fall
Deities even
Come and go
Battles are waged
And passion is sought
Triumphs and failures
Wrought and forgot –
But the art
The creation
The written word
The sculptures
The paintings
The stories and songs
Through the ages
These remain.
And these are the things that matter.
No matter how we strain at the task of survival
No matter the pain, the loss or the struggle
All of these pass
All of these fade
Only the work we create is displayed
When all else is lost
Fades and falls away –
Art goes on.
​
Charity Janisse
1/1/2016

Nothing changes for me
as I reside inside
another shimmering night
the day comes and goes
and it takes me through
it's practiced methods 
of surviving this life,
but then evening
saunters in
with a swirl of her colored cape 
splashing the sky with golden pink light
teasing the world
with a dizzying breath of beauty
just before night
and here I reside
inside
a peaceful thought of you
inside a luxurious tune.
I take a breath
and pick up my pen again
I like my alone
I like my longing
I like my wandering
I like hiding out in a book
I do
and I like this sheet of paper
and the way it invites my heart
to reveal every desire that I would never dare say
with my two lips aloud.
And here I am again
at days end again
residing alone inside
of another shimmering night.


Charity
3/21/2014

​Closer than we ever were
Further now
Though I feel you near
If you knew would you return
Or have you always been right here?

Charity

11/20/2016

You didn't realize the extraordinary importance of your sheer existence did you?
You woke up
every morning
thinking you were just a regular person
or less than that maybe
you didn't realize you were everything
and you were
born to make the world
a completely different place
from the one
to which you came.
You didn't know did you
and you still don't?
but me, well I see things you know.
and you...
you make what you make
each and every day
you do what you feel so driven to do
and you struggle too much the rest of the time
and you never knew
you still don't do you?
but you're
everything.
everything you ever wanted to be
the type who's name
will live on the lips
of millions one day.
You may never realize it either
and it breaks my heart
but if you actually knew
how brilliant you are
perhaps you wouldn't be broken enough
to create
such captivating art.

Charity

​10/29/2015

​I would never ask you to be more or less
Than what you are, 
I simply want to know you.
I will not ask you to stay the same, I will not ask you to change
Or to never change.
Growth and transformation
Are part of the human experience.
Love allows growth
Even when it means 
You must get to know another
All over again.
I will not ask you to be what I need
I will only ask me
To be what I need.
If that means being more, then I will grow
If that means crawling deep within
The darkest, most unknown depths of who I am
I will disappear, as it may seem
From your sight
To explore my own
Dark
And my own light.
I will not ask you to follow
And I will not ask you to understand 
Or even approve
Of where I've gone 
Or who I am.
It only matters if I do.
Love does not mean 
You pretend to be
What you think I want
Or need
Love means being exquisitely
You.
And I promise
To love
Exactly who
It is
You know you are ~
Even if to find out who that is 
You must disappear
And dive inside
Your own dark night
I will be here
With my own light.
And if you're meant to 
One day
Find me again
I will not ask you
To be more
Or to be less
Than who you are
I only want to know you.
Charity
​2/9/2018

It's taken me all the lifetime
That I've known so far
To get exactly here.
It's taken me
Roads and roads and roads ~
Counting the miles
Sometimes even the lines on the street
And playing games with the passing colors of the cars.
Boarding ships
Those ships full of countless faces
Packed into cabins
over oceans
And me... sneaking onto forbidden parts of the upper deck
To watch the sunrise on the water.
And planes
So many airplanes
I have flown on since before I was two
Running up and down the aisles
As a tiny little child
Making friends
With all the strangers
On any flight through the sky
And I still do that don't I...?
 
 It has taken thousands of cups of coffee
Breakfast in cool little diners by the highway
Midnight rest stops in the mountains of Tennessee
… Countless walks on the beach.
All those gorgeous ocean shores
On this and the other side of the earth
With my feet sinking into the wet sand
while the cool waves lapped and tickled at my ankles.
And wandering down paths in the woods
The Redwoods were my favorite.
Trees so profound
In that California Forest
As a child I was sure I would reach heaven if I climbed one.
 
Years of exploring city streets
In every state
Walking by shops and little cafes
Where music from street performers
Would call to me.
And I never did stop traveling…
Meeting the eyes of strangers
In so many bus stations and airports
Lingering in shops
As I walked
through that airport in Seoul, Korea
I took off, told my friends
I'd be back in time to catch the plane
just wanted to find the perfect souvenir to take
home with me
When truthfully
I was hoping to see
you.
 
I remember climbing Island Mountains
and shopping busy markets
in the Philippines
on the other side
of the world
where I saw sights
you wouldn't believe
and I
could never describe ~
then back to the states
where I walked, wandered, waited and watched for you
the way I do.
 
So many people I met
and every face I saw
looking for that one single spectacular connection
I knew for sure I would find
I always
knew.
And all those roads
all the flights
all the ships
and roaming nights
they served me well
so perfectly well
because here you are now
in my life.

​Charity
12/14/13