You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by my Daddy. All rights reserved.
Reflections of My Heart: Constellations
One night, a violet star illuminated the sky above me.
It shone brilliantly and honestly, a bright light that guided me as I took action and made myself into me, the person no one saw.
It guided me into taking the actions I had to take to make me the person no one saw, and it guided me as I became the person everyone saw and applauded.
CONSTELLATIONS
The tears of emptiness
Dropped down my face
With a violet star
Striking me with its grace!
It glistened brightly
With its
Illuminating light
Calling me
To the constellation’s
Continuous flight.
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: Circle of Friends
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
Welcome to my circle of friends!
Where your friendship means the world to me
Where friendships are made from the heart
And felt with the heart. Where friendships are created
From the depth of our very being
Where friendships smile from within out
And where a kind and honest word means something
You, my friend,
Are all that, and more
You came to me as an answer to my prayer
You came to me from the angels watching over me
You came to me with a divine presence to give
To all
You, my friend, radiate sunlight
With each sincere word you speak.
You, my friend,
Are a joy to spend time with
You know how to laugh,
Smile, and create happy moments
For others.
You, my friend,
Are a fine example of truth and hope
That is why I welcome you
To my circle of friends!
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: Crashing
When I wrote this poem, I was taking another walk, about 11:30 in the morning, down a tree-lined street in West Hollywood, California. The towering trees were beautiful. I’m sorry I don’t know what kind they were.
Lost in thought and worry, the sight of a baby sparrow falling from its nest to its death brought me back to reality. That broken body on the sidewalk could have been me. If I hadn’t had the mother I did, I would have been tossed out to die after I got the DPT shot and cerebral palsy.
Realizing this empowered me to see beyond my complaints and feel more grateful for my life and the mama who raised, cared for, and loved me for who I was. She gave me a foundation for living my life.
CRASHING
In the midday sun,
A small bird fell from its nest~
Crashing to its death!
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: City Walls
Back in the 70s and 80s, I was just a CP person with pipe dreams, a rebel with a cause, but with no one beside me, except for my dance teacher Al Gilbert and my friend Robert. Like the birds in the poem, I was nowhere to be seen. Like most people with disabilities, I was invisible in our society.
The chirping I heard sang the same melody I heard in my heart. I knew what I had to do. Whether or not anyone wanted to help me, I would do everything in my power to climb out of the quicksand of labeling and discrimination.
Within the well of my being, I knew that if anyone at all gave me the tiniest bit of help, just a hand up, I could move forward at that crucial time in life.
I had to keep speaking up and never acquiesce to these negative life experiences of being ignored. They would alter my life for the worst. Not just for the worse, but for the worst.
To accept this, I had to make a huge decision to change not only my belief structure, but my mind-set, my attitude, and how I looked at life.
The chirping was a calling. Those lonely birds sang to me, and I heeded their call. I sang back to them. And I sing still to this day.
CITY WALLS
Nowhere to be seen
I hear lonely birds chirping
Within city walls…
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: Cherished Symphony
I thought I had found someone who saw life like I did, and that inspired this poem. But once again, it was a lesson for my inner self. These precious moments were for me to see the type of person I was and who I was becoming. And they were for me alone. The men who came into my life taught me I was deeper than them. That I was kind and honest, and that I couldn’t and wouldn’t settle for less in them. That I deserved more. I deserved to be cherished and to cherish myself. At that moment, I knew. And I have kept that realization close to my heart ever since.
CHERISHED SYMPHONY
Oh, how I ponder
The thought of your sweet, tender
Symphony playing ever so sweetly
In my thoughts and mind.
They sing so sweetly with every chord
I listen carefully, I Hear, And I know
That our moments are forever moments
That will soon be cherished through time.
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: Broken Beliefs
I look into the sky, a beautiful purple stream of light before me, dark, and full of destiny. I take a deep breath into my belly, filling my root chakras. This is a bridge to my future and how I perceive my life and how I can help the world around me.
In seconds, the despair disappears, the intense feeling gone. I feel my breath, my voice, my being. I am free. I see that having CP and enduring everything I have gone though made me that person who can bridge the divide. I can be the one who speaks up and out for the voiceless, who are afraid. And, maybe this will change the path for others.
I think often, how did I do this? But, I had no choice but to be myself. It was not only a challenge, but my destiny. So I did it with all my being.
I think back many a times. Maybe I was given all those challenges as an instrument to develop me, so I could help others. Maybe because I faced things that no one ever talked about was my way out. Maybe, the universe threw me all these curves because he knew I was strong even though I felt weak. And I went through them all by myself.
Because of this, I knew this was the time to accept, to heal, and to leave the hurt, pain and all these experiences to the universe so I could move forward to help others and become a symbol of joy and disability pride to help others like me.
You can order my poetry collection, including this poem, here: Reflections of My Heart.
Original text ©2024 by Karen Lynn-Chlup. All rights reserved. Image by
Reflections of My Heart: Blazing
Life for me seemed to get more complicated. It felt like the walls were closing in. Again. No room to breathe or have a break to get though the next storm in my life. No peace of mind. Or simply a pause to smell the flowers. So I got my feelings out in a constructive way, so I could find peace in accepting all that was happening in my life without giving an inch to the people and institutions that discriminated against anyone with a disability.
In this poem, everything before me seemed to turn against me. Then the loneliness of despair. Despair set in.
It just kept getting darker for me. I was outraged.
I remember getting through my rage by screaming into a pillow and writing in my journal, ripping through the pages with anger, hurt, and despair. I had to release my feelings to remain calm until the red sky passed.
But even in the fire of anger, a rainbow manifested in my sky.
BLAZING
The black-fisted nights
Turned into
Purple days of loneliness!
And as I walk the cold streets,
I call out to nature’s gifts
To mankind!
They answer with expressionless emotion!
I kept walking only for the day to
Turn into a
Burnt crimson blaze!
Reflections of My Heart: Angel
ANGEL
I have an angel,
She watches over me
I have an angel,
She speaks through me.
I have an angel,
She sweetly works through me
But most of all,
I have an angel who
Lives within me
Guiding, guarding,
And protecting
Me!
Protect me
from those days of not long ago,
And make my way
Your loving way!
Reflections of My Heart: Albatross
It was the middle of 1983. I looked into the black clouds filling the sky, ready to pour down on my friend and me. Suddenly, an albatross soared above us.
Seeing this bird gripped my thoughts and feelings. How was I going to make it through the storms of life? As the emotion stung my heart, I thought again. Was I going to have a chance in life like everyone else?
After admitting these feelings to myself, they softened, and I felt the albatross was a sign to accept myself unconditionally, to become strong and proud, and bravely be who the infinite power wanted me to be, in an honest and loving way.
ALBATROSS
As I looked into the gray sky,
The clouds stormed with rage.
And in the distance,
Flying through the sky,
Was an albatross!
Such a gentle-natured bird
Which clings to my every thought.
His strength has such force,
An enduring passion
In which it grasps my every move!
My albatross is not dead!
It wove a beautiful necklace
Around my neck, like a garland of lace,
To remind me of my tumultuous past!