I began writing poetry at the age of 16 and will never stop.  I was inspired by one of my high school teachers, Eva Grey.  She showed me irony, melancholy and feelings in words.  She opened a door for me to express my feelings on paper and I will be forever thankful.   I have all shades of poetry that I have written over the past 14 years.

I also enjoy writing short stories about events or people that have come across my life.  I also enjoy writing about philosophies and politics....I have been told many times...don't get political...it could hurt your career.  Well...I wouldn't want to offend anybody but my views are my views...you can take them or leave them.  With time and age they may change...so nothing is permanent.  I am just a women on my path expressing my stories....I hope you enjoy.

ONE NIGHT by RBG

The crickets danced

in my ears

as the sweet smell

of night

sent notes

in the wind.

The galaxy laid stage

for shining stars

to sing

While the trees swayed

with movement

and the moonbeam caressed

my spirit light.

ERMA LEE'S GARDEN

So I made the choice last December to make my home base in Tulsa. My now roommate Crystal Lake (and 94 Hale graduate like myself) had posted an add on myspace looking for a new roommate to move in first of January....I wrote back and after several inquires....I want it please!!! I moved in January 1st 2007 into the 3 bedroom home around the Cherry St. area. I settled in upstairs into my 2 rooms and 1/2bath..making one room into my art studio.
Spring rolled around and I was all about starting a garden after living in New York City for 5 years and working on the Mother Nature Needs You campaign. I was ready to get back to my earthy roots. Well, what I came into was a garden that was already there. One day Crytstal and I were out on the back porch and I was talking about all the different things I was going to get rid of. One was of a basket of fake flowers hanging from the apple tree. Crystal said "I would like to keep them out here...they remind me of the old lady who use to live here".
At that moment, I scanned the garden and thoughts raced through my head. Whoever was here before really cared and put some energy into this yard. Then curiosity hit me....who was she?? Who was this old lady? I then remembered a letter I had found in the refrigerator addressed to an Erma Lee(going to keep the last name private). I had a name.
Our landlord came the next day and I asked if they had a contact number for her..."I'll check but i know she was really worried about who would get the house next"...then this strange intuition set in...find Erma Lee and bring her back home.
But why?? Why did I this is the question I have been asking myself before I wrote this story. What were my motives?? I have come up with many of them but my best is the act of doing what my intuitions were telling me to do. Second, was to honor an elder in someway to connect to their light.
So as I scrolled down the phone book searching for her number....found it...left a message. No return. Days go by. Call again. No return. Ok..call all the Smiths(fake name). "yes..she is my mother-in-law, who is this?"
"Well I am the current tentant living in her old home and I am tryin' to find her and bring her back to her garden"....RBG.
"WHAT??"..said Dorothy.
....and so the connection began. I had called the right number. Erma Lee at 91 had been advised by her children not to answer phone calls by strangers. The daughter-in-law gave the Ok for Erma Lee to talk to me and so I called back.
OH!! She was witty and full of life! Lived in the house for 47 years and raised 5 kids and had created a garden with them. She asked my name..I said Lauren...but she had a problem with it..I said just call me Rainbow....."Oh I like that much better". I said.."listen, you must come back to your garden after I have done some more work and this house is calling you back." Oh Bless you child...you have made my day...
About a month went by and I got a call..Erma wants to visit. Cool...the white Iris's she spoke about were up. Crystal and I worked extra hard that week preparing the house and garden for Erma's arrival. Erma Lee was just as I had invisioned myself at at her age....charging up the driveway with a cane and straight ahead where she wanted to go. LOVED IT!!
We exchanged stories and I learned how the trees and all the flowers came to life. Erma got to sit in her newly painted old lawn chairs Crystal had painted butternut squash yellow. We were having a beautiful sunday afternoon in the garden listening to the life of Erma Lee.
We then moved inside and Erma said "hey, no need to show me to the bathroom..I am pretty sure i know were it is"..and then she giggled. She had a sense of humor. After viewing the house...Erma said "I am ready to go sit on my porch swing". So we all moved outside and they wanted to know about Crystal and my life. They also admitted....that they thought I might be on some kind of drugs to do what I did. I pondered why acts like this had become crazy?? As I started to tell my story, I could tell in their eyes...that they really thought I was crazy...but a good crazy...the kind we need more of.
So Erma was getting tired and it was time for her to go. I walked them out to their car and Erma stopped, grabbed my arm, looked right into my eyes and said "I am glad I met you". I said "Well, I am glad I met you too and gave her a hug". In that one moment of the eyes meeting..I saw myself in Erma Lee's eyes..a side of me that was wanting to get out and grow up. I felt a shift of existence that day. The energy that was created was that of looking into my future and what acts I do will be remembered...and what kind of spiritual garden I am planting. I spent a lot of my spring and early summer working in that garden..taking from the past and bringing it into the future..while working on healing parts of my past and developing the Mother Nature Needs You Campaign. I have already started on next years gardening and can't wait to bring Erma back each year that I am here and she remains with us.
Thank you Mother Earth for all the Erma Lee's who leave a legacy which can be as simple as a garden.

Lauren Dawn Lunsford
Nov.8, 2007

TRAUMA by Lauren D. Lunsford

Sudden Impact
Thrust into awareness
A blindsided blow
Movements of body
back and forth
back and forth
this isn't happening to me
this isn't happening to me
Somebody give me a pill!!

Racing thoughts
Heavy breathing
Uncontrollable pain
Hurt
Confusion
Tear drops flow
Dizziness
Nausea
Holding onto the toilet
Vomitting rage
back and forth
back and forth
Locked in a miserable cage.

Where do I go from here?
Who was I before?
I don't know me anymore.
Pretend it's all right
Pretend it's ok.
and just maybe it will go away
But when the conscious sleeps
The subconscious creeps
Holding me prisoner
to my truth
and I have no control.
So hard to sleep
Reoccurring nightmare
back and forth
back and forth
this is happening to me
this is happening to me

Help me be free
I just want to be me
but there is no escape
because a heart
has to heal
and you just gotta figure out
how to deal
So back and forth I go
Rocking myself with emptiness
While dark paths pave my existence
but overtime
I painted my resistance
and fought back to heal
but blindsided days
are moments away
Two Suicides
One Murder
My reality is real
Everything happens for a reason right?
I hope so
because that is why I put up a fight.
...and the shackles of trauma
are finally breaking free.
back and forth
back and forth
I go
Sitting peacefully
on my porch swing.

Lauren D. Lunsford
Oct 23, 2007

Walking Through Fire...by Rainbow Girl

A blaze began
far as the eye could see.
It was the battle
of all that was
and all that had to be.
As I walked forward
it felt hot
admired by consuption
reality burned senses.
Unconsciously aware
of their own creation.

Steps backward meant
erasing the face of existence.
Steps forward meant
challenging
yet rewarding
based upon the believe
that we were humanity.
One force
blazed
walking through fire
trying to evolve.

Forward march.
I go.
throwing challenges
aside with my stride.
I won't burn
because breathing inside of me
is a constant hope for humanity.
Never give up
and never give in.

I see clouds in the distance
Starting to rumble
and the storm begins.
Earth, wind, fire and rain.
Sweet drops of harmony
flood our truths.
Washing away
all that once was
leaving ashes
of darkness.

I look up and what do I see
a beautiful Rainbow
sending lightning bolts
through me.
Electrifying my purpose
removing my darkness
and setting me free.
The fire has shifted
to my eyes
now blazed with humanity.
Grass grows
below the ashes
as green
and beautiful as ever
Restoring consciousness
with the light...
and my ambition to fight.

Rainbow Girl

Takin it back to the Hood..Mr. Hood that is.
by Lauren Dawn Lunsford

         So I have been developing and working on this Mother Nature Needs You Campaign over the past year.  In my reflection of how it is that I came to be into this was answered by looking into my past.
         We all have those teachers from our past who have inspired us..last April I wrote a letter to one of mine.  His name is Chris Hood..and for those of you that are Hale graduates....its Mr.Hood to you.   Mr. Hood taught Ecology and ran the Pride Center..which was like a area that was left to let things grow and to be studied.   Mr.Hood was not always the favorite teacher among my peers but for me..I had a understanding of him and got to know a side of him that I felt was sincere passion about living things.  I was part of the Ecology Club for several years and later when I had taken all his classes...I was a teachers aide for him.  I enjoyed what he had to say and I listened and soaked up his knowledge.  He was a tough bird and stood strong in his believes and didnt take any crap...probably another reason why I had a lot of respect for him.
          Well that was 13 years ago since I left the halls of Hale and Mr. Hood.  I decided to write him a letter as to honor my past inspirations and get some advice from him on this campaign.  We had lunch in May and caught up on the last 13 years...I learned the Pride Center was mowed down on a christmas holiday..while he was away...he had fought hard to save it.  This made me cry and I could tell in his eyes it was painful.
          The purpose of the meeting was to see him again and thank him but I also had another agenda that he could give me some insight on...implementing recycling into the tulsa public school system.  He laughed and said.."good luck there..they are not going to do it unless they are going to make money out of it".  I was warned that I have a battle ahead and the powers that be donīt really care about this stuff....mmmm..I was not surprised.  I said  "well then I guess its a battle that they are going to get.  I think it is important to teach our children to respect the earth..plus they can go home and teach their parents."  He laughed and said "you know what..I have fought the good fight for a long time now...what I gave to you...you must take to the future".  Sound advice for someone who is ready to retire soon.
            We sat and talked politics and life...then I had to take him back to the garden that I had been growing during the spring.....and like oldtimes we walked around and I ask him "What is this" and he knew the nature of the plant, flower, grass or tree.  What a blessing to have had a teacher like him in my own back yard, thirteen years later still giving me lessons.
          
Thank You Mr.Hood for being an inspiration in my life.  You planted seeds of knowledge in my youth and today I sprout with your truths.

Peace and growing a campaign....

One Woman Cries...by Rainbow Girl

One Woman Cries
in the night.
She is in Afghanistan
held hostage by the Taliban
far from her South Korean home.
Every minute her fate is unknown.
Tears of fear flood her eyes
as she clings
to her friends
that are by her side.

One Woman Cries
out from China
and into the streets of Beijing
"Where shall I go"
she sings to the government.
Who without warning
took down her home
and violated her human rights
to make way for the Olympics.
She is now homeless.
No revisions are given..
.."What shall I do"
She is elderly too.
But the government won..t care.
Capitalism crashes through
Bulldozing down life..
leaving the poor
to feel the strife.

One Woman Cries
out from India
amongst the floods.
Luckily, she and her child have survived
but her husband left days before..
in search of work.
Now there is no food
and her makeshift home is gone.
"What will we eat"
She ponders...
The government has forgotten
their village
and no one comes to help.

One Woman Cries
out from America
A bridge has quickly fallen
taking her son in the rumble.
Tears of loss fill
her eyes.
"Accidents happen" she says
calmly and blue.
Not looking for someone to blame..
or like most Americans
ready to sue.

One Woman Cries
out from Iraq
Words of joy and happiness
because for one moment
her country
has something to celebrate.
The soccer team has just won
the Asian Cup.
Her face radiates beautiful energy
and she can hardly speak.
"I am just so happy!!"
and in all the darkness
comes a ray of light.

The Artist Joseph by RBG

To Get to the L train from the redline in New York City you have to transfer at 14th street and walk a long tunnel. Along this path you will find the smiling black man playing the guitar belting out Beatles songs..he always gets a donation from me. Then as I would continue to walk enjoying his energy....I would come across the artist Joseph.
I did not talk to Joseph in the beginning because I admired him from a distance but I always gave him a donation. Joseph's life was art. He was homeless, old and surely carried many sicknesses. He walks bent over due to back problems and to be honest...I don't know how he gets around and walks down that tunnel...but he does. While most homeless are begging for change...Joseph turns to art.
His pieces are very simple made from cardboard and colored pencils. His favorite subjects were aliens and dogs....I simply fell in love with them...and the more I got to know Joseph..the more I understood his work....most peole would think it juvenile...I thought it was brilliant.
Joseph and I created a friendship over the years. I loved seeing his new work. When he began he was not signing them and I said..."man you have to sign those...come up with a cool siganture and sign them"....and he did. I then of course persuaded him to start giving his paintings names to add character...he did. Then so see his work transform from that point was a rush of energy for me when I saw him.
I critiqued his paintings and he loved every minute of it!! Sales went up and he started making some money...he then got approved for housing. Oh, he was so happy! I loved seeing the shine in his eyes...it was the shine of beautiful simple things born into a hardlife and I empathized with his light.
Time has gone by and many things have changed. I don't stay in New York as much and I don't use that tunnel hardly anymore. When I have used it I have not seen him and it makes me sad. I have been thinking about him a lot and hoping that he is at peace with himself. If any of you New Yorkers see him....you tell him the Rainbow says "hi and thanks for being a beautiful spirit in my life."

Lauren D. Lunsford

Copyright 2006

Vision of a Flower (2003)

by Rainbow Girl

I hope that what I see

is an extension of me.

Looking at a floating sky,

knowing that all things must die.

Hope for life to last.

Always remembering,

we learn from our past.

Forgetting our fears

push back the negative.

Give life your tears!!

Outward, inward

Upward, downward.

Everyman is an island

to discover his path.

He or she must never try to control,

that which they do not have.

Go to the place

were no on can find.

That inner place were love is divine.

Captivate the universe

with a life of bliss.

Know what lovers know in a kiss.

Feel the day!!

Emerge in it!!

Throw up your arms

spin around in space.

No one around

because this is your place.

Cry for happiness,

because its what you deserve.

Life on this planer is your universe.

The existence of the one is the connection we all need.

Life plants patterns...

and we are the seed.

Grow from the knowledge

of what we yearn to see.

Life as a flower

is the only truth to me!!

The Essence of Me (2004)

by RBG

I am the essence

of what to be

I am the essence

of what not to be

I am sweet and nice

like sugar and spice

but mean and cold

and too hot to hold

I'm black

I'm white

I hate to fight

Punch your face 

in a state of grace

Hold your hand 

and take you to a new land

Listen to me 

but don't listen to me

but never underestimate me.

I can't stay

where I was a hour ago

I change over and over again

Go fast!!

Go slow.

sometimes don't know where to go??

Oh to be me.

Simple and free.

HA!!! 

MY LIFE TAUGHT (1994)

by Lauren D. Lunsford

My soul flights,

I stand back in a maze.

Destiny has taken a tragic face.

Full of ideas, hopes and dreams,

I cannot shatter this new image I have become.

Supressed by villians at so young

molded with hands that were so wrong

escaping this treachery, my new life begins.

They are all dead leaving me to decide.

Unknown to what is going on, we are born.

Supressed by society we are molded.

Molded into who we are not.

Discouraged by morals we are taught to obey.

Discourage, discourage as they may

but will not take me down today.

I will fight these molded morals

and supress these feelings

I was taught to obey!

This new image I see,

will soar to a new level

different from what was taught.

Gaining from the past is what I have become.

Life is my obstacle to do what I say!

THE EMERGENCE OF RAINBOW GIRL ( 2001)

by Rainbow Girl

The moon stands in my shadow

as the sunbeam caresses my face.

The love that I learned to give

is this undying power

I yield within.

Yellow roses blossoming

in a garden.

Crowds screaming on a rainy day

Who has the time?

Where am I now?

What is the hour?

Matter of fact,

the fact of the matter

is time has no existence

on a journey filled with love

You give time

I give matter...

Birds chirping

Dogs barking

Babies crying

Dads dying

Shoes, socks, teddy bears.

I look around and I wonder who cares??

Is this my dream?

Do I have an imagination?

All that I see really, really matters to me

The good and bad

war and peace

love and hate

and the choices we make.

I must give way

to my responsibility

because what lies within me

is most definitely a sight to see

Bottled up around such hate

is a little piece of earth

ready to disintegrate

Out came love with her joyous hand.

Spoke of word.

Felt the hate.

Came to find peace

and forgave her dad.

So who am I

I often think

Colors feel my day with magic

Rainy days bring me sadness.

The sun shines and I am happy.

Up down and all around

I am the one and only

Rainbow Girl.