“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

Natalie Doud is a poet.

  • Bridging Worlds

    Bridging Worlds,
    Old and New.

    A Foot in the Future,
    With an Ear to the Past.

    From a Bygone Era
    of Bloodlust and Rapture

    With Me Against You
    and Us Against Them

    Emerge Ideals and Ideas
    Once Suppressed and Oppressed

    With the Waning of the Era
    of Rapid Expansion

    We Greet the Waxing of the Age
    Of Interconnection.

    Weaving our Webs
    in Multi Dimensions

    Neural Paths of
    Empathic Connection.

    Born to a World
    Of Mother and Father

    With Family Values
    and Regional Pride

    Where One and One
    Paired Two by Two

    And Charted Their Course
    In a Four by Four

    Now Faced with questions
    We Never Thought to Ask

    About Wrongness and Rightness
    and Sizes of Souls.

    Armed with Old Answers
    From the Distant Past

    About how to Survive
    In Our Ancestral Homes.

    Like Living in Genes
    That No Longer Fit.

    Preparing for Futures
    That Change Without Warning

    Abstracting Ideas,
    Collected in Data

    We Expand the Bounds
    of Whats Possible

    Competitive Cooperation
    Between Silicon and Carbon Minds.

    A Glimpse at a Future
    Ironically Peaceful.

    An Outpour of Love
    On a Backdrop of Destruction

    We Hold on Tighter
    As the Pixels Glitch Around Us.

  • My Captain

    Many of Me Died that day
    In alternate realities.

    In this I walked away.
    Mind phased yet body unscathed.

    Many a they survived that night.
    Had something else occurred.

    I have lived a thousand lives
    I may yet live a thousand more

    Every face another facet
    Every heart a brand new start

    Speak to me your truth
    And I will speak you mine

    Learning our lessons
    Approaching the divine

    No one really knows,
    Just how the wind will blow.

    The wisest men admit,
    That they do not know.

    Sailing through spacetime
    Ships made of matter.

    I am a multitude
    You are a multitude

    Determined by flow,
    Where our ships will go.

    And yet we chart our course.
    In spite of the unknown.

    For ships require captains.
    And you are at the wheel.

    Not in spite but because of the wind,
    Comes the power of the keel

    You are not alone
    We are all alone, together.

    Oh Captain,
    My Captain
    Is me.

  • Ode to Fear

    Dreams call my name
    From distant lands

    Fantastic Visions
    Imagined Nations

    Dreams reveal what could be
    Untethered from what is

    Showing where I want to be
    But never how I’ll get there

    Dreams shine in the distance
    Hidden from closer view

    Building a Fantasy
    Far from Reality

    Taunt me, tease me,
    Make me queasy

    But Fear, Oh Fear!

    The devil by my side
    Despite how hard I’ve tried

    To rid you, ban you, make you leave
    Turns out I miss you, when you’re gone.

    The way you pull
    The way you pry
    Heart palpitates,
    Glands salivate.

    Fear is a presence.

    Tell me what I can’t do
    Warn me of what might be if I-
    Do this.
    Say that
    Wrong.

    Once Misunderstood.
    Maligned in my mind.
    I now accept you.
    Dark shadowy cloud.
    Fear is my friend.

    You offer no comfort or consolation.
    With all the things you say

    The world behind you is hidden from view
    And yet you lead the way.

    You offer your hand, as if for a dance
    And then the music plays.

  • Oh to Be a Determinist

    Oh to be a determinist!

    To see not the illusion of free will,
    To follow effortlessly down the river of destiny,
    Knowingly aware of one's inability to change course.

    The optimists and pessimists

    Bask in the glow of self affirmation
    Regardless of reality. Good or bad or in between.
    Everything as it should be, unfolding like they said it would.

    Oh to be free! Oh not to know!

    What little things can change the course of life.
    For every act, a calculation to weigh the pros and cons.
    Who reaps the spoils of this anxiety? What future improves?

    Perhaps we may never know.

    In fact- I am certain that we will not.
    I am certain of nothing. Except change and uncertainty.
    I seek no satisfaction. I revel in uncertainty.

  • At First Glance

    At first glance,
    You wouldn't know.

    At first glance,
    It might not show.

    But I know.
    And you know.
    There is something inside.

    Beneath the externalities
    We can find the eternalities.

    Infinite Resonance.

    Such similar sounds.
    Such different expressions.

    Dynamic Harmonies.

  • A Poem at 3am

    It's A Beautiful Thing.
    To Know Someone.
    To Hold A Copy In Your Mind.
    To Simulate Hypotheticals.
    It's A Beautiful Thing.
    To Be Known.
    To Live In Another's Head.
    To Share A Part Of Yourself.
    Every Time You Imagine My Reaction.
    Every Time I Predict Your Action.
    That's Me In You.
    That's You In Me.
    At Least In Part.
    We Live On.

  • Paradox

    Keep your simple truths,
    I want paradox
    Keep your simple truths,
    Like the sky is blue
    And the grass is green
    Neither. Is true.

    I do not want the truth
    That fears opposition
    That hides from its shadow
    Truer truth is bolstered,
    Rather than diminished
    By contradiction

    Follow the chaordic path
    Connect through isolation
    Create art through destruction
    Be passionate with reason
    Discover Pleasure in pain
    Be soft with your hardness

    True forms of bravery
    Do not roar in the night
    The real kind of courage
    Does not mask but grows from
    Vulnerability
    Sensitivity

    Light is not simple,
    Its a paradox
    Light is neither a
    Wave or particle
    Light is everything
    Everywhere at once

  • I cannot find the darkness

    I cannot find the darkness
    That I am told exists
    I have not found the evil
    That lurks around corners

    We once believed that darkness
    Exists to cause a fright
    The truth is that the shadows
    Are only lack of light

  • There is no Time

    There is no time
    There is only distance
    There is no time
    Only order of events

    Time does not exist
    In the eyes a photon
    Everything that was
    Or is or ever will be
    Happends all at once.

    Time marches on
    We cannot escape it
    Time marches on
    At a steady pacing

    Time does not care
    That I do not feel it
    Like the clocks do
    How I’m supposed to
    Time marches on
    Regardless of Existence