Category Archives: Uncategorized
Filed under Uncategorized
BLOGGERS
Grief is palpable
hearts made of soft wool;
natural,
real,
felted by tears,
made stronger,
tightening bonds
across miles
circumventing the globe.
Likes on the blog
string together the yarns
of hearts attuned.
We touch.
We share.
We still care
enough to like.
Enough to tell each other
You are heard.
You are loved.
You are heart
of my heart.
We are in this
together.
Filed under POETRY, Uncategorized
A TICKET TO RIDE
Already forgotten bell curves
overcome by spikes and pikes
carrying virus loads
up the nose.
No more waves
of predictability
nor general systems theories
of how things go.
if there are rules of pandemic,
they are rules lost in the mystery,
lost to a history
passed by and past off
by those who scoff
their vulnerability.
Roller coaster rides and pandemics
take away my breath.
Sudden falls after steep climbs
drop my stomach to my toes.
Harsh and sudden turns of phrase
bring fear of death
around each unexpected curve.
One does not mind a five minute ride,
hands held high on final descent;
with a grudging stop and final flop.
The ride softly ends as riders depart.
Unsteady feet steady once more
ready to explore the carousel, and bumper cars,
cotton candy and games of chance.
A three year ride is way too scary
and leaves us wary
of how, if at all, it will end.
With a bang or a whimper?
Or, a sullen long simmer, fall after fall
along rails beginning to wear ?
The ride must continue until all are loaded
with a vaccination, or two, or three;
maybe, more even than four.
The tickets were free,
but too many refused to take a shot
at ending the ride on time.
More climbs, more falls, more curves
until we are all sick to death or dying.
Filed under POETRY, Uncategorized
JOURNALISM
What light becomes
most fashionably bright
to rid us of the shadow of night?
Who decides
the cast, the angle
shining upon each bead and bangle?
Are we so transparent
no shadow shows,
willing to follow anyone who glows?
How have we not learned
that the light of day
best shows the way?
Fireflies dance around the darkness
distracting us from what matters
while truth lies shattered.
Talking points flicker
all day and night
while truth hides out of sight.
News becomes entertainment,
bread and circuses
to detain us.
News streams the highways
with fast-moving high lights
missing the truth by inches along the way.
Such roads cannot be safely crossed.
How do we get to the other side?
By stopping traffic at our own loss?
Filed under Uncategorized
WORDS AT PLAY
I don’t understand poems,
or words, or chatter.
How do they form like loose clay
around the mold of earthly matter?
Words cast up their account
of what lies in the gut
and rise to the mouth
to utter and strut.
Do we have no power
over what we say ?
Are we merely overpowered
by a shower of words at play?
Somedays, words are so strong
they insist and persist, bursting the cork.
Other days, words are so weak
pulling them out is too much work.
The worst thing is not silence.
The worst thing is a paragraph
dragged out with violence.
Today, all words can do is laugh.
Filed under Uncategorized
Christmas 2021
Time sleeps
For those who weep
It’s passage stopped by grief.
Time awakens
For those shaken
By tears’ release.
Glorious morning!
When light is reborn
Time freed of fear and scorn.
People awake who longed
For angels in song
Announcing the birth of a babe.
A babe who restarts time
Reawakens hope
And restores our joy.
Merry Christmas morn!
Delight in this gift given
The day Jesus the Christ is born.
Filed under Uncategorized
Soulstice
One day is all it takes
for Autumn to blow away
on ice-laden winds
that shock lawns
with frost as thick as thieves
robbing us of long walks amid the trees
which shelter us from too strong a breeze.
Our path is no longer clear
of the detritus of Fall,
of our fall from grace, putting us in our place
inside the hidden thoughts of our minds;
until the sun shines strong and deliberate,
with a design to clear the mind.
For now, we wait in hope
for longer days and shorter nights
until we can alight guided
by a Stronger Light
until Spring returns
to awaken our sight
and warm our souls.
Filed under Uncategorized
THE LITTLE AGITATOR
THE LITTLE AGITATOR
12-23-2021
Did you earn a nickname in your childhood? you know, like a mobster, sticky fingers or tattle-tale ? Some nicknames are freely given merely to shorten names; Elizabeth become Beth, Edward becomes Eddie. There are nicknames dragged from the mouths of aggravated parents in place of a curse, as patience wanes. Such nicknames only work to guide a child’s behavior to the extant they understand all it definitions. Children are quite literal, unlike adults who have learned to use nuance to avoid consequences of unwise words and actions.
My nickname was “ The agitator”; at first “little agitator”, and as I grew older simply “agitator”. In my childish mind agitator had only one meaning: the central post in the washing machine which swished water around to remove dirt from clothes and allow it to be washed away. I found it quite a compliment to know my effort to wash away the dirt hiding others’ motivations, true belief behind their statements, and misleading or misguided behavior was recognized. It was a puzzle why Mom seemed so upset when praising me so often and so relentlessly. This “little agitator” looked for dirt everywhere to wash it away with words. I washed it out of the house, the playground, the schoolroom until everyone could cleanly and clearly see the uncomfortable truth.
The older I got the more I realized it had been meant not a an encouragement but as an effort to block my truth seeking. Stirring up the dirt to wash it away is not always a sound practice around mothers overwhelmed by small children who care not for the daily bath. Politicians and leaders fear a bath as well.
Too many of us prefer to hide behind the dirt. Too many of us allow others to hide as well. We fear our own hypocrisy, I think. Entire industries exist to heap more dirt on the truth of who we are. Sometimes dirt is thrown merely to entertain and distract us from what lies beneath the surface. Those seeking to hold on to their wealth develop artificial turf, and artificial dirt, to create an artificial world where they can hide their greed and their misdeeds.
Nicknames last forever. I claim mine gladly. I am “ the agitator”. Throw your clothes in the hamper and start the wash. It is time we came clean.
Filed under Uncategorized
The Last Night
Three dreams in a row
And all I know
The first taught how
To design a plow.
The second showed
The purpose of the plow.
The third dreamed warned
Of the uselessness of fields unfurrowed
Where no seed can grow.
Time for plows, shovels or spoons
Fields are waiting.
The time to dig is now.
Filed under Uncategorized
NO SILENCE ALLOWED
SOME WORDS MUST REMAIN
SILENT ON THE PAGE
INSTEAD OF SPEAKING OUT LOUD
THEIR OUTRAGE.
NEED I SAY MORE
TO THOSE WHO EXPLORE
EVERY NEWSPAPER AND PODCAST,
AND BROADCASTS GALORE?
YOU KNOW WHAT WE FACE
AND THE FEAR THAT REPLACED
THE EXCEPTIONAL HOPE
AMERICAN BIRTHRIGHT BESTOWED
ON THOSE WITH OPEN HEARTS AND OPEN SHORES,
OPEN MINDS AND OPEN POLLS.
NOW SHORES AND POLLS ARE BEING SHUTTERED
SCHOOL BOARDS AND STATEHOUSES CLUTTERED
BY THOSE NULLIFYING NOT ONLY OUR VOTES,
BUT OUR RIGHT TO CLAIM
OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
IN MORE THAN NAME
ONLY. IF ONLY, WE COULD SPEAK OUT
UNASHAMED AND ALOUD.
WE ARE NOT PERFECT, PEOPLE, BUT WE MUST BE ENOUGH
AS THE GOING GETS TOUGH. WE MUST BE ENOUGH.
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