Eternity is
a slippery slope upon
which to place one’s hope.
Tag Archives: faith
LIVE FOR TODAY
Filed under POETRY
PURE OF HEART
On this Holy Day
no obligation takes part
in the love and respect I feel for you,
dearest Mary, Queen of Hearts.
No need for men to declare
you are woman beyond compare.
Nor need to justify your place
with convoluted tales of grace.
You bore the heavy pregnancy gait
and the seemingly endless 9 months wait,
a grueling trek by foot and donkey
away from safety and into mystery.
You sheltered in the meanest space
and kept up with Joseph’s heartier pace
as women are so often wont to do
for men and children in need of you.
You entertained guests who came to view
the wonder of Light renewed by you.
When you likely most needed rest
you gave your all to all your guests.
And then you fled as Joseph’s dream
must have made you want to scream.
All to keep your loved ones safe and sound.
Your strength and love are so profound.
And still you give to all of us here now
your grace and love and keep your vow
made through Angel Gabriel in ages past;
a promise that to this day still lasts.
“Behold,I am the handmaiden of the Lord;
Let it be done to me according to your word.”
Such a pure heart needs no more explanation.
The Light always carried within you is our salvation.
A feast day for an Immaculate Conception
sounds like a useful mansplain deception.
I overlook my useless eye-rolling emotion
and give you, dear Mary, my full devotion.
Filed under POETRY
ODE TO SISTER ROBERTINE, O.P.
Words create the reality we fear,
or one in which we can rejoice, and hold dear,
and spend our lives, seeing more clear.
Words have power to describe us,
inflame us, excite us,
or kill what is inside us.
Words can kill when taken in
by others’ hearts mired
in grace or sin.
Sister Robertine said:
Be careful what you read,
what you see at the movies, or on T.V.
Garbage in is garbage out.
That is what words are all about.
She knew A. I. before it was accelerated
by techno wizards, not the Divine
who works at a slower pace
to afford human-kind much-needed grace.
Sister Robertine said:
Dress how you want to act,
How you hope to be,
how you want to be seen.
You can create each day,
play the part in your own play.
You will soon become
whom you hope to be.
Dress with self-respect
and respect you will get.
Sister Robertine said:
only “X” or “BIG X”
when our answer was incorrect.
No rewards nor praise
for getting it right.
Working hard to get it right,
to see it through
was the least we could do.
Our reward for seeking knowledge was integrity.
Our reward for dressing well was respect.
Our reward for working hard was strength.
Our reward for seeking hard truths was character.
We could then write our own play,
play our chosen roll, on our own stage.
We could live lives that mattered,
live lives in which lies were shattered.
We could live in the spotlight of grace and power
to change the world for good, hour by hour.
Like all good teachers, Sister Robertine directed the play.
I am grateful for such a teacher every single day.
Filed under POETRY
MY FIRST AND ONLY CONFESSION
Confession is good for the soul.
I have been told.
My first confession
at the age of seven
Took Sister Mary Claude,
whose diligence I applaud,
months to abate my fear.
First in line, I strode near
the confessional where Fr. Torre
waited to hear blood and gore
from little ones whose blame-game
only recently became a cause of shame.
With whispering words I began to confess.
“Father, forgive me.”( I felt such stress.)
“This is my first confession.”
Father stopped me right there
as I sat on the edge of the chair.
He was behind the screen,
a solemn, still figure barely seen.
“Please speak up so I can hear.”
And, so I did, and started to enumerate
all my sins, expecting him to strongly berate.
His words caused me even greater fear,
“Louise, not so loud, or all will hear.”
No longer did I worry who heard what.
He knew me, when I had been taught,
confession is anonymous.
Now, I felt infamous.
How could I face him across my Mother’s table
when he came each week that he was able
to eat her suga and Italian food;
and feel like family, with buoyant mood.
My only sin that day
was what I confessed every single Saturday,
“I disobeyed my Mother 10 times a day,
every day, of every week, of every year.
I was a disobedient child who shed no tears.
And over these many years
I have never changed my insolent creed
My father told me as I stood at his knee,
“Every man puts his pants on one leg at a time.
No one is better than you; (I liked that line)
and you are no better than anyone else.”
Equality set my soul free, made my heart pulse.
Equality became the base of all courage.
Equality kept me from being discouraged.
As a woman in a man’s world and profession.
I learned to speak up and out loud in my first confession.
Filed under FAMILY STORIES, POETRY
LEAD WITH THE HEART
Lead with the heart
and the mind will follow
a path of peace and hope,
strong enough to carry
dreams and generosity
for all those you meet.
No matter how difficult
the journey it will not be taken
alone, silently, fearfully.
The heart knows best what matters.
The heart knows the best path.
The heart unites us joyfully.
The heart beats life determinedly.
The heart overcomes strife.
Lead with the heart and do your part
to create a world worth living.
Some paths are famous and large.
Some paths are unrecognized and small.
Every path matters to those
who walk it and make it their own.
Every path converges as we move
into the great unknown.
Filed under POETRY
THUS ANGELS
Angels surround you
though you know aught and care less.
No matter at all.
Filed under POETRY
HELP US ON OCTOBER 18th.
This is difficult to write for several reasons.
First because I have chronic fatigue syndrome, sometime called ME, CFIDS, and now, similar to long Covid. I became very ill and disabled from my illness 36 years ago. I was told then I would be lucky to walk again, likely need a wheel chair or cane. Great medical care from osteopathic manipulative medicine and acupuncture, years of pushing physical boundaries allow me to walk, for short distances. I can care for myself at home. I taught myself to read and write again by writing in a journal every morning. Despite brain fog, I developed a blog. My earliest efforts were poems. Gradually, I re-learned grammatical forms. Dyslexic imagery means my written words are sometimes corrupted. Lately, ChatGP has stolen even more of my words when it fails to recognize dyslexic word forms and alters words I do not always catch. My eyes and my brain take a while to catch up. Still, I must write to connect to the larger world I once participated in with gusto.
I practiced law as the Associate Director of Legal Affairs for Ohio University and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. In my spare time I taught law as an adjunct Associate Professor to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. I taught Business Law, School Law, Vocational Education Law, Law and Medicine (at O.U.medical school), and created courses and taught Social Welfare Law and a race relations course. I co-founded OU STARS, training and mentoring students to run race relations programs and workshops. I visited other campuses, community organizations and political groups and lectured on law as it applied to them. I love the law. I love the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. I loved teaching and sharing my love of law with every audience available to me.
It was difficult to be sidelined from such an active life sharing the love of the law. It is difficult now to watch the hatred of the law spewed from the lips of a president, vice-president, Secretary of State, Director of Homeland Security, every federal agency, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader. Watching the dismantling of the Rule of Law is almost too painful to write about. Watching the Supreme Court ignore centuries of stare decisis, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and every legal norm makes me want to scream until my throat is raw. it makes me tremble in disgust. Nightmares steal my sleep. I watch my country dissolve as it laws are twisted, debased, ignored and stomped upon. The only thing capable of holding together a nation dedicated to personal freedom is the law assuring no person is above the law. Otherwise disrespect and hatred toward other persons fueled by our animal nature inevitably leads to anarchy and self-destruction. We must hold the line against this administration and those who have tried to take and hold power only for themselves. To do so they must destroy the rule of law. That is what see every day. That is what I mourn every moment. Thank God for lawyer Marc Elias. He holds our hope and beliefs in his legal briefs.
The media giants, universities, Republican state and local leaders are silent or complicit in the destruction. Worse, the voters, including family-friends-neighbors, pay little attention to what is happening. Or. worse, support what is happening. I do not know how to find forgiveness. I pray for grace to do so. Finally, my church is realizing it must oppose such forces. However, its last few decades has seen it fully supporting those destroying our freedoms because of its unwillingness to acknowledge the right of women to control their own bodies. The right of women to hold sexual power. Nothing threatens a misogynistic organization more than women holding power in their own hands. At last, heroes like Fr. Pfleger of Chicago have seen enough. They are speaking out. An answer to my prayer. I keep praying!
On October 18, I shall join millions of Americans our government has labeled traitors and evil people as we American freedom-lovers celebrate NO KINGS DAY. I ask you to join us, wherever you live. Will it place you at risk? The federal government leaders want you to think so. They want you afraid to stand up for the Constitution and laws which govern our democracy, and protect it from autocracy. We are stronger the larger the groups. If you are unable to stand on the street beside us, drive by and honk in support. If you cannot do that, encourage all you know to join us in any way they can. Please do not sit there and shake your head. Please do not lose hope. Please do not be afraid. We are stronger than we know. Never listen to those who tell you that you will never walk again, never speak nor write again, never advocate for change again. You can. You must. Help us!
Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS
THE DAWN OF DISCONTENT
Darkness has not yet lifted
from the night of a waning moon.
This is the time of discontent
when one feels most alone, but soon,
the sun shall rise.
Others choose to sleep through darkness.
I cannot. Like a lone wolf,
I choose to stay awake, woke to wonder
hidden in all I yet may discover
in people and places I have never known.
I plant seeds of yearning in my soul
that love may take root and grow
beyond my own cultural limits,
beyond the bounds of all I know.
I try to stay awake, though weary,
to watch the new day dawn.
As it surely will.
As it surely will.
As it surely will.
Turn three times and make a wish.
I wish to fearlessly face the heat of these days
with cool calm and laughter so strong
it awakens the entire world.
Will the new dawn reveal
that which was destroyed
while an entire nation slept?
This question is what makes some people
sleep the whole day long.
Their eyes appear open, but they sleepwalk;
perhaps hoping they are dreaming
and the day is a mere nightmare
from which they will soon awake.
I cannot pretend. Not I.
Even in the dark my eyes open wide.
I must see what darkness has wrought.
I tend to the garden I have created,
to the life of growth I have sought,
as the sun rises over roots sorely stressed.
I cannot allow the plants, nor my self, to die
even though they can no longer thrive.
I am awake in the dark, but not alone.
So long as I see clearly, if not cheerily,
the life of other living things all around me
resisting the threat in the day ahead and hanging on.
Sensing our togetherness is what makes us strong.
I watch the discontented dawn.
The sun continues to rise.
As will you. As shall I.
THE PERFECT STORM
We are in the midst of a perfect storm.
Those who seek perfection, especially
a perfection to match themselves,
which they consider the norm,
relish the chaos which leads astray
a nation once dedicated to the proposition
that “all men are created equal
and endowed by their creator with the right
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
What a lovely concept in sunny weather,
on a clear blue day.
But, those seeing red over perceived imperfection
cannot tolerate those who refuse to let the imperfect
get in the way of the possible.
They prefer to cut programs and taxes,
to keep their money in their own pockets,
show their personal largesse to those deemed worthy.
If only, they could see their own imperfections clearly.
We would not be in this frightful storm.
The winds of fascism and authoritarianism stir wildly
every manner, moral tome, and rule of law, and norm.
The rain of terror by masked militia in our streets
is more costly than housing the homeless,
feeding the hungry, educating our young people
who live with expectations of defeat.
The young see their pursuit of happiness and their freedom
being washed away, with inequality laid at their feet.
I do not believe in perfection.
There are few perfect days.
Clouds are born by winds unseen
shadowing perfection and laying it aside
while violent storms brew.
I do not seek the impossible.
It is too costly and uncontrollable.
I know no policy nor program is perfect, as is no man.
Nothing makes us greater than to simply understand
we are all flawed human beings doing the best we can.
There can be no apology for silently marveling
and supporting these dark days.
The perfect see no reason to apologize
for the greater wisdom of their ways.
We are left to raise umbrellas
to protect as many as we can.
But, umbrellas are no match for perfect storms
created by our fellow man.
annarino writes 
MORNING COMES
Tomorrow will turn into today; 2025 to 2026. We will still resist negativity and embrace one another as we seek to create a more American America, fully embracing, perhaps for the first time, our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It will be more difficult than ever. But, I am hopeful it can be done because of my faith in each of you.
I am thankful to all who read by poetry, political essays and family stories. You cover the globe. Your hands reach across oceans. Your hearts embrace human kindness. Your minds seek truth. Your souls seek justice. You give me the blessing of your attention to address the problems we face. Somehow, united across the globe, such intention to do good and treat one another with mutual respect, will work miracles. We shall overcome the darkness as we enlighten each other’s lives. You enlighten mine. I thank you, dear readers. Happy New Year! A new morning comes.
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Filed under COMMENTARY
Tagged as faith, gratitude, happy new year, hope, resistance movement