on my mind

loose thoughts
loose teeth
once removed
reveal beneath
fleshy wounds
like a wreath
flash of pain
- and relief

loose thoughts
a pocket full
jingle brightly
never dull
cling and ring
against my soul
- j.m.

bethlehem in babylon
tinsle in the manger
a snow man placed on my front lawn
rooftop full of reindeer
"Santa baby" on the ipod
gluttony at the table
have we forgotten all that happened
in that dirty stable

celebrate with lavish gifts
the charities get pennies
(that's if you have any)
"the more you buy the more you save"
I'm forgetting what HE gave
getting caught in a Christmas craze
in a land of plenty



This year in Bible Study we have been studying Babylon and the culture of excess that Daniel faced with integrity, hence the first line ...

Happy Anniversary!

we share a life
we share a bed
"we'll share everything" we said

we've shared our struggles
and our laughs
we've shared t-shirts
we've shared baths

we shared colds
we've shared pain
we've shared fear
we've shared blame

we've shared most everything
but the best part?
you taught me how to share my heart.

Untitled

I've been so busy lately I haven' written much. Which is no excuse for the mangled little thing I came up with today. (I recommend reading Robert Burns' classic instead of the following)


My love is like a dandelion
it grows most anywhere
it scatters fluffy, puffy seeds
that dance upon the air

those fluffy, puffy seeds reach far
those cotton seeds reach wide
those cotton seeds have grown like weeds
upon my heart's hillside

don't try to pull them out my dear
that taproot grows down deep
those bitter leaves have stretched out wide
to catch the tears you weep

my love is common place my dear
your love is just like mine
our love shall last a good long bit
and grow a long long time.

Emily Dickinson

I don't much like Emily Dickenson (have you ever made it through the whole "Song of Myself"?). But I came across this one and since it has been rainy lately I thought it worthwhile to share

XXXVII

THE WIND begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,—
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees 5
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow; 10
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain, 15
And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father’s house,
Just quartering a tree. 20



This week's rainstorm (or was it last week?) sounded to me like a truck engine with a sticky lifter. It went through all the gears in about 10 min and then slowed to nice purring idle. I normally like the sound of the rain but having the ghost of a "78 ford ranger chugging outside my bedroom window? Less than poetic.

"One Step Backward Taken" by Robert Frost

Not only sands and gravels
Were once more on their travels,
But gulping muddy gallons
Great boulders off their balance
Bumped heads together dully
And started down the gully.
Whole capes caked off in slices.
I felt my standpoint shaken
In the universal crisis.
But with one step backward taken
I saved myself from going.
A world torn loose went by me.
Then the rain stopped and the blowing
And the sun came out to dry me.
- Robert Frost

I don't know where to start! This is such an amazing poem I can almost see the mudslide and feel his sigh of relief. What a picture of life choices. I think that this poem should always be read alongside his more famous "The road not taken". I feel like I am on the brink of some sort of change right now but I don't think I will have a choice as to which path to take. I feel as if something is going to happen that I can either embrace and rush into headlong or take one simple step back to avoid the chaos. It is frustrating because I can't see what's up ahead but I can know that God will answer my prayers to be stretched and challenged since He has promised to

Little Boy Blue

Baby sneezes
midnight snacks
3 steps forward
and you never looked back.

First word, second word
can't stop talking
endless running replaced your walking


Those trips to the park
catching my "slide rocket"
going home with daisies
overflowing each pocket

I sang you to sleep
when you were little
held your hand as you grew
I taught you to speak
taught you dress
taught you to tie your shoe

You stand before me a little man
looking as big as a kindergardner can
so brave, so afraid, so excited and yet

You reach for my hand as we take the next step

Candlelight quiet time

roller coaster flickering flame
rides the wind
in a multicoloured dance
does it have a chance?

the drafts get colder
(as I get older)
black sputtering stub
spits out smoke signals
of a torpedoed quiet time

I send out grand intentions that
puddle round my feet
melted into waxy nothings
just another rut

I want so much more ...

Matthew 12:18
18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope."

I never had a chance to see your face
to count your fingers
feel your embrace.

I never had a chance to hear your laugh
or cry
before I said goodby

it was over before I knew
but I suspected,
and daddy did too.

Precious to us
Precious to God
life is a gift
- no matter how short lived.

Each day is a gift
this moment is a "present"
Cherish each second
before they're all spent.

childhood romance

you don't look a day over preschool
I love that paint on your shirt
you kind of smell like crackers
but you mostly smell like dirt

Your hair is sticking out everywhere
you forgot to button your pants
I know that you'd love a playdate
but I won't give you a chance.

your laugh is contageous,
and so is your sneeze
I wish you'de use kleenex instead of
your sleeves

grow up little boy
chase me with flowers
we'll talk on the phone
(or ichat) for hours

who knows what's ahead
I think i'll wait
to see if this turns out
to be something like fate.




this is a work in process ...

Thought for the day

The rest of the poem makes no sense but I love this thought, Why do I love e.e. cummings so much?

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance


e.e. cummings

Fat free Christian

Hey there Christian
I see you once a week
your Sunday school solution
Like a New Year's resolution

You're a one arm push-up
sometimes up, but mostly down
your're on some kind of treadmill
but you aren't gaining any ground

you're looking left,you're looking right
at others on their staitionary bike
push those pedals- win that race
spend and hour in one place

the race to win should point to heaven
but you're maxed out at level 7

Who is winning, you're all still abreast
and hour of exercise, a week of rest
Is anyone really trying their best?

Sounds pretty harsh
I do it too
I've got my spiritual gut - like you
I'm milk fed, log eyed - forget the meat
scripture reading's like a vegetable treat.

30 pounds in 30 days
I'm beefing up in spiritual ways
Is this zeal just another diet craze?

Sunday Morning Sanctimony

Sunday Morning Sanctimony
I've got the gospel in my pocket
a couple verses in my head
my life verse above my window
and a spirit that is almost dead

I can quote some Greek and Hebrew
I'm unsure what it means
I could find it in a commentary
or stack of Christian magazines

I can spell hyper static union
I can quote all of Romans 8
I can sing in the congregation
with a heart that is full of hate.

What exactly is a Christian?
What does it mean to love?
How does the Gospel affect my station
' before the throne of God above'?

What's the good of going to church
if it's all for me and my friends?
Who's on my Christian wish list?
who even knows I'm a witness?

I want to serve you and your people
Lord,
I just don't know where to start
Create in me a right spirit
Create in my a clean heart.

I know, I know, I said I was relegating all of my poetry to my poetry blog but ... my husband made me do it.

The hippopotamus’s day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way—
The Church can sleep and feed at once.
T.S.
Eliot

Is the Church asleep? I've been wondering why I never meet "new believers". Maybe I'm disconnected from the outreach that goes on around me.

Story of my life

to my sometimes friend,
you don't even know who you are

how I wish I spent the time with you
to nurture what never was

I wonder why I'm lonely

rejected lovers know what it is like

but between us there has been no fight

I don't fit in your circle, you don't fit in my phone

I'll just play with my ipod and live life alone.

Chansons Innocentes: by e.e. cummings

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman


whistles far and wee


and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring


when the world is puddle-wonderful


the queer

old balloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing


from hop-scotch and jump-rope and


it's

spring

and

the

goat-footed


balloonMan whistles

far

and

wee


I know this is the first day of summer but I just love the way e.e. cummings writes. When I is was in highschool my name was Jacquiandbrooke and in elementary school I was Wendyandjacqui. I think I really miss the everydayness of a school friend.

The Night has a Thousand Eyes

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.

-- Francis William Bourdillon

So much to ponder here, I'm going to have to read more Bourdillon since I hadn't heard of him until I looked up the inscription I found handwritten in my very old copy of Paradise Lost.

The poem that never was

think,think think
think,think think

"the train moved like a lightning crack ..."

I push my backspace back back back

think,think think
think,think think

"her hair was like a waterfall of grey..."

I brushed that little thought away

think,think think
think,think think

"a turbo engine and silver sage ..."

I sighed and quickly turn the page

Over thinking, loads of tripe -
I close the page. I'm done tonight.


Sometime no matter how hard I try to make an idea work, I come up against a brick wall, am I the only one?

To my father

A shrinking shadow,
you were so tall
the sun was high
when you started to fall

Slowly sinking
didn't notice at first
- inflated puddle
first shortened, then burst

the bright light inside
the day that you died
cast nothing but spotlights
on the tears that i cried

two salty dribbles
race down my chin
one father died
a new one begins

you reached for my hand
you started to love
you called me at home
as the sun stretched above
climbing again
it reaches higher
casting a shadow that won't expire.

After my dad's heart attack, he has realized the importance of family and has reached out to us all in different ways. Thanks dad.

Mazal Tov Josh and Lisa!!

Here's to meeting the man of your dreams
Here's to meeting the woman of yours
Here's to sharing your daily burdens
Here's to sharing your household chores
Here's to everything you've always wanted
Here's to everything you always' lacked
Here's to looking towards the future
and never looking back!!!

The rhyming couplet ... explained

I read all of Shakespeare's sonnets when I was in high school and since they all end in a r.c. I think that poetic form has been deeply embedded in my brain. For a more complete explanation look it up on Wikipedia. This will be a poetry website full of mundane poetry from my daily life and brilliant poetry from other authors. Here is a favorite by Milton

XIX On His Blindness 1655
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."