they run around like pirates “arg!”, “ahoy!”, “treasure!” paper hats and eye patches askew, winking and squinting, play fighting while together mapping treasure. how come some children are only ever captured by imagination, while others are captured by the realest of terrors? oh that perils were only always minor setbacks, on a crayon crinkled map, playfully overcome - instead of deadly serious, written in crimson… (at the store, at school, at a parade… anywhere, everywhere) go through the motions of playing – smiling, laughing, creating, charting courses throughout the seven seas, joining little pitter patter feet, making joyful exclamations. inwardly navigate dark stormy waters - the heartache, the fear, the questions, the rage… the heaviness. how much longer? how long until all of our children are safe? how long until all can go out, to learn and play and work and imagine… to live? how long until all can come home to loving arms and be tucked in to cozy beds to rest? how long until all can then awaken and do it all again today, and tomorrow? //in response to the uniquely american problem of gun violence and mass shootings (buffalo, uvalde, highland park… 2022)//
Category: Poetry
threshold
welcome to the world, bright and shining little one - in your coming, you've opened a profound window to my soul. holding you in my arms, i cross the threshold into the mysterious unknown, forever changed.
welcome
welcome to the world, bright and shining little one, threshold to my soul.
Walls
I just feel so much. I say, with a tear-squeaky voice. I know. You say, holding space. You’re not alone. My carefully constructed walls continue to crumble. Have courage, my vulnerable, beating heart. I’m flooded with the joy, and terror, of love.
of joy, of sorrow: human
oh, what it is to be human:
beautiful, eternal souls -
resilient, brave, loving.
housed in finite bodies -
breakable, fearful, vulnerable.
forever, and ephemeral -
paradox.
what joy we hold,
what sorrow.
how can our hearts carry
this lovely, terrible tangle -
of love, and loneliness;
closeness, and distance;
fullness, and loss;
laughter, and tears;
courage, and terror;
delight, and disgust;
tenderness, and anger;
healing, and trauma;
hope, and grief -
of life, and death?
we are living.
we are dying.
how can we choose
to be, in this space between?
we laugh, and weep;
worry, and rest;
dance, and slump;
fight, and reconcile;
despair, and rejoice;
help, and hurt;
withdraw, and speak;
destroy, and create;
learn, and forget;
hide, and seek;
work, and play;
sleep, and awaken;
move, and pray.
we are alone,
we are together;
we are devastated,
we are redeemed;
we deny,
we accept;
we hold tight,
we let go.
oh, what it is to be human!
we see shimmers of new life,
alongside dark shadows of death.
how shall we walk, and stumble,
on this side of earth?
love, recklessly -
hearts open
to intense sorrow,
to breathtaking joy.
Pails, Tails
Fuzzy costumes
Lion, cow
Halloween, finally
Starting now
Pitter patter
Little feet
Running, jumping
“Trick-or-Treat!”
Squishy fingers
Filling pails
Sticky faces
Trailing tails
Looking, looking
Eyes wide
Here, there
“Spookies” glide
Skeletons, pumpkins
Spiders, bats
“Oh-no-run-away!”
Scary, that!
Laughing, crying
Fun, frights
Overall filled
With delights
Unwrapping candy
Crinkle, crunch
Hooray! Hooray!
Time to munch
Full day,
"Monster Mash"
Now, slowly…
Candy crash
Winter Sunlight
Winter sunlight
shimmers, weak,
yet offers
faint hope,
gentle warmth.
Inspiring the landscape,
deathly cold,
to reveal
beauty, persisting
amidst the ice.
Promising
that cold will not
last eternal,
that we will not
always be frozen.
Life
even now,
endures,
and is,
dear.
Memories, Weaving
Memories
of yesterdays
weave through
my todays,
casting bittersweet shadows
of grief
and of joy.
Reminders
of what has been lost,
of what remains,
of what has been
gained.
Absence
amplifying
the dearness
of what is;
haunting
with reminders
of fragility.
A gaping hole –
what will fill?
Life
but a breathe -
in, and out;
ordinary, and precious;
heartbreaking, and beautiful;
with beginning,
and end.
Quarantine Time
Quarantine time
stretches,
elastic.
Days blur
together,
foggy.
Moments grow
sticky,
molasses.
Fleeting time,
eternally
moving.
Again, Jesus Beckons
My eyes are drawn to the waves -
so many waves,
all around,
waves.
And my heart is turned toward fear -
to 'what if?',
to 'how long?',
to questions.
Yet, again, Jesus beckons -
my eyes to be fixed on, and
my heart to trust in,
him.