BLOG – Page 40 – A Thread You Follow

To change daily space

To change daily space 
to brave space
ensuring safety 
rather than comfort 
where young people, 
not interested in training
but in knowing 
who controls the narrative,
toil to reclaim stories 
stolen from human families 
and affirm the truth 
that we all stand 
on the shoulders 
of the great cloud of witnesses 
who have gone before us.

Living Continues…

most chanting stops
when bombs fall
on the roof
incarnatio continua

each fall the prairie medley 
of goldenrod and purple aster 
dazzles me
incarnatio continua

it is impossible not
to notice the almost imperceptible
debasement of falling mortals
incarnatio continua

gusts of wind
carry falling leaves
higher than treetops
incarnatio continua

how many times
has the youngest daughter fallen
to rise with bleeding knees
incarnatio continua

To Do

take a breath
and write a list
where nobody
is at risk

be thankful
for not all
are ready
for change

wait
until disappointment
sheds itself
of unused furniture

create
dissonance
so comfort gives way
to safety

Paved Over

Trails connect trails
through these woodlands
walked from period to period,
paleo to post-modern.

Treaties have made the steps
easier for some and more painful
and deadly for those who shared
the space for living their lives.

Slick service and bringing
in the lead and gold prevailed 
over values told and possibilities
for calls of patience and comfort.

Now, this place is paved for parking
lot conversations held by those who
say they need no refuge but continue 
to ask, How does everybody feel?

Not familiar with your life?

Begin with the entrance of your family story
or, perhaps, with the origin of giving thanks.
Has the world changed that much?
Can all be included in circles of trust
covenanting to agree on the use of the public?
What does it mean to place your personal 
history into a larger narrative that includes
the Pequot Massacre of 1637?  Or any other
massacre or mauling, decreed or undecreed.
Ask, Who's hand holds the other's hand, today?

Storylines

I said, "The balance in my checking
account has reached a new high."

She replied, "Remember: narratives
of aggregates always serve wealth."

I agreed.  "I am aware of the different
storylines used by the storytellers."

She added, "And the layers of power,
hidden from most, continue to pull
the children from their families."

I asked, "What is the history in my 
particular landscape that tells where 
I am today?"

She answered, "You were the minority
when you arrived and, luckily, it turned 
out fine for you."

Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. – 2 Kings 2:24

Lover of all,
who sends the rain and the sun
and the shine of the stars
and the bears out of the woods,
define "love" or "Love";
for some would consider a mauling
a "loving" act for wanton name-calling
against your anointed prophet
and others, horrified, denounce
your creation crying, There is no love.
Amen.

And Alive

It is possible 
to be ordinary and alive.
Indeed, that is my wish.
"May you be ordinary.
And alive."

Chicago, May 2021

I stare at a picture of the great metalled Ferris wheel 
from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and lose myself 
in the number of people who went for a spin so long ago.

Fifty years later, Picasso, stares into the cave
of Lascaux and, upon seeing the dancing animals
painted on the walls, declares, They've invented everything.

And what about all the children that died 
before the age of five or the mothers that died 
in childbirth before the miracles of modern medicine?

Is there nothing so distinctly sweet,
so sweet,
as real bananas picked from the Peruvian 
rainforest an hour before breakfast?

There I stand in a picture from seven years ago with my arms around a daughter who no longer exists. That she lives in my memory, yes.  And in some form of a heavenly afterlife, perhaps.  

Sometimes I pause, 
shake my hands and arms in the air, 
convulsively, 
and grin from ear to ear.  

I am mindful 
of the number of times 
I have returned 
from wherever 
I have gone.  
Many have not.

The Knuckle-ball Pitch

I said, "Even the knuckle-ball
can be a home run pitch."

She said, "Opening day was
eons ago and besides, both sides
play with the same number of players."

Thinking ahead, I asked, "But how
many truly get caught up in the
spirit of the game?"

She added, "Especially when 
translating x's and o's all day
leads to exhaustion."

I agreed.  "All relationship appears
to have been removed from any
sense of play."

She said, "Circles of trust always form
when a team's origin story enters
the picture."