What makes the fallen ash leaves curl when they touch the hard ground? Does looking down at the ground make the circling vulture dizzy? How many nuts buried in the ground will last the winter for a squirrel? Will the ground remain solid beneath my feet as I stand in uncertainty?
Category Archives: Poetry
My poetry. Mostly Collects
Turn Circles
The holiday celebrating this and that came and went. The dark-eyed junco returned from summering in the north. After spending some time comparing the symbols of linear and circular thought I put my notes away. Days are passing. Why must I cover the ground walked by so many before me while horizons ahead of me wait to be fused into some greater picture where all turn circles in the dance?
Steps
It is difficult to write these poems while I continue to live outside myself walking avenues covered by the steps of my ancestors.
“I AM has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14
God of Now and God of Then and God of Will Be, who endlessly appears in the corners of our eyes, burning, in a bush, in a smile, in a picture and in the alighting of a falcon in a tree; we imagine your name in our imaginings and find our thoughts far too narrow and small for pure being to settle into us in these dizzy days; send us into the realm of corners where we dare to believe nothing is true and sacred and, burning, we may be seen rising in our finest moment of freedom. Amen.
Promises
To never blush in private while raindrops fall off the leaves. To constantly call G*d down from the heavenly throne. To present things in my mind in ways that make sense to the circling vulture. To bring people to faith in mornings where angels rise with the sun.
“What kind of gospel will you preach?” – Edward L. Wheeler
The challenge is to bless and uplift to include without pointing a finger at the flaws that divide.
Questions
Which color best describes the way a mourning dove cries in the morning? How many days walking in the rain before the last leaf falls to the wet ground? At what time of day is it best to alter the God that appears at the Altar? How many differences are there between the oppressed and their oppressors?
Example of Own Lives
I asked, "How many more fingers must be pointed at the divine?" She replied, "We humans enjoy the convolutions of large numbers." I said, "Perhaps furiously fidgeting with the letter of the law should be made a crime." She said, "Then people would not have anything to do on bright, sunny mornings as the summer comes to a close." I added, "Except to fill daily journals writing words that appear to be tolerant and accepting." She said, "It is easier to embrace ourselves when we remain examples in our own lives."
He was praying in a certain place. – Luke 11:1
Maker and Creator of all places and ways, who wanders off to pray in places certain and uncertain depending upon the day; make in us a hope where we are present, grounded in change from the play of how things are in the here and now of every day to the ways of possibility, for the many surround us keeping us in one place. Amen.
Eye Signs
There is a difference between the repetitive signs of advertising rolling along outside the car's window demanding attention and the quiet hint that is shared today mirroring the whisper spoken yesterday. To blink at the reflection of neon signs flashing on the wet pavement and return to teaching the faith that holds both the light and the road and our eyes together all in one book on one shelf. I have asked the sages that multiply on those shelves to give me a new way to feel better about not feeling better but their silence and endless devotion to thinking send me along strange paths. Sitting in a beautiful sanctuary looking at beams and stone and arches surround the colors of stories I can feel myself hesitantly approaching the altar where answers serve themselves to wonder.
A Thread You Follow 