Tag Archives: Life

Way of Living

The pages of infinite books of love are pasted 
on walls without windows or doors.  Care 
packages assemble themselves on counters 
as loaves of bread align like matchsticks on tables.  
Seeing others get out to tell stories opens up 
ways for prayer to return to where it belongs.
Many say, no, and refuse to get used to wearing
gloves, glasses and masks to guard against
the wishful thinking that surrounds the land where 
people confirm suicide as a valid way of living.

A Reality Not Your Own

I said, "I'm a bit concerned, 
the prophet says, Your wife 
will become a prostitute in the city."

She stopped, a bit miffed. "Memories 
tend to flatten over time."

I agreed.  "This all sounds like a 
thoughtless wish for an empty bedroom."

She added, "Or a famine of hearing 
the words of g*d."

I realized, once again, "A large part 
of my joy is not being where I am 
supposed to be when I am supposed
to be there.  Wherever there may be."

She smiled and said, "Welcome
to the other side of popping
into a reality not your own."

Innocence

Those who survive horrific car crashes in their youth
know innocence makes up words like okay and fine and sure.

Sometimes getting down on hands and knees and looking
under the sofa for the baby in the stroller helps doubt.

A daughter in a green-blue-and-black-striped bathing suit
stands against the white sand perpetually outlined in light.

Joy heard through the sighs of those who lose beloved pets
wraps any words preachers say to loosely threaded posts.

A Slip

There are not enough corner pieces
of brownies in a pan, of puzzles incomplete
and places to go and sit with a nose 
against the cold, convergence of walls
or to lean against with a pillow just so
at that place in the lower back,
wrenched by that tiny backward slip 
on the ice-covered second step 
where one is always careful to avoid 
the debris from the kids - dolls, action figures
skateboard, roller skates, marbles and jacks -
but failed to see the ice while paying attention
to something that was not even there.

Magic Summer

Adults sit on folding lawn chairs
set in a circle around a fire along
the south bank of the Rock River.
Their laughter, the cicada buzz
and the occasional boat throttling
mixed with children shouts 
from joyful jumps off the dock 
into the water create summer 
for me in my mind.

But not until Grandpa poured 
his Old Style into a clear, tall glass; 
not until he handed me the salt shaker 
to tap a few times into the foam;
not until the salt settling at the bottom 
began to work the magic of bubbles in beer;
not until I saw alchemy before my very eyes
was I then free to run and leap into water
endlessly flowing by the party.

Avoiding Why

The force of moral imagination is not enough
to push against the comfort of the couch
and the chosen show to binge for an hour or four, 
nibbling and crunching one popcorn at a time
sipping bubble-impregnated, kiwi, fructose drinks.
I remember all those youngsters on the clown's show
trying to underhand toss a ping pong ball
into one, red bucket after another.
Bucket one. 
Bucket two.
Bucket three.
Bucket four.
Bucket five.
Bucket six.
Ball in bucket.  Success!  On to the next bucket.
Unfortunately, ping pong balls bounce.
Too many times the ping pong ball bounces out.
Life now amounts to bucket avoidance by
limiting exposure to difficult words ending in 'y' 
like volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity,
while embracing eat, drink and be merry.

Only Ands

With the mirror of possibilities all scratched & warped
facets added by unknown toilers in glass
faces blurred twisted kinked crooked & wry
so that eyes become ears & smiles morph into sneers
nothing is more important in this inviolable time 
than for talking heads to quote commentaries 
on commentaries on interpretations of realities.

Stay as far away from the truth as viable knowing
that it will be incredibly difficult to avoid spinning
with at least one true partner when the dance floor
is filled with thousands or more floating versions
moving in time to the latest sound 
from the Titanic's last gasp band combo.
(One truth: Always play to keep the people calm.)

Unite unite unite is today's plea
a call to all that dare - or is it deign -
to glance into the glass with silver on its back
in hopes of catching some gold reaching
into the binges we prefer & have grown to love.

But remember, with God, 
the one who almost touches Adam,
there are no buts
only ruts well-furnished 
by the less serious lifers
& for those who reach further 
only ands.

I Said/They Said

I said, You have heard it said, but I say to you.
They said, Would you like some bread with that whine?

I said, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
They said, WTF are you beholden to?

I said, Dog is Man's Best Friend!
They said, Why is Man not Dog's Best Friend?

I said, Look at how the sun rises!
They said, Turn around, the sun is setting.