Ready to Make Friends with Poetry? ⟶
I’ve been asking Jesus, because He said I could(ask)about a Five Year Plan–like a plannable annuitywith a guaranteed returnon my investment.As if….as if a sure answer formy tomorrows wouldbring me peace today.He whispers instead what’s doable–The five hour plan–a clump of time allotted to,say, oh, baking a pie.Manageable, like a tried and truerecipe–gather ingredientscheck ovendouble check recipeslice,…
I thought I had tomorrow-more than one, like petalsfrom an infinite flowerheld in my hand.I thought I had tomorrowfoolishly thinking the chanceswould arise in infinite numberrolling in like wavesagain and again on the shore.But the words-writ at my feet,stayed there, washing awaylike silken sand,crumbling in liquid lines–the words I never said.I meant to say “Thank…
Nothing is FINALThere is always a new day, a new chanceNoting is FATALYou won’t die; this experience won’t kill youNothing is FUTILEEven if you’ve blown it, you can learn from this; God uses it all. Bottom line: We have to believe what Jesus says about us instead of what we think of ourselves. ~~~~~~From my journal…
(after Gerard Manley Hopkins) Narrows Bridge, WA, photo by the author Glory be to God for freeway things For vehicles chrome-colored as Airstream and kin For billboards and tires that erstwhile sing Lemony busses, soldiering vans with commuters in. Praise Him all wheels and pavement, …
There’s a danger in going back to visit a place you’ve grown up in–a chance for your psyche to experience a bit of a jolt when what you remember doesn’t line up with reality.Actually, much of life is like that.My husband and I recently returned from an 8-day trip to California, the majority of the…
What does it take to feel alive?Warm sun, a fresh breeze, the breath of God.Peace, quiet, the creak of a floor,chiming of a bell in the distance,the tinkling of a cat’s bell.The fragrance of a morning rose and fresh coffee.The purr of a fan, the taste of a peachthe drone of a bee,the deep in and out…
Botanically speaking, the plant names trip on the tongue with some effort (mine) but once murmured, sound like the tune to an old song I’ve known all my life, the words rolling off in chunks of meaning as I pass by a rainbow of familiar flora – oleander–-pinnate, poisonous, softened by pink and purple eucalyptus–fragrance in crushed wood, leaving the warmth…
We’ve been informed we are flying at 29,000 feet (approximately) above the face of the Earth, suspended (how? by speed, lift and whatnot) like a moving planet jettisoned in a line moving at the speed of sound (light?). Refreshments are served, secured with invisible payments traveling via plastic and magnets swiped by staff standing still as…
A mystery, really–these mute carriers of a collection of qualities known only to humankind. The sway of the valise, a pendulum of skin-covered appendages, the flip of the handbag: back-side, front-side, side-side synchronized while hiking the concrete sun-filled hillsides up to the top~ View Just Ahead. Oblivious to said view in their busy ant kingdom…
orange trees from the orange grove where my husband was raised, Yorba Linda CA. I bless thee, Lord, because I GROW Among thy trees, which in a ROW To thee both fruit and order OW. When thou dost greater judgements SPARE And with thy knife but prune and PARE, Ev’n fruitful trees more fruitful ARE….