Lunacy and Grace

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090415

L’ESSENTIEL EST INVISIBLE

Today, when speaking to my friends,
I closed my eyes ...until the end.
I opened them with such a start!
I'd been speaking from the heart.


090414

MAYOR AND GUEST (for Bob)

When the conference was done
I savored most in memory
the human kindness of the one
who smiled and held my chair for me.


090413

SOUND OF GRACE (for David)

No wayfaring stranger—
nor poor in any way—am I.

Once lost, now found,
I revel in the rich embrace
of precious and amazing grace—

How sweet the sound!


***

[BIRTHDAY CARD]

Birthdays have their time
and place—

There’s no doubting
that one bit.

Some of them
deserve embrace.

Some of them
are full of…

[inside]

…grace.


090412

SPRING FLING

Welcome to your party?
Thanks,
it’s been a while
since I dressed up fancy;
since I wore a smile.


090411

CORRESPONDENCE

Year after year,
I wrote to the air.

Dreaming like bear,
I lay in my lair—
when I peeked out,
it gave me a scare.

Out in the daylight,
out in the glare—
if I go out,
how will I fare?

But kinship is there!
For that, I will dare.


090410

POMES 5¢ (forDusty)

Before you decide
to peddle a book,
go stand on some
street corner awhile
selling apples.


BUNNY HOPPEN (for Michelle)

When there’s somethin’ to be done—
Leapin’ in!

Springin’ into action.
Jumpin’ in to help. Creatin’ satisfaction.
Spreadin’ round some mirth.

What is all that Hoppenworth?
Almost anything on earth!


090409

STRAW VOTE

Old haybales are arguing
heatedly,
in the otherwise empty
summer pasture,
for and against the proposition
that the absence of livestock
is permanent.


090408

LEARNING GRATITUDE

What I had is now supplanted.
What I had, I took for granted.

Night sits heavy on my chest.
Morning comes, but brings no rest.
All it takes to be so tense
is something to compare against.

What I have will be supplanted.
Nothing will I take for granted.


090407

EMMA’S EYES

Emma’s eyes
are clouding—
each day; less clear,
less bright.

(Near death,
when just a kitten,
Emma lost her sight.)

Now she “sees”
in other ways
as her eyes grow white.

Emmas’ eyes:
they help me see
all that is—as right.


SELF-DECEIVED (for Pam)

Said the writer:

Poetry
I do not do—
I can’t say “boo!”
to a haiku.


090406

WHO WANTS TO KNOW

What this means
I’ll come to see,
or not:
that’s the deal.

I may not be immortal.
I may not even be real.

But, scanning through the
portal of my memory
brings a certain certainty:
I have always felt like “me.”


090405

TEA PARTY

Life is cup and saucer.
Happiness is tea.

Please,
won't you come soon?
Share a cup with me.


090404 (for Gary)

GOOD NIGHT,
JUNG LOVERS,
WHEREVER
YOU ARE

I wish we may,
I wish we might
dream dream dream
good dreams tonight.


YOU BET YOUR LIFE

Life is abundant.
There is plenty for all.
Life is simple and fun.
Don’t worry. Be happy.
Follow your bliss.

How is a person supposed to
deal with ideas like these?

To test them, you would first
have to adopt faith in them,
and then
continually reinterpret their basic terms:
abundant, simple, bliss, life.

That would take lifelong commitment.
Is it worth the gamble?

???????????????????????????????

Epilogue: The first version of this poem
was lost to a computer crash. Dang-
dang-dang, I said, (or something like that)
as just-written words evaporated and
likely repair bills loomed.
As usual, life was offering me an opportunity
to answer affirmatively: Do you really
want to live in the way you propose?


090403

USE YOUR “INSIDE VOICE” (for Sandy)

A-gor-a-phobia.
It’s some fancy therapy-name
that makes it sound like you’re afraid
of being a bull-fighter.

Well, my bull is my brain, I guess.
But I’m learning to matador it.
Hey, I can even teach you a few things.

Last week, I had a major triumph.
You should have seen my doctor’s face
when I told her.

“I went outside on my own,” I said,
and not just to come here.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Ha! Yes I did. Went outside to a party.
A cocktail party!”

She was speechless.
I don’t think she believed me.
So I let her know that I have
therapy ways of my own.

“It was so easy, once I
paid attention to my Inside Voice.
It told me to go out my door
and just watch my feet move.
A while later,
it said to follow some other feet
that were going inside a building.
I came to a room where everybody
was making a lot of noise.
That scared me—a lot—
being in the middle of everything.
But I found a chair, and the voice said, sit down.
Then it said,
turn yourself into a tunafish sandwich.
It was great: nobody even noticed me.”

Doc was impressed—
said she’d never heard of
Tuna Stealth before.


090402

SINCE YOU ASKED

The reason I’m home so early
from the “read-around” is this:
they told me they’re a “writers” group
and they don’t want poetry anymore.

Wait! Sorry! Wrong!
April Fool’s was yesterday.
(But, it’s nice to see you so riled.)


090401

SPRING SPREE

Lunacy rules—
it’s April, fools!


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