The hour of hoar frost
The hour of hoar frost Crisp and cool Freshly frozen frosty foliage. A painted picture. A portrait. A portrayal. A personification, Of bountiful bliss. The morning is such a precious time. I’m so seemingly susceptible, To see, So willing to accept, The gift. Gifts in perfect packages. Frozen lakes and fuzzy frost For as far […]
Hello
Hello, it’s me. No, not so much glee. But free. More melancholy. Melancholy is my mood. That melodic melancholy-ness. This is my bliss. I enjoy a cry. To feel. This is what moves me. Being moved. You see, I see, You. Well, I try. I do. It’s hard, To see, But I do. There is […]
A blind woman walking on the highway
A blind women walking on the highway. Her white cane stretched out. Looking, Stretching to see. Cars swerving left, Veering right. Heads turning. Yet, no one, Stopped. No one is stopping. A blind woman walking on the highway. Process that… It was rush hour. I personally saw at least a dozen cars, Dodge and weave. […]
Ashes
We put my dad’s ashes in the river today. I’ve known that’s what he wanted for years. But the execution… The act. To see the ash move into the water. A cloud. An etherial representation. Such sacred symbolism. The ash, powdery soft with a touch of grit. So…to set him free. Release him… He is […]
The Butcher
The butcher. There was so much that I didn’t understand, until I did. What does grace look like? Does it look like good ground beef? Does to me. What a silly thing, but it’s all right there. My cousin Mike and I were trying to dissect it a few years ago. What made it so […]
The world
A friend sent me this question. A question that appeared in his social media feed. If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be? He was intrigued by the commentary the question inspired. It’s about what you’d expect. Liberals, conservatives, Trump, Obama… And it devolved from there. Here’s the thing, To […]
Soundtrack
There was always music playing At my dad’s home. On the boat. While on our road trips. A soundtrack While we were together. This is what we did. We spent our time together. My dad is gone now, But his soundtrack lives on. Each song transporting us back To a time, To a place. When […]
Rhythms, ripples, and waves
Today I was with my father as he passed. It’s the rhythm that struck me. Balance abounds. For every yin, there is a yang. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. My son turned two in May. Birth, a cycle of increasing rhythms. The first contractions were wide spread. Contractions that increased […]
Surging Steam
Surging steam, Pouring from my car. That awful sweet stench. My car over heated while on the way home. Home from where? Well, that’s a story. I had two sisters who passed away thirty years ago this coming January. It was a complex relationship. We share the same father, But we have different mothers. With […]
Memento Mori
Memento Mori I was driving down the highway. Perfectly content. Captivated by my idealized ideations. On the right, woods. On the left, a cement median. It was rush hour. Traffic was moving swiftly. The rat race was on and I was blissfully bewitched. In the distance, I could see something moving along the median wall. […]
See
See Do you see? Do you choose to be? Do you recognize me? Wanting to flee? Will you walk in the rain with me? Life… False security. Sweet death Precious life. Dancing in the rain. Raising my arms to the heavens. Sweet tears of grace Pouring down my face. Oh god How powerful the embrace… […]
Life
Life Strife Cornered but free Searching yet done Rejected and honored Wanting and waning Hungry yet full Fulfilled and tormented Awake yet asleep Enlightened To nothing
Gotta?
Gotta? Do you really? Should you… Really? Needing…? Expecting…? This that. Feeling so Inadequate… Loosing control? Needing to know. Having to steer. Our greatest fear? Wanting to let go. What if I do… Will it be clear? Don’t fear. Take a chance… Glimpse ambivalence. All effort is ignorance. Effort is the wrong direction We’ve lost […]
In it…
In it… Serendipity Synchronicity An apple seed to an apple tree Try as it might An orange it will not be. It’s all a mystery to me. How do we know? Where is the flow? Do we create it? Can we go with it? Having to grow with it. Needing to know it… No. Let […]
Evil
Evil There exists the purest of evil, which has infiltrated our political structures, religious institutions, and the world’s cultures. Evil so pure and so prolific that it may shock even those who are subtly aware. If you have become aware, you know the trauma and coldness your heart encounters. For most who get a glimpse, […]
How do you hold your beliefs?
How do you hold your beliefs? Firmly? Sanctimoniously? Are you a dogmatic Democrat? Are you a righteous Republican? Are you a religious zealot? Are you so science minded that there is no room for spirit? Hold your beliefs like a baby bird. Yes, cherish them. But hold them tenderly. If you hold too tight, You’ll […]
Counting time…
Counting time… I was married to my ex-wife for sixteen years. We were together for seventeen. Curiously, I throw that number around like a badge of honor. I’m remarried now. It hasn’t been long. Maybe five years? Do you know what’s disturbing to me? I can’t remember, How long I’ve been married, that is. I […]
Reconciliation
Reconciliation George W. Bush, I’d never seen anything like it. Posturing himself as the simple guy. The east coast elite, Yale grad. I thought that was as bad as it would get. Projections limited by personal perspective. Today, my conservative friends tell me, “Now you know how we felt when Obama was president!” Wow… Anyway, […]
What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled?
Someone recently asked me, “What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled? I said, “I’ve come to a point where I realize that if I close my eyes, spin the globe, and stick my finger on some random place, that would be the most beautiful place in the world.” She looked perplexed. She didn’t want this philosophical […]
You are and you are not.
You are and you are not… If I have two apples and I buy two more, I now have four apples. This is a quantifiable fact with a measurable and repeatable result… …As long as we agree to look through a specific lens. And there’s the catch. At a subatomic level, the apple’s essence ceases […]
How often do you ask yourself who you are?
How often do you ask yourself who you are? Do you believe the tales you tell? Let’s do a thought experiment. Make a list of five things that define you, Big things. Now, throw them away. Get rid of them! Would you dare? Would you still be you, without the things you used to define […]
Truth
Truth… It’s a funny thing. What’s true for you may not be for me. It’s a bit less funny when we try to defend truth, Isn’t it? We tend to take our truth so personally. Isn’t it odd that truth can be so subjective? Have you ever experienced something with others only to find out […]
Disconnected
My parents generously brought our entire family on a cruise. There was something I didn’t think about… There was no cellular service. Our phones didn’t work. Habitually, I still picked it up. I craved the satisfaction it provided. I don’t like admitting this. It’s a bit embarrassing. Especially when my instinct was to tell you […]
Respect.
I said to my son, “It’s amazing how respectful all of your classmates are to the special needs kids.” He said, “Yeah, a kid was bullying a special needs kid and Josh tackled him and said, ‘Stop, leave him alone!’ Now it’s popular to be nice to the special needs kids.” Josh is the sixth […]
Dance
I was seven. We were dancing. Actually, I was…bobbing. I was happy but a bit self conscious. It would have been 1976. We were in the Trollhaugen chalet. A traditionally inspired ski lodge with rosemaling along the roof line. This was my home away from home. My parents were ski patrol there. People were done […]
Practicing Non-Judgment
Practicing non-judgment is an interesting idea. There is a problem, though. The very idea of non-judgment is based on judgment. Do you understand? To judge something worthy of non-judgment requires judgment. Seemingly an oxymoron, isn’t it? This is all pointing at something… With regard to non-judgment, it’s often believed that our primary focus should be […]
When you encounter pain, what is your first response?
When you encounter pain, what is your first response? To stop it, right? If I slip while cutting a tomato, it only makes sense to pull my hand away. But what about emotional pain? Should you indulge the same reflex? Emotional pain is different than physical pain. It can be deferred, if you choose. But […]
Sometimes silence sounds so serene
Sometimes silence sounds so serene. There are no words. Anything is an abomination. I look around and know no one, and no one knows me. I’m an apparition. A manifestation. A mirage of measured and mistaken malfeasance. A liberally contorted performance artist. A calamity of conservative consciousness. Hindered by beliefs that I don’t believe. Elevated […]
Can a hug and a sandwich change the world?
“I’m going to tell you something. I’ve made it a point to stop; to let people in traffic merge. You have to try to do good things. You have to try to make things work.” Let’s talk about change. That friend I told you about who was dismissed from jury duty… His name is Curtis […]
Peace requires understanding
Peace requires understanding. I’ve been at the center of a lot of conflict lately. I’ve told people that they are hurting me. I’ve told people that they’ve over stepped their boundaries. I’ve defended my family. I hoped for open communication. Ultimately, I hoped for understanding. At some level, I expected defensiveness. It’s hard when the […]