Rose Garden

Rose Garden

There is a real hope

And it hurts.

To lean into it,

No, to dive full on into it

Is the destiny of humanity 

But there within its living form are so many thorns 

Painful, hideous thorns

Disappointment, disillusionment 

Failure, rejection

These are the thorns on the roses of hope

And they are perilous, 

So perilous indeed

So what do I do?

Do I merely admire from a distance 

Or move just close enough to know the scent?

Or do I take the biggest risk

Put my hands in the midst

And grab hold

Not just to grasp it for me

Maybe never just for me

But in order to give it to another

My hands are bleeding 

It was worth every pain

2/26/19

Great Ones

Great Ones

There are many great ones on the earth

Not because they are known

Not because they are wealthy

Not because they are influential or powerful

But because they care

Because they love

Because they live life the way a human being lives life

Loving one another

Loving those that cross their paths

Whether that be another person, an animal, or a tree in the forest

These people are the ones that quietly move about

Changing the earth one moment at a time

They are never applauded

They are never written about

Most may be never noticed

But they are seen and known

They are honored and praised

By the lives of all, by the land

Let’s give these folks a hand….

2/23/19

Winter Blahs

Winter Blahs

It’s difficult to write poetry

When you’re dead inside

Everything is lifeless

Everything is irritating

I’m not sure how that happens

Feeling irritation when you’re dead

But that’s when it seems to happen the most

Every little thing

Is like a huge boulder

Dropping on your toes

Over and over again

In some kind of cruel repetition

I hate writing things like this

I hate words like hate and cruel and irritation

I don’t want those kind of contrasts in my life

I don’t want that dark background

Making some supposed light seem brighter

I simply want to enjoy the sunlight again

I simply want to feel the air against my skin

I simply want to feel, feel something

Besides all of this negative bombardment

All of this shrapnel of violence irate

All of this smoldering backwash of hate

I want to feel something besides this

So maybe a death is quite necessary

Maybe a death to all of these things

Will bring forth a life where everyone sings

Everyone plays

Everyone dances

In love and war and long romances

Everyone is who they are to be

Not stuck up in this hollow tree

Hearing nothing but the sound of me

2/18/19

Beautiful

Beautiful

Life is beautiful

Whatsoever is beautiful is life

Transformation is seeing the beautiful

In the mundane

I love eagles soaring

Hawks seeking

Falcons diving

All of these are majestic and powerful

All would agree to their beauty in the skies

Yet today the raven

Drifting in the wind

Falling, dancing, flying

In all of its blackness

In all of its common ways

It is beautiful

I would have missed it if I had been seeking otherwise

The beauty I see, this magnifies

By billions fold

I’m not sure I can handle all of that

And I’m not quite sure I’m supposed to

Life is beautiful.

2/2/19

Right

Right

I wish I could be confident

I wish I knew

The only thing I know

Is that I really don’t know

But I guess that’s a starting point 

That’s knowing a something

I look at the sunrise, the sunset

In an analytical way

What angle is the best to capture this

What will be the moment of best color

All the while I never really experience the moment

That is a parable of my entire life with God and others

That simple picture

Though staggering and painful and downright sad

Is simply the truth

It’s why I am not confident at all

Only my left brain is working

My right, in the stillness, is asking for just one chance

To let me know the great sunrise

1/30/19

New Day

New Day

It’s very hard to be a perfectionist

Because the very standard I use for me

Is the one I use for others

And everyone fails in this system, including me

Utterly

Miserably

Which makes me wonder

Maybe perfect is not the way any of us should be

Maybe I am fighting against a reality

That will never, ever move

I work so hard to test and prove

I am right

While all existence says “Not so.”

I’m not quite sure which way to go

But I do know I must turn away from here

This place that only knows judgment and fear

I must leave it at once

I have no idea where I am going

But anywhere else must be better

I might just need to write a letter

A letter of resignation to my former self

Clear these self-made trophies off of the shelf

Go outside, breathe the air

Look up to the mountains there

And take the worst photo I’ve ever taken

Laugh it off, let my perfection be shaken

Right off into the colors of the sunrise.

1/22/19

The Rushing

The Rushing

Let’s just sit here and stare at the screen, shall we?

Let’s just sit here and stare

Thinking nothing, going nowhere

Life seems to be nothing

But a series of distracting interruptions

Destroying any sense of creativity

A giant ocean trapped by a dam of crumbling earth

How ridiculous is that?

Maybe that is the biggest frustration

Something infinite and grand

Seems powerless against a barren land

But all our great stories tell us otherwise

Often it isn’t what we see with our eyes

Often it is what we know with our hearts

Where beauty resides

Often there is the place of great freedom

The place of the unseen

Eternal hues of blues and greens

I can hear the rushing of the waters…

1/20/19