Trapped ...

Blog 364:

Some of us are mind-trapped against will
… social skills deficit in autism
… tested focusing in ADHD
… wrenching existence in bi-polar syndrome
… insensible consciousness in schizophrenia

Others come physically imprisoned at birth
… denied of sound … deaf and mute
… withdrawn … paralyzed
… sight impaired … totally blind
… afflicted with muscular dystrophy

Still … there are among us ever haplessly depraved
… swallowed in economic poverty
… born in lowliest of social castes
… conceived out of wedlock
… formed in substance-addicted being

For many, life begins in complex and cruel state
It’s evident … we can’t choose our entry fate
Unaware we come helpless and so very naked
We could only hope our pain gets least wicked

Hamper Blues

Blog 366:

From fresh clothing to soiled
Hamper’s load grows and piles  
First just a piece, two, and then three
Soon it is half-filled and oh, so smelly
In just a day or so it reaches the rim
“I’m all heavy and can’t fill up more!” it screams.

Time to lift or drag Hamper away
To not so far distance … just a step … a hop
“Into the washer y’all jump and ride,” she says
Mix with detergent and water lukewarm
Toss and turn up or down and side to side
Wash and play, jump around in circular ride!

Soon after bell rings ding-dong-ding
Washer will tell, “My job’s done here!”
All say thank you and every piece walk out
Into the dryer march in for one more roundabout
Circle and dry, play then turn over and around
Ring-a-ding will sing again when all’s dry and flat!

Fret 'n' Serve

Blog 365:

Day by day she rises and trails
Her sense of purpose never fails
Soon as morning star peeks
To toil without grumbling she picks

Into the cupboard she swiftly goes
Surveys food items … something not gross
Pancake, grits, oatmeal, maybe biscuit
She grunts, “Oh, hurry … what’s good to eat?”
 
Grab a medium bowl and then pour pancake flour
Crack two eggs and mix in milk that’s sour
Stir until lump-free … smooth and pan-ready
Fry spoonful at a time and make sure it’s not bready!

Thanksgiving

Blog 368:

For joy of new found life
For satisfied hunger and thirst
For freedom to move around
For access to clean water
For security and safety of a home
For warmth and attention of loved ones
For gifts of sensibilities
For capable hands and feet
For rewards of talent realized
For rapture gained out of sharing bounty
For comfortable bed
For restful night
Above all … for grace, love and nurturing
Thank you mighty GOD of every living thing
Creator of waters, winds, stars, moon and sun!

Learning Wheel

Blog 367:
Sometimes we push and lead
Now and then we get to follow
Other times we task-speed
Or patiently learn as we go
 
In prime youth we intently watch
We let grown-ups pilot and steer
We trail behind until a firm latch
By ourselves we could maneuver

So goes the learning circles
Filled with err, but never quitting
We fall and rise from all debacles
And brave all tests or trials of living

Alliance

Blog 363:

You talk; I listen a bit
I say something; do mind it
Interact … relate … engage
What we want is smooth exchange

Consult me; ignore me not
Partnership requires a knot
When clear intentions get clarified
Souls of like minds get satisfied

Peeves

Blog 362:

Everything has a station
In our local habitation
Mess with order … be negligent
Surely … there’ll be resentment

Put back the toothpaste cap!
Rid of the dishes in the sink!
Clear countertops!
Tighten dispenser bottles’ caps!
Pick up soiled clothes from the floor!
Uncoil worn socks before dumping!

Everything around us belongs to a place
Items small or big has a designated space
Please, dear one, oh pretty please do
Help keep my sanity or I’ll scream at you!

Beat it!

Blog 361:

Get up now … skip and hop
Stretch your bulk and let it strut
Beat the dullness … dare not stop
If you don’t watch it, you’ll be in a rut

Go ahead … move out and away
Follow heart’s vigor and let it soar
Boredom will most likely not pay
Best rid of indolence, laziness and sore

Get in gear … slip in your shoe
Grab your cap and step outdoor
Rid of icky, wacky feeling … shoo!
Rake in drive … let momentum pour!

Ray 'n' Rustle

Blog 360:

Bursting up in the clear blue skies
Far beyond the puffy clouds
Brother Sun’s rays greet “Hello!”
Further on he asks, “How are you?”

“I’m quite annoyed,” I retort
“Your energy I don’t sport
Don’t you see I am balmy and hot?
Go away, please, and leave my spot!”
 
I soak in the warmth I feel
And tolerate my skin his rays peel
Calculating, counting I take my steps
Walking down familiar path I press

Unexpectedly though … from out somewhere
A rustling and a swish I feel and hear
It holds on … it clings and caresses sweetly
Singing, darting, dancing spryly

Sister Wind soon wraps around ... over
Tickling my now rather sweaty cover
A rush and a swirl … whizz and whirl
I perfectly hear it now whisper in my ear

“Perk up… keep on …
Let me give you a push!
Go forward … carry on …
Here I come - SWOOSH!”

Tipped Scales

Blog 359:
We have heard of life’s wheel
We heard over and over …
“We all live and die!
In between ... we celebrate life!

Plants and trees shoot up
After a short or long while
They do take their shining spot
Though soon they wilt ... crumble on the ground
And become part of the nesting bed
Like those who've come and gone
They make new beds for fresh growths
Who likewise rise and rejoice!

We heard of life’s paths
We heard over and over
“Not all womb-conceived 
Live fairly chosen lives!”

For some, life is snuffed before it could fully form
For those able to live or breathe their fragile worlds
Life takes tragic turns of neglect and abuse
They are ghosts reduced to take spots in the shadows
They moan and they cry, but their voices get muted
They are the walking, living dead in our thriving world
Unlike plants that celebrate their birthing and dying
Their rising from seed is nothing more than cursed dawn!

Must & Should ...

Blog 358:

While it spins, our world mourns  
It waits patiently for an impetus
It hungers for an enduring healing
It cries without ceasing
It summons our attention
 
Pause wherever you are …
Drop unimportant task this minute ...
Stop and look …
Pin your ears back …
Intently listen …

Out and around, economic crises anguish one and all
Give birth to an idea!
Race relations twist people’s hearts
Dawn a fresh understanding!
Partisan grounds wound, fester, and infect common good
Stamped with kindred resolve, form a group!
Arrogance and apathy muddle compromise
Revolutionize focused conversation!
Pro-life or pro-choice divide and hurt
Debate pros and cons of decision locus!
Poverty … Injustice … Human Rights get denied
Begin and sustain a life-impacting dialog!

We should reflect and decently act
We must transform habits and thoughts
We should pine and work for greater gain
We must commit to solutions that elevate us all!

'What does God require?"

Blog 357:

Spread love-
… love for God
… love for country
… love for creatures of the lesser kind
… love of neighbors
-even the voiceless ones
  
Act on love-
… love for peace
… love for justice
… love for natural environment
… love for others
-even the unwanted ones

Think of ways to share God’s love
… with human traffickers
… with drug dealers
… with con actors
-even oppresors of the marginalized ones
 
Love self- your God-fashioned image
… snip weaknesses of the heart
… rid of vice and pretenses
… clip habits that debase
-end the minutest denial of gifts you were endowed

Scriptures tell: “What does God require of humans?”
“Nothing more or less … but time and again seek love …
Do justice, show mercy, fully carry out kindness
Fulfill commandments with emboldened heart and mind!”

Time ...

Blog 356:

Time is of the essence
We hear over and again
Yet seriously mind not
We wait for it …
We borrow it …
We let it pass …
We abuse it …
We exploit time and run after it …
We wake to time and sleep in it …
We toil and wallow in it …
We work for or against it …
Time wisely used or squandered
Is nothing much more than what it is
Time comes and time goes
We live constructively or destructively
And live with time as it lives its life!

Choose!

Blog 355:

Make up your mind …
Decide …
Put indecision to a stop
Claim your conviction … waiver not!

Choose one side of a cause
Opt and stand your ground
State the passion of your mind
Reveal the desire of your heart

When you stand astride …
When you disclose doubt, however slight
Someone surely will pounce
And self-determination you’re endowed ceases

Fix firmly on matters of consequence
If you elect not to act
If you resolve to not speak up
You lose that backbone … reins of will fly

Like what’s laid out or not
Believe in a matter of outcome or not
Indecision is decision in vain
Pointless … fruitless …
A wasted prospect …
Option vanished to thin air!

Rave or Breathe?

Blog 354:

Why do low clouds float and linger
Bringing dull, oppressive weather?
Why does one’s heart abruptly beat
Bringing discomfort, a blow, a hit?
Why must insolent days keep coming
Bringing news offending one’s hearing?

Huff we let go and puff we gust
Silly we wreak havoc that turn to dust
Queries, jolts, all unwanted dealings
Do pressure the mind’s calm proceedings
They choke, congest and make us weep
But we could choose neither one to keep

So cheer and shout … steam release
Change stale demeanor in a breeze
Life is what it is … filled with naught and delight
Take it pleasantly if we want or put up a fight!

Judge Not!

Blog 353:

Brew coffee
Turn on tube
Listen to newsfeed
Lose mind in the crowd …

Check mail postings
Respond if passionately led
Pour ‘happy juice’ in a cup
Then sip it all in stride …

Look at the clock!
It makes noise, it shouts,
“Time to get up and about!”
Say NO to dilly-dallying now
Groom and dress
Map out day, like it or not …

Wow, all that and there’s time left
Do attend to darling pets
Cuddle her here, throw his ball there
Take a walk perhaps … 

All routine done … and just in time
Catch more news or opinion squawk
Clock strikes seven, the signal hour
Morning route must commence …

Yes … time to beat the traffic
Get out now and begin day’s grind
Let hours slowly slip by
And day’s deeds carry out ...

“Mundane day’s journey,” rats a voice.

“Conventional … repetitive!” shouts another.

It does appear on the surface
Repetitive endeavor is meaningless
But does mockery of someone’s strive
Bring worthwhile, upright resolve?

Echo of a precept sounds out
“Judge not, lest you be judged!”
Before one’s muck we criticize
Let’s pluck the log from our eyes!

Spread Your Wings!

Blog 351:

From egg to cocoon
Life begins after a breakout
Followed by an adventurous flight

From flower to flower

It gleefully goes

It flutters its dainty wings

It devours nectar and sings 

Nourished … strengthened …
The sweet energy extract
Boosts it to infinite freedom
Of frolic and flight near and far

Soon enough …
It gives in to predestined existence
Of play and search for one like-minded mate
Who’d fulfill with it the resolve to spawn

Yet another potential creature mirroring it

Fragile though it maybe when it comes
And only promised a short-term limit like itself
Life fulfills its mysteries ...
Worlds of comings and goings ...
Birth and then death!

Print 'n' Tell

Blog 352:

From thought to print
Manuscripts and books

Unveil worlds of sorts … 

Events unfold, get covered … reported
Become history from which to learn
Or repeat over and again …

Unsung and celebrated souls parade lives
Until a singular passionate psyche
Decides to document and perpetuate their feats …

Poets tell of dreams and adventures
Life’s witnesses bare absorbed lessons
Always … thought pours ensued by revelations 
 
Roundabout goes humankind’s circles of thought
Vicariously or directly, they birth and resurrect
Until their redundancy and worth get disclosed!

"Slayer"

Blog 350:

Baffling urge for hunt calls
Fed by cymbal-like clanging
It sounds loudly, yet hollow
It gnaws into the psyche
It pumps the heart
It spawns adrenalin rush
 
Flea Market thrill hunt
For hope of one rare find
Is that quick trip
Much like heroin lust
When craving thuds …
There’s point of no return
 
Once willfully ingested
It serves that fleeting high desired
Only to later dizzily awaken …
And realize one has gone nowhere
But right back where impulse began
And dollars&cents flat broke
 
Mindless addiction
For any fading thing
At Flea Market bargain stands
Is just what it is …
Transitory …
Wasteful …
Energy murderer …
Time butcher!

Soul Glum ...

Dismayed, disappointed … perhaps even dispirited
He gets flustered, blows a fuse, and then screams
“The darn hanger is straight!” he rowdily bellowed
“It is not so,” she countered, “Hand me the gauge.”

The scene gets fired up
Emotions climb and surge
Voices brashly collide
Heads run amok in 360-turn

Ruffled further, he retorts, “Fine, you do it!
He slams hammer and gauge down on a ledge
And before she could bite back on disconnect
He walks away and yells, “Nothing I do is right!”

What about deep down angered him, she didn’t really know
Surely though, she knew discontent was underneath
The good-natured person she esteemed of late appear drained
Congenial stance replaced these days with grouch and grump

How could he grumble or moan on mundane disagreement?
He … the “called shepherd and disciple of the Divine”
He … who preaches the WORD of piety and patience
He … who vowed to steadfastness, gentleness and love
Hurt understandably does infect all humankind
But giving in to injury of sort is one high crime
Souls out there hope he shakes grievance and wound
Rather than gripe and huff, repent he must and get found!

Quandary

Blog 348:

Co-existence causes perplexing rhythms
Seeming good is not all good
Apparent bad is not all bad
What is clear is if they’re not openly spoken
Co-existence brews dangerous, fragile reality

First creeps lukewarm exchanges
Next a stressful dance of hypocritical kind
In time mixed energies get wrangled
Or worse, they get tightly bottled
Calibrated-not, wrenched energies reach the rim
And predictably soon … a full-blown outburst
 
Of what good is co-existence?
Meaningless accord comes to mind
Contentment of the lesser kind
And what injurious bad does it invite?
In the horizon visibly lurks co-evolution
The reckless and crueler path
 
Should we summon disappointment?
Lead in pain or wallow in self-pity?
Passionless co-existence is devious
Deceitful life is downright dangerous!

Walls&Fences

Blog 347:

I wandered not so far one day
In the confines of my fenced grounds
Looking around, I naively noted
How limiting this world I’m penned

So … mutely I asked, witnessed only by the skies ...
“What could be on the other side …
Of this massive concrete walls that gird?”
My whispering voice unheard, alas …
I slowly walked defeated, yet determined to find

I wandered a little farther one other day
Through the dense woods with which I shared space
Looking up, I noted, tall trees shared my tiny world
And realizing so, I found within my questioning voice

Thrillingly I asked of one grand Star Apple tree,
“What could your eyes see beyond where stand you and me?”
It replied, “People … all kinds, buildings great and small …
I also see a world birthing ... just waiting for you and all!"

“A world?  A world bigger than this one we know?” I queried.
“Yes … one complex world of thoughts and exploits ...
Haste not, little one,” it lovingly hushed and comforted

In a sense I then neither  perceived nor grasped

“Wait a few years ‘til your time’s ripe,” it further advised.
“Let the moon and sun go about, but keep that wondering alive
On your own, very soon, you’ll get out of your gated fences
Before long, you’d walk the narrow and wide streets of life
Decide then for yourself what worth and use fences guard!”

Not so very long ago I did wander out
Away from the Star Apple Tree and bars of my innocence
Diversity of fences tall and short I did meet there and here
From movement boundaries and those that protect the pure
Relationship-walling, political stockades and social casting stood
So did testimonial structures honoring strives of dead and living
There too were set fortifications for prayer wailing or crying
And moreover, partitions placed to rid of foreign invaders
The world, indeed, carries on with walls and fences
Our challenge: Define which are kind, mending, and cruel!

Shadows

Blog 346:

When darkness falls
Phantoms visit ...
They overtake the mind
They dig deep into the soul
They squeeze the heart
Until shadows of the past
Break loose into silhouettes
And take front center in one’s eyes
 
One at a time specters speak up
They each unveil events of painful past
Those hidden by times or days gone by
Two, sometimes three … compete
They insist to be recognized … heard

Long forgotten, but ever present
Uninvited spirits tell facts of guilt
Wicked ghosts demand reckoning
Their screeching voices drown the ear
Their discontent shakes the bones
Their whispers echo ‘til the body jerks
And the soul … the mind … awakes

In the blackness of night rises unease
As phantasms cry and beg to be heard
They moan and wrench until their wits give up
But it’s no use; their fierce accounting is ignored

Fiercely, quickly, they are silenced … muted …
Just like this very night and nights of yesteryears
Over and again, the cycle of torture repeats
Yet the yelping … squealing is shackled yet again
And buried much deeper in gloom this time
In the dead of nightfall …  in obscurity!

Freedom

Blog 345:

Freedom …
Openness, frankness, willingness
Freedom brings great pride to those who enjoy it
Freedom causes weariness to those deprived of it
What price would you pay to have liberty?

At what length would you fight to preserve it?

Sovereignty …
Self-determination, candor, free expression
People past and present offer their lives to keep it intact
Governments and nations guard its sanctity
Without freedom to choose a path, life is lackluster
Without participation on what upholds it, freedom is meaningless

Independence …
Contented feeling, decent living, dignified humanity 
Protect it from those who would destroy it
Sustain its gifts of inventiveness and creativity
Defend the right to freely choose and freely live!

Water ...

Blog 344:

On water: must you take in or give out?
Why, we must be crazy to go without!
The body, devoid of water is incomplete
We’re bare bones and skin when starved of it
Fact it is … we’re all seventy-five percent H20
I thought you should know!

Water, like air, isn’t an option
It day-to-day sustains life
It fights infections
It regulates the entire body
When deprived of it, the body suffers
 
Water eases life
It cleanses most things soiled
It grows everything green
It eliminates impurities
When water is absent, daily living is a pain

Water is soul lifting
Through water baptism we connect with God
With living water, we quench our thirst
A song reminds … “You’d never be denied …
'Cause for those tears you cried, I died!
“Come to the water ...
Come … stand by MY side!”
When water is inwardly ever-present, we truly live!

Break-a-day!

Blog 343:

Turn bright hall lights
Head slowly down steps
Take love from bouncy brats!
 
Good morning, you two!
It’s a grand day to wake … I know

But first, let me cuddle you!

Got great rest?
Had excellent sleep?

Run now … it is best!

Dig into the fridge
What’s in for treat?
Aha … meatloaf smidge!

Full tummy now, eh?
Go … get about now
And out of my way!

So … there begins our day
In our playground of life
No bells, no monetary pay

What’s the gain, you ask?
Clear ‘n’ simple, I could shout
The brats and I live ‘n’ relax

Rhythms&Blues

Blog 342:

Moons ago, we endeavored with great enthusiasm
As music of every new day kept our feet in rhythm
Each day we rose and hugged, then began to dance
As fasting we broke and mapped out our stance
 
To earning a living we turned, next grossing, then netting
Toiling we did without ever grunting or complaining
Each waking day we measured our steps in full and prayed
And life, filled with games good or bad, we carefully played
 
Long indeed were the hours of a decade times three
‘Til my pacing stopped, then I declared, “I want to be free!”
“Away with rhythm,” I added …”the music no longer charmed me!”
Surprised I was indeed when you said, “If that’s so, then let it be!”

So it ran and went away for old rhythms of my life
However, for you it kept singing with some strife
I have wondered these days how long we’d sing the blues
Not knowing when rhythms will make new music and cues