Monday, April 11, 2016

Uber

Want to get a workout? Order Uber in your PJs.

Learning ins and outs
Of Uber.
I had heard
It did not work
Where I live.
Apparently it does.
I was trying it out
In my pajamas
Car arriving in seven minutes
It said.
Car arriving
In five minutes
I did not want a car
To arrive.
Destination?
Destination?
Destination?
Cancel ride
Cancel ride
Cancel ride
I am now more awake
Than I ever was.

Fresh kitten eyes

The world of the kitten is ever new.

The Christmas tree
Is down.
It has found its home
In the basement.
The living room
Is as it was
Mid-December.
The kitten has found
New things to climb,
New things
To knock to the floor,
New things
To watch
Out the window.
The life of a kitten
Is ever-changing,
Always new.
She offers
Fresh kitten eyes
On the world.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Bishop dreams

Remembering and reclaiming chutzpah.

In my dreams
Pieces of the past
Make themselves present,
Weave new stories.
One of my first bishops
Arrives for Thanksgiving dinner.
I introduce him
To the family.
He praises the seasoning
On the filet mignon.
Awake
I tell stories
Real stories
Non-dreamed stories
To my beloved
Of this bishop
How I redefined the rules,
How he let me
Redefine the rules
So I could vote at Convention:
Me
A priest in my late twenties..
I had chutzpah then.
I guess that’s where
It came from.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Melt line

I am glad for signs of spring, an end to winter.

It sort of snowed
Last night.
This morning
Where the sun is
The snow isn’t.
The melt line says:
It’s more spring
Than winter now.
The robins have arrived.
The juncos will soon
Be on their way north.
I saw a goldfinch
At the thistle seed sock.
In the sun
He has begun
To gleam
Only a hint
But it’s there.
The melt line:
White on one side,
Green on the other,
Says
It’s more spring
Than winter.
I see it.
I swear I do.

Friday, April 8, 2016

When I die

When I die
Whenever it is
However it is
I would like a service
Calling to mind
The Resurrection
And me
With it
And
In it.

When I die
I would like a party
In celebration of my life
Including the difficult bits.
We all have
Difficult bits.

When I die
I would like to become ashes
And spread
And scattered
And strewn
Somewhere the family
Deems fit
Where I can nourish
Nematodes
Prairie flowers
A scrub pine,
perhaps,
A black panther
Maybe even
A hawk.

When I die
I would like to be returned
To the earth.

When I die
I would like to see
What comes next.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Fishing for socks

Life with kitten. Always something new.

She fishes for socks
In the laundry basket
Adept
At pulling them out
Through the holes
One by one.
No matter how much
I squish them down
Her front legs have grown,
Her claws
Kitten-sharp
Find them
One by one.
We play
Fishing for socks
Until something else
Catches her attention.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

To hear

Thank you, my friend (you know who you are), for the lovely green, bamboo imprinted batik with this quotation from Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy. A worthy reminder.

To hear,
   one must be silent.
-Ursula Le Guin

I know this
Until I forget.
I am prone
To forgetting,
Until I remember again.
This seems the way
It goes:
Knowing
Forgetting
Only to remember again.
I build buffers of silence
So I can hear.
I stop speaking
So I can hear,
Maybe then
I speak.
If I remember.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Slots

I still think such a slot may exist. I'm not sure I'll ever stop looking.

This may come as no surprise
To those who have watched
But
I have never met a slot
Into which I fit.
I used to blame it
On my upbringing.
I used to think
Slicing off a corner here
An edge there
Would make it right.
I do not have enough corners.
My edges are fine
Thank you.
In fact
I prefer a slotless world.
I would help create
A world without slots,
With room,
With endless room,
To grow
Together.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Lo the rhubarb

Thank God for rhubarb.

Clouds and sun
Come and go
Or maybe it’s me
Opening
Closing
My eyes.
They may indeed
Be stationary.
The wind blows strong
Now it is quiet.
Perhaps it is me
Imagining spring
Hoping for summer
Thinking change
Is on the horizon.
Maybe change
Will blow in.
Lo the rhubarb
Holds true
Anchors the ground
Steadfast.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Another picture

Part two of the morning study of cats.

Not five minutes later
Grandfather cat is asleep
In the sun.
The kitten is silent
Watching the backyard
Tail curled
Under her paws.
They are not together
Rather
A whole room apart
But still
In the same room.

Picture

Does a leopard change its spots? Sometimes.

I thought
The kitten had succumbed
To the morning sunlight
She even smelled
Grandfather cat’s ear
And that
Was enough.
It looked as though
They would sleep
Together in the sun
What a picture
I thought
I should take a picture
I thought
I waxed poetic
About lions and lambs
Kittens growing up
Everyone sleeping together
In the sun.
Then
All hell broke loose.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Rhubarb people

No one is interested in heirloom rhubarb, if there is such a thing. Rhubarb is itself: Rhubarb. Those who like it: do. Those who don't: don't. It's a little like brussels sprouts... another thing the heirloom market has not caught on to. Good thing, I say.

I used to receive
Catalogs in the mail,
Now it is emails:
Heirloom seeds to grow:
Heirloom tomatoes
Miniature cucumbers
No one on my block
Has ever grown.
I have not planted a garden
In three years.
I leave it to the perennials
To show themselves
Or not;
The volunteer bee balm
That arrived
Last year.
The rhubarb comes up
Every year
Demands to be harvested,
Given away
To rhubarb people.
Rhubarb people
Are not easy to determine
They are the ones
Hidden under the rhubarb leaves.
When I harvest
There they are
Waiting.

Friday, April 1, 2016

A labyrinth is to walk

For my sister, Jane, building a circular labyrinth in the desert.
,
A labyrinth
Is to walk
Sometimes something comes
Sometimes
Something leaves
Sometimes nothing known
Happens.
Still
A labyrinth
Is to walk
To see what comes next.,
There is always a next.
There is always something
To leave behind
There is always something
Which begs,
Which pants like a dog
To be left in the center
Don’t worry
There is divine care
In that center
A labyrinth is to walk
First in
Then out,

On April 1

Best to stay home and pray for those in need. The list is growing. I'm not sure April Fools day will help. A hot cup of tea, maybe? A prayer for kind weather? A thought for the man in the grocery store yesterday, pushing his cart from the wrong end, stuck in front of the frozen foods? We inquired and he said he was thinking about his next steps. When we looked again, he was nowhere to be found. Not him. Not his cart filled with puffed cheese balls. We figured it was a Jesus sighting. Best to stay home today.

On April 1
Everything is suspect
Even this.