Driver stories

More driver adventures. The driver who feeds me wants to make sure I eat. He also drove carefully so I didn't spill the coffee.

Last week
One driver
Asked me
For a blessing
For him
And his son
I gave it.
Another
Took a different way home
So he could feed me
Onion strings
And coffee.
Eat them now
He said
They are only good
Hot.

Count backwards

I don't remember this being an exercise for mental status when I attended school. Now it seems to be everywhere.

Count backwards
By sevens
From one hundred.
I lie in bed
And practice
For whatever
For whenever
Might be next.
Count backwards.
Maybe I'll get it right
Next time.
I sit in my chair
Think about
How ridiculous it is
To count backwards
By sevens.
I made it
To seventy-nine
Last night.

Compunction

Praying for everything to Come 'round right. 'For when true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we will not be ashamed. (Simple Gifts Shaker hymn)

What do we expect
When compunction
Has been buried
Underground?
It may come to life
Again
But that may be me
Ever hopeful
That the world
Will come 'round
Right.
T'is a gift
To be simple
T'is a gift
To be free
T'is a gift 
To come 'round
Where we ought
To be
And when we find ourselves
In a place just right
'Twill be in the valley
Of love and delight

When do you create?

As for me, I usually create in the morning.

When do you create?
Always?
Like God?
In the morning?
Your head
Not clouded
With daily things?
Before bed
When you bring
The things
Of the day
Into a poem
A painting?
As you drop off
To sleep
Fall into things
You may not remember
In the morning?
When do you create?
Walk the paths
With a notebook
To jot down ideas
Sketches.
When do you create?
All the time?

When they saw

What do we see on the road?

When they saw
Jesus on the road
After the Crucifixion
After the Tomb
After the Resurrection
After the Re-gathering
In the Upper Room
Did they know
It was Him?
Did they see
An inkling
A slight halo
An aura
Around
The man?
It's hard to think
They did not know Him
Before the bread
Was broken.

Hajj

I continue to learn the various forms of pilgrimage.

The Hajj
Is only about
Mecca
Mohammed
No healing mud
No holy water
No adaptations
Of native rites.
The Hajj
Is once a lifetime
Or more,

Camino de Santiago

My bright red walker has a comfortable seat so I don't have to go more than one step at a time, if need be.

If I rolled
The Camino
One wheel
At a time
How far
Would I get?
One step
At a time.
It's always
The way
It goes,
Even when I
Set off
To make the journey
A thousand steps
A day
One wheel
One step
Often it's mine
To watch
Other people
Go by me
Smile
Offer one cup
Of water
To those determined
To take
A thousand steps
At a time.

Revelation

I wonder what would happen if we waited for our children to reveal their names to us.

When I write
Sometimes
The title
Comes first
The rest
Follows.
Most of the time
I wait
For the title
To reveal itself.
I say
Oh there you are
I wondered
What your name
Was.

Honor

Every family has its own motto.

Honor
Was big
In my family.
If we had a motto
It would have been
A person
Is only as good
As his
As her
Own word.
While other friends
Lied
To get
Summer jobs
We were not allowed.
My father
Hired each of us
Every summer.
At least we learned
The family business.
He even wanted
To find jobs
For us
When we
Were grown
Instead
I went to seminary,

New Year

Ha-yom harat olam Today is the birthday of the world. Jewish New Year begins tomorrow at sundown.

What if
The new year began
Every morning
We began
By speaking
Into it
With fresh words
Saw it
With fresh eyes?
The crotchety old lady
Who lives
Next door
Got a new beginning
Too
Even if she doesn't
Count
Anything
As new
But merely
An extension
Of
The same old
Same old
Same old
What if we planted
A sunflower
Just one
Facing her house?

Tikkun Olam

Tikkun olam is Hebrew for the healing of the world.

In the beginning
Everything was whole
Shining
Everything held hands
If they had hands.
When my daughter
Was young
She could not understand
Why anyone
Would wear a fur coat
How can anyone wear something
That once had a face?
What if we saw everything
What if we saw everyone
With a face?
In the beginning
We saw the face
On everything
Like God
Sees the face
On everything.
In the beginning
Everything
Was whole.

Florilegia (Sparklets)

With thanks to an article by Stephanie Paulsell in Christian Century, in the August 29, 2018 issue

A practice of monks
Medieval monks
Finding gleaming fragments
Which they assembled
To find
New truths.
There are always
New truths
To be found.
With new assembly.
New understanding
To be heard
Even
In the grocery store
Next to the produce.
Oh Honey Bear
The husband said
To his wife
She did not look like
A Honey Bear
To us
But to him
She was.
A gleaming fragment
Next to the produce.

Shards of God

There is much to be found on the beach.

We are meant
To collect
Shards of God
Help smooth it
Like beach glass
Find the special
Red bits
Blue bits
Not forgo
More common
Brown
White
Green

Four corners

There are stories, and there are stories. This would make a good New Yorker cartoon, or maybe a story, if I could figure out how to tell it.

She told
Of her child
In class
With one teacher
No assistant
And
Five challenged children.
The room
Like most rooms
Had four corners.

Fairy rings

Gone with the fairies

The neat freak
On the corner
Of our block
Has cleared the mushrooms
From his lawn.
We keep our mushrooms
Next to the front door,
As do
Our neighbors
Across the street.
This is somehow
Mushroom weather.
Fairy rings appear
Around the block.
We count the houses
With mushrooms.
It is time
For a mushroom hunt
Before
They all
Disappear,

crab apple year

I wait for Disney World in the back yard. Squirrels, coyotes, fox, raccoons, the occasion possum. Everyone eats crab apples.

It's a crab apple year
They don't come often
Now.
Who will come
To dine?
I set up the chair
In the kitchen,
Binoculars
In hand.
Crab apple years
Don't come often
Enough.
Everyone
Eats crab apples.