Memories …
bless,
affirm,
strengthen,
sustain,
bring joy,
bring tears.
Memories …
cut,
rip,
haunt,
hurt,
bring pain,
bring tears.
5 April 2018
Category Archives: Poem
Memories
Filed under Poem
War I and II
I
Missiles fly.
Parents die.
Children cry.
II
Missiles fly.
Children die.
Parents cry.
22 March 2022
Filed under Current Events, Human Rights, Poem, Six Word Story
12 January 2022
Walking Gym in the Apartment.
Ira Hayes birthday
The Ballad of Ira Hayes – Kris Kristofferson, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
Heritage – Shelley Morningstar
You Will Have Peace – Joanne Shenandoah
My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying – Buffy Sainte Marie
Honoring – Peter Katar & R. Carlos Nakai
The Ballad of Ira Hayes – Johnny Cash
Healing Song #3 – Primeaux, Mike & Attson
Golden Feather – Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble
Brother Warrior – Sharon Burch
Calling the Spirit Back – Joy Harjo, feat. Rahim Alhaj
The Marines’ Hymn – United States Marine Band
The Last Post – Band Of The Royal Regiment Of New Zealand Artillery
Ira Hayes – Peter LaFarge
Filed under Exercise, Louisville, Music, playlist, Poem
All matches cancelled
In that eternal tennis center
where immortals and unknowns,
injury and age wiped away,
white supremacy and patriarchy recalled and transcended,
gather to play forever, amid
churning legs and blurring rackets,
thundering serves and crackling backhands,
all matches scheduled for
what we know as September 11, 2021
4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
are cancelled
so everyone may gather
round the Jumbotrons to view
Leylah Fernandez
and Emma Raducanu
and marvel
and rejoice
and remember
it is never,
never,
just about the tennis.
10 September 2021
Louisville, Kentucky
Psalm 46 (Koenig revised version)
God is our refuge and strength,
Though the virus should mutate,
though events shake our hearts;
though would-be pundits rant and rage;
though the tumult make us tremble;
God is our refuge and strength.
Selah
God is our refuge and strength.
We don our masks.
We receive vaccines (if we are able).
We wash our hands (often).
We physically distance.
God is our refuge and strength.
Amen.
Filed under Current Events, Poem, Prayer
Words fail and tears flow
A prayer poem in the aftermath of the killing of 8 people of whom 7 were were women and 6 were women of Asian descent
Words fail and tears flow.
They squeeze out of the corners of my eyes,
roll down to tangle in the underbrush of beard
until they break free and splatter on the keyboard.
Words fail and tears flow
for Asian and Asian American women
killed in Atlanta; lives violently taken;
your beloved children too soon gone.
Words fail and tears flow
for mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers
partners, lovers, children,
family and friend
who bear this unspeakable horror tonight
and who carry this unbearable pain into the future.
Words fail and tears flow
for communities terrorized and intimidated
by this and countless other violent acts of hate.
Words fail and tears flow
tears of grief; tears of rage.
As words fail, tears
become prayers for
those who were killed,
those who bear wounds,
those who mourn,
those who know fear,
those who would honor your image in all your precious people
and who would work for a better world.
In the name of the one whose tears flowed
at the death of a friend and for the people of Jerusalem. Amen.
With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Christine Hong for the reminder to pray for the families of the women who were killed.
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Poem, Prayer
You will know
Amid all the challenges these days bring, remember:
One day this pandemic will endÂ
and then you will know.Â
One day you will knowÂ
how brave you have been.Â
One day you will know
how strong you have been.Â
One day you will knowÂ
how resilient you have been.Â
One day you will know
how resourceful you have been.Â
One day you will knowÂ
how gracious you have been.Â
One day you will know
how loving you have been
Each day be yourself
and one day you will know.Â
1 March 2021
Louisville, Kentucky
Filed under Current Events, Poem
500,000 and One
More than 500,000,
more than half a million,
in the United States.
More than 2,470,000,
almost two and a half million,
around the world.
The number of people
who have died from COVID-19
overwhelms my mind, God
and fills my spirit with sorrow and anger.
I say the numbers but
fail to comprehend their meaning.
Help me, O God, to focus on another number.
One.
That number I understand.
One.
That number reminds me that
large figures are created
one at a time.
One person.
One beloved family member.
One friend.
One mentor.
One neighbor.
One of your precious children.
Remembering one,
I give thanks for each of your precious children.
I ask you to comfort all who mourn.
I ask you strengthen all who are ill.
I ask you to guide people, communities,
our nation, all nations,
and to lead researchers, technicians,
nurses, support staff, and doctors
to continue efforts
to end the spread of COVID-19
for the sake of the one,
for the sake of the many.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.Â
Filed under Current Events, Poem, Prayer
So, dusty
Friends –
we are dust.
But do you not know
have you not seen
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
All of creation
every blessed creature,
every amazing facet,
every wonderful human being
you and me and all of us,
made from dust by God.
Made from dust and beloved of God.
So Dusty, if I may call us each that.
Go Dusty,
go and live.
Go and love kindness.
Go and do justice.
Go and walk this Lenten journey humbly with God.
Know, Dusty, that
the love of God
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the peace and fellowship of the Holy Spirit
are with us now and forever.
Amen.
17 February 2021
inspired by a blessing from Jan Richardson
You made it
Since March, I have been sending messages to a number of my friends who are working from home and whose children are home. Here is what I wrote today. I offer it for anyone else who might find it helpful.
You made it.
2021 has begun.
The past year had more than its share of challenges.
You probably experienced
frustration and anxieties and disappointments
beyond counting.
But you are strong.
You are beloved by God.
You made it.
Of course, with whatever else 2021 brings,
there will be challenges,
frustration and anxieties and disappointments
beyond counting.
But you are strong.
You are beloved by God.
You will make it.Â
Germantown, Kentucky
2 January 2021
Filed under Current Events, Family, Friends, Poem
Along the Graybeard Trail 