Tag Archives: past

December 25, 2021 · 2:28 pm

They ride

In the early morning they rise.
People and horses they ride.
They pray and eat.
Riders mount horses
and into the pale light, in prayer
together hey begin to ride.

Through the mist,
they ride.
Through the fog,
they ride.
Through the cold,
they ride.
Through the rain,
they ride.
Through the snow,
they ride.
Through the ice,
they ride.

To remember,
they ride.
To tell the story,
they ride.
To bear witness,
they ride.
To grieve,
they ride.
To heal,
they ride.
To hope,
they ride.

For the 38+2,
they ride.
For justice,
they ride.
For the people,
they ride.
For themselves,
they ride.
For the future,
they ride.
For us all,
they ride.

To Mankato,
traveling  through the past,
inspiring the present,
shaping the future,
they ride.

25 December 2021
North East, Maryland

Learn more about the Dakota 38+2 and the 2021 Memorial Ride.
View Dakota 38, a documentary about the ride for reconciliation and hope.
A Memorial Run from Fort Snelling to Mankato also takes place on December 25-26

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March 30, 2020 · 9:05 am

Specters

Specters
from another’s past
haunt me.

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June 5, 2019 · 1:30 pm

Again

Once I read,
once I wrote.

Once I sang,
once I played.

Once …
… perhaps again.

5 June 2019
Manhattan, New York

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August 28, 2014 · 4:54 pm

Reenter the past

Memories rise,
unexpected, unbidden:
haunted, haunting specters
from days before.

Ancient pains recur;
old wounds ache, ooze;
what was, and what was not,
pierces the heart.

Old patterns emerge,
crystallize, gain strength,
seeking to shape behavior
yet again.

Old habits appear,
shatter new resolutions
with ease,
reasserting former ways.

All occur as we
cross the threshold
of once-lived places,
reentering the past.

28 August 2014
Cleveland Heights, OH

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September 7, 2011 · 12:36 am

Processing

In therapist’s office,
you talk through bad times;
on found scraps of paper
I scribble poor rhymes.

6 September 2011
Downtown 1 Train

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September 5, 2011 · 4:53 pm

Finally back to the gym

The past
can haunt us,
inspire us,
live within us,
shape us,
guide us,
influence us,
come out in our lives at times
and in ways that we never expect.

The past
may not even exist,
at least at times,
according to Faulkner; “the past is never dead;
it’s not even past.”

The past:
remember – never forget?
let bygones be bygones?

The past:
repress,
confess,
address,
suppress,
profess,
possess,
regress,
express,
invest,
protest,
digest?

The past
has seen me try
and come up short; and yet,
despite the past,
in spite of the past,
because of the past
I try again.
I try again.

5 September 2011
on the way to the gym
Shire on the Hudson

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July 14, 2011 · 1:42 am

Cold coffee

Alone, he sits in the far corner
where he can survey the whole shop.
He sees everything,
yet comprehends nothing;
he focuses not on the people or place.
Lost in thought,
trapped in feeling,
memories batter his spirit
mistake
upon
mistake
upon
mistake
they parade past his mind’s eye.
A legion of poor choices and bad decisions
march endlessly from his past and
define his present and
shape his future.
When he can stand to watch no more,
with an effort of will he shakes his head and
returns to the moment.
Fingers gnarled as pinon tree.
wrap around the mug before him.
The coffee has grown cold.

13 July 2011
Ghost Ranch, NM 

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May 31, 2011 · 3:28 am

Fragments from the past

For better or for worse, you can be the judge, I will be posting some older material over the next few weeks – pieces written some time ago but never posted.

Because this involves importing existing files, there may be formatting issues. Dates may not be precise; locations may be unclear.

Many of the pieces were written in the Southwest; some during trips to South Africa; others in places I have forgotten. All are fragments from the past.

See you along the Trail.

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