Hope Wears Golden Feathers

Hope wears golden feathers                                                                

And you had better hold him tight
For soon he shall go soaring off
Away into the night
 
You can ride upon the eagle's back
Laugh at the rush of wind
Go sailing off to meet the stars
And never stoop down again
 
But if your grip is weak or loose
Through your fingers hope will slip
And you'll be forced to trudge barefoot
All your long life's trip
 
So grasp that lofty eagle as
He ignores the winds that blow;
He'll carry you 'cross valleys
That confound the folks below

I Heard Death Above Me

inspired by a line of dialogue from The Incredible Hulk episode "Nine Hours"

 

 

I heard death above me

The sound of raven's wings

Fluttering and flapping

Then brushing on the floor

 

I heard death behind me

As I lay upon the ground

The empty, wooden sound

Of a scythe against my door

 

Death knelt by my shoulder

His chill hand like polar snows

The presence, and the future

My heart, my innards froze

 

Then a clattering of bones

Death banished from that place

Molten gold assuaged me

A radiant Presence warmed my face

 

"You are mine,"  He whispered.

"You have no need for fear.

I am here beside you,

And always will be near.

Call my name, and I shall save:

I have victory o'er the grave."

 

Spring Is Here

To close out my year of poetry, I have a palindrome poem for you.
 

Here is spring:

Budding trees and
Breezes blowing;
Flying kites and
Branches waving;
Growing flowers and
Birds chirping;
Laughing children
Sailing boats;
Gurgling fountains
Reflecting
Fountains gurgling,
Boats sailing,
Children laughing,
Chirping birds and
Flowers growing,
Waving branches and
Kites flying,
Blowing breezes and
Trees budding.
Spring is here! 


Congratulations to me!  I made it!  (Even coasted out on old poems :)  )

Spring

I figured I'd use up a couple more of the poems that I've already done in order to finish out my year of publishing a poem a day.  So the last 2 days' poems are about spring, despite the fact that it's at least a month away.

 

flower bulbs

in their dark graves
sing joyfully
at fluid light's first kiss
as the frigid pearlescence
of winter elements
is rent asunder
by the pink persimmon sun
rising through the golden mist

Somewhere Beautiful

On my grandpa's birthday, I think it's only fitting to share with you this poem I wrote after he died.  This is to "On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful".

Broke my heart to hear that song
But I couldn’t help singing along
Played it on my MP3 repeatedly
Tears streaming from my eyes
Memories like pesky flies
Everywhere I turned, they stung me
 
Lonesome dogs and weenies to roast
Zucchini jelly for my toast
He was everywhere I looked for weeks
Though dead, grandpa isn’t gone
That’s why it hurts to hear the song
And why tears are coursin’ down my cheeks
 
He’s on the coast of somewhere beautiful
Heaven’s scent floatin’ in the air
Maybe even dancin’ on the water
I wish I was there
Don’t know how I’m gonna get there
All I know so far
He’s on the coast of somewhere beautiful
With a piece of my heart
 
I picture azure seas all around
Golden sand shinin’ on the ground
And I can even see him there
Half in, half out of the water
Watching over sons and daughters
Relaxing in his beach chair
 
(Chorus)
 
Someday I’ll join him there
Someday I’ll jump in his arms
Someday I’ll get to talk to him again
 
(Chorus)

Concealer

She spreads luminous layers
Of bronze and beige
On her eye shadows
 
Rehearses her excuses
Of trips and falls
In her mirror
 
Mirror, mirror, on the wall
You see what she won’t show at all
 
Reflecting broken hopes
Caged in bars of twisted love
A tear in one eye
 
Grab a Kleenex
Blot it quick
Makeup unblemished

Altamira

So, here's another poem I did a long time ago...  I'm pretty sure that it was back during college-- maybe for Art for El. Ed.?  And it's a bilingual steptolet... just because.

 

Altamira

Beautiful bulls
Little girl rediscovered
While playing
“¡Papá!
¡Venga aquí!
¡Mire al techo!” 

Stuck In A Job I Never Really Wanted

What am I doing here?
Why am I stuck in this cubicle,
Typing and telemarketing
Living day to day
Working on a contingent basis
With a four-year degree?
 
What happened to teaching?
To shaping young minds
Teaching respect and courtesy
And reading and math and science
And art and music and
A love of learning?
 
Whatever happened to doing things
That I’m passionate about?

Radio Love Song

So, for those of you who didn't catch it on the radio yesterday, a marine had called in to the show asking them to dedicate a song to his wife for Valentine's day.  They're newlyweds, but he now stationed 4,000 miles away.  The DJ was taking it a step further and basically writing a song on the air for them-- with help from a few members of the audience who called in with possible verses.  This was my submission:

"Semper fi" is my motto
Not just as a marine at sea
To you, my lovely Carrie
Always faithful, I will be

PS.  For those of you who may not know, "Semper Fidelis" or "semper fi" is the Latin motto of the Marin Corps.  It means "Always Faithful".

Standing There Reprise

This addition to "Standing There" came about during my college years... but I don't like it as well as the original.  And despite suggestions from many people to combine the two of them, I've never cared for the mash-ups, either.  So here's the reprise.

 

Standing there
Baking in a desert hell
Knowing each road-bump they hit
Might explode, their death-knell
 
Still they keep fighting, still they keep dying
Trying to set people free
While we keep whining, politicizing,
Continuing to bellyache
 
What right do we have to put them on trial
To give their sacrifices only denial
To say it’s a pity, a waste, and a shame
That they keep on fighting, they must be insane
 
But have we forgotten how we all felt
Not to have the same rights as everyone else
Was it so long ago we fought for Civil Rights
That we no longer care to be equal in the law’s sight
 
The end of the war should only come
When the rights of a stranger are as dear as our own
So instead of whining about all the costs
We should be helping the to right the wrongs

With those in Iraq
With those in Darfur
With those in Sudan
And Afghanistan
 
Our soldiers are still standing there
Thank them and thank God.

Standing There

This poem was inspired by a visit to a WW2 cemetery in England with my family... It's probably my oldest poem that I have on record, since I started it about 6th grade (I think?  Maybe 4th or 5th, it's hard to remember.).  It's undergone several revisions since then, but  the heart of the poem has remained the same.  I wish that I could post the pictures I took that day here, but alas, they predate the digital camera.

Dedicated to the soldiers who never came home & the kids who've never been told

Standing there,
Looking out across fields of white crosses:
Soldiers buried
In soil so far from home.

What were we doing? What were we thinking?
Sending these boys to die...
Some still just children, others from college
Yet they all gave their lives.

Standing there,
Guns in their hands, grim looks on their faces
Standing and Fighting,
Dying and Crying all so that we may be free.

So what are we doing? What are we thinking?
Not honoring their sacrifice...
Children not knowing, teachers not showing
How they all gave their lives
Standing there.

To You

This one underwent substantial revamps when I rediscovered it in the computer banks... in fact, I dare say it's no longer even recognizable as the same poem.

a hymn of self-dedication

November 21, 2010 / 1-29-2012

 

To You, Almighty Creator
To You, the First and the Last
To You, who alone is worthy
To You I give future and past
 
To You, restoring Redeemer
To You, the Lamb who was slain
To You, who alone can save me
To You I relinquish my pain
 
To You, infinite Spirit
To You, my Counselor and Friend
To You, who is always with me
To You I will listen again
 
To You, Father of Lights
To You, my suffering King
To You, O Guide and Protector
To You I give everything
 
To You, my precious Jesus,
To You, and only to You

To Lose Oneself

Two ways there are
to lose oneself
Leaving naught behind
 
to throw oneself into one's work
til one has no time for aught else
 
or to give oneself, wholly, lovingly
devoted to the pleasure and benefit of another
 
or yet perhaps they are the same
and to lose one self one must find
Obsession
 
yet one seems empty, dim, and frail
the other's pale reflection.

Flood

June 19, 2008

Rain falling
Never ending
Puddles coalescing
 
Rivers rising
Sandbags piling
Levies bursting
 
Flash flooding
Police knocking
No time to grab things
 
Fridges floating
Phone poles drifting
Bridges collapsing
 
Cars tangling
Red tags* dangling
Boats rescuing
 
Destruction
Is too mild a word
For a FLOOD
 
Called FEMA
Got a shelter cot
I’m surviving
 
Bottled water drinking
Unwashed people stinking
But grateful to be alive

---

* Tags of different colors were hung on the doors of flooded houses by inspection teams.  Red tags signified that the house was unsafe to enter.  Hundreds of houses were marked with these red tags following the Iowa floods in 2008.

Thirsting for Love

Like a rose, dried and crumbling
You feel your thirst and your hung’ring
What you want, you aren’t sure of
You’re waiting to find your heart’s true love
Perhaps you don’t know Him, haven’t heard His name
Perhaps you walked out on Him, to your shame
Yet you needn’t worry, He loves you just the same
And He’ll take care of you if you’ll just call His name
Call on Him and all your needs He’ll supply
Call on Him and He will surely reply
Come to Him now and your thirst will be quenched
And with His love your heart will be drenched
But don’t put it off, or leave it too late
For once you have found Him, your life will be great
But sorrow is yours if you should die first
Never knowing He’d have satisfied your thirst
So hurry, HURRY! Find him today
He’ll be with you all along your life’s way
And then when you’re weary, and have to depart,
He’ll be there to carry you close to His heart.
Who wouldn’t want a love so incredible?
If you do, the truth is indelible
Come to the cross, leave your sins at its base,
Be forgiven as you meet your TRUE LOVE face to face

Calling In Sick

Because I know someone will want to ask... NO, I did not write this on a day I had a migraine.  I wrote this out of frustration with a coworker who seemed to think that calling in sick with a migraine was just an excuse to sit at home eating chocolates all day and watching TV... because obviously if I was completely better the next day, I wasn't really sick.

Awakened by the pain
Clap my hand to my mouth
Roll out of bed onto the floor
Crawl—or stumble if I can
To the bathroom
Hurl my guts into the toilet
 
Forgot to turn off my alarm
Now every quiet beep
Is like a dagger in my skull
My hand reaching is guided by instinct
It smashes blindly again and again
Until the beeping stops
 
Because when a migraine hits
I can’t string two thoughts together
Even “the clock is THERE, turn it off”
Gets garbled by the pain
Calling in sick is managed only
By training my body to act on its own
 
Training it to roll over
And puke into the bucket
Even though movement
Makes me want to
Puke up all my organs
Just to be done with it
 
I've trained my body
To act without thought:
Trained my hand
To reach, open up my cell phone
The light slams into me
Like some kind of
Judo kick in the head
Why do they make these screens
So freaking bright?
Hit the speed dial
Why do the numbers beep so loud
Even in silent mode?
And why does my boss
Answer the phone shouting?
My mind moans in agony
As she tells me to speak up.
Why can’t she hear me?
I’m screaming and it makes it worse!
Hand on the side of my head
Trying to hold it together
As grenades explode within
 
I've trained my body
To act without thought:
Even though it’s hot
With a pillow over my head
It can stop some of the noises
That smash and tear and
Scramble my brain to mush
 
I've trained my body
To act without thought:
To never, NEVER turn on a light
I won’t notice a stubbed toe
Until I see it bruised tomorrow
Doesn’t even register right now
Every nerve in my body is tuned in to my head
 
Took me an eternity
To remember what the doctor said
So I feel my way, lurching to the bathroom
In search of the codeine-laced cough syrup
That might help calm my stomach
If I can keep it down
 
Stagger the seven and a half steps
To fall back into my womb
Where dark, silent immobility
May not bring relief
But at least
Helps me deal with the pain
 
Lying there
Each second seems like a day
Each rustle of the covers is
A new drummer beating on my brain
And when the sun sends light through the drapes
I close eyes filled with pain-caused tears
 
Thirteen lifetimes later
I might begin to feel better
No longer wanting to kill myself
Just to end the pain
But I don’t want to do anything either
Just surviving has left me totally drained
 
Some of my coworkers understand
Some of them have suffered too
And felt the nails being driven into their skulls
Hammered again and again by a sadist
Named migraine
 
But others seem to think
That I just want the day off
That I can do what I want (as if!)
I think next time
I’ll invite them over
So that they can help me clean up
All the vomit
So they can see the intense misery—
Misery that even outranks
Car wrecks in my memory
 
Then again,
Maybe not.
I’d never stand the noise

You Are The One

Conquering King, You have conquered my heart
Prince of Peace, Your peace You impart
Master, a servant I make of myself to You
Teacher, I humble myself to Your truth
 
You are the One
The only Way to the Father
The only way to Life
You are the One

Worth

a rock ballad-- 8-17-2011

I may not be making the choices
That you want me to make
I may not be doing what you would do
But that doesn't make it a mistake
 
And I may not be rolling in money
Or living in Beverly Hills
But that doesn't mean that I'm worthless
I am important still
 
Because I find my worth
In who I am
And not in what I do
I find my worth
By being useful,
Loving and true
 
My clothes may not be
The highest fashion
But I don't care
I wouldn't want a mansion
 
I'd rather be happy with what I have
Than worry about what I don't
And I'd rather have a life I like to live
Than do things I hate-- I won't
 
Because I find my worth
In who I am
And not in what I do
I find my worth
By being faithful,
Loving and true
 
Faith and honor and
Love and purity
This is the person
That I really wanna be
 
Teaching and helping and
Reading and praying
Make my life great,
That's what I'm saying
 
Because I find my worth
In who I am
And not in what I do
I find my worth
By being faithful,
Loving and true
 
So use me, Lord
Use me, Lord
Use me, Lord!
 
'Cause I don't want
What the world wants
All I want is You
And I don't care what they say,
I'll do what You want me to do
 
Because I find my worth
In being your daughter
Through the grace of Your Son
I find my worth
By living only
For the True and Faithful One
 
Because I find my worth
In who I am
And not in what I do
I find my worth
By being faithful,
Loving and true
To You
To You
To You!

 

 

Wish I’d Have Read the Fine Print

I just wanted some free stuff
A computer, an Ipod
It seemed so easy
Answer questions, buy into some “special offers”
Now credit card charges are piling up
 
I just wanted to keep my freedom
To finish high school
I was raped
I didn’t realize my decision to have an abortion then
Would stop me from ever having kids
 
I just wanted money for college
To gain discipline
We were at peace
Two weeks a year didn’t seem like that much
Now I’m fighting a war
 
Wish I’dve read the fine print
Before I signed up for all of this

Working for the Lord Today

Another oldie... acording to my laptop, I wrote this at 2:11 am on 7-5-09.  The chorus and melody are from “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones
 
 
Chorus: Ay! O! Let’s go! (and so on)
 
We’re working for the Lord today
Trying to do it all His way
Whatever anyone may say
We’re working for the Lord today
 
Chorus: Ay! O! Let’s go! (and so on)
 
He is our strength, our song, our light,
He makes everything turn out alright
We’ll always trust Him, day or night
He is our strength, our song, our light
 
Chorus: Ay! O! Let’s go! (and so on)
 
Tag: Ay! O! Let’s go with God!

Why?

Your majesty, infinite
Your power, unfathomable
Your beauty, indescribable
You are wonderful, God.
 
Your ability to stand back and let us ruin our lives, repugnant
Your wrath, terrible
Your justice, both awesome and horrific
You are awful, God.
 
From the same mouth come
Blessings
And curses
Paul despised this in us
But we get it from You?
 
You curse the wicked
And doom the earth to destruction
But choose a few
To save
And bless beyond their wildest dreams
 
WHY?

Why Do My Plants Die?

Why do my plants die?
My carrots have sunshine
My tomatoes don’t lack water
And my peppers had six inch leaves.
 
But my carrots are shriveling
My tomato plants are crisping
Into yellow and black husks
And my peppers’ leaves are falling off.