easy company
what shall I say
this
sabbath day
but believe in God
and so
be saved
while none get credit or commission
and can’t tabulate
but
that any should be saved
and so in absentia
hope
when all are there
to celebrate
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photograph by Liana S on Unsplash
sun angles through glass
by the panes make frames of light
inspiring our art
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photo by Alin Gavriliuc on Unsplash
companion-able
what may I give to you
this day
silence perhaps
a treat
of companionship
I’ll be there
or
nearby
in any of the ways one
might be near
and you shall have some
peace
look up to say something
I’ll be there
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photograph by Claire Ward at Unsplash
two poems for Thanksgiving narratology
[narratology = dealing in story (sorry)]
this Thanksgiving
(mutuality)
say
find something to be thankful for
still here
a body
with a spirit inside
a mind
if the high point of that arc
was a long time ago
and everything’s been gradual
since
then
the bandage from last blood test
fell off
somewhere
hopefully not
to create a gross moment for someone
for me
the continuation of a series
gross
if bloody
that began with the first heart attack
or with
fall off the sofa when I was
four or so
and
there was a pool on the hardwood floor
that I could see
this is the past
highlights
or
lowlights
and how do you remember things
your own time
with time
nature
others
your own inventions on your own
and when dealing in
perception based on how others
treated you
that part of the play
when
Eliza says she is a duchess
because Pickering treats him
that way
and
there is
how we treat ourselves
now add the theme of thanks
for the day
Pygmalion/My Fair Lady (cited)
starspeak
and where is God in this
and sad
if not tragic
to
have to ask
maybe it’s because there are no easy
answers on the planet
except the gift
of
itself
in the cosmos
either
except to look with whatever combination
of our senses
to wonder
to measure
too
if there are no numbers for the wonder
we say
in certain liturgies
that
a star is coming
though they’re not supposed to be
loosed from their places
there’s that
wonder
the exercise to call it something else
by which it’s easier
or
to admit there is no knowing
and so let it unbound
unidentify its place
except it flies
and
also famously arrives
with a doctrinal purpose
but that we also leave it
simply as
astounding
also passage in an
extraordinary
narrative
that might beg belief
while
not insisting on its truth
on
what it represents
like the fictive guess
in “The Sentinel”
in which
Arthur Clarke invents a dying star
with
sentient civilization ‘round it
its last explosion
seen over the skies by
magi
of western Asia
and we could write our stories
too
as well as listen to what’s
set
and shared each season though off-season
makes your guesses
takes your chances
give
other versions a chance
allow imagination
serving
as an ironic stretching as a building-up
of credibility
“The Sentinel” is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. The story is said to be the inspiration for his and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. (Clarke having written that novel for and from the film.)
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Happy Thanksgiving! which should be a day of thanks for all, everywhere—or of hope for such with those in unthanking situations. (Sorry, need to bring up both.)
hap
(valueless until we add value)
what shall I say
it’s Wednesday of
the arc
day before a holiday in
this case
USA Thanksgiving
when we observe and also
ignore
the colonial experience
we celebrate
the Indians
misnamed
who kept the settlers alive
so
they could lose their land
and lives
push their identities to arid
places out west until
mineral wealth
pushed
them farther
fish to fertilize
corn a gift from the Americas
with
turkey
and pumpkins
and may I go back to say a word
in favor
of popcorn
boon to so many
watching
movies
black and white
the natives were in color
two groups as there must be
two groups
not
one nation-tribe
and yet they came together
hunger
and fear
righteousness
after
survival
and we have so many
mores now
to practice
they are idle
parades
in which practitioners aren’t
idle
football games for distraction
snacks
and later tryptophan
and
maybe
snacked and
drugged
the day will go easy
on gathered
drama
perturbations
and
then to plan
any adventures for tomorrow
when
we might rush the stores
predawn
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photo by The Cleveland Museum of Art on Unsplash—A Rooster and Turkey Fighting c. 1680 Melchior de Hondecoeter (Dutch, 1636–1695) Netherlands Oil on canvas John L. Severance Fund 1986.59 https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1986.59
for an old Advent song
Christmas is coming
and I hope the fat goose
is rescued
and the old man
gets at least
two pennies in the hat
and
God bless you
the goose
the man
the Cratchits
(vegetarian)
and you
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Christmas is coming;
the goose is getting fat.
Please to put a penny
in the old man’s hat.
If you haven’t a penny,
a ha’penny will do;
If you haven’t a ha’penny,
then God bless you!
(an old, famous, English doggerel—more antique-feeling, at least in these parts, with the extinction of the penny)
photo by Elijah Mears on Unsplash
Back of a union shield penny.
new year’s eve
the last week of the year
by the counting
of
the old
and present church
a purple season coming
or it’s popular
in blue
the green of churches
as well
and gatherings to
make it so
sometimes with soup
maybe chowder
(I
imagine chowder)
after
and thus these colors begin
with
poinsettias
red or pink or white
to be added
and
maybe there will be a tree
somewhere with
ornaments
could be
Chrismons
for ornaments
and
who knows whose presents
service
or wishes
underneath and all around
while some churches
will go
bare
for budgets or beliefs
and let the Christ child enter
to save alone
any human season
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photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
there will be
there will be
no sorrowing there
Jesus
himself has gone before
to take a cross
to set it down
maybe horizontally to make
a bridge
between
God and us again
as
at Eden
he
for he and she
went through the valley
first
and shall come back
maybe
by angel agents representing
either way
we shall go through
and at the start
or
in the middle
or at the dale’s ending
we shall be told
we may
set our crosses down
no longer needed
since
there will be no longer
any
sorrowing there
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photograph by The Walters Art Museum of the ink-and-color work of Ishiwata Koitsu “Twilight at Imamiya Street, Choshi 1932” via Unsplash
pale gray without lines
no deep curves and shadow-play
I’d rather rainclouds
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photo by Giang Nguyen on Unsplash
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