southern exposure
now it’s Tuesday
out back
the red looks brown
near-
winter brown
already
though the red out front
more fiery
by sunlight pouring through
the backs and
fronts of leaves
so
maybe it’s a matter
only of shadows
only
of daytime hours
and if the light could shine out back
there would
be fire art
out there
as well
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photo by Klim Musalimov on Unsplash
so much depending
red outside
at last
plus nearer the back window
late fall
but fall
scratching
speaking to the season
as
colors from cold
should
and if
there’s no relation
then
it’s all anticipation
falling
as it were
into each one’s magic
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photo by Natalia Fogarty on Unsplash
on the way
All Souls
El Día de los Muertos
parades
so much energy
by skulls for decoration
costuming
with many made by sugar
for the rite of
having meals with the dead
that will
happen in cemeteries with warm light
by night and everything set out
with
the living family
attending
assured that those who’ve gone before
are still close by
if
also on their journey
a paradox of pleasure
more straightforward in
affection
as affection’s
due
and shall the families appreciate
the veil
of ritual and lore
and love by incarnation of
the ways we know
each other
here
and there while all of us
are on the way
and so the three days
go
while I don’t know who really counts
them all
together
preparing for each day and finding
new energy in each
that
might be by candy
all the carbohydrates
though
more so by
meaning of the ages
shared so often
simply and complexly
close
to home
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photo by Edgar Cavazos on Unsplash
Haskell Library
across fair-access borders
‘til government’s ban
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Built intentionally on the border between Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, this Victorian landmark stands as a monument to friendship between the United States and Canada. This library is a place where families, neighbors, and students have come together for generations to learn, read, and share a civic life rooted in trust, curiosity, and peace.
That legacy ended this week.
EveryLibrary
I had read a while before about this phenomenon, a community library that traversed borders between the nations. Now the Canadians have been told they may not use the library on the USA side.
And I suppose haiku aren’t for politicking.
photo by Shunya Koide on Unsplash
(and in the back, a person in attendance in the center)
prelude in orange and black
so Hallowe’en
and if you have it
I hope
this is
a pleasant Hallowe’en for you
eve of All Saints the name
even thrilling for the children
thinking of
the rush of running through the cold night
looking through
and
breathing through a mask
bearing a burden
of which I could hardly
be
aware
and that was Hallowe’en for me
as a child
with
The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
intersticed with commercials
for Dolly Madison
doughnuts
and there were other things
I guess
cider
decorations here and there
bats and cats
and such
stories in school
or on TV
oh
pumpkin-carving and then
the lights inside
that signaled to whatever spirits
we were here
but
it was the running through the night
cold
the mask
sensations that I had no other night
or day
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photo by Zach Lisko on Unsplash
devastating
we share the peace
in churches where we share
the peace
and
do we mean it
I think so
in the moment
anyway
then move on
through other liturgical obligations
then
there’s the peace outside
or lack of it
as
we know through local violence
and through war
wherever
in the heart that hates
justified by someone
for
some cause
and
yes
causes are important
but not the hatred
hatred’s not important
even though it causes loss
and
yes
destruction
of homes
minds
and hearts
and spirits can go wounded for a while
a long while
and what’s the restitution
we can talk reparation
but
what’s needing fixing is not money
or material
as I think you know
but soul
that needs repairing
by God and angels
though
while we’re here
through our pardon and our love
love
as pardon
for each other
and who can speak love
along bombed streets
leaning houses
if
houses at all
or what if the rival has learned nothing
in fact
in a state
keeping the world’s profit
even adulation
after all
after all the sacrifice
all the tortuous existence while conflict knew
its own
and took our parts of us
that
might remain wounded
even gone
for the foreseeable time
and
what does love call for then
while revenge
is warm
while damage is assessed then funded
and fixed
as best as can be done
and then tried patience for
the rest
but
that we try
on the gray days
with
autumn colors fading
barren winter
still
to come
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from actually inspiring events in response to the KKK intrusion in the town
Mechanicsburg Residents Pack Town Hall in Response to KKK Recruitment at Halloween Parade
story by Alton Northup
• 12h • [noon, 10/30/2025]
WHTM Harrisburg
and while reading “The Peace” by the Hermit Poet
at Edge of Humanity Magazine
photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
a visit from Mister Poe
who knows
and
what if everyone should know
I’ve only confessed to God
and so might not bear
the forgiveness
from people
and should they bear scorn in their eyes
and
their subtle rejections
even as detectives
met
happily
while the perpetrator of the crime
heard his own heart
though was
certain it beat from his victim
within the floorboards
beneath them all
and could he not bear a moment longer
unopened in himself
and so cried
confessing
all by terror as the means
rather
than a priestly person
so the ghost of the one he killed
pressed on him
worse than a would-be pardoner’s
supplication
or the black
cat
who wailed behind the wall
in this case
supplanting by revealing
sin
and murder
and so these stories go
of exposure should
the sinner
try to hide
from the world whose implication
must
be to expose
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for Hallowe’en and other Gothic times
photo by Sonny Mauricio on Unsplash
abstract muscling
so now we know
that what’s material is important
but what is
unseen is important
too
why things were made this way
we may take up with our
creator
later
ideas
a belief in peace
love
visions
dreams
hope
and faith
and the presence of the Lord
as well as our
unspoken prayers
and
yes
these maybe prompt the material
the moving of solid matter
relying on
the coursing
blood
the muscles of our bodies
things come to mind
anyway
naturally enough
and
we may choose and guide their way
as well
of all the unbodied items that
move through
we
may also choose what
to choose
and then enflesh
meaning
then
to the apologist or
less formally
the friend
we may choose to think on God
to
have that count
as evidence unseen
(you
know)
and maybe to transfer like
any other abstract from
a real
if unsubstantial place
in us
through all dimensions of our being
vision
thought
and flesh
throughout the day
and
to the wonders we’re assured that
should
be following
as after fair winds
also hard
to see
apart from its effects
that can try
all our senses
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Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1, KJV)
photo by Ben Gillam on Unsplash
the inside work that is our own
so God
and shall we believe
and
we don’t have to
that’s the reality
of
will
which we know from looking back
at choices we have made
all our own
as well as
looking in the now when we decide
what’s
coming now and most likely
into next
and this is different
from God-sense
in
things
we know but do not know
from what there is and what could be
I mean
we dream
we intuit
we use all sorts of abstract notions
from
abilities that don’t require muscle
but synapse
and yet we think God
too far from us
for
being not material
except for sometimes roses
in the faithful’s
coat
which becomes a story of
someone else’s meaning
which
we might
take to hear or
not
that’s up to us
as what the most important is
ideas
wishes
wills
not of the wisp but
of our souls
the more important unmaterial
part
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photo by Karl Raymund Catabas on Unsplash
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