the work of art
maybe it’s the tension of creation
of sensing
something different
to be
remade
and so reconsidered
there’s simply the beauty
in the difference
of the thing
colors
angles used in other ways
untypical
exhibiting by protest no matter
how
genial
the showing and
the gathering
the sips of wine and such
the room décor
the thing
once owned
should complement
though there was the making
and the message with
remains
to rise
time and again
through the risks of close
appreciation
and
reaction
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photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
celestial travel ecumenical
the journey crost
over
the bar
a star that guides
the journey each of us have to
take
hoping the water’s navigable
and the pilot
knows the way
and has firm grip upon
the wheel
and can command the crew
both technically and
kindly
then Tennyson has sailed this way
crost to the other side
and
we might do the same in variants of
faith
and transport but
to arrive
to disembark or simply step
from this life into
heaven
or
what you call it
how you get
there
that
we may study
talk about
while we pursue
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Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
after Tennyson composed the poem, he requested that it appear at the end of all published collections, and it did
photo by Gene Gallin on Unsplash
"Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach Ferry, North Carolina, USA"
the lamp unto
light
light the way
also unheavy
may light the way
that light
and shall we say
a lamp unto our feet
that
shows the way for feet
and that
the rest of us shall follow
light
as in leave
light as in binary opposition
shall explode for
meaning
light as that which is not dark
or darkness
the need to define
the thing for what it is
not
against what it’s not
light the way
for light
and also bearable for burdens we
carry
among them those we learn
to leave alone
the way
and thus
you
know
be lighter
and
sorry
I stretch English
not knowing the term’s diversity
in other languages
luz
all I know from Spanish
but we know words
mean
other things
I think from any people on the Earth
seven words for snow
and such
(and
are there)
seven words for love we say
in Greek of the Bible
yet
you know
like
fond
fan
appreciate
admire
adore
devote
we have some words in English
too
as I’m sure in your tongue you do
too
yet it was light
and light
to all
the kind that shows
also encourages
like manuscripts to keep
and
to encourage growth
in all
coda
so here it was
a prompt
I guess
if rather accidental
I was
simply swimming
in
my stream of consciousness
and so
to ask
what is light for you
or
another word with meaning
multiplicity
for us
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Psalm 119:105
photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
listening up
God be with us
daytime
into night and as the hours pass
the arrival
of the twenty-sixth
still August
still serving the vanity of
Augustus
and
these were gods in Rome
and you are God
everywhere
in every age
not
wanting to disrespect
but really
it is you
one God who made all of Earth
and Earths
yet
remain yourself
the same
the one
who I think will talk with us more
as we prepare
to listen
more than ears
a little theory
mostly
practice
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photo by Jan Sents on Unsplash
airways
in with the good air
like
cartoon resuscitation
breathing is important
it also
signals contemplation
also
a necessity for yoga
instruction
but back to contemplation
as if to step outside
and on the porch
to inhale
nature
of the morning
or the sunset
in a good way doesn’t matter
life
in active participle state
(or
gerund as condition
with commitment)
reminding
teaching
remembering perhaps
though at best
through the filter of the moment
hearing
as if the sound might be
pouring through our cells
a gospel of
now
inhaling the moment
exhaling
what is dispelling helpful to release
into
the cycle of all atmospheres
but
you know
simply breathe
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photo by daisies & dots on Unsplash
mock
devil
go away
I don’t have time
and
if I had the time
I wouldn’t have
the time
resist
now fly
or skulk
however you might move
but
move away
and if that nether prayer from Job
should work or any
then
let it work for you
unless
you fly or skulk
to God again
though what do I know
of dramas
in divinity
when
what I know
is go away
and let that be enough
for now
for me
and mine
and as for thee
devil
let none be thine
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photo by Alissa Schilling on Unsplash
praying about creations
God
are you out there
are you
in here
there is matter
there are spirits
there
is energy
and how many planes
through which
to live
we have this
self
we look through skin
with eyes and more than eyes
and less
we are alive
Earth is
alive
with even rock that moves
though let science determine
investiture
by measurement
and let us live
with
what we have
the wonders of exchange
cohabitation
of
matter and movement
oxygen
and carbon
a touch of supernal creation
to begin
and to carry into what is next
mystery
miracle
energy and matter
in
the exchange we know
and then a language with translation
only yours to speak
to generate
to sing into existence
afterward
maybe
first
a paradise to bear of explanation
and if you say
amen
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photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
about ourselves in the world (2 poems)
to each a Compostela
God give me strength
that might seem out of character
to use
and own
measures for repentance
could be new gifts
inside
the grandest one
and how might we be changing
overall
new direction and new purpose
Matthew
or Zaccheus
those who used to fish for fish
Mary M
freed by touch of demons
new presence
new
bearing
new direction
sometimes they seem constant
Esther
Ruth
and
Deborah
sometimes misdirected
from the start
and
there’s no changing
Ahab
or Jezebel
or sometimes they get it wrong
then get it right
and
might still struggle
Moses
say
or Miriam
Jonah who in fact was
angry
to be changed
and where are we in these
each one on
the line
and how to use discretion
maybe grumbling
to change
the answer’s in the question for
each one
and how
we go
circumstances
yes
and how we change through these
going with or
resisting circumstance
to will ourselves
places alone morality
and what shall be our actions
and our
attitudes
to change or stay the same
somehow to plant and move ourselves
like
contrary pilgrims who begin the path
then stop
then start again
diplomat
inside the world
that changes or that stays the same
frankly
too troublesome
regardless
yet we go out
and
then go in
through foreign doors
to introduce ourselves and then
respond
to status quo
or status
as
it might be changing
charged
general or specific
by those back home who send us with
hopes
or maybe lack of interest
like
the indifferent who live allowably
not following
not voting
our care is for these
regardless
and the set of values we call home
to promulgate perhaps
though
maybe reverse-welcome at our stations
greet
those in their own places
hear their causes
hear more
and then respond
checking back
as
needed though bearing initiative
in
the call as well
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photo by Alejandra Rodríguez on Unsplash
by the skins of teeth
as time goes by
or on
more things become challenged
like
the center that can hold
no longer
as Yeats claims in a work and
Achebe citing Yeats a while after on
as
Achebe’s own
the challenged become challenges
which might be natural
though sets of
connotations
they
go negative
burdens to change
and burdens are
bad
so challenges should be avoidable
like
those
in the veneered way we eschew
anything above
below the line
I will say this for
barriers
that they might not be favorable
except as they announce
and
protect things
here
and there
great things
such as reefs of coral
as well as certain boundaries in outer space
needed
to sign
in here it is distinctive as community
there is a major purpose
whereas
cosmic diversity should be made
of these discretions
identity
vital
and then to know another’s
therefore
and shall we say for proof
that
challenges and barriers
are set
even haphazardly by the fixed math
randomness
and
the beneath-our-skin appreciation of chaos
let age make these keen
as in
more knowable
the things we understand and
things to do
that we know better now for
having looked at them
so normally
over
at last
enough time
to know dimensions and their purpose
and at long last
to know
how to apply the passwords
on stones
or in
skies so very long
as if the clues had been there from the start
as when something is
when something’s made
the truth of its reality
is there
is here
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The Skin Our of Teeth is the title of a play by Thornton Wilder, the title taken from the phrase first given in the Bible, Job 19:20
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” is from “The Second Coming,” a poem by W. B. Yeats; later, Things Fall Apart was taken for the title of a novel by Chinua Achebe
here is a note I first wrote for myself about the poem (above): there is the failing in our efforts because we need things normal, regular; differences, then, along with diversity become challenges with challenges themselves as negative for being difficult—or maybe only different; but differences, challenges, barriers are all parts in creation and existence; and we would serve all these and ourselves better if we made positive allowances for these vital parts of what there is and who we are and what we have (and what we have to do)
photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
(isn't it symmetrical; isn't it asymmetrical)
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