just and unjust
forgive me when
I fall
not
through accident but through
some poor
design
for
the devil’s poor that way
while
God is rich
to give
which I should remember
and while grace
be mine
and
yours
it’s not enough on Earth sometimes
to know
and wounds are honest pain outward
inward
and while there are accidents
sometimes and
often
hurts are delivered
oh
so consciously
still spilling blood
of
a kind
with not nearly enough doing
to patch up
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photo by Rémi Boyer on Unsplash
soul power
let us break bread and
drink
wine together
breaking hate for whatever
reason
we saw justified
wine as blood
to know that blood is poured
and
has been poured
and except
by the one must be
bled no
longer for the rest
to say today
and
how
shall we rejoin
(or if
rejoin)
tomorrow
if
we could
remember on our
knees
in faith
to the one
and then in service
also
to each other
then
that we study war no more
but
let peace prevail and
a feast
by love
by love
tempered by wisdom as
mercy tempers
justice
unafraid
overcome
if afraid
still overcome
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for Juneteenth
photo by Ian Kiragu on Unsplash
gray day haiku
I don’t know if when
days don’t come so featureless
I touch relief of sun
gray day without arcs
no cloud-lines with interest
could wake to bright day
our moods by weather
we can do better by this
don’t be ruled by sky
there are sky-signals
sometimes land and water cast
warning signs to us
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photo by Tolga Ahmetler on Unsplash
you, the season, and the Bible (3 poems)
the Tuesday verse
it’s Tuesday
how
are you
well
I hope
and
if not on your way toward
becoming well
and more
I don’t know what kind
of day you’ll have
today
maybe one of actual prosperity
or
to refine only
hope for
more
maybe there will be peace
this day
though there might be conflict
just
as well
the world as it is
we know
here it happens to be
raining and it’s
cooler
it might be raining where you are
as well
as
it falls near
everyone
even in the desert now
and
then
a happy Tuesday to you
and we try to raise our thoughts
toward
a Wednesday with
an even
better view
maybe weather
notwithstanding
or
altering
the longest day
the solstice is approaching
Midsummer
or
Saint John’s
and then the days grow shorter
though it’s
summer
and we think if in irony of longer
days
relish
in fact
the light of day that lingers as a cue
for picnics and vacations
or
simply to take in
because of the gradients of
blue
and then
the stars appear to dance
to twinkle through the atmosphere
at least
in the summer hours we have
which
will grow longer for them
maybe in the dark of only this time
of year
we’ll also think of kick-the-can and
capture-the-
flag
time and talent
Jesus wept
the reputed shortest verse
though
it’s a matter of numbering and syntax
of translators
and
then getting by the editors in
the inspired process
and maybe new translations
paraphrases
challenge other parts for that epithet
say
to write in Genesis
God made
or maybe to try
only
God
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photo by Wenying Yuan on Unsplash
good and plenty
(not that I’m a fan of licorice)
God is good
and God is here
we reach out
to God
while we are here
wishing ours were better
when it’s
not
and also taking time
and sharing words of thanksgiving
for part of that
good
we have
and life goes mingled this way
even
with the Lord
and we persist in this adulterated life
because we should and is
our impulse to go
on
not
to wish ourselves to heaven
way before it’s time
or
whenever
the surprise to know
with
sadness left behind
while on the way toward joy in paradise
and this
is how it goes
as well
a mingled afterlife
and
not
to say this life is a rehearsal only
for it’s not
while it is for what comes after
it is its own
for dreaming and for realizing dreams
with
accountability along the way
so if frustrating
not
to have virtue instantly
rewarded
there is nonetheless
far-down peace that rises
through our flesh and to
our eyes
and mouths
to exude and share
what
we might know of lasting joy
that like the class activity to tell and
show
even the love of God and love as God
on Earth
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(allusion aside, the candy licorice fan would be my sister)
photo by The Nix Company on Unsplash
the week
a new week to you
and should you have it
maybe with
some hours yet unplanned
though
expectations beckon
some time wrangled as this
might need wrangling
for
oneself
and for them
each kind
and for each one
and there should be peace in that
and if none
then a chiming and a watchword
to design
and re-design
time
and intent
work with play
to find and have and live the loves that
make the rest
foundation with resources
added
new expectations maybe
balance
margin
whatever called or used
to impose the human
and approving the divine and in
a partnership
to live
and move
and have our being
have time and let the time be normal
for you
and for them
and don’t parse this
rather
you
and them
and maybe for an errant word from
me
or the peer community
peace to you this
week
if it may
with pleasure
and accomplishment
and love as a thread through
all
the fabric to the edges of the loom
and then
tucked under
and
if possible
if and when it’s healthy
live
and work in partnership
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I hope it’s been a good Father’s Day; yesterday (I didn’t note), was Flag Day in the USA and Mitzi’s birthday, everywhere
Acts 17:28 (referenced)
photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
breaking the accord
global nuclear restraints
new escalation
IDF strikes Iran
Iran strikes back and that’s war
long suffer the age
civilians live
or live not seemingly random
injudicious thief
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I don't know by tradition about haiku being topical. But I've wanted to work at the form once a week, and I can't help but think and feel about what's happening on Earth. And elsewhere, when it's elsewhere. I mean for the haiku to stand alone, though clearly I think they're also related.
photo by Anzhela Bets on Unsplash
The building of a cinema and youth center in Chernihiv, Ukraine that was destroyed by an aerial bomb in March 2022 .
phobicly yours
superstitions
le chat noir
ladders
cracks in stones
spilling salt
and on
and you know some
for sure
I don’t
so this is a bad
day
as it was
certainly for the Templars
on 13 Friday
in 1307
(October)
and I have not had the best day
though
I hope you have
because
if you didn’t know the day or number
you might have a good or bad
day
regardless
and the same
a good
or bad
day tomorrow
hoping it’s good
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in 1307, the king of France got the approval of the pope to attack and kill the Knights Templar with the agenda to eradicate the order; the date was 13 October, and the day was Friday (all over France at the same time, Templar knights were captured, slain, or imprisoned to be slain a.s.a.p.)
and if cats, by the way, black and any kind, were not considered evil as likely devilish familiars—and so exterminated in great numbers throughout Europe—then the Black Plague might have been forestalled or in fact not happened, since cats tended to eat the rats that carried the fleas that carried the Bubonic infection
stepping off the soapbox now
photo by Adél Grőber on Unsplash
after some hours at this today
it’s darkened
I should go for another light
the close work has
made my eyesight blurry
too
and my lower back from bending over
well
not blurry
well
maybe
as pain might haze ambition
and I have said
and say
all kinds of things
in
other verses
though the moralizing’s heavy
maybe
from blurriness and pain
sigh
what should you like to hear
not
to curry
necessarily
but
to meet and interest or a need
you know that God is love or should
since the message is
ready enough
available
do you know that you are love as well
or at least have it in you
to carry outside
to
have your life better
and the world
too
so small at first
and then who knows how
wide the circles go
and you might be close to all this
as well
catch it when you see something land
on the smooth water of
a pond when
still
or other
water
maybe it’s the gospel of the small
that isn’t nearly big enough
realizing
the inevitable
the practice we don’t get away from
or
even the accountability
that
the word
the act
change things from ourselves to the world
no
matter what we’re told we matter
in this way
and so do small good
a motto
how about a bumper sticker
or what to adhere to our hearts
(I have a machine
inside
that might have
a sticker-place)
not
because the words are mine
but that they’re wise
regardless
and promise for the Earth
what should be healthy things to say
and
do
for a change
(hale
changes)
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photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash
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