warfair
there is a war
as a peacenik I admit it
we
know the places
and we don’t
since wars are also fought in secret
secret
or open
the field is the mind and heart
more so the spirit
of
each one
and who shall win the big war is
determined
read
hear about it anytime
as for the small wars
the wars of each one and by
our
families and friends
they go on
and the victory isn’t called
and it is
all
perilous because
the fight is in the self by
which the better weapons
are
love and will
and there is temptation to give up
or
to give in
because the other side
entices
as if it were so shiny
even
though it’s moldering since
part of heaven
lost
and we say
fell
though there was no real direction
but opposite
and now two sides and
well
since
Eden
and we choose
and there
remain
though it’s gloriously odd
that we might
turn
away
but then may turn again
old betrayals resolved
if
imperfectly for now
and so the war of spirit shall go on
until the Megiddo
victory
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sorry, the title is a pun in English; I’m not sure how this will translate (“war fair,” as it were, rather than “warfare”)
photo by Lisa Forkner on Unsplash
“High Stone Wall in Megiddo”
old gray
1
nothing
in my eccentricity
like
old gray stone
we have some fences around
here
a few are nice
while most are overgrown
there are some buildings
too
that stand
the association for me
is
with ghosts
of those who set
or
raised whichever and
the story
with the persons who are lost
maybe
in wars between the states
or
the war with England for first freedom
and
there’s what
to keep out
what
to keep in
speaking of first and
who
was here
and to extend the poet
classic and ironic meanings
it might have been
true and
could
still be that
good fences make good neighbors
so then
stone fences make stone
neighbors
2
texture
moss
what is fallen
what remains of what
has
fallen and what
keeps the form and
stands
for meaning
living metaphor for
boundary
for
protection
that could yet
be actual
for a building made with local
material
and that we mean to keep
and
to repair
and it’s the fences we have more of
in
all states and they are old
and some look pushed together while others
forgotten or
ignored
or someone owning
likes
the fallen texture
lopped shapes
even the worked through parts
made low
through
time
and unknown circumstances
they make good pictures
I believe
photographed
or
painted or fashioned with material
of one’s own
color
black and white
what
is decided
what’s at hand
or if we may
to
go there
smell
touch the long sides or
where they’re broken
touch
the nubs and
feel
the age
the stories
and I will make up stories of and
for
the ghosts there or
nearby
to have a story by my
home fire and
maybe an invitation for a hearing
by yours
3
the buildings and the fences
and
especially the fences
to drive by
as
the buildings are kept mostly at
a distance
but all
appreciable and made when
words
like
middlesex meant
something for a status and
a name
and the word we know
from
another poem
later Gettysburg close
about which
so
much has been said and sung and on
which
to borrow from a third so much depends
though
these are matters
upright or collapsed
like
dreams and
visions
we forget
to tell
the next ones on the way
the next ones
here
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Frost on fences, also Longfellow and William Carlos Williams
with another note by me
an unintentional study
even a reverie
though
I could have meant that
briefly
photo by Richard R on Unsplash
our books of hours
God is love
and is it
tiring
and is
the rock of faith
for
metaphor
the lion
first of Judah
and shall we believe what the figures
shall be pointing
toward
as we consider openly
without agenda first
‘til
we go there to find
what might
be our purpose in our tasks
that is
fair and openly
which is a matter of the mind and for a metaphor
the heart
though we accept the source
and
then the spirit
that is an entity and real
pointing
only toward creator
who
is the love
somehow
for
real
and this dance
then
between the thing and its referral
which is the contest
of
a poem
and what the poem itself might indicate
which
is what
to know and to accept and then
to embrace
for faith
and life
and through that all the rest
in a holy now
and in the holy hours
to come
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photo by Şahin Sezer Dinçer on Unsplash
today a writer cannot write
1
fathers
solstice
church
how are these handled
not
well by me at all
and maybe you might wonder how
you’re doing
too
it’s a day
and things have added up
as
they might have
and could we honor
restful
hours to which we’re sabbath-called
it’s been so long
since Dad
and I haven’t checked the time for Earth
to
tilt the other way
and
church was a computer things for me
this morning
so not well
by
who were they
Abby
or Heloise or someone
to offend
by error or
well
getting nothing done
at all
so the hours
they go by unsettled if
not
riotous
for lack of shape and
easy conversation
and
thank goodness I shall see some friends
and if drink enough
you know
the Brita stuff then the head pain
might
go down and the day end
inexorably
and
could be with
a pleasure and who knows
an insight
for
tomorrow’s draft
2
so an apology not as
the classic explanation but
rather
the contemporary expression
of
regret
then
maybe how your day has gone
you’ll tell
me
for peer frustration or
and I want
to know
even if
I’ll feel worse
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if not so well for Fathers Day and summer solstice and Sunday church officially by many Protestants
image by Peter Pruzina from Pixabay
and is it so green
and is the solstice coming
and shall Earth tilt near
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photo by Philippe Owen on Unsplash
Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival, Ottawa
moreover
a word in Scripture
followed by
“the dog”
and so in a story that the name should
become
that of the family pet
and
like a conjunction
maybe held the group together
I’m
not sure
I remember the dog
and hoped that nothing bad should
happen
and I don’t know if
it did
I can’t recall the story and
maybe
I don’t want
to
if it were one of those
sad tales it seemed
good
for assigning adolescence
for
and as if
tearing bandages off of children spirits
leaving these open
to
how the air
should perform
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“The Biscuit Eater,” story by James Street, film by Disney; I read a bit of the synopsis then stopped my research; I’m not sure if I desire at all to know
Luke 16:21 in the KJV, it seems—and at the moment I’d rather not look too closely at that part as well
photo by pxslc on Unsplash
a Juneteenth of blessings in the challenge
so Fathers Day (USA) is this Sunday (June 21) when I thought it was last Sunday; I wrote something for Juneteenth last Friday and don’t remember if I was in a fog remembering that date as well; I often think I should write and post before the day and rarely do that; well, by mistake or intention, there are two poems before the days for reading before or on each day
June 14 was indeed Flag Day in the USA, and it was Mitzi’s birthday
pink planet
not enough to be alive
sorry
but it isn’t
there must be more
there must be someone to
assist because
we’re made
to help
call the subject Eve
or a friend or a stranger
who
were the wives of Cain
and
so to serve
not unhealthy or a victim
for
in either then
we are enough
but once life is secure if not perfection
then
we must have something else
something more
even
beyond tending and
keeping
rather
the human to serve
and should the presence of the Lord
suffice and
for an anchorite or mystic
but
the rest are made this way by
God
to be
also to serve
more than either one
alone as if on or in
a world
of
one
and we’re not crafted in that fashion
we know because
I look at horizons typically
and before the edge is reached
to
take in
there’s you
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photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
there could be inhabitants though it’s yet hot from formation
break
the sun breaks up
the gray
which I think is good
at
least when the gray is pale and blanketing
without interesting texture
from lines of
clouds
maybe of promises of needful rain
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photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash
at 3
if around this itme
I should hear
behind me
through the window and the wall
sounds
steam and protest
from large tires on the street
I can’t help but think of autumn
and of yellow
the schoolbus that’s allowed
to pass and
when
need
be
stop traffic on its own
pleasing
instruction
and associative
announcing
school
and now the end of school
the day’s
accomplishments
while
we might not be done but if we’re children
are
sense of release
from
well
release
and now to use our legs or our own wheels
if we need them
to go to
honestly
to
snacks
and thinking or not thinking about
about what’s next
before the yellow truck with
seats
should
pick us up
again
too early for the new day
of a new day
the final journey for the 180 year
the start-up healthy
wheezing trip
in
August of
a year
we say in this context
must be
new
c l couch
photo by Marcelo Cidrack on Unsplash
Miami, FL, USA
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