Silence

Silence connotes 

more than quietude

It is spirit lost 

in multitudes. 

Silence is reverent

A holy retreat -

Going within

To go abroad  -

Yourself to meet. 

Did you know

You reside on a foreign street,

Its address

Too Often pushed aside?

Silence is where we abide

In essence

There’s token Silence 

in nature

And Silence 

That takes us

By surprise 

when the power fails. 

No hum 

Consistent in its presence

Brings a hush as deep as snow 

Silent night, holy night

Laughter

The medicinal value 

      of a belly laugh 

Is undisputed 

     by purpose or gaffe, 

They say. 

Why do we shake 

     with rhythmic contractions, 

Loosening air, 

     mitigating distractions, 

Vibrating the body 

     with vivacious reactions.

Intermittent doling 

Merriment rolling 

Laughter takes us to 

     migratory places

Warmer climes,

     happier faces. 

Values

Values are multifaceted things,

Be they nouns, verbs, or objects.

They are ideals - ephemerally bracketed - 

A triad that branches into situational wings.

You may...

    Assign value - unto character

    Add value - to work

    Support values - to bolster the spirit

Can you hear it?

    Value equals ranking

    Value equals need

Will you heed?

Value as motivation

Spurs dedication -

but to what?

The interplay is subtle

The ranking divine

Values refine

Our souls.

____________________________________________

Honesty - ensure

Loyalty - depends

Spirituality - a cure

Non-judgment - rends

Curiosity - covered

Justifiability - huge

Magnanimity - smothered

Security - deluge

You value the cool shade in summer's heat, but a coat and hat in snow and sleet. 

And yet it doesn't make you fickle. 

Searching

Searching is a commitment 

To endurance -

Forbearance for clarity, 

Refinement, and Rarity. 

A fog pervades 

If we do not seek 

Vistas from the highest peaks

Of culture and understanding. 

Complacency sits

Like a brine 

Upon the sea

Obscuring the depths - 

Or a wash of rain 

Smudging away

The stars. 

I’m searching for the next 

For what’s to fill the place,

But nothings come to light 

To take death’s vacant space.

In the interim we seek for

Belonging 

Enlightenment 

Friends

Purpose

Hope

Truth

Wellness

Happiness 

Acceptance  

Treasure

What has dissipated? 

Treasure riven -  

What has come, unexpected? 

Treasure given -

What have you traded for it? 

Treasure bought - 

What glimmers out of reach? 

Treasure sought - 

Which do you hold 

     as your shiny gem?

Maturity

Maturity comes with breadth,

Limitations,

And sometimes reluctant

Acceptance of reality,

Responsibility ~

Sometimes maturity flows

Like fine wine, or

Ripens like fruit

On a golden vine.

Maturity of money

Confers benefits

Maturity of age

Conveys insight.

Take careful consideration,

For there is no mitigation

When it arrives.

Shock

Do not remain

    so poised for shock

That you forget

    to unfurl

Unlock -

Perfect preparation

    cannot exist - 

Resist - 

It will always 

    take you by surprise - 

Surmise -

And enjoy the good    

    betimes.

Foreign Policy

Louis Recchia

 

Virtue

Virtue is a vortex 

of talking points 

kept silent. 

They may be 

observable - 

admirable – 

salient – 

but unnamed.

A game of goodness 

played within, 

virtue is guided

by seven moralities, 

fighting natural mortal precepts. 

The prize? 

To become a paragon 

of excellence 

and reticence,

observed. 

Speaking shatters virtue into pride. 

The 7 Virtues: Humility, charity, chastity, gratitude, temperance, patience, diligence.  

Security

Security is money - in secular terms -

Faith as security seems less firm -

Yet more dependable 

And consistent with flow. 

Do we know - or learn - that security 

Is an illusion in a mortal world?

Riddled with debt 

We fret 

And long for the days when a blanket 

Could procure a simple peace. 

Security comes from arms - parental, not nuclear. 

Irony

I can recall trees that have long since decayed 

Bridges that have washed away 

Or been blown to rubble for progress. 

I can still envision people who have died,

Hear their silenced voices,

And see their familiar gestures. 

The future comes from behind us

In everything experienced 

That you will never know. 

Possibility

“I dwell in possibility, a fairer house than prose.” Emily Dickinson 

Possibility lends to a provocative future,

While the past maintains its evocative allure - 

Both pure.

 

It’s “can do” vs. “have done.”

“Possibilities are endless”

(It’s the running clue)

So it seems we’d be remiss

In not believing that it’s true. 

                         Keep looking forward

How to Be…

 

Health

Health is often unconsidered,

in its prime.

But thoughts will turn to little else,

given time.  

Fettle - a condition; to trim or clean the rough edges of clay or metal castings before firing.

Mettle – a person’s ability to cope well with difficulties, or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way.

Loss

Loss rends

     when what 

We’ve tended

     with love

Is gone. 

The metallic taste 

     of disbelief 

Accompanies life

     laid to waste. 

Hands lie still,

     left without tasks,

And sorrow invades

     with grief unmasked. 

There is nothing fair 

     when desire to care 

Faces only a void. 

The cruelest word is the ultimate outcome of life. 

No wonder we cling to resurrection. 

Weakness

 "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so,

Little ones to him belong, they are weak but His is strong..."

The meek shall inherit

    the Earth, they say.

But what of the weak?

The negative connotations

    simply aren't fair

For all those who,

    burdened by care,

No longer have the stamina

    to endure

With strength.

I'll tell you a secret.

We are all susceptible.

Weakness is inevitable.

"Ready or not, here I come."

Pride

Pride is a swelling,

Dwelling in your chest -

Satisfaction growing,

All from knowing 

You did your best -

Best not let it 

Get puffed up tho - 

For ruffled feathers 

And pride

Go before a fall. 

Keep it in check 

And let it roost 

Then call upon 

That confidence 

Next time you need 

A boost. 

Flavors

What is the flavor

     of your day?

If you let it stew,

     do you add

A bay leaf

     to enhance the outcome?

Does it sparkle

     like rosé?

Or is it more blasé,

     as common and secure

As peanut butter -

Perhaps it’s exotic, like curry,

     come afar from the

Route of the

     ancient spice trade?

What have you made 

     from your recipes

For a flavorful life?

A Bird in Flight

Lift - torque 

Hollow bones - wings 

These are the things 

     that allow 

Your instinctual flight. 

How enviable to have

      both song and soaring 

As your genetic gifts. 

What rifts of the Earth do you see?

What silence is there near the stratosphere?

How lovely it must be

     to catch the warmth 

Of a thermal, spread wide - 

     and glide  

                Art by Charley Harper

Intelligence

Intelligence is two-fold - 

Acquisition and application 

     of knowledge. 

Too many steps, for most. 

“Read above your comprehension,” 

     my college professor said - 

Gone now - dead - 

     these many years.

His sage advice remains…

Seek. Understand. 

Implement.

So many are not taught

     and do not perceive, 

Do not give thought,

     and act instinctually.

Rationale lost.

The cost -

Humanity.

The Cathedral of Orvieto, Umbria, Italy.

Lorenzo Maitani (1275-1330)

A Walk

The greatest words

My dogs can hear

Are, “Do you want to go 

On a walk?”

It’s no cheap talk, 

The words they understand. 

A walk rectifies,

Sanctifies,

Remedies what ails you,

Heals what hurts you. 

Walking - step by step - 

As stone by stone -

Breaks dams and

Disassembles roadblocks 

To let ideas flow. 

A walk clears the air, parting

To let you egress there. 

Rippling light - feast of sight 

A walk is therapy 

For the senses. 

Bliss

A state of bliss -

How infrequent comes

This sensation. 

We yearn for that

Perfect peace and relaxation,

Security, fulfillment,

And the radiance

Of contentment. 

We seek it by vice,

Beauty, or design -

Food and wine can divine

It for a mite,

Euphoric taste with

Each succulent bite…

Eyes half-closed in drowsy

Splendor - seeing only

What pleases,

Bliss teases for

Longevity, but its brevity

Is what makes it precious.

Wonder

Have a wild 

     curiosity, 

For nature, philosophy, 

     Art, stars, 

Machinations, cars - 

Think about things 

Seek conclusions 

For the inexhaustible questions 

     about our existence. 

Some have answers 

     and some, with resistance,

Hold locked to mystery. 

Wonder 

     is the key.

Sincerity

There’s sincerity,

And then there’s honesty -

You’d think they’d overlap, 

But if you view objectively, 

There’s really quite a gap. 

Even untruths can be sincere 

if they capture the essence of belief -

Right or wrong -

but who’s to shine relief? 

Sincerity is the breadth 

of time that lilacs thrive 

Purity of form and scent - honed. 

Alive.

In its purest sense, 

sincerity as what we are -

When we are alone. 

Beauty

As outward beauty flies, 

 I feel its growth - inside. 

Beauty is solace 

     in a malicious world - 

Restoring accord when we implore 

     for reprieve. 

What light would there be

      in life 

Devoid of beauty’s calm persistence 

     and essential harmony. 

I’m humbled to receive 

     as both creator and recipient 

That which transforms 

     human existence. 

Tradition

Mom and I would early rise 

Every year at Easter-tide 

For sunrise service at Oak Grove. 

And cozy were the evenings 

We all gathered at home

By the glowing woodstove. 

Beef stew at New Year’s

Hearty and bold, 

Dad throwing sparks, 

Dazzling cold. 

We wandered the hills 

For the Christmas tree fight 

To find a cedar - one just right 

Tall, thin, fat, squat…

There were magical nights 

Spent in the woods, 

Supping on hearty, hearth-cooked goods, 

And sleeping to the marching sound 

Of chanting katydids all round.

With lake warm summers and autumn visits, 

Morning coffee and Hardee’s biscuits, 

Aunts and uncles and cousins galore

A family could ask for nothing more. 

Written Easter Sunday, 2023 

Warmth

Warmth is a luxury

Priceless in hue

Spreading slowly 

Content to imbue

Radiance 

Warmth lubricates

And awakens, 

Coaxing life

From the Earth

It lingers…

And luxuriates  

Warmth is benign

Gentle - 

A refined sensation 

Peace after discontent 

Joy after sorrow 

Painting by Charles Kenneth Hinkle

Spirituality

There are not roses 

Glowing dim

In the forest dark,

Rather the solace 

     of Him. 

I AM. 

Eternal souls - mortal coils 

Another paradox

That interlocks 

     human existence. 

Spirituality 

Defines hope

By the reunion

     of immortal substances. 

Ether. 

Air. 

YHWH

Faith

In this time 

Of terror, illness,

And fear 

Faith is sought 

Wrung from

Souls drenched 

From the trenches 

Faith is bought 

Hold to the healing

Golden light

Filling our bodies 

With what is bright 

Faith is caught 

And hope 

Of reunion 

With those flown on

Faith is wrought. 

Spring

Deceptive spring - so prone

To imbalance - and yet - 

So alluring between her volatile 

Spells of vernal passion. 

All forgive her bouts 

Of tornadic rage,

Or icy spells

Of frost

For the charms 

Of her budding warmth. 

Enraptured,

Captured 

Overlooking creation 

Sacrificed to mood. 

And yet - 

People have always been

Drawn to sacrifice. 

Look at Easter. 

Flowers, morels, fiddleheads - 

Poison flourishing in equal measure. 

All fine-tuning for the dance 

That is Spring, 

Seeking inclusivity,

Despite complexity,

Of which new life is friend

Or foe. 

With such sticky and pollinated

Beauty sings the Earth. 

Violence

Mother would look at cliff sides 

And say, “Violent upheavals

Of the earth.”

How primeval.   

Violence is key to creation

As well as destruction. 

Lava, fire, cataclysmic 

Birth pains forming

Each soaring mountain range. 

Glaciers grinding - oceans 

Whipped to savage glee - 

Rearrangement in cacophony. 

Labor, amniotic fluid - 

Bone, sinew, a beating heart

A push, a cry - then life, anew. 

“I’m afraid I rather crave violence.” Jo March.

Freedom

True freedom is bliss

But it comes with a cost

For often it’s found

When something is lost.

Liberation granted,

Freedom gained

There is a ransom

For fulfillment attained.

But it also lives

As a state of mind

When life is heavy

And circumstance binds.

Embrace it solely

In gratitude -

In freedom defined

By attitude.

Equity

Justice - as fairness

     For inequality 

Is inclusion

Initiated by souls

     Who see 

Past uniformity

And exclusion. 

A gift

     Of opportunity 

Can raise

The downtrodden

     In hope

Apart from loping

Existence.

Beyond “just trying to live.”

Justice

Prescription of fate,

Considered equitable, 

Meted for notable

Exceptions, 

Doled to uphold

A cause -

Recompense

Dispensed. 

Justice comes

Timely for some 

Delayed for others -

A pause -

In reckoning. 

 

Temptation

Temptation comes beguiling,

Luxurious, and smiling –

Fragrant, delicious

Enticing – beware

     the icing on the cake. 

Beautiful temptation

Why do you come

     with negative connotations -

A vixen set on destruction,

A serpent, seeking a fall -

I’d prefer to take of your call

Dripping, in self fulfillment,

     prone to excess. 

Yet, who’s to say the universe

     can’t create abundance from scarcity?

Evil

Stinging venom

Poison in plants

Lashing emotions 

Hurtful rants

Deliberate acts

Of malicious design

Seem to defame 

Ruin and malign

Evil destroys

What is cherished

Persisting until

All has perished -

But hope. 

“Evil” is “devil” without the “d”

A purposeful, I’d think, similarity. 

A Storm

There are seasons to storms

And lessons learned - 

Folklore to follow

For harvests earned. 

“Thunder in February

     means frost in April,”

Said my Uncle Robert

     on his 88th birthday, 

Teaching me the signs. 

My mother would say,

     “It’s thundering down in the thicket.”

A gentle rumble,

Almost humble,

Can awaken us from sleep. 

Weather breeders

Build,

White clouds looming,

Too quiet and perfect,

Pent to release in darkness,

Booming. 

Hidden wrath

Tempestuous wail

Roaring wind

Scattering hail

Do you think we don’t know

You are there

Rending the sky

For cooler air?

Artwork by S. Mitchell

Change

Change - limited - 

Enlivens

Change - sudden - 

Traumatizes  

It is imminent

With every breath

And cell design 

Change 

     can be a choice

OR NOT

Unbidden or desired

Unsought or wrought

A variation of taste,

     culture, or scenery

New vistas to behold!

A Tree

The crooked tree

Stands with glee

Before the morning sunrise.

Unaware of deformity,

With no thought of disparity,

It sings me on my morning commute. 

The crook in all our natures 

Created when saplings 

Has no bearing on the length

Of our branches 

Or the depth

Of our roots. 

It rather gives an endearing 

Quirk, a perk

In the green wood

To provide uniqueness. 

Home

This house...wasn't mine

The hearth was built

By another's design

But life has wrought 

More than I bought

Within these walls

Music, illness, laughter, tears,

Joys and sorrows, anger, fears,

Death, love.

Many seasons

By the fireside

Have altered this place

Where I reside

Pet companions, meadowlark's song

Draw me back wherever I roam

To know the bliss of this, my home.

Perfection

Beauty is perfection,

And not just surface show,

But that which flowers

Through your eyes

And stirs the soul to grow.

Perfection is attainable,

Forego dismissive thought.

Wherever there's contentment

Perfection has been wrought.

Serendipity

Serendipity 

    is a magical word

Like "bibbity-bobbity-boo,"

Do you believe 

In this fortuitous 

    intertwining of events?

Relinquish cajoling

Reconsider controlling

Serendipity intervenes

    with fate

Surreptitiously - 

An unexpected breath

    from the Divine

To redefine

    our path.

    

Chance

Do you fancy

That chance

Is luck,

Or an outcome

Of pluck?

There is a triad

    of choice:

To give something a chance,

You must take a chance,

Then leave it to chance.

That's quite a complex

Enhancement of potential.

 

Time

 Backwards

Forward

Up, Down

Time

Wreaks its havoc

Seeks renown

Heals

Destroys

Remembers

Forgets

Marches on

Without regret,

Compassion,

Or fear

A Work of Art

 Ekphrasis, or...

A work of art

Can impart joy

To the creator

As well as the beholder

A brushstroke, a flair

Music soaring on air,

Sculpture, clay,

A poem a day...

All can raise

The soul from malaise.

There is appreciation 

In completion

As well as viewing ~ 

An accretion

To the soul.

Art by Kendra

The Sun

 The sun can be

    friend or foe

Pulsating light - 

    drought - blight

Or welcome after rain -    

    like hope.

You come and go

    as we revolve -

Rotate - evolve - 

    regress.

You light our path -

    reveal our wrath -

Grow radiant beauty

    and paint the

Coming and going

    of day.

You do not burn hotter now; it's we who have broken the promise of your protection.

The Moon

Today is Valentine's Day

And a half moon

Is setting

In a pink sky.

Like others,

I have asked,

"Why?" 

Of the moon.

"Soon," she says

With quietude and serenity.

There is gratitude

In the consistency of her presence

And sustained mystery.

A River

The Cherokee said that Nolichuckey

Means "dangerous waters." 

Broad expanse of muddled depth,

Obscuring what lies beneath, 

What is inherently yours,

And what have you claimed as your own - 

Things that don't belong to you - 

Monstrous fish, snapping turtles, lost boats, foraged bones...

What would we find if you were dry?

An alien landscape - both shallow and deep

With cliffs and craters like the landscape of a desert -

Unexplored, unknown - 

As unfamiliar as your treacherous bed of shifting sand.

You lie, deceptively serene.

Mountains

 "APP-UH-LATCH-A"

The mountains are a part 

    of everyday life here - 

A living presence - 

    family.

Their outline is as familiar

    as breath

Their steadfastness is as sure

    as death.

A flat horizon would have

    no meaning - 

No streams and rills 

    or rolling hills,

No staggering precipices

    of colorful autumn trees.

Life would be silent without these ~

    winds from the peaks,

    rippling creeks,

Or each distinctive call

    of bird or beast.

The mountains give strength

    with massive length

And the wisdom

    of creation.

Art by Kendra

Noise

 Noise is a blight

To senses serene

Circuits awry

As impulses teem

A vibrating mind

Of quaking commands

Cannot give 

What focus demands.

Absorption is naught

When a mind is fraught

With fight - flight - 

Or freeze. 

Give me reprieve

In silence. 

Art by Kendra

Love

I’ve been searching for a comet

Hidden by the moon,

The brighter light obscuring

That which flees too soon. 

Love continues for a breath 

Familial in form,

But the brevity of romance

Has left a life forlorn. 

I now must never open

That reservoir -

Unleashed -

A torrent that could only lead

To equal measure of grief. 

Dedication

I vow, I do

dedicate myself

to ideals, to views

to become, to be

all I desire

or long to see ~

Often discomfort

leads to gain,

so dedication

is key to remain

committed

to the ethereal ~