Category Archives: Poetry

Lent Musings 6

My father taught me to swim
I feared he would
drop me in deep water
Jesus invites me
out of the boat
the little girl
still fears the deep
but Jesus whispers
“My grace is sufficient”

Lent Musings 5

I tried to write
a poem or a prayer
and the words
were hidden
behind my need
for clarity
and so I write that
because you are big enough
for all my questions
and frustrations
and confusion
today you say “hush”
“just trust”
so I will sit at your feet
until you speak

Lent Musings 4

we mourn for the children of Abraham
lost in a wilderness
of their own making
we mourn for the loss of the garden
for the lies we make truth
we mourn for ourselves
as we stumble back to you
stone bruised and world weary
we cling to the hope
that our stones will be rolled away
and there will be rejoicing
just beyond the horizon
in heaven and on earth
as your resurrection people
dance out of their tombs

Lent Musings 3

A repentence
from smallness
trying to fit my feet
into your footsteps
sometimes all I see
is your shadow
I’m sorry for focusing
on the wrong things
while you were busy
just to the side of my vision
I’m sorry for my dreams
that are too little
and would fill
a dimestore postcard
that says “wish you were here”
when you are painting a sunset
that sings
“I AM”

Lent Musings 2

I see creation
both beautiful and terrible
and my questions grow
I come to you for answers
and echoes of Job
ask me
“Where were you
when I laid the foundations of the world?”
I worry at my faults like
a sore that won’t heal
and there is Paul, head bent over a letter
pen scratching
“My grace is sufficient for you”
I cry out in fear
asking for reassurance
for a promise
and the Psalmist sings
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart”
I demand to know when you will fix
this broken creation
Jesus whispers
“Do you love me?”

Lent Musings 1

there are cycles
I always felt them
just at the edge of light
like that feeling you are falling
and you jerk awake
in your fear
almost doing the thing you dream
you made the world and see the beginning and end
as one thing, part of the whole
I am a dot on the line
that you draw where history meets future
I was, I am and will be
because you were
and are
and forever will be
I can’t hold all of you any more
than I could drink an ocean
yet you make a home
in me

Never

I never knew
that red anger
clangs like loose tin
in a windstorm
cutting the air as it sings with venom
or that white hot hate would stripe
the backs of humanity wielded
by those who can
or that blue bruises
would darken hearts
and stiffen hands that can’t
gentle a troubled world.

Ashes 

Job sat in the ashes and wept

While satan ripped open his life

And he wondered if the Father slept

Job sat in the ashes and wept

While it seemed that all joy had died

Job sat in the ashes and wept

But he held to his faith through the lies

Job sat in the ashes and wept

Even wifey said curse God and die

Just cruel words from his friends inept

Job sat in the ashes and wept

In time, god’s promises were kept

Though we even now wonder why

Job sat in the ashes and wept

And often we echo his cries

A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines. Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well. The rhyme scheme is simple: ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines.

Lost

Photo by Tommy Stone

a silence deep and calm

in greyest grey

and gloomest gloom

a weighted nothing

soft as down

even wings are stilled

and in the waiting weighting

stillness soft but heavy too

a time to sit and watch

cling to branch and to each other

time will pass and darkness to

just air, just water both give life

so peace and flight will come again

hold fast and fly on better days

Dawn Rises

mist rises from the pond
to greet the dawn
the coolness of night remains and as
wisps reach for the sun
knowing warmth it covets
birth straining towards death
the pond remains quietly in the light

New Year Reflections

I had so many dark thoughts about the past year and not a lot of positive for the next. I was prepared to write a ranting post about the horrible state of the world and then….I read several things written by folks much smarted than I am. For instance:

“Speaking of the happy new year, I wonder if any year ever had less chance of being happy. It’s as though the whole race were indulging in a kind of species introversion — as though we looked inward on our neuroses. And the thing we see isn’t very pretty… So we go into this happy new year, knowing that our species has learned nothing, can, as a race, learn nothing — that the experience of ten thousand years has made no impression on the instincts of the million years that preceded.” John Steinbeck January 1, 1941

It would seem that as bad as things seem, they come in cycles so in the words of Bette Davis “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” I’m going to hang on and hope to ride it out until the wheel turns.

 

as long as there are poets

and stars up in the sky

then hope will fling the sweetest words

to float above us high
as long as there are singers

the band will surely play

marry the two, the singer the song

the heart will have it’s say
as long as there are dancers

and feet to tap the time

to travel the world on a single floor

movement synced with rhyme
as long as there are painters

to mirror color and line

reflect the hope, the world goes on

with brushstroke, broad and fine
as long as there’s a speck of God

in every living soul

creative need a planted seed

will help to make us whole
as long as there are hands to make

to reach across a chasm deep

to hold, to soothe, extend to shake

to do the work till time to sleep
from heart to mind to hands and feet

all will sing and move and say

and when we’re gone the song goes on

shadow, echo, fade away

 

Happy 2017 world.

Mary Rocked

When Mary rocked her baby boy

She dozed as mothers do

and as she slept she dreamed

a dream of me and you

For in her arms a baby slept

but there was more she held

for on this night all round her

God’s own angels knelt

In Mary’s  arms the world did rest

each soul who breathed and died

Mary rocked the world that night

all the way to God’s side

For every tender kiss and touch

God’s love flowed gently through

This baby born to live and die

To make each of us new

Autumn Gold

cold rusted leaves cling to wet branches

braced for a final fall

last dance before the earth swallows their life

to give back to next years new growth

memories of sun fill veins

pulse slowed to the rhythm of seasons

give way to slumber

as though winter wins the battle

as though the fight does not go on

frost will come over and over again

the cold cannot reason past it’s arrival

but roots will hold trees in place

waiting for the first drops

as light and life triumph

the bright gold a promise

that is always, always kept

hope

Wisdom of Trees

Peace falls soft with the night
Though even as the sun sets
it shares a rosy glow
Though we may be blue as the sky
The lesson from the trees
Taught as they stand still and reach
for light till it fades to black
and even then they stand
waiting to share the cool
gathered from night
when the sun returns

Grand Finale

Grand Finale Tommy Stone

Photo and Title Credit Tommy Stone

The sun, she doesn’t hide from sight

even the clouds can’t keep her light

from painting a fading sky

Even the waters sing her chorus

knowing that dark is nigh

even the trees give rest

and the birds do cease to fly

and still the sun keeps dancing

her colors wild, enchanting

as shadow slowly slanting

she says “it matters! Look and see!”

“Dance the music plays for free!”

And even as the last notes played

the echo reaches space

and though the dark will come too soon

last rays warm watcher’s face

 

Last Gasps

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Photo and Title Credit Tommy Stone

like the pillow

where I lay my head

clouds will cover trees

in softest down

as night shakes out

the wrinkles smoothing

out the tension

calming all the babies

tucking heads neath

feathered wings

nested in the darkest leaves

settle lower, deeper still

heavy lidded, curled around

from top to trunk

rooted in the bed of earth

sings a mother sky

of sunset dreams

and sleepy sighs

In The Silence

As I walk through the world
I wonder what is my purpose,
my reason, my work
Fears and worries chase me
like a million bees buzzing in my ears
but the sun reminds me that I will be warm
The pond reflects the peace
that grows in the trees and the grass
The bird stands guard
proclaiming nothing and everything
In the silence