Broken and grateful: a few last poems

Some final offerings of old poems that still awaken something in my soul of a time that was hard and yet still produced so much. I would not be the same had I not walked that path. And so, I am grateful.

Once Upon a Time

when stars were thrown down and

clay was pinched into mountains,

a thumb dug the tracks of oceans and

i lay sleeping

dreaming the fairly tale.

i woke.

the magic was gone.

each breath

labored

the blink of eyes

struggling to remain open.

to see what?

the scattering of stars

the immensity of mountains

oceans where i only care to

lay down and sleep

again

into the deep

tracks

where lost treasures of piracy

lay remembering under the

weight of golden glittered littered skies.

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farming

where i come from

mountains climb a giant expanse of sky

& the sun dazzles a crooked valley,

beckoning orange

trees to pay homage in fruit

shaped in her image.

where i come from

they marry young and fulfill the

command to be fruitful and multiply.

history is revered

ways hardly change.

where i come from

simplicity is valued-

thinking like everyone else

is accepted. there is not room

for those whose roots grow a different way.

where i come from

there are left-overs

who tired of jumping through hoops.

when faithfulness meant less than

faith & the value of a harvest

became the equivalent of what

was cost-effective.

where i come from

hard winds blow

lapping lakes dry

for fear of what will be taken.

for fear of what will be rejected.

where i come from

i’ve hoed long rows

down simple lanes that must

closely resemble the one next to it.

until i found

that where i come from

doesn’t so closely resemble

where i come from.

 still, the sun coaxes

and fruit grows.

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Matthew 1: Immanuel

so much humanity:

Fathers and Sons,

and their sons, sons.

generations coming-

generations going,

and my own life seems to be slipping away.

yesterday, i was young-

today i’m somewhere in between

young and old-

in the midst of my generation

waiting,

still waiting,

for You.