Category: Poems

  • February 2011

    You go with the flow
    Then life gives you rapids or a plunging waterfall
    The water moves fast down to the sea
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/12/11

    The absence of the ability to pray
    In the face of limited evidence of positive results
    Leaves you where?
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/12/11

    A bright winter day,
    after six days in the hell of waiting and worrying,
    is still a bright winter day.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/12/11

    This was such a week
    That by the end left me weak
    As none before did
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/13/11

    There’s a temple on a distant hill
    A palace to a higher power.
    The person who sees it from afar is lifted up
    Until they see the incline across time and space
    Of all the steps between here and there.

    There is a cure to the ailments we endure
    A state of grace and health.
    The person who sees it from afar is lifted up.
    The magical substances must imbue both health and toxins
    In order to break down the parts
    Then build up the life.

    A blaze from sunrise shines on the distant temple.
    A shaft of light under gray skies offers illumination.
    The person who sees it is lifted up
    Then sees across space and time and hope.
    Vague path made clear by magic of science and light
    On days to come.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/14/11

    If a blind guy and a color blind guy went for a walk, what kind of day would they see?
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/14/11

    Life moves by slowly
    When a saunter is as fast
    As someone can go.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/16/11

    Discovered today
    You can only see raindrops
    Falling close to you.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/18/11

    In the scheme of things
    Simple pleasures are the best
    Capri sun and smiles.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/18/11

    The “>hand is older.
    The metal gleams with gentle care
    what has been learned? Yes

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/28/11

  • Life does not make sense

    5/11/2011 7:49 AM

    Thoughts upon reading the introduction to the Book of Job

    Life doesn’t have to make sense.

    We miss some things if we are busy looking for that which makes sense.

    The Creator didn’t say to you or me, “Here, come and be born and it will make sense.” The Creator said, in many ways, “Come and be born and enjoy the beauty of this world; be human and treat all other humans with kindness. Respect My creation and share it.”

    Where in that invitation does the Creator say it has to make sense in order for you or me to fulfill our role.

    Making sense is a process we use to become more effective.

    Each of us has to realize that other humans make sense in a different way than we do. Sometimes our senses coincide in our interpretation; often, however, the sense we have differs.

    Our Creator and this world is open to our human senses and our extraordinary intuition.

    The best hope we can have is to create and fulfill our destiny even though life doesn’t make sense.

  • Indestructible Compassion

    The horizon is
    Flat from desert or ocean
    or the mountain top
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/06/11

    Spring flowers
    Daffodils of spring
    Hope for renewal of life
    Even when nights are cold
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/10/11

    The wait’s not as long
    As the weight of life’s burdens
    Recedes for the old
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/04/11
    If we only knew
    Indestructible compassion
    Underlies all life.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 02/11/11

  • It’s friday

    It’s Friday haiku
    Not great and not bad
    Just some new haiku
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/29/11

    Russian River meets the sea at Jenner
    Land meets the Ocean
    Sunlight and shore intersect
    Water birds and seals
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/14/11

    Orion’s right knee
    Gave out in the late winter
    Just as snow melted
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/28/11

  • Reminiscence and renewal

    Look down all the days
    Our mind can be spotty or clear
    Our thoughts can be tenuous or firm
    Our hopes can be simple or grand
    Yet our breathes will come steady and clear
    As our fate is made or revealed.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/01/10

    All I need is you
    All I really need is you
    You are all I need
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/23/10
    072507 snorkeling day 004
    Remnants of a dream
    Push to dawns awakening
    Fading into light
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/27/10

    Noodling along
    Wasting precious passing time
    Into a new year
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 12/31/10

    Experience of life
    Memories come unbidden
    Reflections through time
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/01/11

    Tasting only you
    Under chocolate skies
    Melting into bliss
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/03/11

    Orion runner
    Flies through life across the sky
    Like it all matters
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/04/11

    Two people walking
    In opposite directions
    Into each other
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 01/06/11

  • It’s easier to hold the rising sun down

    You gain strength, courage,
    and confidence by every experience
    in which you really stop to look fear in the face.

    Eleanor Roosevelt

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 09/01/10

    Fence in seaside mist
    Metal rusting across time
    Fog moves on through it.

    Holding the Line

    Photo by Lance Kuehne
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/08/10

    What you mean to me
    It’s easier to hold the rising sun down
    Than be without my love

    Will this ever end
    The sun will end its setting
    Before we can be parted

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/12/10

    Shining fog today
    Winter morning rain forest
    After storms have passed
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/28/10

    an Ode to Oakmont

    Cement truck driver
    Octogenarian guy
    What else to do – laugh
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><> 11/16/10

  • Inspired Haiku

    in the cold winter
    if only I had a heart
    cold beauty would thrive

    if only I had a heart

    Photo by Ron Parker/TahoeSunsets

  • go to see

    At the end of day
    Peace flows from darkness to light
    Droplets go to sea

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennifer_ruhe/5148092378/in/pool-sonomacounty#/photos/jennifer_ruhe/5148092378/in/pool-33701253@N00/

    Photo by Jennifer Ruhe

  • The magic of eyes

    Each of us sees what we want to see
    And we are blind to that which we cannot see.
    Whether the truth lies in plain view or not.
    Our rods and cones are uniquely aligned.

    A blink, or a squint, at the truth may open our view, or not.
    Like dust in the eyes the view can be rubbed out.
    Tears may flow to clear away the distortion.
    The impressions from a peripheral glance may bring it into focus.

    For those of us with blind spots, which means everyone,
    The things we trip over were obvious to those around us.
    Just as we see their tripping hazards that they don’t recognize.
    But there’s no denying, denial is an effective filter.

    How come I can’t get you to see what you will not see?
    Perspective is both point of view and position
    The glare in the eyes may be the reflection of a vision we have not shared
    Or the view is seen together after a long thoughtful gaze.

    Do you see what I mean? Can you? Do you want to?
    Without insight a beam of light flashes on steel
    and bounces off in another incredible direction
    Never illuminating the space the steel reflected.

  • God is an old man

    God is an old man all dressed in black

    He sits in a wheelchair holding a cane in his gloved hands.

    God is a young mother who drove with her husband from the Valley.

    The kids are with her mother. They don’t know mommy is scared.

    God hovers between a middle aged couple,
    blessing them as they savor every moment, taking it one step at a time.

    God is a mystic, challenging the world to change and
    to accept that the present moment is as close to heaven as we need to be.

    God is a young man, now in an old man’s body, all dressed in black

    He sits in a wheelchair holding a cane in his gloved hands.
    Waiting for a miracle.

    Gerry La Londe-Berg
    February 5, 2008