Sonomabuzz

poems of gerry la londe-berg

  • I wear socks with my Birkenstocks

    Just saw a lady walk on by
    She looked at me and she had to sigh
    Looking up-and-down down askance
    At my feet she gave a glance
    You know it’s because….

    I wear socks with my Birkenstocks
    I sing songs around-the-clock
    Walking up-and-down along the streets
    Making up songs for all I meet

    Some old guy came ambling by
    He might have been kind of high
    He laughed at me in my attire
    He laughed so hard I had to admire
    You know it’s because…

    I wear socks with my Birkenstocks
    I sing songs around-the-clock
    Walking up-and-down along the streets
    Making up songs for all I meet

    Sometimes children call out with glee
    As children will with their high de he
    Heidi He and Heidi Ho
    Hanging out with them is where I want to go
    You know it’s because…

    I wear socks with my Birkenstocks
    I sing songs around-the-clock
    Walking up-and-down along the streets
    Making up songs for all I meet

    The woman who loves me
    She don’t care
    Of my foibles she’s well aware
    Dressing mode is just one more thing
    Her loving man has got to sing

    I wear socks with my Birkenstocks
    I sing songs around-the-clock
    Walking up-and-down along the streets
    Making up songs for all I meet


    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 8/26/22

  • October 8, 2022 – Personal Memories from the Tubbs Fire

    October 8, 2022

    Smoke of our sadness
    Loss we have yet to measure
    Drifts across the hearts

    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
    Memorial poem to the people who died in the 2017 fire:

    The goodness of each one ripples down through time.
    These people who have shared our life
    The kindness of a word or a touch when it was needed
    Flows onward
    The space in time we each share
    Is here like a wave
    Leaving a ripple in our hearts.
    And lessons recognized in their passing
    Spread as rings on water, seen, then remembered
    The goodness of each one ripples down through time

    The goodness of each one ripples down through time.
    These people who have shared our life
    The kindness of a word or a touch when it was needed
    Flows onward
    The space in time we each share
    Is here like a wave
    Leaving a ripple in our hearts.
    And lessons recognized in their passing
    Spread as rings on water, seen, then remembered
    The goodness of each one ripples down through time
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

    Five years after the firestorm in Santa Rosa, these are the words and the descriptions of what happened. Here are the poems that I wrote for this cataclysm. These are the photos of one house before the fire, after the fire, and after the reconstruction.

    I was surprisingly blessed to be passed over for some of the sadness and loss. My neighbors and friends were not lucky like me. In January 2017 after I moved out of the house, and took all my collected art, I updated all of my insurance. So I received both an insurance settlement and had the ability to sell the property and walk away. Because I knew myself to be lucky, I took what I consider to be the excess profits and put them into SHARE Sonoma County because I believe that shared housing was a big part of the housing solution and a part of the recovery.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

    Santa Rosa Fire 2017 – the response
    I worked in the Emergency operations center, the SR Fairgrounds, the Sonoma Valley High School, and the Petaluma Fairgrounds.

    Brookdale before and after the fire

    Among the flame then ash

    The fire’s path across our community

    Measure of time

    Ode to the place where so many memories happened.

    Haiku from the fire days

    Ripples through time

    The post for the people who died.  This monument at the Luther Burbank Center was developed by the Leadership Santa Rosa Class I cohort, led by Carole Bennett.

  • In the tender gentle heart

    In the tender gentle heart

    a space is held which holds each part

    of life revealed each and every day

    All that passes through will also stay

    Ever present voices echo things

    from past beliefs like hidden strings

    Heartfelt joys of passions real

    Echo on in time’s chambers to reveal

    The souls flow by in the river of life

    Tiny dreams in a steady stream, without strife

    Propel each one to a place uncertain

    In the early morn, behind the dreamer’s curtain

    Not forming thoughts full enough to grasp

    Holding out some hope of all that lasts 

    To each life both then and now belonging

    Brought forth in hope and renewed longing

    In the tender gentle heart

    ><><>< 09/17/22

  • Nine years

    From the depths of sadness
    Memory brings forth
    Moments of tenderness
    In dreams
    Realization
    In the moment
    That it is a dream
    Thus comfort becomes
    The knowledge that past tenderness
    Resides in the heart
    And wanders around the inner mind’s realm
    Memories of comfort
    Near the depths of the soul
    Touching
    <><><><><><><><><><> 12/07/14

    With goodness in our hearts
    and sadness in our eyes
    we said goodbye

    We had felt the depths
    and seen too much
    when we said goodbye

    Strength can hold the heart aloft
    though tears in trials flow
    as we said goodbye

    Time is healer of the heart
    Mind’s eye throws us back
    to when we said goodbye

    Many hearts through fits and starts
    Have seen some better things
    as we said goodbye

    Time does not erase our feelings
    and silent tears return sometimes
    to when we said goodbye

    Holding goodness in our hearts
    as we gaze beyond
    when we said goodbye

    <><><><><><><><><><> 09/17/17

    Where it all began

    Smiles and kisses

    Dreams and schemes

    Plans and hopes

    Made up this thing

    Random lucky breaks

    And hard work and sweat

    Smiles and kisses

    Dreams and schemes

    Happy children

    Long days and sleepy nights

    Words and looks

    Things from books

    Smiles and kisses

    Dreams and schemes

    Days of caring

    Days of sharing

    Lifetime legacy

    After all this

    Smiles and kisses

    Dreams and schemes

    Hopes and visions

    Small changes

    Big changes

    Major setbacks

    Lived through with grace and stamina

    Smiles and kisses

    Dreams

    Dreams foregone and fulfilled

    Schemes aplenty

    But mostly simply

    Being

    Being together

    Through all this

    Smiles and kisses

    Simple joys

    Happy dinners

    Sons all grown

    All of them sharing

    Smiles and kisses

    Smiles and kisses

    <><><><><><><><><><><><> 9/11/13

    “It’s not about fighting. It’s about being.”  Therese

    <><><><><><><><><><><><> 9/11/13

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    Of love that never dies

    Light of days

    will always stay

    in hearts and minds they say

    when we were young

    and nights were long

    joy was born through you

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    Of love that never dies

    As time went by

    Our children’s lives

    Filled days and nights, we two

    Joy in learning

    Ever burning

    And toys and laughter too

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    Of love that never dies

    Growing together all our days

    adversities intruded

    But never once in all that time

    Was discouragement included

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    Of love that never dies

    Fidelity through thick and thin

    Was all we ever needed

    And better or worse

    As wedding verse

    Was lived as days

    Moved past unheeded

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    Of love that never dies

    As fate had its say

    In final days

    And strength gives way

    In struggles

    We’ll always know

    Wherever we go that

    Precious time

    With hope in mind

    gives life, not death,

    its beauty. 

    <><><><><><><><><><><><> 9/11/13

  • The spirits at the dawn

    What is fifty years in the life of a tree?

    What is fifty years in the life of a person?

    How many generations of ants lived with the tree?

    How many iterations of truth passed through the person?

    Did the eagle feather find the man?

    Or did the man find the feather of an eagle?

    When no one is here the ravens come to dance.

    Like the wind off the ocean the present flows.

    Is the tree in the sky or has the sky reached the tree

    The ancient hobbit tree

    Reminds all of the ants of their protection of our Earth

    Branches narrowed and rough

    Needles long and smooth

    All make up the ancient tree under which so many

    Have laughed and loved and laughed again

    <><><>

    Where are they

    The spirits of this place?

    Oh, there they are

    In the slight breeze

    On the trees at dawn

    They rise up in the gentle tears

    Brought on by recognition.

    The laughter of the campers

    Becomes the encouragement of friends

    Seen and felt here now

    And next year once again.

    The Rock
    The Lodge at Dawn

  • A very short poem to transform

    Embrace your death

  • Ten Years On July 2, 2010

    070210 Meyers hike with Mike (19)

    It was a day like no other. Tears and fears manifest. Then recovery. Now peace, but pain.   So much emotion and angst, even ten years later.  My tears flow uncontrolled in joy and trepidation, even now.

    To a pine tree –

    It’s my tree now, Lord

    Towering example too

    Of longevity

    Forest calls echo

    Wren and jay can rejoice now

    In summer’s warm sun

    Day started in peace

    Then wry sense of gain or loss

    As the sunset wanes

    ><><><><><> 07/02/10

    Shade versus shadows

    Some degrees of lack of light

    Like our certainty

    <><><>  07/04/10

    Gumption

    When one is quiet

    Long enough to see hear feel

    The real universe

    <><><><><>  07/06/10

    When did you want that?

    Now or sooner is okay

    Existentially

    <><><><><>  07/09/10

  • For Erika

    Schollenberger Park, Petaluma

    The empress walked with them through the forest.
    Gladness and goodwill became one.
    Then she walked on.
    Mists from mornings of life and light
    Thoughts she spread to our delight.
    Sadness held, as sadness is
    Goodwill and gladness move it on.
    Dark of night now light of day
    Held in morning’s inspiration.
    Looking for the right thing to say
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>06/08/20

  • Stones on the ground

    191013 Bantam Scenes (35)

    A garden of memories
    On the ground beneath a tree
    Stones from places
    That were found
    As a life moved all around
    Stones that hold
    The places seen
    Rocks form beauty
    Through shine and sheen
    To go back once more
    Is beyond the realm
    So memories are what can be held

    Love and loss resting there
    Mists of thoughts and long since cares
    The heart and mind still hold
    The space
    But stones on the ground also have
    Their place.
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>05/23/20

    Late afternoon sun

    A hawk in the sun
    floating on the late afternoon breeze
    glides on by

    From the past
    a memory lost
    slides back into thoughts

    Wings of the hawk
    Brown and white
    shining in the afternoon light

    holding hope
    of gliding
    anywhere there is to go

    Memories don’t work like that
    they go where they have been
    they take the mind on a delirious spin

    memories
    and hawks
    and late afternoon sun
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>05/28/20

    Wonder haiku

    Wonder that impacts
    ingenious incitement
    is superior
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>06/04/20

  • The old man santa and the astronaut

    The old man santa and the astronaut set off on a trip to see the Washington monument
    Along the way they rambled in a canoe across the space to see Saint Gerard
    Onward the candle and the feather
    Onward washed out wood.
    Would you know when to stop burning the candle or snuffing it out?
    Old man santa and the astronaut turned to the Northwest
    and came across the wooden monument and the volcano hawk.
    Monuments of wood and metal and chance
    Chance to look for a new thing
    with the astronaut and the old santa man
    <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>03/20/20