12-24-2015 Miniature Nativity Scenes

Background: i was born in 1959 in July. Near the day i was born is the date of the so called Kitchen Debates between Nixon and Khrushchev. 1959. A time between complacency and revolution, between capitalism and communism. At the beginning of the space race, Christ still standing by to launch in peaceful stillness.
From this time-forge i came into the world. Here are two poems about my experience: (Not Sonnets, but, oh well.):

My Kitchen Debate (First published in Alive Now June/August 2006)
Agape.
I remember
No recipe.
Mass produced
and still 
My first experience of Christ
May have come 
On a plate
After Kindergarten
In the Kitchen:
Tomato Soup
Celery,
Peanut Butter and Jelly,
Wonder,
and Bread.
 "Tell me the story again, Mom."

Too Beautiful to be an accident
In my childhood kitchen we had on one wall 
A refrigerator (on the left)
A freezer (on the right)
In between was the space where
our portable dishwasher
spent most of its time.
On the opposite wall was the sink
where we connected the dishwasher
to run the dishes.
And when the dishwasher hummed,
I would sometimes sit in the space
between fridge and freezer, 
and feel the appliance warmth
and dream.
One day when i was maybe 10
I sat tween freezer and fridge
(amid the soft washing hum)
i spied a pattern of dots 
on the side of the freezer that
appeared as the likeness 
of a bust of the Virgin Mary
looking down at me: 
a mystery
my first real, true mystery.
How did it get there and who made it?
and the voice came to me
"However it came to be,
It's just too beautiful
to be an accident."

10-19-2015

"I've never been on the Robert Frost Trail, but we can go there if you like."

That's the next thing that Daniel heard Wu say to
Him and it felt as if a year had passed. 
Eternity in a moment is what he felt and Wu
Brought him back with a seeming non-sequitur. Aghast
Only in the pure disconnect between Kairos and Kronos,
Now Daniel continued his cold war discourse as if
Every internal moment was a nose
Breadth from the fall of the Berlin Wall. "Stiff
Reality gives way to understanding? 
Is that what you mean?"  Wu responded without diffidence:
"Don't overthink it. I only mean that Gorbachev is not demanding:
'Go on the less trodden path and that makes the difference' 
Every high school year book is riddled with that dense,
Basic interpretation. The difference is the journey's certainty and its comrade in arms: chance. 
Yarrott Benz can teach us a thing or two about when vision and art together can sing."

10-4-2015

"How many time codes do you think Daniel has broken?"
Asked McPherson while Jack was looking at his crepe.
"Plenty. Not that it matters now," Jack returned as if he needed to be woken.
"Pancakes are continuums!" Jack let escape.
"Yes, that is it!" Jack came to life. "McP! You can't lie flat if your
Being bends back on itself!" McP. put his hand to Jack's forehead
"I believe your fever is getting worse, Jack!" "Nevermind that!" Jack said bolting for the door
"Returning to the scene of the crime as if it were aborted.
There is no reason to chase Daniel. There is no crime.
He does not play by our rules but he does not intentionally break them!
Do you know Yoga? I think there is a pose called Bridge! Daniel can do it to spacetime.
And you, wonderful McP, Have helped me understand. Contino Diem!
You brilliant babbler, you! I feel like Selena
Gomez at a Barney audition! How's that for a time patina?"

8-3-2015

Who says it makes all the difference. 
"Well, McPherson, I think I've witnessed it all now." Jack said. 
"How's that then?" his companion returned looking up from his repast. 
"Ever read a sonnet from Pluto to the head 
 Naysayer of the planetary purist league?" Jack cast 
Glibly and nonchalantly and continued, "scrawled in the wall 
Over a restaurant urinal?" "Can't say that I have, Jack. 
Don't think I want to, for that matter. Which stall 
So I can avert my eyes?" McP shot back. 
"Pass the ketchup, please." Jack moved on as he sat to continue 
Eating the meal the waitress had brought. 
After a slight pause he said, "You know when man speaks 'flower' 
Kindly, even with the most love, a stick figure with a circle caught-- 
Surrounded by ovals appears in another man's head. But when God says it, as authority's sower 
Flora covers the face of the earth and on day three of creation, God 
Lowers: boom. Floral fireworks with colorful resonance. Later, Man will behold them with trembling penitence."

7-14-2015 Bastille day on Pluto

Poem from Pluto in the bathroom stall at the end of the galaxy

Jack dismissed himself to McP, "Have to visit the little planets' room."
He sauntered back to the area where the restroom sign pointed;
Flipped on the light and relieved the space of its gloom;
And as he the urinal discreetly anointed,
his eyes fell on these words scratched onto the wall:
"I'm surprised to see you here," he said with arch in his brow.
You and that relic of New Horizon, like a machine by Mr. Klee et al.
But what discovery, Neal, do you want from me now?
Your planetary council gave me the vote of confidence
I hate to break form here but you did know that am I not
Right? So what do you expect from a mere planetoid?
Oh, I know! You've discovered the whirling of your own orbit
is causing the standard of weight to reduce. And now your annoyed.
Knowing sooner or later the earth's weight may be so trim and fit
So as to join the ranks of we dwarf planets. Hmm? Well, Mr. Tyson (deGrasse)
Study me now as I bend over backwards. May all the moons watch, as you kiss my axis."  

6-16-2015

Manna time

The waitress shot bolt upright, hands on hips
"Okay, listen, I will bring you the house special.
My treat. You will eat it and like it! Remember my tip!"
And with this she spun on her heel. "Quintessential
Server response, that! McP gestured with an arched brow
Toward the swinging kitchen doors. Jack was otherwise
Engaged with a train of thought that was so
Realistic he swore he could feel the rail rattle and ties
Of the track disappear at the same time.
For some time now he had wanted
Nothing more than to prove Daniel's crime.
Or at very least to catch him. Now what daunted,
Nay, what vexed him was he had aided in his escape.
Even so he felt glad and satisfied. The waitress returned with a crepe.

5-20-2015

The Warrior Marigold

The cardinals fight in a corner over their favorite tracts,
While some will gorge and some will starve.
And the old oak silently prays and acts 
to show them how far removed they are
from the reason that once filled rhyme by nature
with God's willing sacrifice that they themselves espouse
by beating about the bushes: red wings of stature.
And the gardener weary of the brazen weedy logic that surrounds
the best examples of the truth in beauty seen
is almost ready to use the power tools on it all,
if not for the orange glimmer amidst sickly green:
the cynicism of the age that chokes with gall.
Then as if a prince from some fairy tale, a new Pope with eyes on stalwart hope tears
the briar back, beholds his weakness in the warrior marigold and forgives his peers. 

5-15-2015

Mein Nachbar heisst Stephen

Mein Nachbar heisst Stephen
Der wohnt quer hinueber und lehrt Kinder Kunst
Er hilft mir mal eben and maeht oft sein Rasen
Obwohl er heute zuhause nicht ist.

Seh mal wie sieht er die Welt an mit Liebe.
Ein stueckchen Land rasiert nicht er, und rettet Naturs Liede.

4-3-2015

All the children sing

Jack and McPherson entered the cozy dining establishment
And found a corner table in a sun-lit part of the room.
"Coffee for starters?" the smiling waitress asked (elbows bent
Kindly chin, resting on her knuckles) from the table's edge. Doom
Over the table had not reached her yet. "Yeah that's fine,"
Frowned Jack. McPherson, as usual, did not share his partner's
Attitude and was happily taking in breakfast possibilities: one menu line
Leapt of the page: "Mountain-top Experience--Enjoy a topping of our gardener's
Luscious, Strawberries atop a hill of flap-jacks."
"The angel of the lord just declared we aren't worth a thing..."
Rang jovially from the juke box at the back.
"All the children," McP. chimed in,  "everybody sing!
Don't you want to get something to eat?"
"Eat? Yeah. I'll have the Pharisee's Buffet." mumbled Jack looking beat. 

April 1, 2015

Dumbfounded

"So you think Daniel knows what Angels really are?"
"Yes. And that would also explain why there are so many
Angel references in the Bible that bar
Divination and Angel worship. Since they're messages meant for one person, any
Soul who tries to intercept the transmission will be mislead.
Look at how we tried to pursue Daniel and he vanished."
"Oh," McP. rolled his eyes "so that's why you are over your head.
Okay," continued McPherson, "but, hey, I am famished. 
Feel like having a bite while we consider this white whale?"
"Let's do. Not sure I want to follow Daniel anymore.
Its enough to take the wind right out of one's sails,"
Replied Jack and they made their way to a nearby eatery. Doors
Passed and Jack and his trusted companion looked for a deli
And found one under the name of Ellie's.

March 31, 2015

Thank you, Jack!

Perhaps W.B. was right that the mind, at best, is
A sleek surfer in a grotto of blue Hawaii's tunnel vision.
Really, like the dream behind some boy's poster child of endless summer.
Though, at worst, it is the severity of that water bicep about to
Inundate the sailors in the frail boat of that painting: The Wave.
No third Troy or fourth can outdo the human tragedy of love
Gone to war. Still that image of a tiny insect on the ocean
(That history makes and breaks like tidal longing)
Has its champions. But the clarity of what is coming
Eternally throws us by simple turns: The mind makes the past
Wholly crystal; while what blooms before our very eyes
Is hidden. Better then to simply learn to dance.
Learn to dance and practice, step by step,
Dancer hidden until the dance is done.
Hovering like the one who walks on water,
Or the chicken and the egg question;
Redeeming the need to know for being.
Sure sounds simple.
Everyone knows how
Simple it sounds.
Maybe the lesson we practiced
And practiced together is all we need.
No Dance. No Dancer.
Enjoy each step, and just be thankful for the lesson.