Month: August 2017

Give

in Times

like these

you give

what you can

if you have money

you give money

if you have time

you give time

if you have a gift

you give that gift

if you can sing

go sing a song

for music is healing

if you can make people laugh

go make people laugh

for laughter is healing

if you can listen and really hear what’s being said

go listen and really hear what’s being said

for listening and being heard is healing

if you can cook a good meal

go cook, for food is healing

if you can read a book

go read a book to a child, to an adult

for words are healing

if you can play with a pet

go play with a pet, for pets are healing

if you can find beauty in the ordinary

go find beauty in the ordinary, for beauty is healing

if you can hold somebody

go hold somebody, for being held is healing

if you can be there

go be there, for just being there is healing

if you can pray

go pray, for prayer is healing

it’s not just words

it’s something you feel

like when you were little

and you looked at the world

and saw it

like God intended

TL

The Rain

it’s raining

outside my window

the kind of rain

that tells me

summer’s over

and fall is here

and I can’t help but think

would I still love the rain

if I lost all I had

to it

if somebody I loved

drowned in it

if all the pets got lost

in it

if the house I lived in

disappeared in it

if the business I built

sunk down in it

if the car I drove

submerged in it

if all the photos

got smeared in it

if all I owned

now

was the shirt on my back

the shoes on my feet

if all I had was me

and my precious baby

and we had to start all over

from the ground up

would I search the clouds

and spot the sun

would I stare at the sunset

and wake with the rise

would I see the moon

and all the stars

would I look around

at all the devastation

and see past it

somehow

would I know

I’d have a home again

a kitchen to cook a meal in

a place to wash and dry my clothes

my own bed, my own pillow

a car to drive down the street in

work to go back to

new photos in the frames

would I look up

at the clouds turning gray

and watch the drops

roll down the pane

like all the tears I cried

tell me …

would I

would I still love

the rain

TL

“One Nation, Under God”

there is

hatred

behind closed doors

spilling out

into the streets

saturating the ground of 50 states

the United States of America

doesn’t feel united

there is unrest

inside the whole of society

a repetition of history

with blood on the hands

whose hands

a young man, a middle man, an old man

women

is it right

to take the life

of another human being

without regard

a human who was born into this world

by Grace

but because they don’t

look like you

or believe like you

or talk like you

you would kill them

or have them killed

and support their murder

take pride in their death

rally the harm

to feel you’ve been justified

finally heard

these are the acts of those

who think they are immortal

hatred hides behind a smile

and shakes your hand

and looks you in the eye

pay attention

look deeper

do you see a soul

TL

Bok Choy

how did

gecko food

turn into

a black bunny

I’ll never know

and they never have bunnies in there

like ever

it’s like they knew

all about the Holland Lop videos

she’s been watching online

for a month

and we barely got one leg in the door

when she spies the rabbits

with a gasp

and out of nowhere

this lady appears next to us

like a fairy godmother

poof

and starts telling us all about these three baby bunnies

and how they had the same mother

and how they’re half Dwarf and half Holland Lop

and I don’t think she took a breath

and as soon as she felt me caving

she opens the cage

and puts the black bunny in her hands

how did this happen

now, I gotta go buy

more bok choy

TL

The Mountains

staring out

the window

at the mountains

majestic

always gets me

one of the last things he ever told me

was about mountains

“life is about peaks and valleys …

peaks and valleys”

shortly before he died

he buried his mother

and shortly after that

I buried him

we sat alone at a picnic table

and he looked at me with such joy and said

if he died tomorrow

he’d die a happy man

‘cause I was there

with him

getting off that plane

and seeing him standing there

with open arms

his hair no longer black but gray

his laughter the same sound

that twinkle in his eye

him hollering out my nickname

holding me like he did

when I was little

that was the peak

getting that call

seeing him on that hospital bed

beneath those glaring lights

his arms limp by his side

his skin still warm

that was the valley

low

TL

Sorrow

was watering

quiet

so as not

to disturb

the baby birds

then I looked down

and realized

they would not

be disturbed

TL