pop's poetry

Category: Religion

  • planting the three sisters

    In my barren garden
Hands in the dirt
I plant the Three Sisters
With hope as a gentle guide
The corn sister stands tall
Reaching the sky
Ready to be a support
She is a beacon of peace
The bean sister comes next
Climbing the stalks
Giving back to the soil
Living out her compassion
The squash sister is last
Covering the ground
Relieving summer heat
With her broad leaves of love
The three sisters grow
Rising in peace
Giving through compassion
Covering everything with love
A bounty in my garden
Three Sisters bring
Peace, Compassion, Love
May it be so in my life

  • echo

    It’s an echo in the dark that no one started.
That panic that wakes you in the middle of the night,
Sitting upright, heart racing, listening for any sound,
Then realizing, it’s the damn middle of the night,

There’s nothing wrong, right now, right here.
But, so much is falling apart that we’re currently holding
Together with bailing wire and duct tape. Sheer will
Keeps the wall up that is crumbling and cracking,

I know that sounds weak and quite psychotic.
That’s me at 1:05 in the morning, as I get up to pee
And check the locks and the deserted driveway
Hoping against hope that everyone is safe in bed,

Climbing back into bed, I’m also hoping to sleep.
“Hope is not a strategy,” some guy said once.
But to hell with that guy, when simple hope is all
You have to keep you going after strategies fail,

Trying to clear my mind, I read another chapter,
Then count sheep, or down from 100 by threes.
I watch the hours pass on the clock and the moon
Passes by the window as morning light subtly comes,

I join the masses these days, anxiously robbed of sleep.
Day comes, ready or not, and tags me to be next
In line at the stop light and at the conference table.
I’m trying hard to stay awake. Really? Now sleep comes?

  • kids in cages

    There are no words,
Heavenly or earthly
That can justify
The inhumanity
We are seeing today.
Pulling the children
From Mother’s arms,
From Father’s care,
To put them in cages
Is not following law.
It’s swallowing justice.
It’s wallowing in racism.
It’s the hollowing out
Of values that separate
Democracy from fascism.
No words can cure
These abhorrent acts.
Only action will work
Against the onslaught
Of our core beliefs.
When will this
Be the last straw
To make us all act
To make us all fight
To make us all vote.

  • sweet embrace

    with each year's passing
I feel a lessening
a sense of smallness
that seeps into the silence
of the coming new year
I can see it
tiptoeing quietly
across the dew covered
landscape as if being
painted by a master
it slips into the morning
sun as the new year rises
and greets me like a worn
friend it has yet to meet
and embrace with hope
for with each year's passing
though I am not shrinking away
the opportunities in the world
grow much larger
and more complex
so I stand with my face
to the risen year
and step brazenly
into that sweet embrace
that waits for me

  • ritual

    There is an ancient way that calls to me from deep within
This, this is my future path lost to me on the horizon
I feel the sacred among the old oaks that stand with me here
And in the rhythm of the drumbeat my heart matches
Starting the circle way, my feet softly walk with nature
Though I’m lost to the destination, I find the route familiar
A cricket calls my name and the rocks outline the trail as
The hawk screams “You are here” and deer watch in silence

I move toward the center and feel the earth pull me in
There is power in each step to keep me moving through
As I pause to lay the prayers of my family at the center of all things,
I leave behind what was to focus each step on what will

Shoulder to shoulder I stand with you, my new, unexpected tribe
On the circle way together and alone, we walk this beautiful path
Together, forever in this moment held gently in hands of the past
Change moves through our souls to circle and embrace all