National Poetry Month 2013 - Poem #1

It's National Poetry Month again! 30 poems in 30 days - go!

April Fool

Life is not ended
The world is not gone
You walked through the fire
and you have won

Life is just beginning
The world is still spinning
You have faced the devil
and you have won

Life is worth living
The world is worth giving
You still respond with love
showing you have won

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The Zero-Sum Game

This is something I wrote while waiting in the free lot at the airport for my buddy's flight yesterday...the first line is a line out of a song that was playing on the radio as I drove from my office to the airport - the rest came from, well, life...

Lose the beat, lose the rhythm
Lose the beat, find the rhythm
Find the rhythm, find your path

Skip the counting, just do the math
One and one can equal one, two, three or none
You are your own sum of life's equation

The possibilities are infinite
You are the one who limits
Opportunities and potential
Parallel and sequential

You choose the size of your box
Big or small
One size does indeed truly fit all

It's all equal in the end
For life is a zero-sum game, my friend

New Work

Wow, logged on to post these and found that this blog had just been viewed today - thank you!

I watched The Last Airbender last weekend, and the theme of water was rattling through my brain. Unfortunately, daily work life took over and chased it out, although it showed back up in life as rain and tears this week.

Today, as I was journaling, these two poems came through - not the theme of water, rather perhaps the larger theme of flow, which may be what was really meant to come this week.

letting go/becoming

focus on letting go - becoming has yet to be - becoming comes on the heels of being free and seems to be a two steps forward, three steps back process at times - keep aiming for the light at the end of the tunnel - focus on the esoteric what not the in-flesh who or the material thing

focus on letting go and then becoming comes - sometimes slowly and haltingly, like coaxing a feral animal into your life, sometimes with a burst of speed and light that takes your breath away - but it does come once letting go is gone

Life - Golden and Full

life is golden - truly it is - and being golden, it is precious and every drop should be savored, not slurped and hastily swallowed

pain adds the salt and joy the sweetness

a life lived fully becomes full bodied like a good red wine or a hearty ale or the smoky cheese that fills your mouth with its nutty flavor

Namaste!

18 Apr 11 - The Budget Dilemma

The impetus for this was the news that the Stock Market (Dow Jones) dropped 140 points due to the possibility of the national debt ceiling not being raised.

The Budget Dilemma

Current year budget expend
next year's budget defend
year after next's budget develop

Current year budget
six months late
too much rhetoric and debate
last session's Congress made us wait

Next year's budget
likely again to be late
judging by the aggressive measures
fueling more rhetoric and debate

This session's Congress is one divided
tea-sipping elephants against asses with blinders on
both sides less right, more wrong

Will it end in our country's credit rating swan song?

When will reality sink in
to those who work in
the ivory tower known as
Capitol Hill?

On time you must pass the bills
bills that support the promise of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
bills that provides for the general welfare
of our Nation's citizens
bills that fulfill the promises made to
the Greatest Generation and the generations
they've begot

Otherwise, we'll vote you out - the whole lot!

Tankas for the Day

This morning I was pondering tanka - a 5-7-5-7-7 form similar to haiku (5-7-5, about seaons) or senyru (not about seasons, also 5-7-5). Those are syllable counts, by the way.

This is what came of this ponderance after the work day was over...

Based on getting a job interview for what looks to be a very interesting job:

Applying for job
opportunity beckons
getting interview
need to make the most of it
how to make the most of it?

Sitting outside in the sun writing, listening to the sounds of the neighborhood:

Scaling piano
notes drifting from neighbor's house
now playing a song
not one to sing along to
at least no discordant notes

Thinking about various things, past and present in life:

Wanting harmony
understanding, peace and love
having distance,
communication issues
relationships are worth it?

A Chance For Atonement

This is directly related to family issues that cover several generations now...

A Chance For Atonement

Spring, starting anew
forgiveness for all you do
comes atonement too

Atonement means change
it is time to rearrange
first things must come first

Addictions must go
responsibilities stay
and your life goes on

If addictions stay
responsibilities grow
and your life shatters

A life that shatters
with parts glued, cannot be whole
like mirror cracked

Never again whole
for pieces always missing
never found again

Hope atonement comes
responsibility stays
go, addictions, go

False escape fleeting
in morning, problems remain
still have to face pain

True escape takes guts
face to sun, back to others
close door behind you

Never turn around
always face to sun always
one day at a time

One step at a time
out from the abyss you climb
left foot then right foot

Easy, who say so?
but can be done, this I know
face to sun, always