Communion

I cannot fathom the idea of sinlessness –
my life is permeated with sin
Thoughts go astray that I do not rein in
I take actions that I shouldn’t
(and don’t take actions that I should)

Even the good that I do is
too often sullied by a
desire for praise
or a sense of self-righteousness

I am like a land
blanketed in thick smog
for the last thousand years
where no eye has seen
the blue of the sky
nor can they imagine it

so how can I fathom
that the one who was sinless
would wear as a cloak
all my filth
so that I
can truly be clean?

my heart cannot hold
the amount of thanksgiving
that is owed to my Saviour
for his gift
his unimaginable gift
his indescribable gift
his unfathomable sacrifice

for what kind of sense does it make
for the whole to be shattered
to mend the fragmented?
and yet somehow
that’s exactly what happened!

Take the Plunge

It’s midnight and the water’s deep
so take the plunge
count to three and hold your breath
and take the plunge
don’t worry about the waterfall
just take the plunge
watch your problems drain away
when you take the plunge

~~

the first two lines of this came to me at about 4am last night when I got up and discovered that the toilet required plunging…so if you change “take” to “use” and “plunge” to “plunger” in all the even numbered lines, the poem becomes more literal 🙂 Of course, it sounds a whole lot more pleasant if you read the poem the way it is written and ignore the clogged toilet bit (by the way, it was a minor clog…no waterfalls were involved…at least not this time.

Salt and Pepper

there’s salt and pepper at my temples
and salt and pepper in my beard
yes my hair’s colour proves that I
am getting older (as I feared)
and while it would be nice
to be youthful forever, I think
I’d miss that peppery spice!

~~

for dVerse. Quadrille challenge is to write a 44 word poem including the word “pepper”.

Lawnmower Man

 

folks are hunkered down
in bunkers ‘neath the earth
but one brave dude still mows his lawn
and whistles tunes with mirth
“storms won’t stop my chores”
he tells his friends, “becoz’
I really want to go and meet
that wizard guy in Oz”

~~

a few days ago, a tornado passed near the town of Three Hills, Alberta (Canada).  One brave (insane?) guy decided to continue mowing his lawn, and his wife took this picture.  When asked about why he would continue doing yard work, he told reporters, “I was keeping an eye on it”.  As far as I know, he wasn’t really hoping for a free ride to Oz.

Sharing this with dVerse, where the Quadrille prompt this week is to use the word “storm”

Gross!

find them here and find them there
those tent worms are everywhere
watch them dangle from their threads
watch them land right in your hair

hear them pop beneath your feet
(or when you sit, beneath your seat!)
if you do not take great care
you’ll find them in your underwear!

wormy guts make highways slick
the sight of them, it makes me sick
those nasty worms are everywhere
the trees are very near to bare

find them here, find them there
there’s one crawling in your hair
yes, you’ll find them everywhere
here’s one in my underwear

~~

OK…I have yet to find any tent worm caterpillars in my underwear, but they are nearly everywhere else…and yes, there have been reports of slick highways due to the shear mass of these caterpillars crawling across the roadways

Sharing this rather disgusting poem with dVerse…and hope that most of my readers have a less wormy environment than here!

The Challenge of Art

as a poet I’ve discovered
that the beauty an artist intends
is never quite transferred
from mind to completed project
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony
in all its glory is merely a glimmer
of what was in his mind.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night
while stunning
cannot compare
to the splendour
of the loops and swirls
that he saw in his mind
before he picked up his brush
and I so often
strive for words
that will stun the reader
with their beauty
but must finely settle
for something
so much less
even this poem
does not really say
what I wish it to.

 

An Ottava Rima about writing Ottava Rima

each stanza is just eight lines long, Okay?
there’s more you need to know though, you’ll agree
lines one, three, five will follow rhyme scheme “A”
and two, four, six – let’s call that rhyme scheme “B”
iambic pentameter is the way
to write Ottava Rima poetry
the final couple lines use “C” to rhyme
(now toss this poem – it isn’t worth a dime!)

~~

at dVerse, we are writing Ottava Rima poems