Friday, January 31, 2014

Sycamore on Elm Street





There is a tree under which I used to sit far away from here.
I say far because it was a long time ago.
Childhood’s ghosts and a thousand miles,
are indeed a vast distance.


I would go there, nestle between gnarled trunk and
upright, pocked telephone pole.
Sitting headbent with arms encircled around crooked knees.
Deep in an island three. Comfort was easy there.


There, my only obligation silence,  solace under the
warmth of the rising sycamore. Standing weathered and broad.
I owed no one anything, fell short of nothing, all pretense removed.
Troubles disintegrated like cracked fall leaves ground small


and fertilizing a young boy's growth.  A trees growth.
Now, in the apple of my worldliness, my ken demands a different being;
tasks to accomplish, money to make, responsibilities to oversee,
worlds to save with my pen and organization and do gooder heart.


Sometimes I wish I could go back to that tree and just
curl up snug and small.


Sometimes I do.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

A Cold Roe Morning


My heart clenched as I passed by the throng.
The bitter cold air, naming my icy mood.
In their minds no doubt, or room to be wrong
where ragged edges are once again glued.


Their world of black and white, brooks no rainbow here
just entrenched certainties, and calcified thought
barricades of judgements. Forts built in fear.
I wish they could see what these patients sought.


They pray for me, and all the women within
but feels more like control than like comfort
addled by references to mortal sin
Barren words labor, but fail to comport


I’ve witnessed first hand the healers inside,
rise each morn to minister to women.
Care for her truths and hold hands at her side
They do so over and over again.


Courageous souls whose committment to dare
With great vision they strive. Do what they do
Living a world bound simply by Care.
Their actions in tenderness so true


Here then is my prayer uttered without sound
Ushered without moving, not meant to plea.
More like a remembrance, that when it is found
Brings the heart home to love’s reality.


May each day we all hold dear, those whom we serve
Near their hearts as our own filled with this grace
Each drop the ocean, unfrozen, to swerve
Stronger Together as compassion’s face.








January 22, marks the anniversary of Roe vs Wade the landmark Supreme Court decision that gave many women in the United States the right if not the ability to bring their moral authority to bear when deciding complicated issues like abortion.