Beauty

. Snapshot It's morning and you rise. You shake your hairAnd stretch yourself a bit, your elbows high,Your blue night gown illuminated byA slant of light that smolders in the air. I want to keep you here just...

. Winter at the Pond I scan the pond. Young birches standing there Have given up their leaves. I set my gaze On trees in water and on trees in air, Where all is peace, with nothing to amaze. The cold,...

. The Vice Worse than the addiction of a smoker, And harder to get over than cocaine, More drawing than to gamblers their poker Is a vice that never ends the game. It’s worse than the attraction of a...

. Distance Kills Distance kills. It’s always true. In time and space, In all we do. Those on our team, Who leave the sport. Those at our work Who find new port. The friends we make Who move away. The...

  Old Man at the River Old man's at the river painting the scene.He's working on boats and feeling serene.Unnoticed, a person's drowning out therewhile scents from the food shacks float through the air.A...

. If I Could but Touch His Hem ---Mark 5:25-34 Forgive me, Lord, you know it’s true That I have prayed twelve years to you, To stop the bleeding and the shame To live a normal life again. And now there is...

. Mr. Bluebird Your spirit rose before I spied your form. It dulled the winter sting and stilled the storm. Your warming warble quelled the bitter chill--- __A merry trill. I saw you perched upon a leafless...

. Winter Midnights Old numbers on the radio; Through foggy panes, a street lamp's glow; Some aircraft's feebly buzzing sound; Barks of mansion-guarding hounds; A drunkard's wrangle with another, Then quick...

. Renaissance for Rob Salminen I am as old as I have ever been, And I've not seen all that I'd hoped to see— But every day my life begins again, And I'm as young as I will ever be. . . Lost and Found a...

. My Heart's Desire There is one thing that I long for, _and another that I need. One essential to my soul, _the other made of dreams. My heart tries to deceive me, _wants what I can’t have. The Spirit...

. Truths Be Known _A cryptical dawning _This foggy gray morning With images drifting about. _Deceptive impressions, _Opaque are the visions, Illusions of Wonder, no doubt. _Then comes a clearing, _All truths...

. Capacity “This is too big and inexcusably Extravagant, so next time I insist We buy a smaller glass. This one will be Always half-empty,” said the realist. “You say this from experience,”...

. Aged Elation When reaching that age where you fear getting slow, The advent of faculties starting to go, It’s great inspiration---you can’t ask for more--- To figure out something you couldn’t...

. Strauss Vater Scene: Vienna, Austrian Empire: Midnight, October 15, 1844. On this night the famous musician, Johann Strauss, Sr. snubbed the professional musical debut of his soon-to-be famous son, Johann...

. Scarlet Pimpernel Amassing clouds—the air still warm; But you, my scarlet pimpernel, You sense that there's a coming storm, Compress your petals, and transform To brave the current's rising swell. . The...

. Fifties Country Living Sit down with me my children, come! __I'll spin a tale or two About when I was just a kid __in nineteen fifty-two. No cell phones, televisions, laptops, __email, or...

. Moments Matter When my daughter was just three __I took her to the zoo. She laughed and smiled and had a blast __And I myself did, too. My friends said, “Why did you do that? __She will not recall The day...

. A Grain of Sand A grain of sand got lodged into __A little seagull's eye. He spluttered with indignant rage, __"Now I can't even fly!" And so his eye grew worse and worse, __The seagull shrieked and...

. Evensong The embers dimmed on the Pacific; _The sky a scarlet hue. One might conclude the fire seraphic--- _A seascape brushed by the muse. Some mares’ tails smudged the vista with soot _While gulls...

. A Bogus Bishop’s Prayer My prayer is not pitched heavenward _To fall upon deaf ears. It’s lashed to Earth for greater good. _It cashes in on tears. It's feathered several nests for years--- _I'm...

. Another Winter Another winter's growing old. __Another spring is coming. Another hive, gripped by a branch, __Will make its endless thrumming. Another smile's to soon emerge __From pastel white...

. On the Porch The roof and eaves, low walls or none, slim railings, Contrive a sense of shelter customary. Worn floor between front steps and door betokens Minutes or hours of ease preliminary. The aura...

. Reflections on Still Waters . Isaiah 55:12 You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, And a song will break forth from the lands. While the echoes of praise in the hills never cease, And the...

. Lament to the Passing of Paper I learned to write my A-B-Cs and form my shapely 1-2-3s on paper, when I was a lad; but now, since I’ve become a dad, the era of the written word is passing like the dodo...

. A Summer Hour A burgeoning bush, some butterflies, Low wooden steps, warped, faded, rise Amid the calm of idle talk— The blur of shadows on the walk. Sometimes a passing, random thought Within winged...

. Concerning Snow ---a conversation between Beauty and Necessity “Well, there you go again.” “What's that?” “Come now, don't act so innocent. You see that plow out there, defacing what it took all...

. Classic Case History Though I was blind, it wasn’t hard to see That blindness was a gift at least as good As any other. People seeing me As someone less insightful than he should Have been were blurry...

. The Grindstone The grindstone spun as fiery sparks were sprayed,for even iron broke against his force,and by his edge the blunt became the bladea king would hold upon his charging horse. The stone was proud...

. Forecast One to Two Inches Within the snow’s approach I sense a hope Connected more to memory than truth. It fails to fall within the narrow scope Of solid message; seems instead a trope For something...

. The Untimely Demise of My Dear Uncle Sam I received the somber news __as sun set low today. My beloved Uncle Sam __by death was swept away. It wasn’t on the battlefield that __he met his demise. ‘Twas...

. Accidents Happen We’re told time tends toward catastrophe, And that a butterfly’s ephemeral wings Might quake the sky somewhere across the sea By strange cascades of simple happenings, Arousing thus a...

. The Settlers —to my forefathers, and all the intrepid men and womenwho settled the Oklahoma panhandle. Across these barren hills, the cold winds blow,As bitter now as in those days long past,When first...

. Snow Sonnet Where silent flakes of whiteness fill the air And cutting winds of winter come to rule The bitter storm of new year strips all bare With iciness at once perfect and cruel. We drift into an...

. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Silently beats an invisible clock. Night turns to day, day turns to night. Following a metronome nowhere in sight. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Sixty seconds make a...

. Autumn Twilight Full moon. Crickets singing. Scarlet sky.Long past summer solstice; now the sunDescends before the short day’s work is done.Last light and fast-invading violet vieTo shape inconstant...

. The Introvert Sequestered in an abstract mood,Replete in blissful solitude;Behind the veil of scenes overtYou’ll find the pensive introvert. You may not find him center stage,The Hercules of any age;But...

. Libra There in my hand I held a crystal vial Of distillation potent, red, and sweet, By which my broken heart was put on trial, And golden apples scattered at my feet. Ask not the name of him who gave to...

. On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir (June, 2024) W e all should thank our God for William Mahrt, I nto whose hands He placed a sacred trust, L eaving to him to keep the aural...

. I Will Awaken the Dawn The birds have yet to echo Their songs across the trees, The sun has yet to whistle Its foggy rays in streams, The dark still holds the world, Creation slumbers on; But now the time...

. True Love On a hill far away, a true love waits, In a place of weathered, broken gates. And though the gates are falling down, One place on the hill is hallowed ground. Nothing moves on that faraway...