Around the Edges

Even Betsy Ross
Couldn't make a flag that
wouldn't fray eventually.

Everything dies--
A hard lesson to learn,

but she promised...
and in church, too...
so much for that!

Ah, the heaviness of regret--
so don't carry it for long...
just far enough to let most of it
or all of it drain away...

This is the only Christmas there is.

‘Tis the Season

Once upon a time Americans went traveling and came back
with stories of beggars , some crawling at the edge of traffic,
some lame and sick slumped like sacks on sad sidewalks,
forlorn worn out women mournfully clutching sick babies
drugged to effect the most pitiful presentation of poverty.

A long way from Mumbai and Cuzco and Zanzibar
beggars stand at intersections holding homemade signs
claiming most need of help and better claim than others
for compassion please in the form of money not food.
I don’t know what to make of it or what to do about it.

As I hurry my bicycle past them trying not to look at their eyes
or in my car I come to a full stop and must look directly at them
or awkwardly look away as if trying to see someone I may know,
the full weight of childhood Sunday School settles on me
stirring my soul to remember Bible stories about feeding lambs.

These are not lambs, and I live comfortably in the land of plenty.
The presidential candidates aren’t suggesting solutions
about homelessness except to suggest not subtly
that anybody without whatever just isn’t trying hard enough.

Homeless on the waterfront in San Diego

Begging in Mumbai

Homeless in Barcelona

Homeless in Paris... camping on the Seine

A young girl sent begging... In St. Petersburg, Russia

It Can Be Whatever You Want It to Be

I had an art teacher once
who knew a thing or two about art
and scary as it seems
looking back on it now
she knew a thing or two about me
but she wasn’t into betrayal
so when I asked what she thought
after I had made a drawing
about nothing
nothing at all
looked at it for only a moment
and nodded with great understanding
as if she knew exactly what it was
I had made
and said
yes

Extraordinary Ordinary Stuff

Nancy has come home for the holidays
Jim brought Irene’s Christmas Bread
still warm from the oven so we ate it
without waiting for anything or anyone

warm wind is blowing out of the desert
ensuring a balmy holiday weekend
oranges and tangerines called Cuties
Ruth and Bill sent bread for breakfast

A red ship from Japan decorates the bay
the bottlebrush tree signals Christmas

Christmas is a time to wonder

Christmas is a time to wonder
about all kinds of things
like why somewhere along the way
they stopped putting sashes
on girls’ dresses. Why is that?
I mean, why did they disappear?
Was it about the time of Barbie?
Did Barbie decide it wasn’t cool?

Those bands of sewn material
attached at the waist
to be pulled back and tied
and spread carefully in a bow
at the exact center of the back
were always on the dresses
my Mother made for my sisters
to wear to school and to church.

When I Was a Boy

Some trees I know,
like so many people,
aren’t even from here
but they sing
and dance
and make everything
happier.

When I Was a Boy
more than half a century ago
The woods in Arkansas
sang
and sometimes danced.

People there sang, too...
and danced.
I thought all people did.
Some don’t!
Pity...

China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea still name Communism as their form of government. With most of its economy state-controlled, Belarus, although it doesn’t declare its government to be Communmist, is the only European country left with remnants of Communism predominant in its governmental structure. Belarus, China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea are all dictatorships, each with its own peculiar arrangement for choosing a leader. When the dictator in any of these countries dies or is otherwise deposed, the world waits with bated breath to discover what will happen next... Who will the new dictator be and how will he rule? The wait is especially uncomfortable when a temporarily leaderless country maintains an arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Clearly the oddest of the Communist countries is North Korea. With the death of Leader Kim Jung Il this week, the world waits to see who will take charge of the nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong Un, the twenty-something son of Kim Jong Il is the heir apparent. The Rodong Sinmum, the official newspaper, described Kim Jong Un as “the spiritual pillar and the lighthouse of hope” for the military and the people. Ri Ho Il, a lecturer at the Korean Revolutionary History Museum spoke apparently for the leadership committee today. He said, “The Korean people have been coming to Mansu Hill in deep sorrow at the loss of the benevolent father of our nation with the infinite feeling of longing. Our General (Kim Jong Il) is our people’s benevolent father. He defended our people’s happiness, carrying on his forced march both night and day.” In reality, Kim Jong Il, was a hermit in his hermit nation. Little is know about how he spent his time. Even less is known about the son and successor. If the son turns out to be a nutty as his father, the poor North Korean people are in for a continuing rough ride. Will he be a puppet under the control of the a council of generals? The world waits.

That Other World in Mirrors

That other world in mirrors
tells only half the story...
No... No... Not even half.

That other world in mirrors
is only ever seen partly
telling never ever the whole
truth... and at best distorted
by light and lines
half shown/half drawn
cut off by artificial boundaries.

Photographs taken early
lie all the more.

Life in the flesh
sags and wrinkles.