Beauty

. Pearls or Swine? Pray show me how to tell a pearl from swine. I have a thirst for sanity to slake. I seek a clue---a firm not fluid sign To steer me from the sway of all that’s fake. While Einsteins whine and eggheads bellyache, As boundaries blur and...

. Best of the Windy City Nation’s hub and culture center, O’Hare Airport, millions enter. Stunning architecture sites, The awesomeness of Frank Lloyd Wright; Union Stockyards fed the nation; Second City improvisation; Lake Shore Drive, no road just like it, Drive or bike or even hike it; Cow that caused...

. Elusive Illusive Art Where are the pure, illusive works of artthat bubble upward from the deep unknown?Where in this world are worlds Art sets apart? Duct tape? A banana fresh from the cart?Renoir would recoil and Monet would moan.Where are the pure, illusive works of art? A gallery is...

. A Pleased Jaques ---after a soliloquy in Shakespeare's As You Like It At first there is the infant, grinning widebecause he has escaped his nurse's armsand her chagrin, in short shirt takes his stridearound the corner, swaggering with charms. Next comes the busy schoolboy in the morn.He's running off...

. My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean My soul is at home in the depths of the ocean; My soul is at home in the cosmos above, Always adventuring, seeking to grow and Wreathing my body in infinite love. My soul permeates every stone on...

. The Lemon Tree We leave the house, the nurtured lawn is gone; The garden still resembles lifeless works Of abstract art; at times banana leaves Seem painted by a brush. I look upon The fruiting lemon tree, a souvenir My father gifted me some years ago; He says such...

. Out in the Open The slanting rain comes on and on! The cold drops blear and blur the sun When they hang in my eyelashes. My heavy stomp in the mud mashes The leaves and twigs and mud together. I plough on through the battering weather. I walk with...

. Magna Lex ---to the choirmaster, a Psalm (19) of David. . I The heavens herald God’s resplendency; The skies above display his artistry. By day the discourse spills like falling rain; Deep verities the night’s dim lights explain. There is no language, not a jangling word, No resonance, no...

. Let There Be Light From beyond, there came the Word—a cosmic “Om”That pierced the void with one colossal bang of sound,Releasing undulating waves of hallowed humThat thundered through the geodesic grid unbound With bursting, brilliant Light! Acoustic alchemyOf Earth’s Creator—names like Brahma, God, Amun.Divine vibration uttered by the DeityFrom...

. Emergent Occasions “And even angels, whose home is heaven, and who are winged too, yet had a ladder to go to heaven by steps.” —John Donne, Meditation II, Emergent Occasions __Affliction is a sea, a sink,__A place that begs the soul to think.__As treasure, sick-bed souvenirs,__Woe wets our ashes,...

. Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations I. Everywhere, the sands are endless. Look: A joke is made of all my glory. On Stone once sculpted in my image, my High authority, my grandest works’ Marks, have vanished. On my visage, ye See my ancient sneer. I, who was mighty,...

. Winter Night A full moon fills the sky with lustrous light And gives the vault of heaven in the night A golden sheen that gilds the cloudy wisps That drift across the sky like phantom ships. The moon's glow falls upon the ice-bound lake, On frosted reeds and brambles...

. . None for All Backbones wilt and waistlines grow; Brightness dims as diodes glow. It’s history’s course, a simple fact, Declared with pride—or else with tact. Vigor falters, wits regress; The perspicacious acquiesce. It’s civilized, it’s preordained, This kingdom of the addlebrained. Rhyme is dead—and reason too: They’re obsolete,...

. Healing Hands ---in appreciation of the care provided (free of charge) by the NHS, the National Health Service of the UK, while I was hospitalised as a pain patient. I thank the Lord for healing hands, indeed! For Satan gripped me with his razor claws; In agony, just begging...

. Happy ---for B.K. A ground to play, a set to swing, A slide to slide, a bell to ring: She walks the way of there and then. “Hap-py,” she says; “hap-py,” again. A ball for foot, a nut for squirrel; The way is wide for baby girl Without the...

. The Adoration of the Peacock ---on The Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi The world is a-gawk at a gaudy surprise, for kings walk on foot while the commoners ride, and I, though a Peacock with feathers on high, fold them up and sit...

. Bollical Dogs I have a complaint! T.S. Eliot hogs All the fun with his stories of Jellicle Cats! So let me (inspired by zoo catalogs) Write of beasts ripe for versificational chats. But shall I vaunt possums? Or groundhogs? Or bats? Of course not! I’ll write about Bollical Dogs!...

. Caleb in Canaan  Green fields, walled towns, strong foes, but we are fit To overcome. Forward, I say. It’s ours. These forty days of foraging have fed Twelve spies good fare and knowledge requisite. Let no one claim this promised land devours Its dwellers. Milk and honey flow. Widespread...

. The Shepherd God On Autumn eves when solipsistic stars__Peer down on bloody, towering oaksWhose gnarled, twisted branches create bars__Encaging man in Fortune’s spokes,When groaning wind rustles through sloping eaves__To make one wonder why she grieves Despair parades these things before my eyes__Dungeoning the world with gloom,Obscuring heaven’s vivifying skies__To...

. Topics Over Time At 10 boys talk about the games in which they’ve played. At 14 they discuss the girls and “progress” made. At 16 there’s the homework everybody’s got, At 18 work or college and their future lot. At 25 it’s new jobs or careers presaged, At 30...

. Oh, the Days Oh, the days of poop and vomit! My best dress had drool upon it While I walked my teething child Up and down the hall for miles. Oh, the days of poop and vomit! When the baby chose to not sit In a high chair during...

. Meditation 4 "Now our Lord bestowed great gifts through small means..." ---Homily on Our Lord (11) "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." ---1 Corinthians 10.31 The glory's in the small stuff, for the small stuff's never small to...

. My New New Year I’m shunning bards of lilt and kilt tonight. My cup o’ kindness guzzled dry by kin Has urged the spurning of that worn-out rite Of seeing lame old, same old new years in… The fizz. The fuss. The toasts. The ghosts. The grief Of echoed...

. December 31 __Another year _Gasps out its dying breaths. __Oh, do not spare _Any further Death’s ___Swift hand _From seizing its demand! __Do not rue __An end now due. Another year begins anew. __The heavy sum _Of myriad events __Weighs burdensome _Beyond all tolerance, ___Sapped, drained, _And cannot be...

. Lines Written in a Time of Illness My body is weak, and this reflects my soul,Who baser pleasures is obsessed to know;For the mind, of late, has been filled with resentmentAnd not contented by mere sentimentWhich, however piously it’s offered,Relief from pain has never, ever, proffered.Just like the blessed...

. The Matters of Life With furrowed brow she knits away her troubles,Her wrinkled face so tight and drawn with age.The skeins of yarn unwind in rapid motionAs woes translate to tight and tighter gauge. Tho weary of her task, she stays determinedTo process life through each and every stage,Intent...

. On Learning of a Lover’s Death Your parting words were not exactly nice, But when I read the news that you had died, At least for old times’ sake, I should have cried. I haven’t—yet. Is that a crime? Suffice To say upon a time we loved, made love,...

. The Blank-Page Stage I once embraced the blank-page stage, when words would somehow always rhyme, but now my brain shows signs of age, and operates on its own time. So now, I dread the clean-slate state since often, the right anapest remains elusive as I wait until my brain...

. Ode to a Christmas Pudding O fragrant orb of dark and luscious depths Made with magic conjured every year By souls who know the spell---those tricky steps That summon plummy culinary cheer, You started as a heap of shriveled fruits Steeped in sticky sherry till imbued With zest of...

. Stars Voluble Profound and lightless silent night _Lay still with curtains closed. Into unspeaking dark the Word Descended from his regal throne And rose from Israel below, _A supernova blaze Encircling music of the spheres. The stars were called to add their light: _Clear voices interposed, “We’re present! Instantly...

. A Present Unclaimed Under the tree is a present unclaimed Paper and ribbon and bows, good to go. Who is it for? “Who it’s from” isn’t named. Where is the tag? No one here seems to know! “Maybe,” Mom says, “There’s a misunderstanding.” “Bet it’s a joke,” says young...

. Make Room, He’ll Come In Have you spent much time wandering, feeling distressed,and upon your arrival, found no place to rest?You can’t possibly know what it’s like till you’ve beenwhere you longed to be but found no room at the Inn. And you know they’d have made room for...

. Santa Claus Has Passed Away As is their custom every year, the Men’s Club promptly after class had half the hallway commandeered and cheerfully began to pass out toys and games as grade by grade the children headed out of school. In former years what always made it fun...

. Love Broke Through Time On the first Christmas night Love broke through time With pain to Mary and her child whose bed Was straw with ox and ass in nearby stalls. Love arrived in suffering and shame. All glory be to God and peace to men! He radiated light...

. A Christmas Eve Sestina “He who sings prays twice.” ---Saint Augustine The vagabond had too much Christmas cheer. He doesn’t notice that the air is cold Although his clothes are unseasonably light. A crowd of carolers comes by to sing Of Good King Wenceslaus, The First Noel. Oh, Sir,...

. Jupiter Hammon’s Christmas Poem by Michael Curtis 1761 was a slow, yet interesting year for poetry. The imposter Macpherson announced the discovery of Ossian’s Gaelic Epic and the collected works of the rotted rake Wilmot, Earl of Rochester was published. Romantic passion was seeded, and creative destruction was soon...

. Home for Christmas Beneath the sinking skies I ride, a traveler on his way,                     .Through drizzling mist and fading light until the end of day.As skies grow dim and gray clouds droop and icy breezes blow,Wrapped in the growing gloom,...

. The Story the Stars are Retelling ---to the tune of 'Sterling' When burdens are heavy and Christmas is near And faraway star luster barely appears, Tomorrow’s prediction of rain with a chill Won’t drown the afflictions that cling to us still. The darkness we see all around through our...

. Dim and Not He carries one white candle in the space Beneath cathedral vaults. He has to hold His hand in front of it so just a trace Of light escapes. The candle’s flame shines gold Yet it is blocked by palm and fingers, so A forward gleam is...

. Be Still and Know . . . Gulls brawl over a chip and squawk. __Waves wash shell shards on sand. On the sea shore, a morning walk. __I wade through tidal strands. Colossal clouds roll overhead. __A pelican glides by. Like sails, its silent wings outspread— __Then rises to...