Two hummingbirds

I saw a hummingbird
Outside my deck window
Sunday morning during breakfast
White chest, grey head, black tail feathers
Perched on bare brown branch
Then it would flutter off
Chase another hummingbird
Smaller, less brilliant white
Courting perhaps?
I don't know
Return to same bare brown branch
This cold season
December 30th
This unexpected witness
Fluttering awareness
Renewal

Denis Streeter  12/30/12

Shhh

The lids flew wide
Opening seas
Whispering shells
Crackling stones
Mineralizing
Taking stock
Waves break
Crush and smooth
Shhh they say
Into sleep
Breaking dreams
Shhhing everything
Their gentle roar
Inside audible
Making all the changes
In tongues of seas
All made known
In the shhh...
Poring my open

Denis Streeter  12/28/12

Christmas

There was a day
In years past
When an extraordinary child was born
Under unusual circumstances
Whose ways and teachings
Of love for each other and ourselves
Respect for all
Though willing to upset the moneychangers
To choose what is the better lot
Not changing to stone
Flexibility into our future
If He were living today
And I believe He does
In each of us...male and female
And I believe
That Jesus is not a denomination
You might as well cast lots
And I could be wrong
But I think there is something of Jesus
In the best of all religions
To discover what it means to be a Christian
Is to discover what each of us mean to each other
It is not an easy path
Perhaps seeming like a camel
Passing through the eye of the needle
The threads we sometimes weave
Into sharp points of agony
We read our bible
Weave our insights into our world
A terrible and beautiful world
And all inbetween
The constant thread of Jesus' birth
Is love.

Denis Streeter  12/25/12

known

the time of giving was gone
the time of doing was there
present past future
just instinct
a prayer
life what it was isint
some control letting go
with the flow
and human endeavors
what isint so
going through controls
taking and leaving
on instinct
a prayer
here to there
no graph to chart
zone unknown
and futures tense
going through controls
just instinct
a prayer
time of giving
here to there
known

denis streeter  12/16/12

revelation

I had been reading George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda" and then took a break to check my email.  Then I wrote this piece and sent it to myself...titling it "revelation".  Finally I took the nerve to post this attempt on my blog.  It wasn't until I logged off my computer and started reading "Daniel Deronda" again that I realized the section I was reading was called "revelations"...

revelation

sometimes in the fire of flames
something arises
a shell, a horn, a lace
a shoe tucks in for the night
and the matterhorn sways the distance
gathering shadows
a spoon, a fork, to pick things up
hooks with hand like fingers to do
and the spasm begins
like the horn of old
shorning tools and shedding boxes
all that remained was the clutter
and the task that what remained was not enough
there was a prayer that was not a prayer
remaining out of reach taunting our unknowing
like some apple to be plucked from a tree
given to some teacher
our search for knowledge
and something greater
perhaps some legacy
carried on when we are gone
loving in nature
strict when necessary
the father thats not the father
the prayer thats not the prayer
the out there, the wilderness
crows parse for crumbs
we weed our words
toss them in flames
warmth rekindling our livelihood
our indefinable nature seeking definition
warmth from our cold
our contradiction
seeking gravity, seeking sides
to be known, to be loved
a plucked prayer
to toss the extraneous
like breathing to let more in
lightening load
love for life
relation
revelation

denis streeter 12/9/12

Extraordinary

I was sitting at my cluttered dining room table eating breakfast
Reading the bible passage chosen in the Upper Room and the commentary
While listening to my music station and hearing a tune
That seemed to resonate oddly with the passage and commentary
And I thought of that old adage from Solomon's Ecclesiastes
"There is nothing new under the sun"
And I thought to myself
"But there is"...
At no point of time in all human history
Has anyone listened to this tune
Read these passages
Reflected on the way everything came together
Into that one moment...
For me
At that point in time
There was something unique
Something discovered
Something extraordinary.

Denis Streeter   12/7/12

Safe

The roses count their sheep
Under where the wine spills
Dashing up pieces
The shards left behind
Tiny little beaches
Little universes ourselves
Lessons behind
Bound forward
Waiting for us to catch up
While we look back
And the road curves
Oh...we say
A complete circle
Back where we started
Inching forward in dreams
In life what it seems
Isn't real
Some overload dreams us back
To contemplation
Some explanation
To go forward
Meet what we know and can't explain
And converse
Meet what can't explain and know
And our world turns a twenty four hour revolution
How will we revolve, devolve, evolve
Involve with each other
I don't know
I only know the change
And empty my pockets
Find that special
Rock, twig, or leaf
That reminds me to share
And I feel safe.

Denis Streeter  12/2/12