Musings

We live in a finite world
Our existence on this physical earth
Born, pay taxes, and die.
We live in an infinite world
Where what we say and do
Has repercussions
We love
And sometimes in love
We make errors
That seem so large
As to be unforgivable
But that is a lie
Love is also
Learning, sharing, understanding
Listening...
I believe in God
A God I believe I can share
The totality of myself
And that includes my unbelief
I believe in a God that understands my contradictions
Maybe God already knows everything about me
That doesn't matter
It's a checking in
Sharing what's close to me
My love, my distress
Just checking in
See what shakes out
It's a sort of prayer
Call it what you will
Something shakes out
Carries me on my way
Through my day
Through my anger, understanding, love
Through all lifes contradictions
Something carries me
I don't see it
I don't understand it
I feel it
It's there
Wisdom, care
Share and love
Something beyond

Denis Streeter 9/12/11

Interpretation

This occurred today when I was helping an international student...

"Mug for scripture?"
"What?"
"Mud for scripture?"
"Can you write it down?"
I direct him to a scratch pad
And he scrawls out...
"Mud for sculpture"
"Oh...you mean clay."
I direct him to our 25 pound blocks of clay
He chooses...
Now I see mud as clay
It makes perfect sense
My eyes are opened
"Mud for scripture"
Hmm...

Denis Streeter 9/9/11

Sand - William Mayne

Some of you may know that I plan to read all 100+ books William Mayne has written. "Sand"(1965) is one reason I read his books. He has a style of writing that you may recognize in my poetry.

The first paragraph from "Sand"...

The shirt was made of cold cloth and frozen buttons. It
lay on Ainsley's bed like a drift of snow. The cold spring
wind blew the curtains and moaned under the door.
Ainsley stroked the shirt. It had been starched with ice.

He has such amazing imagery...and the ability to make the ordinary extraordinary. I close my eyes and I can feel myself there. Someday I hope to be able to transport my readers with such images that it dwells within all their senses. Until that time, I will continue reading William Mayne.

alzheimers

diamonds in the rough
gridding oil wells
cheaper by the ton
find out when they're done
the baskets are ready
ready to be tied
soon with the hummus
better off fried
or is it tofu
i cant remember
which has flavor
which does not
all the confusion
all the time
except some of the time
distant past
some present past
alzheimers
ask for it by name
when the pros go prose
when the prose go pros
dont know
confuses me
dark alley
where you melt down
your facts
to call them
shades of grey
no way
your facts your facts
why throw them away
your a bean ball counter
entrusted this way
today today
they flounder away
must get away
from all this
rhyming nonsense
and write something
tried and true
but the bats in my cobweb
got in my way
today today
rhymes go away
let ladders replace
all these bad rhymes
teeter totter
the lads up a
fine lead roof
where the worms are warm
where the beds are fine
and the squirrels leap
all over time
some nutshell
squirrelled up for winter
some nut job
squirrelled up for time
and the little ones say
laugh laugh the squirrels dead
and i say
where did that come from
but the walls keep coming in
doce does of wind rats and sails
blundering the parking lot
blending the gold
the god you could not commit
the winter of your understanding
half awake half asleep
you know your better off that way
just when time permits
you set the safety off
and all the other runners
run in place
but theres no place
for this
no place
for this
and the standard cams wind up
just before the blossoms explode
when the diamonds were missing
the check stands awake
all for a bunny
a dress stand
and a coffee mug
you were standing
there
i was standing
here
some dual
checkmate
and my soul let out
a sigh
and yours
and yours
and yours
alzheimers
a blended medicine.

denis streeter 9/5/11

No rhyme of a lime

Wrappers at mourning untesticly well
Drifting on lawnward toward some ocean bell
Matters of distancing baffling knees
Upping resistance of shattering trees
Over horizon some deafening splat
Looking glass mirror discovered a bat
Flying above us in litters of sound
Littering silence no uncommon ground
Perturbing coffees when perks drifted in
Some cry awake in the slip of the gin
Comfort surrounding the dangers at bay
Always the anger inviting the way
Wandering conflict you choosing the cues
Some black or white are just meant to confuse
Shades of inversement in rhyming this crime
Sense in reversement no rhyme of a lime.

Denis Streeter 9/4/11

Nearly asleep

Fly swatters bat off farms
Leaving vegetables fending for free
And the toaster ovens clapped their hands
Freeing farms the way bats bite butter
The way licorice count, the ounces were empty
Too tongue tied tired, the rest went thirsty
When then wine racks delivered what the names had forgotten
Two times ten and the rest of the knees
Just before the florist had forgotten the ketchup
And the whirlwinds coming, two by two by the ark
Where the lands shore horns and the lassoes grow
Too late the fate of the straight and narrow
And all the damage between a hotspring tailspin
Luggage out, dimes to do
Feeding the vegetables in a land of worms
Reading backwards luggage wrappers
Tidily dressed out for dinner
Lessons in reading
Time to feed the catelope for a change
Lumber down
Shhh....they're nearly asleep.

Denis Streeter 9/3/11

Safety

This came from seeing all the repaving on 15th near the Ave while walking to work...


Road crew trucks
Faces front
Under grill
Safety cones
Sets of fangs
Hang below
Candy corns
Set safety zones
Traffic unknowns
And in the night
Safety cones
Candy corns
Chase your night
Dreaming zones
In out safety.

Denis Streeter 9/2/11