Bred Crumb

Crumbs are everywhere-
Crumbs are on tablecloths.
Crumbs are on chopping blocks
Big crumbs on  a stove.
Small ones caught in the hair
beneath a nose.

There are crumbs on floors,
underneath of chairs
and edges of plates
crumbs suspended in air
by a tempest of fates

Some are in a sweater
and some are in a lap
crumbs appearing everywhere
and some that we unwrap.

There are crumbs for mice
and crumbs for birds
even a crumb for the lowly worm
crumbs for sweeping, crumbs for baking and keeping
even crumbs from eating before sleeping

There is a gluttony for crumbs
tasting a million
to make just one
minute of hunger abate, and poof!
the crumb is gone
and the hunger remains.

I want to expand my opportunities to share and interact through this blog, So I thought I would start putting some poetry out there. This was written and first published in 2000. I have included it here as it first appeared in the Writers Center of Indianapolis literary magazine, The Flying Island, Volume 8, Number 1.

Hostile Africa

The Elephant Tree reminds me of you
shiny light leaves in the moonlight

Quite possibly you were

Teaching the leopard new tricks
changing spots, shifting eyes, red lips
fang and file to a point

you could never get across

the vast savannas of your heartache
thunder of Victoria's falls pulsing
in your soul white noise

Drowning out the shouts of your grief

over why one missionary
in erring, abused your heart.


Photograph courtesy of  Melissa Scott.
You can see more of this award winning nature photography by clicking the link below:

https://melissascott.zenfolio.com/

      Photography Courtesy of Lillian Scott

Ode to Walt Whitman

I.

I am solely, 

a blade of grass

I am a lonely blade

I am to you

most often overlooked

II.

I am colored and bright green

infiltrated and fully saturated

the chlorophyll

the chemistry 

and photosynthesis of your soul

Turning sunlight,

thru fusion

into oxygen.

I am a single blade of grass

I am a host and a multitude

I am legion

a horde in number

a terrible living comfort

III.

I am archetype 

the only blade of grass

bright green and blue green

and un-bleached when dying

I am becoming dirt with all 

to live on in fertile reconstruction

I am fine and tendrils 

close upon translucent

Light deprived chutes

imbibing the essence 

entombed in discarded carbon

I am gnosis

underground, unconscious

convert of concealed thirst

I have risen

composed erect

I am swagger and silentious

if you ask the wind....  

I am master of nothing  

I am quickly cut

and uprooted-  never completely

IV.

To say ....    

                         "Breath"

You breathe in what we share

The atmosphere, your gravity shed

snake skins of memory discarded 

entrails of touch, sweat, dew 

the entropy of our union

taking for granted, all that is solidly

bestowed by dirt and secluded process,

from dulled wits to empty sockets.

I grow even yet

I sustain and support

I am a light tickle

here

waiting for you to take off your shoes

V.

I am

Walt Whitman's dream fading 

from overexposure, receding

from composture reasons

our surfaces pierced by stone

Brittle crusted and dusty boned

covering for every regret.

our love

a remarkably used rug

always free 

and growing unrestrained.

I am a single blade

rotating listlessly,

catching every leaf in sight-

resuscitating before letting them go

deeper into my soil

I am pushing the blade that pierces

I am saying "take and eat, this is my body"

I am hay

of a minuscule variety

too plain to ponder

my own significance. 

VI.

I am

I am a single blade of grass

I am the summer and days of your youth

I am the memory of scents long forgot

If I could

I would 

want to taste once more.

Social responsibility in crisis.

Social responsibility in crisis.

(A personal observation and commentary on the corona virus pandemic of 2020.)

 A brief disclaimer before we jump in: It is true this is a new circumstance for all of us. It is temporally transient by nature as humankind works to find a solution. 

         Everyone is dealing with the virus. I cannot begin to assuage the pain and suffering of those who have lost loved ones to this pandemic, or those on the front lines fighting and caring for so many sick people. I hope you can forgive my words as words whose intention is in this present moment, words of hope. We all know we are not alone in being affected by the pandemic.To what degree, some much more, others less or not at all. So far I personally have only lost a job of 12 years due to the virus's impact on my role and how it impacted public health and safety. I may be able to return to it, it may never return. These are truly times of uncertainty. 

          I go out now and I wear a mask.  In the beginning of the crisis, I was more concerned about the socially irresponsible behavior of other people and not my own, but as I have settled into the new normal, I find myself taking socially responsible actions, not out of fear of death, not because I want to stay healthy (although I do) or an express desire for longevity.  

         The thought of me being the person responsible for the death or deaths of others is not a regret or guilt I want to live with. So, I wear a mask, wash my hands every time I go out, use hand sanitizer, and do my very best to respect the personal space of other people.

        I have noticed a few things. People in public are not practicing socially responsible behavior. There are so many people who are not wearing a mask out in public. When I went to the grocery store the other day, there were at least 7 out of every 10 people without a face mask. In light of the human losses to this virus, I struggle as I consider the myriad reasons for what I am observing. I can't explain fully, I can only hope to keep a simple understanding.

           

       By nature, people are selfish and self-centered in their thinking and actions. Sure, there are a million different reasons people will give for not wearing a face mask. The sociologists may explain a resistance to change, some will use this opportunity to stroke their ego and bravado, some misguided practitioners of personal faith claiming their God is bigger than the virus, (which in every theological argument is true.) are using their faith to ignore their responsibility to love their neighbor as themselves while revealing they have little notion what Jesus meant when He said it (or how much they are loved, take your pick.). Others are suffering from the sickness of rationalization and self justification. 

           

    What I can say with absolute certainty, generally speaking. People in our age of instant gratification do not have the patience or stamina to see this through to true equilibrium (vaccine, antidote etc...) without pushing back in an effort to regain their personal ease and comfort.

           

       Until we are completely at peace with being uncomfortable, we will all push back at the things which inconvenience us. What this reveals is our unwillingness to suffer, whether that suffering was thrust upon us or we chose to shoulder the burden. Suffering postponed is suffering prolonged and increased. 

       Still, our desire for comfort blinds us to see the path to true rest and peace lies in passing through suffering, not avoiding it. Allow yourself to suffer through this now to begin healing now. Do what only you have to do for you to be at peace. 

       You will never be able to control circumstances, situations or people well enough to satisfy you. You can however, control your own actions. 

     So to honor the memory of those who have already lost their lives and to preserve the lives of those who yet may, please find the character to be responsible. Wear a face mask and respect the space, sensitivities, and choices of others who may not be willing for you to put their life at risk.