Poetry
surprised by gratitude
it was like the birds waited in ambush
to wake me some from my walking slumber
breaking in on my morning
to startle me with beauty, and
surprise me with gratitude
for their song
for the creation happening all around me
and i had to give thanks
amen
AMDG, Todd
Paul Simon Day Nov. 21st
November 21st, Paul Simon Day!
BEHOLD! I hereby declare November 21st to be Paul Simon Day! He has sung to me for like my whole freakin’ life, a blessing and a bardly companion through the years. I’m feeling super grateful this morning for all he has sung into my life over the years, from the melancholy strains of Sound of Silence to the dancing joy of Graceland. One of my earliest cassette tapes was Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits, and it’s in my iTunes library today with others.
My all-time hands-down no-contest favorite song from Paul Simon? It harkens back to the good ole’ Simon and Garfunkel days… The Dangling Conversation. Simply some of the best lyricism on the planet.
I don’t know for sure that Paul needs a day, but now he has one. I’m holding out hope that we’ll still meet up one morning (with all the other hipster wildebeests) at Starbucks and lead everyone munching on their Cranberry Bliss Bars in a rousing chorus of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, because you know, I’ll just happen to have a ukulele with me. We all need a dream right?
Happy Paul Simon Day, beloved!
Happy Paul Simon Day, Paul!
AMDG, Todd
a brief hymn of peace
I offer you a brief hymn of peace from my morning prayers… be blessed, today!
“some days i simply stop
and sing the old hymns
songs well worn
bells long rung
history
faith
connection
stories
fate
reflection
and i sit
with God
sinners
saints
and we are not
undone.”
AMDG, Todd
The End of NaPoWriMo, #NaPoWriMo April 30, 2014
Well, I probably only wrote a week’s worth of poems for the “month,” but I still value the time and am so appreciative of all the amazing poems I have seen from friends and strangers in April! You all rock, and love ya! I tend to write only when I feel the Spirit move, as I paint, and so for me the month was a stretching and a challenge. As usual, I started with a shout and ended with a sigh. Still, it was good.
bending, tending
rending, trending
pending, sending
lending, spending
no more pretending
no condescending
a month of contending
is now at its ending
’til next we’re intending
our words for appending
to share the ascending
our souls for befriending
rhymes over-extending
but hearts for commending
on our love
i’ll be depending
AMDG, Todd
I love Incense, thoughts for #NaPoWriMo April 29, 2014
I love burning incense
The movement, heat and smell
Sticks and wicks and smoke
The ashes lined where they fell
It calms me and soothes me
Aromatic curls in flight
I love the way it rises
Like prayers through the day and night
Up, up and reaching higher
The colors of stem and flame
Are little joys upon the path
To the dust from which we came
AMDG, Todd
trying to find some words #NaPoWriMo 04/15/2014
hate be gone
hate be done
for we renounce you
we deny you
and the death
in which you revel
will never be
victory
hate
you have no hope
you birth
no future
we will
withstand you
we will
outlast you
when you are
a sick memory
a stain
upon our past
we will sing
a new song
beyond
your prison
because walls
of hate
will not stand
for long
and the peace
for which
we pray
will come
sung
upon the strands
of the love
we share
neighbor
friend
human
beloved
dark hatred
will be scattered
weak and undone
before love’s flame
I always begin things like #NaPoWriMo with high expectations and lots of energy – but it’s never long before I run out of words. So I start to strain to make some poems and my frustration mounts. Usually I end up a bit indignant that I would so arbitrarily be asked to make a poem a day. But that’s just silliness. I volunteered to be part of the exercise, I just didn’t think I’d have so many days of dryness when no words come to me when called.
And then the news comes on, and I see things like the hateful shootings, the murder of our Jewish neighbors in Kansas, a hateful crime I suppose was meant to stain their holiday. I want to scream. I want to deny that this still happens. I want to deny that anyone can be so broken as to choose such hate and it’s bile, it’s loss, it’s theft, it’s shame.
Words came back to me, today, after a week or so of not answering my call. Today, I protest the hate. I deny the killing stupidity and waste. I renounce any and all of the ignorant paranoia and fear. I call out to the humanity that is buried under the weight of such darkness.
I pray for the families affected by that hateful touch. I mourn with them, though not as them. They have been broken apart and touched so forcefully by the killing hatred. May their peace be restored and love wrap them in the divine embrace.
AMDG, Todd
a prayer for #NaPoWriMo 04/08/2014
I’d like to share a prayer that I composed for the opening of today’s session of the Montgomery County Council, delivered in Rockville, MD. It was an honor to open the session and wish everyone an amazing day.
for the energy
to face our tasks
for the wisdom and knowledge
to make decisions
for the creativity and imagination
to overcome obstacles
for civility
in our discourse
for peace
in our communities
for joy
in the service we will
provide to our neighbors
for all these things
and every needful blessing
to accomplish the work of our day,
we pray. amen.
04/08/2014
I’m kinda geekin’ out here… I composed this blog in Chrome on my iPad. I haven’t had a ton of luck with such an exercise in the past, but it was fairly seamless, today. Woot!
AMDG, Todd
two more poems for #NaPoWriMo 04/06/2014
I did write a poem yesterday on April 5, but I never had time to sit and get it on the computer. So here’s that haiku and a short free verse for today…
cold winds
move limbs
bare but for the green buds
04/05/2014
the first blossoms i have seen
grace our ride today
as my son
and i
enjoy the sunlight
and local path
04/06/2014
“demons” a poem for #NaPoWriMo 04/04/2014
reflecting on the latest shooting at Ft. Hood, for #NaPoWriMo…
what are these terrifying demons
that live within us?
this
damnable suffering
this
pain
that spills over into our hands
and runs angrily
deadly
down the barrel of a gun
ripping bodies
rending souls
seething malice
heartfelt anguish
how many names do these demons have?
victims
also have names
one does not
domesticate these demons
one does not
harness a demon
for gain
without paying a price
lead us not into temptation
nor the arms of a demon
but
deliver us from the price
04/04/2014
I have my own demons, as we each carry them through our lives, leaving some behind and finding new ones all along the way. The latest shooting at Ft. Hood put a shadow over me, yesterday. It stirred my demons. We like the heroes in our comic books and stories to destroy whole armies, to fight and kill, to slaughter the bad guys and gals by the dozen, and to face down all the enemies they find… but in real life we are much more fragile than the characters of our fantasies. I pray that we take ever more seriously the price we pay for sending our women and men into conflict after conflict, and that we take seriously the price they pay. The men and women who serve us are too great a treasure to take for granted or to leave to the demons.
Yesterday, just to show my age, it was John Denver who helped sing my demons back into the shadows.
AMDG, Todd
two poems for #NaPoWriMo 04/03/2014
I have my makeup work to share this morning, and today’s poem for #NaPoWriMo. The makeup is for April 1st, and it’s a haiku I wrote this morning when I stopped to spend a moment with some daffodils in the front yard. Today’s poem is a reflection on a sweet, old King James version Bible I found yesterday at a thrift store. It cost me a quarter.
for April 1…
new daffodils
in grasses green and brown –
looks like rain, today
for April 3…
these ancient words speak to me
they bind me fast, they set me free
they graft me to a living tree
these words that were, are and will be
toddthomas.net 