Brother Jimmy

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

Cadence

Open your eyes
Stop the noise
Feet on the floor
Jiggle the boys

Make the coffee
Let out the dog
Get to the office
Sort through the slog

Check the balance
File your forms
Get through the BS
Normative norms

Daily you’ll question
In the back of your mind
Why you feel this way
Most of the time

Maybe it’s your fault?
Are you to blame?
Guilt is a sharp tool
(More of the same)

Let it surround you
Give in to this
Current sit’ch’ation
Right where it is

Be in the moment
It’s better than some
And with atonement
Contentment will come

Remember amigo,
You will never tell
The story of days
Of everything’s swell

You’ll have a good story
When crisis has passed
And all of the drama
You’ll note till your last

With a smile and a twinkle
In an eye clouded up
You’ll fondly remember
How you drank from that cup

And still made it through
To your now wizened state
And maybe someone
Will be thrilled you relate

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

The Slant

Warbling whistling crooning chirping chanted serenade

Harmonizing humming hymns

Yodeling in the shade

Gasping groaning grieving murmuring moaning crying pant

Undulating swelling swirling

See the sickening slant

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

Numb this Pain

It is dark
There is light
I’m earth-bound
I take flight

Feels so cold
There’s a spark
Things get hot
In the dark

All I’ve lost
Altered mind
Sober, sad,
Still I’ll find

In the mirror
Empty eyes
Full of sorrow
Lows and highs

Here abandoned
Hope in Grace
Still I’m standing
In this place

No resistance
Here I’ll give
Let me die
Or let me live

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

Stream

And while we are in
Conversation here
So many humans
Have expired, I fear...

Each moment brings
New life and new death
Final words spoken
And baby’s first breath

Life’s currents unbearable
Meand’ring through confluence
The sublime and the terrible
Don’t know their own consequence

The rush and the curve
Create oxbow crescents
The vim and‪ the verve‬
Ensure each one’s presence

And all we can do
Is react and observe
(Our own bent deeds too)
And endeavor to serve

Either the self
That glutton of grease
Or somebody else
And attain inner peace

Or at least a brief break
From worry and strife
Hold on to the harness, take
Joy in this life!

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

Church Trip

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Signs, signs,

Signs and wonders

Look at the truths

Look at the blunders

Lift up your head

Look at the light

Notice the angles

Beaming so bright

The textured ceiling

Whorls and waves

Parishioners kneeling

Warping the staves

Choral reflections

Bounce off the walls

Such genuflections

With genuine *****

Lysergic clergyman

Sturgeon and stews

Blue hairs with hats

And how-do-you-dos

Echoes of people

You’ve known in your past

All are connected

And all will contrast

Pick down the mountain

A way sure and true

Past frozen fountain

Through deep midnight blue

~

Brother Jimmy Feb 2018

To new growth during a brief thaw

-

Up from below,
Small chutes ****** forth,

A welcome sign
Of springtime promise,

Such relief,
Sign posts up north,

No bigger than
This page’s commas,

-

Grace is ALL;
The ragged ***

Can turn toward
The warmth and light,

And bathe within
The friendly hum,

When he understands
He was made just right

-

Up from below,
Small chutes ****** forth,

A welcome sign
Of springtime promise,

Such relief,
Sign posts up north,

No bigger than
This page’s commas,

-

Feb 2018

ordained

little dipper

grief doesn't just get up and walk away one day
she sits in the corner and will haunt your home
and will keep you awake at night
and grin over your shoulder in the mirror
and make you trip over air in public
and squeeze and squeeze on your heart until blood
flows over her knuckles and sits patiently at her feet
grief is a cruel mistress and a life sentence

#grief #pain #sadness #regret #guilt