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For a while we in a model seem to see
The whole-Then it is a fragment. a piece
Of ancient pottery, a bit of trash on its
Way to the dust from which it came.
Of such is the glory of poetry: A dancing
Girl-An old woman dying.  The bird of
Paradise that never was- the phoenix
Rising from the ashes so that we may
Know all is all.  Infinite is the pathos of
Our gladness no less glorious.  Slow ...
Time is our genius to be .  For a while.
A light waiting to break
out
Placed behind these bars
This cell
Sometimes they peek
through
Some times they hide in the shadows
When life's entanglements wear you down,
and chaos seems to reign in every town;
Just breathe a sigh towards heaven's holy face,
and God will wrap you in His warm embrace.

It seems quite simple and most clear to me,
we only have to pray to be set free;
As heartened powers rest within our souls,
encouraging us to reach our spirit's goals.

Take another breath and join with kin,
to move us all away from hateful sin;
And with the sunshine showering its rays,
the flowers bloom toward everlasting grace.

Yet when rain falls the meaning of it lies,
within a world of wonder from the skies;
While cleansing every soul of bad intentions,
brings boundless gratitude for spiritual redemption.
Something we truly need in this troubled world !
 Jun 2018
Sjr1000
Obstacles/Problems/Pain
Contraction or Expansion
Exhaustion or Inspiration

86400 seconds a day
Hmmm, how's it going to be spent?

Difficulties are about what we care about

Our thoughts are a tool
Mind hates to be present
Evolved to keep us safe

My thoughts, my fears, my past experience
pasted to my face
Covering my eyes so they are all I can see,
While my dogs and cats
The fish the birds
they are all laughing at me.

Self is contact
Self is content

Swimming in a sea of thoughts
Emotional weather always changing

Tug of war, to and fro, trying to make the anxiety go

If I spend my 86400 seconds a day
trying to make the pain go away
No time
              to live my life

"Pain is inevitable
Suffering is optional "

Showing up for my awareness

If I'm not living my life
I'm living my fear

Old life
Old values
Living the life I care about now

Compassion for others
Self compassion

Feelings and thoughts are like the weather and
The wind it just blows everywhere.
"Pain is inevitable..." has been attributed to Buddha, however the minimal research I did says he never said that and it appears to be from A.A.
This poem is based on the concepts of Acceptance Commitment Therapy. Many thanks for the language and inspiration to John and Jamie Forsyth.
 Jun 2018
Richard Reid
?
Did we ever understand life?
Understand why some clouds are stagnant while others are in motion?
Why the Orion’s Belt doesn’t seem to change from it’s position?
Why peace must be attained by war?
Why there’s over a billion of us but the concept of soulmate seems so futile?
Why we pray for change but want to remain the same?
Why we don’t  acknowledge each other’s differences but want to be accepted?
Why love has guidelines but no one can achieve it?
Why everyone’s so infatuated with conversations that incorporate logic when nothing makes sense?
 May 2018
Sjr1000
Invalid curtains
Broken down houses
Mold is growing
Everywhere

Not many live here anymore
Used to be a boom town
babies born
Everyone was employed
Took coupons at
the company store
Milled that wood
Ground that red ore
they don't build
washing machines
around here anymore

Invalid curtains
blowing in a toxic wind
nuclear plant failed
but that wasn't
the end.

The wind is still blowing
down main street
twitching the
"For Lease" signs
If the mud doesn't getcha
The *** holes will,
Schools?
Salting the roads?
There isn't any more revenue

At least Rays is open
the general store
Thomas's, the hardware store
next door
Tony's One Stop Coffee Shop
Barney's Pharmacy
Sellin' out those Oxys
The gas station pulled out their tanks
The doctor's gone
The dentist closed
Got to go forty miles to go to Costco

Still catching trout
at Jackson Meadow
down the highway
Pulled out an 8 pound bass
Never knew it was there
Put it back
Old guy one more life to live.

Staying here is all we know
No one knows we're here
Just like that 8 pound bass
One more life to go?
even though
We keep hearing singing
in the sundown snow,
the dying song
of a dying town.
In the tradition of James McCurtry, Greg Brown, Emmylou
I am looking at the door and
My heart is ever sore
My hands are aching
From forever slapping at the door
I know that golden memories are there.

When I stop slapping at the door
I stand naked in despair
I realize that love is there somewhere
Somewhere and everywhere
It keeps me straying from the truth or dare.

That love is always somewhere
Somewhere and yet so near
Neither less in spirit form
Neither more in earthly norm
Love is always here somewhere, so close.

I am looking at my feet
Bare and on the floor
And deep within my heart I find
There is an unlocked door
To feel that love has gone before.

I turn the **** and
Open the door at will
To find the golden memories in there
I grab the shackles off my heart
And pull out the storm
To blow away my heart's despair

Now I understand
That love, your love is here deep within my soul
Love is here and everywhere
I have only to let it flow.
On my sister early death I wrote this poem in answer to the ode written to her while she was still alive and I had not seen her.
 May 2018
WCA
Step by step
As I descended
Despite the ache in my bones
And the weakness of my heart
I thought of all the things I could have said
And all you could have done.

You were everything to me,
Everything I wanted to come home to
Everything I never wanted to leave.
And it is a strange feeling
Watching something never quite real fade away
Step by step.

**

"It's getting late."

"Don't go just yet."
 May 2018
-
And here we are,
surrounded by too many poems;
already too familiar
with what it's like to be a poet
that had his heart broken...

tell me,
I wanna know..
*what it's like to be a poet who has already been healed?
 May 2018
Dark n Beautiful
Now I am OLD, and losing my touch,
it seem like low battery anxiety:
Danger, a dangerous rush
my body once a temple: decreasing in life span
Does the dead feel any pain? or the strain?
With the energy I once had: had leak slowly:

The lawyers, the courtroom brawl: I fought
Did I come out on top stronger or more knowledgeable?
It became my battles, not theirs, not them, but mines
I carried the heavy load on my shoulders for years
I have been in a hibernation mode for decay: in tears
My little hell whole, not they, them or theirs:

People often say that motivation doesn’t last.
Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar


could it be the reassurance of feeling fresh, like a daisy?
Why do they have to pull me back ?
When I feel like I am out the door; to freedom
Why do I get the nervous tense? ,
when I answer them text or calls?
It doesn’t’ stop, this ongoing thing called caring,

my mind love to grasped, those dark secrets of my own,
my own inner battles leans toward the poetry board,
my fingers flies from left to right:
while my little pinky points upward toward the ceiling:
praying and praying:
I pondered, lord, let it be untrue,

Because, the dead shouldn’t feel any pain or strain:
now I am old, and losing my touch,
my body once a temple, have heard it all..
and as you know the devil is a liar.....my friends
.
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