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Qualyxian Quest May 2021
Father Greeley and my mantra:
Relax. God is in charge.

Surely Sam Mcgee
The planks on Lake Lebarge

Guide me, Father Greeley
To follow my vocation

The silence and the speaking
Duty destination

                       Amen.
brooke Apr 2014
at night I reach
out and scoop
the lights from
the rolling black
plain, all jewels
and boysenberry
syrup.
(c) Brooke Otto 2014
Sunny day in June, the tenth to be exact
The horrible day my sister was attacked
Beth was in the house, her friend Mark outside
She was cleaning,he in the yard kept with pride

Beth Anne was on hands and knees scrubbing the floor
When she heard real gunshots, at least she swore
Snuck to the window and peered out with care
On the rocky driveway, saw Mark sprawled out there

Been shot three times in his back,lay in his blood
Beth saw her ex...with a .38 he stood
While terrified, behind the aquarium she ducked
Brad blundered in dressed in hunters camouflage- ****

Her heart hammering in her ears, bursts of short breaths
Saw him through the murky water, planning two deaths
Beth Anne cowered down praying to her dear Lord
He found her, pulled her up by the hair, fired once more

The bullet blew off her ear and traveled on down
Collapsed her lungs, in her blood she would drown
Brad disappeared and the firing just stopped
For Mexico he fled, red ranger with white top

Beth dragged herself the complete length of the rug
Called 911, shed been shot...head ringing from slug
She was determined to live, wouldn't give up the fight
But then she passed out endangering her plight

Came the Greeley police, fire trucks, EMT's
Assessed the situation, perp further he flees
They all worked on Mark, too late he was dead
One smart responder....woman shot in the head

They spreading out rushed the house, found my sis
Beth was unresponsive, victim almost missed
Speeding to Weld County General, sirens blaring
Got her in the ER cut off what she was wearing

O.R. She went with damage extensive
Not much hope, docs and staff apprehensive
For many hours they sawed, pinned, stitched and closed
The ICU threat of infection posed

Her body and face were unrecognizable
Family stood believing the impossible

Appeared an Adonis with blonde hair and blue eyes
Talk of afterlife evidently not lies
Her guardian angel told Beth he was there
Would appear much later, in death they would share
Sorry this is so lengthy. Its true and I tried to condense it as much as possible
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2021
Ordinary sadness today
But I did talk to my Q

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Carolina blue

Father Greeley at my side
Postcards. Just a few.

For her. And them. And us.
Silence seeping through.

         Do wah diddy do
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2020
No one puts limits on God.
She doesn't like it.

              - Fr. Andrew Greeley
                (of blessed memory)
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
Babette beauty heedin’
Joe Gideon and Angelique pleadin’
Karen Eifel readin’

both blessing and brain bleedin’
Qualyxian Quest Jul 2020
Providence is inherently ambiguous
Says the military man in the Nation

Abraham Lincoln would doubtless agree
The Divine Purpose beyond revelation

So would sorrowful Soren Kierkegaard
Who knew terror of teleological suspension

If God is, then I think She is Hidden
(You won't find her at the Republican Convention)
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
Father Greeley, when I have no faith
Please intercede

The black implacable Wall of Death
Fills me with fear indeed

Let me be loyal, Let me be loyal
Let me be loyal and true

To fight on until the end
And do the best that I can do.

                     Amen.
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
That quote out there, I say
Edmund Burke still true today

Not much you can do about evil, he replies
But like Zacchaeus, give up your money ties

I mention Fr. Greeley and madness
No way to know if he knows my sadness

My mind anxious, troubled, fairy-filled
Illusion? Confusion? Mystery - willed?

Still unsure, but the Book of Kells is divine
Like to think they might give me a sign

                          ☘️

           Good luck in rhyme!
Qualyxian Quest Jan 2023
The architecture in DC is interesting
Politics, influence, beauty, money
City at Night! City at Night!

Worth the drive
Worth the cost
Gratefully my son

Michael Gerson is thankfully dead
George W. Aging
Andrew Greeley was right

53 and she still wears boots
Maybe a sportswriter turn the paging
The Valley of the Gun

                       Protection!
Qualyxian Quest Dec 2022
I hope I can smile at it when it comes.
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2019
Late in the 9th, Cubs with runners on
               Count is 1 and 1
        gone beyond, gone beyond,
            gone altogether beyond


               Redemption Songs!!!
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
In the end life is tragic
Father Greeley and the cab

I don't really believe in Magic
But we did have a black lab

I still pray to Father Greeley
Pray that I stay true

Chicago stands for loyalty
Ireland does too

Father Greeley:  For you!
Qualyxian Quest Jan 2019
voyaging in oceans, libraries, bookstores
             no Harvard, no Yale
         Marc Cohn on the radio
          Sweet home, Chicago!
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2019
don't quite believe in magic
but we had a sweet jet Black Lab

life in the end is tragic
Father Greeley and the cab

in autumn the dead return
he spoke fondly of Samhain

I've got a Halloween Head
wayfaring strangers in my brain!
brooke Mar 2014
early morning grey Greeley
Violet's cats woke me up
and I left her roommate
taking a hit upstairs, just
wanted to leave, just wanted
to leave, didn't want to think
that this was the same kind
of life you were living. i'm
still not used to this you
that I don't even know
still not used to this
you that was there
all
along.
(c) Brooke Otto 2014

Written to Your Hand In Mine by Explosions In The Sky
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2020
Imagination is a representation of what
Eternally exists, really and unchangeably.

                      - William Blake
(Opening quote for The Catholic Imagination)
Qualyxian Quest Jun 2019
Beware your Irish mystic
He’s at least 3/4 mad

He’ll protect if he is able
He’s done both good and bad

He rises at the dawning
Though melancholy sad

At twilight time he listens
This learning, loving lad
Qualyxian Quest Mar 2019
Scholars sometimes speculate
Our myths come from our dreams
Our deepest need to narrate
Amidst all the *** and primal screams

Why this quest for story?
Why this drive for form?
Why gather ‘round the archaic Fire
And tell tales while keeping warm?

Could it be this quest for story
Is itself a kind of guess?
Might we ourselves be characters
In a storyteller’s Yes?

That She says to us in a mythic way
As She holds us to her breast,
“With you I start my story.
Now you go tell the rest.”

I must admit I’d like to live
Within a dream divine
If you share with me your heart’s fairy tale
I promise I’ll share mine.
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2019
Beware your Irish mystic
He’s at least 3/4 mad

He’ll protect if he is able
He’s done both good and bad

He rises at the dawning
Though melancholy sad

At twilight time he listens
This learning loving lad
Qualyxian Quest Nov 2019
Scholars sometimes speculate
Our myths come from our dreams
Our deepest need to narrate
Amidst all the *** and primal screams

Why this quest for story?
Why this drive for form?
Why gather 'round the archaic Fire
And tell tales while keeping warm?

Could it be this quest for story
Is itself a kind of guess?
Might we ourselves be characters
In a Storyteller's Yes?

That She says to us in a mythic way
As She hold us to her breast
"With you I start my story.
Now you go tell the rest."

Perhaps I tend to think this way
Because my own story and my search
Began when I was very young
Born in the Catholic church

I must admit I'd like to live
Within a dream divine
If you share with me your heart's fairy tale
I promise I'll share mine.
Qualyxian Quest Sep 2019
7:37 - from my walk I wander back
despite my sins, faults, failings
Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty Ph.Ds!
For your disloyalty and cowardice
You I once more vow to attack!
Qualyxian Quest Aug 2020
That which exists in the Imagination
                 Exists in Eternity.

                   - William Blake
Up at night and writing
What else can I do?
She's a schizophrenic
Pondicherry Zoo

Father Greeley was a fighter
Chicago's Irish eyes
Told the truth about Iraq
George W. Lies

I've been to Arizona
Rode the Tucson Train
Somewhere Across the Border
Is the Purple Rain

She's also colossally selfish
Now I'm 55
Not doing very well
But grateful to be alive

                    I've ...
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2023
2 outs in the 7th
Harry Carey, Chicago Cubs
Father Andrew Greeley
Animals not clubs

Oracular at times
Oracular, I admit
But oracles can be wrong
Gonna have to interpret it

Moran, McCarthy, Malahide
Daddy Mac, Moynihan
Susan Darlene Meek
Ishmael, Afghanistan

I play the long term game
Run the distance race
Centuries, not decades
Aliens in space?

        Gonna have to chase ...

— The End —