joyful!
" Make A joyful! Noise..."
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Lord, I Wonder
April 6, 2008
Lord
Sometimes I wonder how cool we would be
If you just decided one day to come down and just kick it with me
Would we sit at dinner and laugh
Or would you condemn my humor
Call me the tumor on society
Depriving your lost souls safe passage to your promised land
I promise man, woman, or what have you
If I could have you right here next to me
All I would need is just a minute
--Time for you to hear me out
I know a lot of people say "lawd, you know my heart"
But I want you to know my heart!!
Its just so crazy how the start of my existence
Fell in the mist of steeled roofs and store fronts
--Times were more simple then
Simple when I would just take what they told me for face value
Now I'm wondering just how to disagree with the one you placed in front of me
What they done to me
Took my world and made it prison
When I envision freedom and liberation in my interpretation
Of the stories I read
Though I heed even the one's I don't quite believe
Thinking "God, I know you wouldn't let them deceive"
Not your boi
I'm even named after you
But the path to you is so rugged
--Not just the terrain of the journey
But all of these maps with their various directions and distances
Instances when I want to even deny a pretense
Set to have sent the brightest spirits I've ever seen
To a cold and lonely hell
I'm in a cold and lonely well
Baptized in a pool full of water
That's only fit to keep me living, yet still trapped in this earthy version
I love these poems, but sometimes these words just don't do the job
Either the words won't rhyme like I want or I just can't get 'em out right
Robbing me out right
Of the proper transcription that I need from brain to mouth--Might you
Please put my soul at ease
As I still stand, yet with a soul displeased
…Cause you know my heart, right?
Three From John Thomas Clark
(What John says about the poems which follow: "They are about Lex, my black lab service dog who has added considerable uplift to my life. Of the 100+ published poems mentioned in my bio, twenty-six of those poems are about Lex.")
photo ©Will Harmon
To sneak a moonrise past a coyote
is a task best left for Don Quixote
and, as Coyote’s canine cousin eyes
the first flush of the morn, it’s no surprise
he’s up with it. The tinkle of his tags
sounds like an airy fife. As the sun drags
the covers off the dark side, Lexie’s drum
beat starts. The bed rocks to the steady thrum
of his tail against it. If home and hearth
do not rise with him, he adds rapid Darth
Vader vocals. A chorus moans, “Lex. Bed.
Too soon.” So he takes five. But as my head
hits the pillow and his marching tunes fade,
he’s back again to head up his parade.
TONGUE LASHING
By three quarters past the six o’clock hour,
watching the news, Lex and I finish our
breakfasts. The storm lathers
back for
his bowl – a Lab thing – for that last bantam
bit. He gathers up by now mere phantom
flecks, so he takes his bowl to the kitchen
at the anchor’s next-hour news pitch. In
returning, his switch tongue still runs riot,
and loud licks flick the air. A soft “Quiet,
my friend, I’d like to hear what’s being said,”
and he keeps that swivel tongue in his head.
I lean down to whisper he remains in good grace
and he looks up at me and slathers my face.
JAZZED UP
We were tuning up our vocal technique
at school. I asked sweet-tempered Lex to “Speak,”
and he sang. When I said, in a whisper,
“Speak,” he crooned. Next, my voice a bit crisper,
I said “Lap.” Up he bounced. On my “Off, Sit,”
he sat down. But as soon as Lexie hit
the floor, I said “Lap, Speak.” I heard my pup
purl the most dulcet tones when he came up.
While there was no change in his soft, sweet eyes,
his silky ears, revealing his surprise,
tilted. My improv – a woofy bebop –
had Lex join me for a doggy doo-wop.
Though, not up to Ella Fitz* or the Velvet Fog**
I howl thinking of those riffs with my velvet dog.
* Ella Fitz – jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald
** Velvet Fog – jazz singer Mel Torme
©John Thomas Clark
Two From KJ Hannah Greenberg
Streaks of lightning, skyward fires,
Dawn’s misty clouds, sunshine’s stars,
Flaming rivers, pulling us higher,
Praise horizon line.
Desert-blown winds, desert-blown gore,
Sands of the nations, blood of the war,
Tear stained legions, living out lore,
Praise horizon line.
Herbs’ healing blossoms, folks’ fostered kin,
Rainbows’ bright endings, storms’ slow begin,
Forces felt human, forces within,
Praise horizon line.
Death, birth and passage, eternal clash,
Mixture of history, horrid morass,
Victory’s prices, expensive peace,
Praise horizon line.
Sleep while the wind sleeps, rest with the sky,
Danger in fire, safe while it’s nigh,
Wheels on life’s river, breath whispers by,
Praise horizon line.
Bloom tiny babies, bring woolly sheep,
Light scented torches, oils to seep,
Shadows encroach here,
Truth leaves us peace,
Praise horizon line.
Hurt is to healing, blood is to tears,
Laughter takes illness, songs destroys fears,
Living brings losses, living repairs,
Living repairs.
Song of Oenomelian
Balance carefully!
The stone stands clean in rain and time,
The riverʼs dry, a spiritʼs find.
The dark clouds bring out hope and shine,
On promises to be.
The sun masks loveʼs uncertain lights,
The wind plies free ardorʼs rites.
The fireʼs passion sometimes strikes,
Into the briny sea.
Little worms flush out the earth.
Flowers bloom, bovines birth.
My heart stays sated while I search,
For love that once walked ʽlongside me.
(
