Sunday morning: hell hath unleashed its
fury at the Johnson Funny
Farm, where all silence shattered
with ear-piercing echoes
when a hungry doe
sought breakfast on
the frozen
ground out
front
Fitz’s Fit Nonet
By the Fire Nonet
not for one second did I take this
ice day for granted ~ nope, I read,
sat by the fire, sipped green tea,
snuggled our spoiled schnoodles,
threw on the throw,
observed the birds,
worked crosswords,
prayed prayers,
napped
A Calm Christmas: Faith
This December, I’m slowly making my way through Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton (2019). Even though we don’t generally have what most might consider a “Big Christmas,” I’m still feeling the pull to simplify ~ to do less, to buy less, to reflect more. In Chapter 1, Kempton presents The Five Stories of Christmas that focus on faith, magic, connection, abundance, and heritage. Today, I’m thinking about faith, and she asks the following question for reflection as it relates to Christmas:
Which parts of your faith connect to Christmas the most, and how do you feel when you think about them?
The Bible tells Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, and of course with every other child born in the 1960s – even if we went to church every Sunday, -we still remember it best from the Peanuts episode that aired around 8:00 p.m. once during the month of December and may have been followed by Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at 8:30. We watched an exasperated Charlie Brown ask what Christmas was all about on our channel-knob television with the fine-tuning dial and rabbit ears in the days before remote controls. For me, the part of my faith that connects to Christmas is the story of the Nativity.
Here is a story from a previous blog post about the Nativity Set I mention below in my poem below~ it’s a special family heirloom, and I look forward to unboxing it each Christmas season. This is the way my faith connects to Christmas as I ponder it deeply, because it connects past, present, and future in one defining moment in history and puts it all right in the manger. My mother may not still be here in the present, but because of the past, I can count on seeing her again in the future. That’s Christmas!
Nativity Nonet
the nativity is the reason
we celebrate Christmas ~ before
she died, my mother gave me
a Nativity set
to span the ages
generations ~
past, present,
future:
faith
On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate faith a 10 on its level of importance to me at Christmas.
Ollie, Our Box Thief Schnoodle
he hears kitchen cardboard box crinkles
knows that at any moment now
we will accidentally
on purpose drop a box
just to hear him run
see him steal it
head held high
wagging
tail
The Zoo Crew Nonet
the zoo crew parades into the den
at first light, ready to go out
for their second morning walk
after the deer have left
the yard for the woods ~
now they’re ready
nose to ground
to sniff
tracks
The Goodness of Green Nonet
a goddess of the goodness of green
gave great guidance in goading me
to getting a gulpable
quarter-gallon of glug
(it’s good for the gut)~
I did not gag
I’m just glad
it’s all
gone
All-New Old Timer’s Breakfast Nonet
let’s take a moment to celebrate
this all-new old timer’s breakfast:
All Bran, flax and chia seeds,
Activia yogurt
(with prebiotics
it’s fiber-rich)
bow your head
and give
thanks
Instigator Nonet
one has to have more teeth taken out
one picked a fight at the kennel
and damn near lost a good ear
one instigates it all
then acts like nothing
happened to speak
of, flattens
himself,
naps
Self-Cleaning Dog Nonet
he’s like a self-cleaning oven but
instead he’s a self-preening dog
all morning, bathing in a
pool of warm-streamed sunlight
puddled on the pine
floor by my chair,
my Ollie
our sweet
boy
Day 2 of July Open Write with Jennifer Jowett of Michigan
Today’s host for the second day of the July Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com is Jennifer Jowett of Michigan, who inspires us to write poems of loss. You can read Jennifer’s entire prompt here.
Get Lost
I keep showing them to the exit
but they refuse to leave, to make
themselves scarce once and for all
they’re like Velcro leeches
sacked-out partiers
who won’t get lost
they stick with
me, these
pounds
Common Threads 