(no subject)

Ex Cathedra

This cathedral was not made by men,
But by God –
The better in which to worship Him

In the cold, rushing Merced
Two men stand,
John pushes his cousin under
And the sun shines upon them

The sugar pine reaches down to offer a cone,
The fruit of her body
Joshua breaks it, “For you,”
And offers the nuts to his companions

Peter kneels on the rocks at the base of Bridalveil
His hands cupped and held out in supplication
The life of all falls into them
And he drinks

The Chapel bell rings
And out runs the couple:
Their fingers entwined like little garden snakes
And apple blossoms in her hair

A park ranger guides pilgrims around the valley floor,
Stopping every now and then
At fourteen points,
To let them reflect and wonder

This cathedral was not made by men,
But by God –
The better in which to worship Him

(no subject)

Little Brother

My little brother, caught in boredom there,
If only we could have those days again –
The simple life of children’s innocence –
Back when the world was safe and life was fair.
What happened to those kids we were, and where
Has our enjoyment gone? Remember when
We’d laugh at anything, and all our friends
And family would always be right there?
We’ve both grown up – time goes by in a whirl –
Known love and pain and grief and death and birth,
We’ve moved out, gone to school, and "seen the world."
But if this makes you sad, here is this pearl
Of wisdom: that, for whatever it’s worth,
I think we’re still the same young boy and girl.

(no subject)

My boys

Graeham – first kiss, no thought
over in a heartbeat, lasting forever
never know what might have been:
I moved away

Iain – tall, dark, & handsome
New Zealand accent,
first time for butterflies
summer camp was over too soon

Chris – not so tall, still cute
boys are dumb but he was cool
not afraid to hang out with a girl,
and I was afraid to ask for more

Jeff – blonde & blue-eyed
finally enough courage to ask
(probably shouldn’t have)
‘cause it scared him off

Jordan – dark & brooding poet’s soul
best friends for years
but when the time came
he didn’t want to ruin it

David – green-eyed soccer star
a Cold War of a catfight
with my friend Nicole…
never spoke to either again

Ian – a dancer & a gentleman
requited at last!
the candle was bright & hot
but it burned out fast

Greg – my dreams given flesh
everything was perfect
except one tiny detail:
he didn’t love me

Alan – another Kiwi, with hazel eyes
kindred spirit or past-life partner?
broke through defenses and pain
just to talk for hours

Johnnie – blue eyes like wells
and the soul I’d been looking for
he gave me a new name
and a beautiful baby girl

Poetry scores

Got the scores for last week's poetry: 90.4%!! The teacher says my poems were the "most sophisticated submitted." I, of course, am blown away by this, because I _never_ write poetry, and hardly ever read it. Wow. Here are the three that were in the end-of-week portfolio, for your perusal...

This assignment was to portray man's interaction with nature: ( Ex Cathedra )

This one asked us to make a list of ten highs, lows, and turning points that could be used for writing a poem. A ten-step journey through my "love"-life: ( My boys )

And the instruction for this one was to write a poem based on a photograph of a family member. This is an Italian-style sonnet (per Alan's suggestion) based on a pic of my brother at my eighth-grade graduation (he was eleven and not at all impressed by the goings-on): ( Little Brother )

Huzzah! I got the tags to work! Took me forever, but I did it. Now to revise like crazy for the final portfolio due Friday....