June 29, 2009

Wedding of Rivers

 

I wonder how the Missouri River feels losing

her identity into the Mississippi with

no recognizable trace of her maiden name

in any swatch downstream past the merger.

 

I wonder if the Mississippi thinks himself eternal,

with his banks the only boundary for the swath.

Surely the current through Hannibal conceives of

no beginning and no ending, and

certainly no deposit

swallowed up in gulf and sea.

 

I wonder if the Gulf thinks itself the ocean,

if it believes there are no deeper channels

than its own wells.  Has it not heard

rumors of epic fathoms and waves like

curling towers, of sea creatures

bigger than boats

and stranger than gods?

                                               ** RLP **

June 21, 2009

The Order of My June 20th Reading

Patching a Hole in the Hourglass

Note to Pablo Neruda

It Happens So Quickly

Wild Flowers on Loan

Live to Fight Another Day

Rest Area

Let's Smoke Some Mistletoe

Staci and the Deer

In Praise of Dependable Counseling Furniture

How to Make a Vodka Smoothie

The Descent

I Could Live Without Romance

The Artist's Inheritance

Voice Lessons

June 19, 2009

Firecracker Red

This Ain't Your Grandmother's Poetry Reading

A Live Poetry Event

Sat.  June 20th  7 pm

Rippavilla Plantation in Spring Hill
Historic home & museum


FEATURING

*Pulitzer nominee Stellasue Lee
author of Crossing The Double Yellow Line

*Ramon Presson, author and columnist

Tickets: $4  at the door  (proceeds going to Rippavilla Preservation)
Refreshments & Reception to follow

Rippavilla Plantation is located on Hwy 31 just ¼ mile south of Saturn Parkway

www.rippavilla.org
For more info (931)486-9037

June 15, 2009

The Journey is the Thing

I'm singing Matchbox 20 car songs

   in a post-dawn fog, when the doe with white spotted

dwarf fawns steps out onto the hem

   of the treeline just for me, I know it,

and I hold my line in the lane, for

               the journey is the thing.

                                      --RLP

May 29, 2009

Haiku

 

Moon first quarter

 

first firefly of summer strobes

beneath the first quarter moon,

a second glass of porch wine

                                --RLP

May 25, 2009

haiku

Violin cafe speakers play
Vivaldi, I feel a bow
pulled across my strings
 
                     -- RLP

May 19, 2009

The Artist's Inheritance

Heart red tile

 

The blessed moment for an artist is not when he finally catches a lucky break as though a wave suddenly crested beneath him, for such a surging loft ultimately and often quickly expends itself ashore.

Rather it is the journey that has crested on many a hill, till one rise unexpectedly overlooks, not the artist’s good fortune, but his grand inheritance.

The blessing of the artist, whether writer, painter, or musician, comes not as a stumbler finds a pearled oyster or gold nugget in the stream but as a son claiming his birthright. It is the realization that before anything was ever crafted by  the artist, a canvas was anointed for  the artist, and that the holy ground under the feet of his sudden awareness was deeded to him long ago.

May 18, 2009

And a child shall lead them...

006_6 Cameron received the 5th Grade's only singular honor: The Citizenship Award. Cam was affirmed for his character and most notably for his constant and compassionate friendship and support to Austin (who has Down's Syndrome) for the past two years. I forgot to bring kleenex. Austin's mother introduced herself and thanked us after the ceremony. I wouldn't have missed today for the world.

Sometimes a window opens and in one moment you see the past, present, and future. When Cameron was an infant he was diagnosed "failure to thrive." Then at 12 months they found a 32 degree curve in his spine. God healed both. Developmentally, he started behind but has been a straight A student since 1st grade. We thought he might be in a back brace till age 18, unable to play sports. He's an all-star in whatever sport he plays. We called him our "stiffy boy" because as a baby he wouldn't cuddle. He is so affectionate and has the kindest heart of any kid we know.

Yea, we're pretty good parents. But a parent knows where his influence taps its limit...and where something extraordinary reflects the choice of God, out of nothing but grace, to reach down and touch a child as his own. Today an 11 year old showed us Jesus, showed us what really matters in a competitive world: Love God with everything you got and love the Austins as yourself.

May 14, 2009

Wild Flowers on Loan

Daisies At the intersection of rural roads

I spot a tailoring of white petals with

yellow buttons, and I wish to bouquet

them for my love who is wilder

and lovelier than they.

 

But I leave them planted, because

while the property belongs to no one in particular,

the moment when a soul happens upon

an unexpected flowering

belongs to all.

                              --RLP

May 07, 2009

No Contest

Moon with clouds As delightful as it is
to see a daytime storm pass,
its rains cease, and
the clouds break like a crowd dispersed,
As energizing as it is to see the sun
restored in its loft,
to hold colors in sharp tones again,
      It is the clearing and soothing nighttime sky
which frames a full moon for peace lovers and dreamers
that outbids the day for my quiet attention.
 
                                                --- RLP