The Patron Saint
She sacrificed her pride
At the altar of your assistance.
This assertion met with resistance,
‘Cause you pray away your vices,
Those carefully cloaked as virtues.
What you refuse
To acknowledge is how you use
Other’s trust as donations
To your self-righteous cause. Continue reading “Free Verse – Kindness – JG”
Deeper
Digging for hidden treasure
At the bottom of a sandbox;
Going through the motions of hard labor,
Repetitive actions, brainless behaviors,
Every day – the colorless blur –
Change is the only cure
But different is frightening
While staying the course is comforting. Continue reading “Free Verse – Diligence – JG”
How ironic that my poem for diligence is submitted a full day late.
Fifty-plus years on the cement floor
Or those hollow wood planks where the ships come home,
Rivets and chains convey the slow roll:
Light the fire, turn the gear, churn’em out, let’em go. Continue reading “Free Verse – Diligence – SD”
Perseverance Game
Are you talking about ripples on the river
or a bolt of lightning felling a tree?
I would were I defining perturbations.
Ah, then you are suggesting we draw animals
in dapper suits or ask for the old man in the moon?
Some behaviors never get easier, regardless of how often you practice them or how often they’re called for. Patience has always been one of these things, for me at least. I grew up in a culture of instant gratification and I didn’t even have access to the internet until I was in my teenage years. Maybe patience is only a matter of counting down and we’re not the only ones practicing it; maybe it’s always painful even under the guise of anticipation. Either way and in every way, it is crucial and it is common, like all of The Seven Virtues. Next up is… Continue reading “Theme for August 19: Work Hard, Play Hard”
Not Yet
Hopeless loss of focus on anything said,
Star bright light searing through your eyelids,
Steady scream of the siren in your head,
Pounding to the sound of your heart. Continue reading “Free Verse – Patience – JG”
Ten’s the magic number to quell the rumbling thunder.
Nine will give ti time to settle and subside.
Eight more to wait for the heat to dissipate. Continue reading “Free Verse – Patience – SD”
We were patiently waiting for our lives to start
All around us, suburbs burned to cinders
It snows created houses in Los Angeles,
In October, the chaparral is patient with fire. Continue reading “Free Verse – Patience – Marcy Erb”
Since we have switched to virtues for the poetry theme, I thought I would put up a little neon art inspiration. Pretty much every day for six years I walked by Bruce Nauman’s Vices and Virtues public art installation at the University of California, San Diego – in the evening you can see it from miles around in La Jolla and UTC. How it merges the sins and virtues is almost like an ink blot test – when the “Faith” and “Lust” neon would light up together, I would see “Flauta” and it would make me crave Mexican food.
“…Never had to knock on wood, but I know someone who has, which makes me wonder if I could…” Leave it to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones to create the song running through my head due to last week’s theme. It might be a bit premature to say this, but I think the soundtrack to the Seven Virtues is going to be a lot more lighthearted than that of its counterpart. Continue reading “Theme For August 12th – Good Things Come To Those Who Wait”
Evening Satellite Publishing 