Poem: Desire to Be

Desire to Be

In daylight the mountainous shore

Rises off the sun dappled waves

And happiness buoys me up

On the surface of unspeakable

Joy that escapes contemplation

Living in the moment of now

That slowly effervesces to

Night where moonlight reflects its thoughts

From the depths of this joyous lake.

We take to the shore, a sandy

Beach, collecting driftwood and cones

For a fire that will sparkle 

In unison and contrast with

Moonlight, keeping us warm while waves 

Lap us to restful reverie.

Morning light comes damp and still through

Clouds and water dogs clinging to

Crags where bits of last winter cling.

Now we’re groggy and damp, holding

To embers’ last warmth, me looking

For more wood while you scramble for

Coffee so we can enjoy this 

Moody moment in the after—

Glow of yesterday’s joyous sun

Now misted over and lurking

Like a sea monster waiting to 

Burst through glass and consume our joy

Into its belly of bluster

That doesn’t concern itself with 

Moods of joy or sorrow or mist

But the simple desire to be.

September 2023

About This Poem

I always find myself going to nature to judge my own mood. This poem is a good example of that. I use the larger lake and corresponding weather to compare to my own being and desires. In the end, I really just want to be. Even the clouds and rain are beautiful on the lake. That's the same with life, even if we don't recognize it at the time. The picture has a lake with some sun and clouds, so it matches the poem well. It's a lake in Glacier National Park, Montana. It has been several years since I took it (about 25).

 

Poem: Thoughts on Coleridge

 

Thoughts on Coleridge

To read lines in a notebook from 

A man depressed, one who became 

Addicted to opioids for

Pain from illness, bereft his friends

And family due to that

Addiction; a man who wanted

To die—to read that is painful.

Who hasn’t, whether real or feigned,

Felt so alone that would wish

To be dead? This man I speak of 

Has gained immortal fame from his

Friendships and his poetry, one

Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

But another poet of e’en greater

Fame for dramas has written in

His character that one knows not

What comes in death, hence we live still

In cowardice. This poet was 

Shakespeare, his character Hamlet

Speaking in that ever famous 

To be or not soliloquy.

I cling to the words of Hamlet

While empathy for Coleridge

Flows from my pen. But yet I will

Ever seek joy and pray that I

Though bounded in a nutshell find

Myself king of infinite space

Living in endless joy where my 

Cup runneth over and I no

More like Jacob wrestle with God

But live in peace with creator

Mine and friend for eternity.

December 2023

About This Poem

I found this in my journal and typed it up. It isn't the greatest poem, but it shows how authors have influenced me, authors such as Shakespeare and Coleridge and the Bible. I also connect to these old authors and I wonder what I have to leave to the world, sometimes feeling depressed as if I have nothing. I think the reality is that I don't know just what I will leave that people see as important, but I know that my children are important and they will leave their own marks on the world. So I have done my part however small. The picture is Rydal Mount in the Lake District of England. It is where William Wordsworth lived and Coleridge often visited him there. Wordsworth was the friend who kind of wrote Coleridge off.

Poem: Darkness Falls Suddenly

Darkness Falls Suddenly

Darkness falls suddenly

At this time of year

And we all cling to lights

As brief as falling stars

In the December meteor showers

That we seldom see

Because of winter’s clouds

And their frozen meteor showers.

Little twinkling lights

We scatter electrically

Upon trees, in windows

On the sides of our houses

Hoping to dispel some of it—

Darkness, gloomy and cold.

And in a few days 

It begins to gently break.

Each day gets imperceptibly

Longer and snow covers all

Reflecting all those little 

Twinkling lights,

Making the dark of night

Seem not so dark

As all the little lights 

Spread their brightness

Into the dawn

Of a new year.

They may not bring it back

In and of themselves,

Nor do we by placing them

But they remind us 

That darkness is fleeting

As lights continue to twinkle.

December 2023

About this Poem

I just typed this up today and it seems appropriate for now when here it is hovering around zero and the snow of winter finally made a showing. Obviously it's about Christmas lights because I wrote it in December a year ago, but it's still appropriate for winter, the darkness, and the lights that we still display even if we've put away our Christmas decor. And that Christmas decor is what the picture is as well. Keep the light in mind and stay warm.  BP

 

Poem: Friendship Circles About

 

Friendship Circles About

I went a walking o’er the hills

With my good friend

And we noticed in the air

Still after Hillary’s rain

The smoke hung heavy everywhere.

Two days of rain should 

Put out fires but the path

Was narrow and circling about

Like the remains of a hurricane

So that the smoke from fires

Now put out were flamed by winds

So fires still raged within the eye

Much like the presence

Of an evil over the people

That makes them ignore all

The commands, forcing others 

To meet their demands

That have nothing to do 

With the deeds they reprimand.

This is the path of ethics

these days—to circle around

Bringing flames to burn it down

In spite of the raging rains.

The ethics of humans

Are really quite strange

But, thankfully still, as we walk

The joy of being human

Still remains—

Or so it seems 

With this, my rambling friend.

So, friendship too, like a hurricane

Just might circle about.

August 2023

About This Poem

The remnants of hurricanes don't hit Idaho very often but in 2023 during fire season we got the last of Hurricane Hillary. I don't think I'd seen anything of a hurricane since I was a little kid in the south. This one rained like crazy and cleared the air for awhile, then the smoke came back while it was still cloudy and moist. Eventually the air cleared and the fires were dampened, if not completely put out. My friend and I went out walking on that damp, smoky day and it inspired me to write this poem and the hope friendship brings to our lives.