Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Life is a Conversation
more than anything
life is a conversation
a coming together
of all our longings
a youthfulness of
knowing and being known
are you ready
for the next step
are you ready
to speak up, to sing out loud
with the voice of a
mockingbird, whose brightest songs
are spiraling out joyful threads
of light, mending together
the deepest sorrows
of the world
are you ready
to speak up, to listen to
a single child’s
cry of loneliness, or
an old gray haired woman’s
gay laughter, do you know now
how to look and to see
how the thread of each thought
leads you inevitably to
the next moment of your life
there is gathering
within me a great gratitude
of the earth (and all she teaches)
in these
early morning hours
when the world is
stillness itself
when unspoken words
begin forming the day
it is in these moments
of sanity where I begin
realizing the salvation
found in silence
I am the stillness then
singing out loud
from the quiet depths
a song which marks
the bright passing
of the self into the
world, becoming its own
kind of blessing, as the
earth breathes in once more
Ron Starbuck
Copyright 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
For The Sake of Ten (A Poetic Midrash)
once a long time ago, I can't really
say how long, a man and his wife
welcomed three strangers
by the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron
and in true hospitality prepared a simple
meal of milk and curds, with
bread and tender calf
and received in kind
a blessing of life
a promise of pleasure
and a son to come
too wonderful to believe
the woman when hearing this
laughed to herself and wondered
at such a marvelous claim
she (Sarah) who was old and barren of life
beyond all memory of delight, of
youth filled joys and sensuous nights
it was a promise kept, within a year
he who will laugh (Isaac) with joy
was born, as the Lord had spoken
then the story of the passing stangers
continues, and this may be my
favorite part of the tale to tell
when the three men passed on to leave
the man (Abraham of the Good Eye)
went with them for a while
only to question again and again
first for fifty, then forty five
then forty, then thirty
then twenty, and finally
for the sake of ten
righteous people
moved by his own sense
of justice, mercy
and compassion
he questioned the Lord of Hosts
as advocate, even in his fear he questioned
how can we do any less?
and yet, God who heard the outcry
was teacher here as well as judge
one who would know the truth
God invites such dialog
you see, he does not hide
he chooses to be engaged
and by doing so
seeks to guide us in
transforming our world
by the plains of Mamre
near Hebron, he came
giving birth to a nation
a people of God, chosen of God
through which all the nations of earth
will become blest
Ron Starbuck
Copyright 2010
Azaleas II
this year our azaleas
have come lateor
right on time
depending
on how you look at it
it has been a long winter
for Houston,for me.
The azaleas
quiver in the air, Like can-can dancers
their pink and fuschia skirts held high
their stamen legs kicking
corralling my attention
and beckoning me
to come closer
and inhale this solid mass
of buzzing blooms.
do you remember
that each flower has bothboth male and female parts?
horticultural hermaphrodites.
there are two types of flowers:
imperfect and perfect.the imperfect ones are always
either all male or all female
while the perfect ones
have both male and female parts.
Our azaleas are perfect.
Their silky magenta petals Puff and sing their way through our home
revealing spring
in a chorus of floral angels.
Julie Macksoud and Ron Starbuck
Copyright 2010
Julie Macksoud is an internet friend of mine who is at Colby College up in Waterville, Maine. We’ve been friends for quite a while now, since before Joanne and I were married in 1997. Our initial connection was due to Nanci Griffith, we’re both fans of Nanci. Julie was inspired with my original poem about our azaleas at home and came up with this lovely version that I wanted to share with folks. She asked me if she could revise it some, as a gift. At the end of the poem, I put her name first, because ladies should always go first, and because she did such a lovely job of adding something special to the poem, with a certain touch of femininity. It’s fun to look over the difference and a lesson for me, I say this humbly, in how to compose good poetry. I say compose, because writing poems is probably more like writing music, than prose. Although, I do think that well written poems and prose, can both call to mind the feeling of a well performed symphony.
I get impatient with myself or the poem at times, and rush too quickly into print and publication. Perhaps that has something to do with instant gratification, something we all suffer from these days. There is a lesson in that too.
I get impatient with myself or the poem at times, and rush too quickly into print and publication. Perhaps that has something to do with instant gratification, something we all suffer from these days. There is a lesson in that too.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Azaleas
this year our azaleas
are coming late
or right on time
depending on how
you might want to look
at it all
it has been a long winter
a cold winter
here at home
I love the colors
they give off
floating there
in the air, like
can-can dancers with
their skirts held high
their stamen legs kicking
freely into the secret
spaces of our hearts
do you remember
that each bloom has both
both male and female parts
stamen, anther, filament (male)
pistil, stigma, style, ovary, ovule (female)
then petal and sepal (shared)
and did you know that
there are two
types of flowers
imperfect and perfect
the imperfect ones are always
either all male or all female
while the perfect ones
have both male and female parts
I’m happy to report that
our azaleas are perfect, and I wonder
if this is not some hint from God on how
we are to each reach godly perfection
you should also know that we have
the bright pink and deep fuschia
electric magenta ones, whose colors each spring
sing through our home, a chorus of brilliant angels
Ron Starbuck
Copyright 2010
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