Part of a Picture

As creatures of a tribal ilk
Suckled with the milk of storied past
Smoothed and blended, soft as silk

Asked to be a puzzle piece that conformed
One of a million pieces, of a million pictures
Painted, cut, bent and transformed

Beaten into place, to ensure the flow
Of past to present to future alignment
To imagery that everyone will now know

And the songs, stories, we will applaud
Because we’ve always done so
No matter if some of us are appalled

But we cannot hear we cannot see
For we have no need of wisdom
We know who we are 
               and what our children will be

Then we hear some whispers in the night
Doubt is her name, or is it Wisdom
To challenge, to make us wonder what’s right

But we drown her with our coffee or tea
As we consume our silky, insidious breakfast news
And take comfort in our picturesque painted sea

Where all is as it should be, perfect and blue
No matter the doubts of distant storm
Making for rough seas, which we always knew

Would be here someday to beat on our shore
And mess up our perfect picture story
As the appalled are beating on our cottage door

For there is no other refuge from the coming storm
And we are now challenged by our doubts, or wisdom
As it may be, and the altered reality we need to form

A new picture, new pieces, a new me
That will be something better, something sweeter
And a more beautiful and peaceful sea

The other night we were watching the last in a series called Rectify  on Netflix.   It is very good, well-written.  I thought originally it was about the soul and what happens when it’s contained in a box for 20 years on death row, but it was far more complicated, and it really was about not just a search for truth, but how truth is used, distorted, or maybe half told, and its many versions.  It inspired this:

Truth in a Box

A tool, without a manual
A weapon,
Less often a shield,
Maybe as a key
To something before unknown
Maybe a half that shields
The other half for your good
Always there in some form
Possibly hidden
And elusive
Malleable as gold
Complex, and possibly ornamental
Sometimes dark
Pulling in all light
Other times bright
Reflecting light
If so allowed Inside the box
Without windows
But just maybe
There’s a way in…

Happy Juneteenth!
If you don’t know what it means… look it up… it is a day of great importance in our journey as a nation.

Fade to Light

Living in darkness
Colorless faces
Fear of dreams
Fear of falling
Tripping on the climb
Whistling at shadows
Never risking desire
Distance thunder
Golden flashes light
Shadowed clouds
Clouds of rain
Better than nothingness
Better than colorless
Daring to wish
Daring to feel worthy
Of dreams of color
Of world alive
That can only be found
In the risk of insight
That sparks the night
And darkness fades
To color and light

Everything

I’ve become a master
Over nothing
Above everything
That is nothing
While simply
Holding on to nothing
Except
What is in my heart
Which is everything

Blessed

If you’ve danced under the stars
Felt the rain on your face
And kissed in the moonlight,
If you’ve felt the wet grass in your toes
And hear the laughter of children
Still echo in your own voice
Then you are blessed