Everett Poetry Nite, June 23, 2025
Change
for a memorial service
The sacred sea defines
our summed collective soul.
Our infinite designs
are in the sea’s control.
We scarcely understand
our fundamental start.
We cannot comprehend
the sum of every part.
As the aeons come and go,
its silent flow and blend
is all we ever know;
but now we feel the wind.
A molecule of water
that skims the sacred sea
and breathes corporeal air
resembles you and me.
As soon as we are tossed
above the nurturing foam,
this flesh, from found to lost,
obscures our natural home
in such a pleasing way
we lose the cosmic sweep
of comely, sunborne spray
rounded by the deep.
Autism Turns 21
It is hard for us to guess what’s on your mind.
We question you until you answer yes.
Outside of family, the world is not so kind.
Sometimes it’s twenty questions until we find
what triggers you. We understand your stress,
but the family needs to know your state of mind.
You are now of legal age and fully grown
standing six foot one and big as a house.
We give you hugs. The world is not so kind.
We know your music playlist calms you down
and steadies your nerves in solitude. Distress
starts up when conversation prods your mind.
Cold, indifferent people are not inclined
to help: it’s not my problem; it’s not my mess.
Outside of family, the world can be unkind.
For you, my grandson, if the future is predefined
by the past, please know you’ll always have our blessing.
The family will embrace whatever is on your mind.
Outside of us, the world is not so kind.
Cigars
Cigars evoke the stadium.
Whenever I catch the drift
of a great cigar,
I revisit the Coliseum
where you and I
would cheer the darkest team
In white America.
The tunnels reeked of smoke,
cigars especially;
today I miss the stench.
Cigars evoke for me
our best of times as father and son.
Whatever I meant to you
and you to me
in real life,
together we loved the game.
Everett Poetry Nite, June 16, 2025
Joy at Daybreak
The Smartest Guy in the Room
Glass Half Empty
My Iranian Gentleman
Dad Critiques the Sermon
Everett Poetry Nite, June 2, 2025
Kathy Fiscus
San Marino
Class of 1960
Everett Poetry Nite, May 26, 2025: Memorial Day
Operations Hastings
Den Mother
Everett Poetry Nite, May 19, 2025
The Grafting of a Nation
Those People
Everett Poetry Nite, May 5, 2025
Skywaves
Bus Poem: Hard Times
St. John’s Art Night, May 2025
Without a Thought
Skywaves
Bus Poem: Hard Times
My Son Keeps Getting Fired
Beyond the Narrowing
Everett Poetry Nite, April 28, 2025
The Alpha and Omega of Gratitude
Camp Loowit Alumni
Everett Poetry Nite, April 21, 2025
Without a Thought
Rejection
Everett Poetry Nite, April 14, 2025
Childhood Memories
Memory
She Loves You
Everett Poetry Nite, April 7, 2025
The Politics of No
The Swans of Skagit Valley
Art Night, April 2025
The Drifters
Love in a Twofer
Owl Love
As a Rose Unfolds Itself
Baldwin Power & Light
Our Love
Everett Poetry Nite, March 31, 2025
My Moment in Time
We All Start at Zero
For the Faces I Will Never See
Owl Love
Art Night, March 2025
The Way
1066
High Jumper
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
Art Night, February 2025
Beatitudes (Updated)
Disinformation
The Plumb Line
You Trample on the Needy
Art Night, January 2025
Residents Only
Oberlin College
White Privilege High School
Class of 1960
Art Night, December 2024
Those People
America in Decline
Art Night, November 2024
?
Art Night, October 2024
?
Art Night, September 2024
?
Art Night, August 2025
Morven letters: non fiction
Art Night, July 2024
The Drifters
Summer Romance
As a Rose Unfolds Itself
Looking to the West
Arise, My Love
To His Coy Mistress
Art Night, June 2024
Agency
I Was the Messenger
Lao Tzu Advises the Board of Directors
Our Corporate Wholeness
Into the Winter
Art Night, May 2024
I Want to be Like that Guy
Checkpoint
Feeling Valued
Wedding in the Park
Life Begins at 70
Art Night, March 2024
(haiku and tanka)
Art Night, February 2024
At the Dinner Table
Back Jackknife
Glass Half Empty
Visiting the Oncologist
Art Night, January 2024: Songs
Circle of Love
Ark of the Covenant
The Yoke
He Called a Little Child
Art Night, December 2023
Childhood Memories
Memory
First Date
Cigars
Perfume
On Mount Wilson
Art Night, November 2023
The Swans of Skagit Valley
Camp Loowit Alumni
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
The Parable of the Rich Fool
The Alpha and Omega of Gratitude
Art Night, October 2023
My Iranian Gentleman
Rejection
Chapel of the Transfiguration
We All Start at Zero
The Faces I Will Never See
Art Night, August 2023
Kenjiro Nomura, Artist
The Word Jap
The Recovering Racist
The Grafting of a Nation
Imago Dei
The Ideal Starting Lineup
Art Night, July 2023
The Body and Its Desires
The Politics of No
The Big Nothing
Come Together
Owl Love
Art Night, June 2023
(Read by Jim O’Grady)
Parable of the Wineskins
My Moment in Time