BROWN PSALM

BROWN PSALM

How couldst Thou be so cruel to me?
“I am the Gardener here”
Why didst Thou prune my eminence?
“To make you sweeter, Dear”

What can I give when I’m so small?
“Your yield will augment mine”
How can I fill my destiny?
“Your harvest will be fine”

(26 October 2010, Provo, Utah)

THE POET PSALM

THE POET PSALM (for EED and RWE) 

Circumference her master trope – 

Her minor turn is prose 

Of dialectic opposites – 

The arguments men pose. 

She runs a Circuit round the Word – 

Her purpose is to ring 

The bells of periphrastic hymn – 

Her “business is to sing” 

Domestic is her universe 

Beneath – beside – above – 

 Beyond antithesis she brings 

Economy of love. 

 (11 August 2010, Provo, Utah)

DRAWING PSALM

    DRAWING PSALM 

The light makes perspective – 

The angles that slope – 

Diminishing arches – 

Diagonal scope. 

The rays intersticing – 

The network of waves – 

The particles splicing – 

In cross-section naves. 

Antiphonal pointing – 

Symmetrical twines – 

Stained-glass panes appointing – 

Perfectioning lines. 

 (11 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

HIGHGATE PSALM

   

HIGHGATE PSALM (to Mary Ann Evans, aka GE) 

Unconsecrated ground (they said) 

Is hallowed by thy grave 

Your common marriage (not by law) 

With neither aisle nor nave 

The sacred space walks into us 

As we move through each page 

To realms of moral circumstance 

In novels for our age. 

 (15 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

POLI-SCI-FI VERSE

POLI-SCI-FI VERSE

Subversion is self-consciousness –
A counterfeit for depth –
A fundamental ignorance –
A lack of height and breadth –

An adolescent undermine –
A disconcerting strike –
A tantrum for dismantling
The virtues they dislike.

Politicos Anonymous –
Astute but seldom wise –
Condemning what they cannot spoil
Or cleverly revise.

An underhanded sabotage
To slander – slash – and burn –
Destruction of prosperity
They did not help to earn.

They try to make us serfs and dupes –
Bully goals are feudal –
Progressive pretext for control –
Show of force – But – futile.

(16 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

HARP PSALM

HARP PSALM

The Harp as healing instrument –
The Harp as Shepherd’s rod –
The Harp as music’s metonym –
The Harp’s Shir Yedidot.

The Harp as Son of David’s sign –
The Harp as tree of Life –
The Harp for king of righteousness –
The Harp as type of Christ.

The Harp as Temple Covenant –
The Harp for jubilee–
The Harp menora’s branching light –
The Harp for angel’s glee.

(28 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

ALUMNI DANCE

ALUMNI DANCE

Is this the Dance of Life for us?
Is this the Minuet?
Is this the Courtly Ritual
That Love cannot forget?

Is this the way of Man with Maid?
Is this our Promenade?
Is this the Brilliant Interview
That makes us feel like God?

Is this the Cinderella Ball?
Is this the Magic Scene?
Is this the spotless Marble Hall?
The realm of King and Queen?

Is this the place where Two could meet
As Complementary Pair?
If this is not the Site for Spring,
Wilt Thou please show me where?

(30 April; Provo, Utah)

MT. PLEASANT PSALM

MT. PLEASANT PSALM

(To my mother Florence and for Viola Stock Jarvis)

The heart is the last thing to go –
The body lingers here –
The pulse runs fast – subsides too slow –
Relinquishing what’s dear.

The feet are the first part to change
To alabaster hues –
How beautiful though pale and strange
The life without the shoes.

A place of white and rays of light –
Her new address is Star –
The Milky Way moves forward to
Accompany her Car.

Her chariot of fire leaves
A comet in the wake –
And each good work she did for us,
A comma for her sake.

(revised 16 February 2011, Provo, Utah)

STRUGGLE PSALM

STRUGGLE PSALM (10-10-10-10)

The stronger the rack, the longer we grow –
The harder the track, the faster we go –
The darker the path, the brighter we glow –
The straiter the gate, the sooner we know.

The sooner we see, the greater the light –
The brighter the path, the larger the scope –
The faster the track, the smarter we think –
The stronger we grow, the more we can cope.

(18 February 2011; Pleasant Grove, Utah)

EXORDIUM PSALM

EXORDIUM PSALM

To resurrect is ordinance –
An order to Revive –
The one commandment all obey
Is coming back alive.

We have to leave the dust behind –
Forsake the hard-earned earth –
Walk out of stiff mortality
Into a vital Birth.

Our viability is sure –
Ordained by Highest Saint –
Who labored through our detritus –
But He made no complaint.

(7 February 2011, Provo, Utah)

TRUST PSALM

TRUST PSALM (Mormon 9)

Can I be spotless, pure, fair, white –
Cleansed by the guiltless Lamb?
Can I be humble – diligent –
Be like the meek I-AM?

Can I believe in miracles –
In promises He’ll grant?
Can I work out salvation
By faith if I repent?

(5 February 2011, Provo, Utah)

LEXIS PSALM

LEXIS PSALM

I know how lace and silk can be
In words that we choose well –
I see how sensitivity
Can tailor what we tell.

I notice how lines wait on us
And turn into a verse –
I feel a text’s proclivity
To baptize and immerse.

(5 February 2011, Provo, Utah)

NIKE PSALM

NIKE PSALM

He walks above his weakness –
He leaps above the lies –
He skips around the scandals –
Avoids a compromise –

He focuses on winning –
He finds the finish line –
He runs like revelation –
His nidus, the Divine.

He shows us how to vanquish –
He jumps the pain with smiles –
He practices til perfect –
He vindicates the trials.

He overcomes by bounding –
He springs to victory –
He celebrates his triumph –
His valedictory.

(5 February 2011, Provo, Utah)

AWARD PSALM

AWARD PSALM

Forgiveness is my only prize –
All approbation Thine –
Thy mercy is my accolade –
The honor is not mine.

The constant pardoning of faults –
The softening of pride –
The overlooking my mistakes
And standing by my side.

My only victory is Thee –
Acknowledging my worth –
My only talent is to seek
To prosper in Thy work.

(4 February 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

SOPHIA PSALM

SOPHIA PSALM

Why is there existence?
What is the point of life?
Why instead of nothingness have
Children, father, wife?

Why is there creation?
Why universe of light?
Perceptions’s calculus of sense?
A choice of wrong or right?

Being gathers love in –
Choosing well, the aim –
Generations amplify their
Validity by name.

Poetry makes dwellings –
Cosmic rays bring views –
Revelation’s algebra sends
Every one good news.

(16 January 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

COSTUME DRAMA

COSTUME DRAMA

Skylark – Larkrise – Candleford flight –
Delicate cadence – my delight –
Minnie, Dorcas, Laura, and Ruth –
Ladies who learn to live by truth.

Purview is impervious sight –
Dominant goodness – souls contrite –
Dainty denizens – faithful friends –
Pray that this tale will never end.

(30-31 January 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

ANOINT PSALM

ANOINT PSALM

The blessing energy is real –
It organizes force –
It gives me strength to carry on –
It helps me to go forth

And do the things the Lord commands
With faith that I can be
A valiant servant for His work
In perpetuity.

(30 January 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

WAKING PSALM

WAKING PSALM

He wants to speak to us in dreams
And whispers in the mind –
A glowing feeling in the heart –
He wants us to be kind.

He want to talk to us in tongues
And gifts of prophesy –
Through visions, healings, wisdom, faith –
He wants our eyes to see.

He wants to free us from our fears
And whisk our tears away –
To build our confidence in Him
He teaches us to pray.

(29 January 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

GROVE PSALM

GROVE PSALM (for Elder Kikuchi)

To keep a journal is to pray
In words that angels seal –
To make a record for each day
Establishes what’s real.

To thank the Father for His love
Enhances joy we feel –
To ask a question is to seek
The answer He’ll reveal.

(27 January 2011, Provo, Utah)

MARTYR PSALM

MARTYR PSALM

Abinadi and Tyndale burned –
The torch was lit by lies –
Their message could not be consumed –
No martyr really dies –

St. Joan of Arc and Lady Jane –
St. Ursula’s young maids –
Their testimony is secured
By selfless holy deeds.

(24 January 2011, Pleasant Grove, Utah)