CHAPEL

The Spirit wants to speak with us,
But He is so polite.
He won’t compete with dissonance.
He doesn’t want to fight.

The day is full of whisperings.
The night is full of doves,
But He won’t force us to revere
Even though He loves

To bless us with benevolence –
Baptizing us in springs
Of living pure intelligence
And countless spotless wings –

Anointing us with clean delight,
The freshness of a child,
If we but listen to His voice,
So still, so small, so mild.

The Spirit has so much to tell –
He’s longing to explain
The footsteps of a faithful life –
The happiness we gain

By kneeling at the Fair One’s feet
And washing them with tears –
And kissing them with ointment prayers –
And sacrificing fears.

(19, 26 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

PATIENCE (Dickinson J712/Fr479)

Because I could not wait for Words –
They daily wait on me –
Their Message comes in Figured rimes –
And sometimes Poetry.

They softly speak – They have no price –
And I can yield for free
My stresses and my pressured times
To Their Tranquility –

We bless the Stage where Mortals play
At Business – in the Plan –
We bless the Woods of Tender Trees –
We bless the Meekest Man

Because – He first blessed Us – with tongues –
My thoughts are shivering –
The holy Gospel tunes, the Gifts
My Hands delivering –

We pray within a Home that seeks
A Silence for the Sound –
The Answer – nearly audible –
The Spirit – is Profound

So that – it’s Paradise – but still
Seems humbler than the Dust –
And I’m surprised that Wisdom’s Words
Would lend me lyric Trust –

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MORE HAIKU

Loss paralyzed speech –
Mother gone, I could not teach –
Knowledge locked – thought blocked

The bean is the queen –
Stringing green in garden spot –
Bringing life to plot

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

ORNITHOLOGY

I called the birds to breakfast seed –
The quail cooed in reply –
And flinching sparrows let me know
They heard my whistled cry.

My siblings have their dogs and cats –
Their sturdy children, too –
While I just feed the wilderness –
My flying fenceless zoo.

A scrub-jay perches on the porch
In azure majesty –
While juncos, finches – felines – search
My grass menagerie.

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

FOR WE KNOW NOT

I now surrender fear to thee –
My dear worst enemy –
No more terror – anxiety –
Go in peace – set free –

May you savor the jubilee –
Revel in liberty –
May Providential clemency
Grant you security –

I’m just longing for purity –
Hungry for clarity –
Too thirsty for sincerity
To forsake dignity –

Do not grieve what can never be –
What should have been will be –
What could have been will also be –
Weep not, adversity.

(17 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

HAIKU POST-KYOTO

Grief has been a sea
A row of waves ungraining
Drawing life anew

Monterey Bay waits
A falling in love can be
A calling for life

What was lost is here
Nothing can keep you from joy
What was gone is near

Furrows in fields sweep
Chasing the sun in cotton
Wind kissed nectarine

This year Spring lingered
Leaping pirouette dancer
True dreams cannot cease

We have time to sing
The carol was a Spring verse
Dance conveyed the tune

April moon in white
Coming from the east mountain
October turns to June

Be Thou my comfort
Don’t let go of me, Father
Be Thou my right hand

Copper Creek yet stirs
Autumn evades destruction
Time is on standby

Triangle Pass calls
Step by stone to Copper Lake
Face to lace with light

TWENTY-THIRD PARISON

Thy love is my dowry: it shall not fade.
He waketh me to dress up in clean garments:
He teacheth me to find the still-hearted.
He renews my song:
He guideth me in the ways of friendliness to His home’s gate.
Lo, though I run through the canyon of the famines of dearth,
I will feel no hunger: for Thou dost feed me.
Thy rock and thy bread both strengthen me.
Thou repairest a broken wall for me in the desert of my misery.
Thou appointest my time of joy; my heart overfloweth.
Truly kindness and beauty will hallow me every day that I write,
And I will bow on the hill at the feet of our Savior.

(16 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

PEERLESS

The only one who stands alone
Is He who did not stray –
The rest of us have company
In turning our own way –

The only name in earth or sky
That has the strength to save
Is His – The Son of Holiness
Will lift us from the grave –

So we are never desolate –
We have a perfect Friend
Who leads us – steadfast, bright, and true –
Enduring to the end.

(15 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

DIANA

The moon betimes is minuscule –
Her ministry is meek –
Yet clip by clip she magnifies –
Compounding strong from weak.

She rises from the rim of dusk –
She navigates the bay –
She lingers over sleepless rooms
Before she slips away –

Administers her molten balm
To Mercury and Mars
And shares a silver sustenance
With all the hungry stars –

Then exits into morning’s edge
Above a swanless lake
In sunlit practical descent
For every creature’s sake.

(14 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MILLES BORNES

Two compass spindles – One points north –
Step by step – the Second –
Quivering – switches back and forth
Line by line directions.

Digressions, detours, delays bring
Grace to grace Remedy –
Hazards, hardships, heartaches bring Face
To face Epiphany.

(20 September 2008, Aspen Grove, Utah)

PAGE TWO

A prism marks a common wall –
Assuring me that light
Belies the Lord’s economy –
Though hidden from my sight.

A bevel in a curtained room –
With no apparent source –
Arrays as it uncovers truth
With modest layered force.

My poetry is back again –
A rainbow’s outer lines
Help me to see the colors of
The inner world’s designs.

(13 October 2008, Elk Ridge, Utah)

CLIMBING

I never want to burden you –
I just need to ascend –
My back against a chimney wall –
My hands and feet depend

Upon the mercy of belay –
A rope – below – above –
One word of cool encouragement
That gives me faith to move.

(13 October 2008, Mt. Pleasant, Utah)

FOCUS

I'm hoping "for" eternal life --
I'm hoping "in" the Lord --
The hoping "for" gives charity --
The hoping "in" gives words.

Creation is faith's poetry --
Compassion is love's scope --
Eternal life is God's abode --
The Savior is our hope.

PROXY

Your fineness was a mirror –
Your kindness was a gaze
That helped me find a higher road
Because you held a place

For dreams I could not christen –
For promises not yet –
And though the glass turns dark again,
I never will forget

The fellowship of greetings –
The choreography
Of unexpected courtesies
That lift reality.

(8 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

SARAH’S SONG

I am coming into Beauty –
Although the Bloom is late –
Growing in the Loveliness of
How God can create

A Universe from dust and ash –
A Paradise from flight –
A Family from man and maid –
From desolation, Light –

The Asters are the last to fade –
God’s garden has no weeds –
The aspens glimmer in the glade
With gilded global beads.

(7 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

HOMEGOING

As if by ambulance, the path
Came rushing fast at me –
The disappointments disappeared,
And One I could not see

Was bearing me with urgent speed,
Before it was too late,
To meet my Destiny at last –
Without the least delay.

(3 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

AUTUMN MOON

To hope for someone else
What we ourselves would gain –
To pray that happiness will shine
When our light starts to wane –

This is the test of time –
This is the trial of troth –
When we seek blessings for a friend –
The heavens smile on both.

(22 September 2008, Provo, Utah)

PROMPTING

The choices with the least impact
May have great consequence –
Three inches in a switch-point track
Provide significance –

Small hinges on a lengthy gate
Will make the fence swing wide –
The little steps we walk in faith
Will magnitude decide.

(19 September 2008, Aspen Grove, Utah)

CROSS STITCH

All mortals are waiting for love –
Not just the ageing aunts –
Not just the slow and awkward ones
Waiting to learn the dance.

Loneliness is exceptionless –
Even the Beauties wince –
Even the fair and handsome sons
Cry like the Little Prince.

But thanks to the Lord’s Redemption
Love is not Tragedy –
Love is not envy, fear, or woe –
It’s Divine Comedy.

(15 September 2008, Mount Pleasant, Utah)

CHANGE OF ART

Hope is not a burden –
And love is not a snare –
And faith is not a fantasy –
The Fountain springs by prayer.

The Road is not a net –
The Path is not a trap –
The Way is not a wilderness –
Press forward – don’t look back.

The Tree is not a yoke –
The Fruit is not a ploy –
The Branch is not a broken bough –
Please, come – reach out for Joy.

(13 September 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

LEAD ME

Coincidence is miracle –
And Chance is in God’s hand –
Without compulsion – Deity
Provides a master plan.

The Earth turns to the right and East
While Sun seems to lean West –
The northern star gives Compass light –
A guideline to the Best.

For sake of Good – forsake ungood –
Partake of Truth – shake lies –
And follow Virtue through the woods
Prepared to take Surprise.

(13 September 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

FIND ME

A poet has exquisite needs:
A longing to Express;
A yearning for a listening Ear
To whom one can profess

The wonder of Intelligence,
The history of Power,
The eloquence of Elegance,
The treasures of an Hour;

A Friend of keenest quality,
Of fine Integrity;
A Book of endless finite lines
To court Eternity.

(13 September 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

EXHIBIT: Education in Zion

The daybreak shines –
The shadow reclines –
New beauty’s mountain light reveals –
The calming of another sea –
The caring for another sheep –
Pacific now – the valley kneels.

(9 September 2008, JFSB, BYU, Provo, Utah)

ALTAR PIECE (Dickinson Fr314)

Dear, feathered Hope – go see Jesus –
Warm, weathered Wing – touch the Healer –
I offered Him your Tune – you see –
So now He has full Custody.

Too Buoyant for me to Carry –
Too Vital for me to Bury –
I gave your Song back – to the King –
So now Redeeming love will Sing.

(3 September 2008, Provo, Utah)

GENESIS

Light was born in the Temple –
Love was lit in the Sky –
Breath was stirred in the Body –
Words produced You – and I

Life came forth – and then Water –
Hills stood up – and then Trees –
Woods hid Deer – Brooks held Fishes –
Birds flew high – hummed the Bees

Day dawned after the Darkness –
Work ruled after the Fall –
Rest reigned after Creation –
He – looked after us All

(29 August 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

NEW SEMESTER (Dickinson Fr260)

I’m here to learn! What about you?
Are you here to learn – too?
Then there’s a school of us!
Don’t stop! ’Twould paralyze you know!

How weary to be self-absorbed –
How puffed up – like a bore –
To close one’s heart. The lifelong quest
Is the thirst to learn more.

(29 August 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

SUPERSCRIPT

Despite the spit of despising,
Beyond the bile of reviling,
The Lord’s lean torso bends forward –
The Lamb’s torn tendons stretch upward.

In spite of rabid rejection,
Above the shame of disrobing,
The King’s bruised breathing prays onward –
The Word’s wounded forgiveness pours outward.

(August 28, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

VIEWING (For Cooper Mardesich, 2004-2008)

Death’s Inn must be a lovely place
With such a perfect Guest.
For such prestigious innocence
God must reserve the Best.

He has to save the finest rooms
For angels’ Residence.
With such prodigious purity
There must be Precedence.

(August 27, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

THE MALACHI MEASURE

He’s not behind me on the path.
He is ahead of me.
He knows the ups and downs I pass.
He’ll meet me at the Tree.

His mind will be my diamond ring.
His heart will be my prize,
And nothing sweeter than his voice,
Except, perhaps, his eyes.

His smile will be my bridal veil.
His hand – my rose bouquet,
And nothing brighter than the lamp
He lifts to show the way.

(August 27, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

BOISE (to Mary Ellen Ryder)

April was in our singer’s word,
And Júly in her voice we heard.
Now in August, we remember,
And in our heart, blue September.

(August 27, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

WAITING SONNET

?Marido, mi angél, dónde estás?
?Estás en los cielos, o siglos atrás?
?En las montañas, o sobre el mar?
!Sí no puedo verte, voy a llorar!

?Esposo, mi novio, cuando vendrás?
Sintigo mi gozo es menos, no más.
Buscando tu cara en dondequier,
?Si no te escucho, qué puedo hacer?

I never thought I’d see home in this life.
I thought I’d never hear the call of “Wife!”
“Don’t cheat yourself,” Apostle said, “Prepare!”
No matter who, what, when, why, how, or where.

Live to let the Lord lead you to your love,
And trust His time for all of the above.

(August 16, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

LEAST AND GREATEST

I woke without a shadow’s dread
Before the dawn appeared –
No cymbals sounding in my head –
No pain – no shame – no fear.

To see a self in someone else –
To marvel at a mind –
To trust another as a friend –
To welcome human – kind –

This is the antidote to grief.
That is the remedy –
To set aside the darkly glass
And breathe in charity.

(August 21, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

QUEST

Am I redeemable, my Lord?
What hope is there for one like me:
Still lacking love, in thought, in word;
Still short of what a Saint should be?

(August 14, 2008, Pleasant Grove)

REUNION

Our DNA can recognize
The places it has been.
When we return it to the scenes,
A spirit rushes in.

We often sense a deja-vu.
We somehow feel at home.
Our ancestors extend a hand,
When to their lands we roam.

(August 15, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

CATCH AND RELEASE

At last my poetry has come.
At least my verse arrives.
Without compulsory restraint,
The language bobs and dives.

I have a river in my heart,
An ocean in my brain.
So, I go fishing with a line,
Releasing what I gain.

The lake of images is full.
The trout swim deep and fast.
The little minnows of the mind
Are in my hands at last.

(August 15, 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

OLYMPIAD XXIX

The pageantry of dynasty –
A giant holds a boy –
Parades of nations, athletes, flags,
Bring patriotic joy.

Great governors, Prime ministers
Preside among the throngs.
Deft dancers scribe calligraphy.
Fresh children offer songs.

The drums made lights – the lights drew lines –
The lines spell out the date:
The Games begin on this eighth day,
August, Two Thousand Eight.

(9 August 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

GOOD MORNING MUSE

Who calls my name before I wake?
Is it the Comforter
Who fans the embers in my brain
And sends me lines of verse?

What happens to the poetry
I don’t have time to write?
Is there an orphanage of truth
For unclaimed wisps of light?

Who whispers words to me again
When memory is tired?
Who is the gentle confidant
That second chance required?

Now I wake me up to music
Before I meet the day.
If I must hurry off to work,
Allow this page to pray.

(8 August 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

GESTALT

There is so much to tell –
I cannot say it all,
But writing some imparts the whole,
So I’ll accept the call.

(4 August 2008, Myrifield, Heath, Massachusetts)

EMILY’S AMHERST

Are these the birds that you heard?
Are these the blooms you smelled?
Are these the bands of sunrise
That whispered in the dell?

Are these the skies that taught you?
Are these the stars you sought?
Are these the paths you wandered
In search of ought and naught?

Is this the way you flourished?
Is this the reverie?
Are these the days you numbered?
Is this the mystery?

(3 August 2008, Amherst, Massachusetts)

THE REST OF MY LIFE

My new job is to sleep enough,
To keep quiet for eight hours,
To shower my mind clean from grime,
To free my soul from useless stress,
To bless my brain and calm my heart,
To start afresh when morning shines,
To line my thoughts with books of dreams,
To stream my work and words anew.

(31 July 2008, Stone House Cottage, Amherst, Massachusetts)

RING OF TIME

Time is a lens through which we view both sides.
The lens is our life, before and ahead.
Our life is a ring for here and elsewhere.
The ring is a frame for vision and sight.
The frame is a form that moves and abides.
The form is a theme expressed but unsaid.
The theme is a pattern for praise and prayer.
The pattern – a figure for name and time.

(25 July 2008, Sheffield, England)

UNTOLD TALES

Everyone should be a poet –
Revise the Upper Case!
Let Lower Case bards and ballads
Have their season and place –

Democratize rhymes and rhythms –
Formulate ancient Themes –
Dash lines in stanzas – Write visions –
Stitch them in short, straight seams –

Switch syntax – Change morphemes – Drop sense
On a microscope slide –
Illustrate sound – Adjust the lens –
Let old and new collide.

Let music flow like Springs in dells.
Let songs wake us like birds.
Be elliptic – Make light – Ring bells –
Elect Philology – Love words –

Celebrate nature’s endless fame –
Define the infinite –
Give remembrance to the nameless –
Help robins to their nest.

(2 August 2008, Amherst, Massachusetts)

HIGH MOUNTAINS (2 Nephi 4:25)

I’ve met the Father twice at least.
The interviews were washed in peace.
He led me up the trail by hand.
He took me to the Promised Land.

(BYU, Provo, Utah, 13 July 2008)

PHOTO COPY

The spirit replaces cells, too –
Each image brighter – new.
Each step you take to walk in light
Refines the inner site.

(BYU, Provo, Utah, 15 July 2008)

AFTER SHOCK

AFTER SHOCK

We could not comprehend how much she meant
Until the balance in her book was spent.
Her time of work and sacrifice was done
But not the prize and legacy she won.

As if the loss had paralyzed my speech,
When Mother passed away, I could not teach.
The knowledge I had shared before was locked,
And all the links between the facts were blocked.

We walked our mother to the land of death
We gathered as she took her final breath.
When she had passed, we traveled back to time.
We had to carry on, complete the climb.

(13 July 2008, Provo, Utah)

CARPE TREEUM

Danger – Darkness – Degradation?
You were born for Beauty!
Why do you linger in Limbo?
Seize Delight – your Duty.

(BYU, Provo, Utah, 19 July 2008)

PERSONAS

People are more important than places.
Places are more important than things.
Things are more important than nothing.
Nothing is more important than people.

RELEASED

I prefer the house of faith,
Not the jail of doubt.
The house of faith keeps goodness in.
The jail keeps goodness out.

The house is built of daily acts
Of hope, truth, peace, and prayer.
The jail is made of constant lies,
Resentment, and despair.

(Pleasant Grove, Utah, 15 February 2008)

SET APART

Life is not always Eden.
Love is not always Spring.
Light is not always Golden.
Flight is not always Wing.

Sometimes life is a Desert.
Sometimes love is a Fall.
Sometimes light is a Fire.
Sometimes flight is a Wall.

(Orem, Utah, 22 June 2008)

SHOE BUSINESS

The Savior paid the Bride-Price,
Redeemed the Desolate,
Gave dowry to the Lowly,
Placed beauty on the Least.

The price was Expiation.
The cost was Agony,
A path of most Resistence,
The wait of Suffering.

The Bride accepts Betrothal
In covenants of Peace.
The Bride-groom calls all to a Feast
Of fruits, of pure Increase.

(Pleasant Grove, Utah, 22 June 2008)

ACQUITTAL (for R. Shelton's poets)

My native tongue is poetry –
Though some might say mere verse.
My accent is iambic time –
That might get on your nerves.

Phonetically I like to rime –
Syllabically I count.
Inversion keeps me on my toes
When moving feet about.

Some say that rime is indirect –
Inversion is contrived –
The force of form is incorrect,
By sentiment derived –

A nineteenth-century accident –
Anachronistic curse.
I say that rime is precedent
Of bard tradition’s verse.

Inversion is a chance to stage,
A drama, screened by time,
And sentiment can be a sage
Who prompts a phrase sublime.

A meter is a lyric song –
A chant to memorize –
A count to help the words belong
To beats that mesmerize.

Some try to master language flow,
Abandoning old means.
By service to the figures, though,
New power intervenes.

(Pleasant Grove, Utah, 17 June 2008)

KEEPING TRACK

Work the body – heal the mind –
Heal the mind – free the soul –
Free the soul – see the whole –
See the whole – meet the goal –
Meet the goal – do your work.

(BYU, Provo, Utah, 21 June 2008)

LIP'-WIS-DOM, n.

“Wisdom in talk without practice; wisdom in words not supported by experience.”

How to write a poem that is practical:
How to give a speech that is powerful:
How to build a home that is beautiful:
How to see a truth that is spiritual:
How to sing a tune that is lyrical:
How to say one word that is meaningful:
How can I be more experiential?

(2 July 2008, Provo, Utah)

LIP'O-GRAM, n.

A writing in which a single letter is wholly omitted. Webster 1844

This limrick is missing on lttr.
I’m trying to mak my poms bttr.
Th loss of this vowl
Might caus folks to howl.
Don’t blam m; just call a typsttr.

(2 July 2008, Provo, Utah)