Still Looking for Lodging!!!

Still Looking for Lodging!

Travelling home from work
Through neighborhoods of
Strung lights bobbing in winds,
Recently inflated plastic air-bag characters
From children’s cartoons
And seeing the Holy Family
Camping on many front lawns!

The decorations go up signaling
Christmas shopping time has begun.
The Family is still looking for
Lodging,
For a place to stay,
Beyond ornamentation on
Americas’ lawns,
Beyond being part of the
Country’s collective characters and symbols
Dragged out
year after year
sometimes adding new characters to
the mob,
To signal
The beginning of shopping sprees,
Building the economy,
Lifting the GNP,
Encourage Wall Street investors!

At our church each year
Someone steals the Baby Jesus from
The front lawn
crèche scene---

Birdsong

I swear
   the birds are all
   extroverts!!!
From early morning
  even before the sun surfaces
  they start their chatter
  on into late evening
  never quitting.
What is it they have to say
  so long
  so much?
Some people imagine
 they're singing to their mates,
Others to
 God's glory.




Richard W Smith
June 16, 2010

My Wish!

To let the
 fall breezes
 flow across
  my face
  tousle my hair
   bringing
    scent
     wildness
     wilderness
      dirt
      flowers
      wild flowers
       the multch for next year
       and a fireplace
       some distance away,
To let the
      cool tap water
       flow over my
       sore hands
        softly
       before bed
       squeezing through
       the faucet
        on the right
        having circulated through
          the house
           refreshing
           enlivening
           peaceful
            all
     before I leave
      this planet
      another eight hours
      placing my
       life
      in gravity's hands
       that the world
         will turn
        the universe
         will survive
        and my love
         will be beside me
        when the sun
          creeps across
           the floor
            and the cracks
             in the window shades
              are highlighted
                becoming a wake-up
                 call
                  to life again!

"Stay Awake!"

The old preacher

 Told me

  to pay attention.

  Not because

  I sleep during

  Her sermons,

  But today is Advent

  The start of watching

         And waiting for

The arrival

of the “One

who is to come!”


Pay attention

Don’t focus only on my

Pain.

Watch

Don’t indulge my

Sadness.

Be alert

Not focused on my

Problems.

Listen carefully

To the sounds of life

Not only my

Life.

Consider

The whole of life

Be not

Inattentive.

Observe

The worlds peoples

Be not

Self absorbed.

Patient

Not trying to control

All of life

Fitting it into my

Schemes.

Advent has arrived

Time to prepare

Take a fresh look

At my focus

Values

Wants and

Wishes

And lining them all up

As a simple gift

To the Child of Bethlehem

For the entire world!





















Richard W Smith

November 28, 2010

Path Walking

Path walking
   brief journies
   each day
   along known and
   unknown
    trails
    often leading
    in a circle
    a Pilgrimage
    nontheless.
 Some of the
    journey
    muffled by
     earbuds
Some with
     frivlous chatter
When all along
     wonder
     amazement
     mystery
     adventure
Totally envelope us
     as we jog
               walk
               in fits & starts.

Path walking
 a rehearsal
  for the
  hard reality
   of living,
    an experiment
     in paying attention
     a little while.
Maybe the
  excuse is
   just plain
    exercise
    losing weight
    looking good
    fighting depression.
But the stark
 action
 is facing all creation
 being part of
 "What Is"
Being counted as
 "environment"
Being part of
 "Creation"
Being included in
 "Life."

Path walking
 cutting across
 intersecting
 sliicing through
  boarders
  boundaries
   where living
    life
    energy
      is spinning
          shivering
          shaking
          quaking
  and we are in
   the middle
    of it
     all.
Sometimes
   unaware
occassionally
   reveling
possibly
  thanking
The God deep
  within all that's
   Life!

Richard W Smith
8/18/2010

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent-
all colors!!!
 hyper-energy
 reality painted
 not fast enough
 dabs
 stabs and smudges of
 bright
 colors.

How did you
see Vincent?
Those quick
 impressions
 hitting your
 retina
   splashing
   whirling
   swirling
    blues
    yellows
     alive!!!
     alive!!!
filled with
 energy
 life
 movement
no placid
 reality
no boredom
no routine
but
every day
 novelty
 newness
 resurrected life.

Your view of
reality
biologically
influenced
 like us all
but
an open heart
  waiting
  just waiting
    to be filled
   with the
     mystery
     the wordless
     wonder
      as you try and
       catch a
       fleeting
       glimpse on
       canvass of
         God!

Sometimes I'm Joyful

Sometimes

I'm joyful

I can't explain it

it happens!

I feel like

my insides are

"a flutter." 

Sometimes

I'm down

angry and wanting to

lash out and

"dam" the whole

process of life!

Sometimes

I'm in neutral

unaware of happenings

blaze

going through the motions

looking forward only to a

TV show

Food

a good book

bright photogenic colors

sleep.

Sometimes

I just don't know

I'm stuck

wondering

hoping

disappointed

feeling like a fool

looking back on my lifetime

with regrets

sometimes with delight

most times with

mixed reviews.

October 25, 2010

I Saw An "X"

I saw an   
"X" in the
windy blue
fall sky
 floating by
(the kind made
 by jets)
and it collided
with an
"I"
to make the
letter
"H"
and it spread
wider and wider
covering half
the visible
sky
reminding people
of all sorts of
things in their
lives
past and present
maybe hinting at their futures.
Then as the
"H"
 drifted
it simply
disintegrated
from riding the
 wind
and moving
further & futher
into the distance.