Expression

Ink in a bottle sitting on my desk

Waiting to fill the fountain pen

To overflow the page with words

Eraser set in place

Until the pencil markings

Require a change

Reading glasses perched on my nose

So that the detailed work

Can flow

Paper available

To pens, pencils and markers

The tools may vary but the goal is expression

Wild in the City

Patches of wilderness

Scattered through the city

Keep us in touch with Your earth, Lord

If we are willing to visit it

Textures of tree bark rough to the fingers

With dried grasses crunching underfoot

Scents of growth or decay

Soon after rain

Entangled with the taste of wild food

Whether sweet or sour

Impress the sight even more strongly

As it all layers together

Respect

One part of the group has the money

But the other part of the group is beginning 

To provide personnel

To keep the whole group functioning

And yet a polite lack of respect

Is constant through a subtle

Show of power, control and favouritism

We live it every day

And yet are not supposed to recognize it

Or comment upon it

The desire for control

Is broken at the cross

And shattered at the empty tomb

Yet we are drawn back into it

As the culture around us permeates

What we think and do

But we are called to freedom

Sunset

Pink in the west sky

Turns bare trees to silhouette

As the sun leaves us

Walk The Walk

Winter comes close

As the New Year approaches

Leaving 2015 behind

Knowing we have walked with You, Lord

This past year

Hanging on tight when things got tough

Exuberantly dancing when laughter

Was the gift

Always knowing You are close by in the heart

Looking forward toward Your leading

Knowing security in You

Autumn Cleanup

Raking leaves into

Piles to be carried onto

Growing compost heap

Periwinkle

An unchanging green

Creeping along open ground

Bursts into purple

Your Stories, Lord

Yesterday, Lord, we remembered Your birth

With get togethers, food and gifts

And in the midst of it all

Was the re-enactment of Your coming

A telling in detail the story of Your birth

Did the Sunday school pageant two weeks ago

Tell the story as clearly?

How often do we hear the stories of You

Told clearly?

Or are they read aloud once

With the expectation they'll be caught

Just like that

With no interaction 

With the telling of the story

We have the stained glass windows

That show scenes from Your story

We have the church calendar

That moves us through 

Christmas and Easter each year

But have we become too sophisticated

For our own good?

Do we rely too much on reading

To facilitate the passing on of our stories

Without taking the time to tell them

Embrace them and walk our way through them?

Pursue His Purpose

Presenting the story that unfolded

Under the light of the star

Reveals God's initiative to 

Save people from themselves

Unknown to general comprehension

Eternity entered time as a baby boy

He grew in obscurity

In a country remote from the

Seats of

Power

Under the watchful eyes of 

Roman soldiers keeping the 

Peace in a rough world in

Order that He could

Suffer death in exchange for

Eternal peace for all who will believe in him

Log House

Solid wood built high

Fixed in a permanent wall

As shelter for us

Log House

A log house in the woods

Where the deer and the wild turkeys roam

A place for a heart to settle in peace

While the imagination soars free

Surrounded by the scent of the undergrowth

When walking through the woods

Alive to the possibility of wild flowers in place

While the wild animals wander free

Simplicity

Simplicity gives

Space for ideas to weave

From mind to fingers

And back again

As something beautiful

Is created

Christmas

Christ, the promised one, became a man at

Home on earth as citizen and yet

Refugee for a time to avoid jealousy

In power

Seeking safety 

To grow into

Maturity ready to face his

Assignment of teaching and dying for

Salvation for each who believes in him

Why Poetry?

A simple observation

A single question

Learning to sort it out

One catch in the breath at a time

Solstice Yesterday

My early morning walks

Will soon begin to brighten

As the nights begin to shrink

On their way to summer

Praying

Lord, it was amazing to be with Your people

And be the one to stand up and pray

To gather us together as a group

As we talk with You, Lord

About Your world and Your creatures

To ask for Your love and peace to spread

And fill our lives

And be an influence in this world

Unfocused

Sitting here unfocused again

--Guess what it's Monday

And we had a busy weekend

Rebekah and Jamie came Saturday

On our way to Dad's

For a family Christmas

Then they stayed overnight

With us so we could spend 

Parts of Sunday together

--Breakfast and then late lunch

With us attending three different churches

In between the two

Facing Retirement

Freedom fifty-five was unappreciated

But time continues moment by moment

And suddenly we realize

So much has passed

But a sixtieth birthday approaches

With acceptance that retirement

Could be the next stage

And with that a new vision for life in this moment

One

God in three persons

Yet there is one God

Church in millions of people

Yet only one church truly exists

Now and always

The mind tries to understand

To organize

To visualize

Yet it is perhaps best to simply accept

There is one

Then we can work towards

Practical implications of living as one

Throughout history there have been many

Attempts to live as one

And yet each generation grapples anew

With the concept of one

Beginner

In this day and age

Perfection is the goal

Forgetting we need space to develop our talents

We aim to compete with the work of master craftsmen

But the beginner

Is allowed to simply be that

Begin at the first level

Then keep working 

Through to a comprehensive ability

One that quietly draws notice

For a combination of technical skill and artistic vision 

December

Day after green day is passing

Even as December is more than half gone

Christmas will soon be surpassing

Even as autumn remains in effect

Memories of winter amassing

Bare trees covered in snow

Elegant homes for squirrels bypassing 

Requirements of local builders 

My Books

Solomon once said

"Of making books there is no end."*

And now today

I am adding to that endless mountain

Books of my own design

Even as my heart flutters in excitement

The movement is towards books

With my name on them

*Ecclesiastes 12:12

More Tea

It seems I write often of tea

Perhaps because it brings a pause

To my life, to my thoughts

Allowing me a time to refresh

Before whatever life brings next

Manuscript

Memories in bite size chunks

Arranged for reading on

Numbered pages

Under the watchful eyes of me

Susan's poems

Combined with EhLu's illustrations

Reveal

Ideas and actions of life

Perceived, understood

Today

Shiver

Saturday awoke with a shiver as

Home felt abandoned by heat and

Invaded by cold

Very thankful for portable heaters and

Electricity to provide relief until the

Repairman arrives to fix the furnace

Coffee

"A toonie for a coffee?"

But the stranger shook her head

And walked passed into the coffee shop for tea

But later--when her tea was packed

In her backpack to go

The shake of the head was replaced by

"What do you take in your coffee?"

And hands warming with a large double double

Joy Now

Step by light step we walk with You

But the imagination dances far ahead

With such a pirouette that it can

Carry us away

But You keep us firmly planted

When we live life now

In this moment

Grounded yet filled with a dancing joy

God Keeps His Promises

Going into Your Word, Lord

Opens other lives to my view

Dipping deep into stories brings

Knowledge to 

Explain

Experience as I walk with You

Past lives open up ways to 

See this world, to interact with

Hope

In a fresh and

Serious way as I

Proceed

Relentlessly forward into the love

Of God: the promise keeping God

Making mercy and grace key elements

Influencing my life

Seasonally and daily

Energizing my attitude as I 

Strive to lift You up for the world to see

Choices

The path before me

Divides with freedom to move

And the dance begins

Choices Begin for Retirement

Andrew is moving toward

Retirement

It has been almost a full five years

Since Freedom 55

Now he is ready

And as he moves toward

Embracing freedom

Perhaps

I will become a pastor

Here in London

Choices Begin for a Book

I began to sort through my poems yesterday

To move toward publishing a book of poetry

From 300 poems I chose 108

Amazing to realize it can become reality

Morning Walk

A silent walk disturbed only by rabbits

Scurrying away to avoid detection

By the people walking up a country road

As the sunrise approaches

Quietly

Ontario Breakfast Tea

Rebekah found it in British Columbia

And mailed it to me

The simple description sounded like something

Mom would like to drink

And so it was mailed to Ontario as a gift

For the tea drinker

Ontario Breakfast tea being drank

In Ontario for breakfast

Ahhhh

Deliciousness 

A Community

A walk to the store to refresh the body with food

A walk to the library to explore ideas

A walk to church to meet together in worship

A simple way to keep community connected--

Just live within a short walk of life

Photographs

A memory recorded by cameras

As two were married

And now the arranging of photos

Into books to keep the remembrance fresh

Sunset

Walking home last night

The road traveled west

Suddenly the sun changed everything

As the pink-orange circle lowered dramatically 

Behind the simple houses of east London

Lighting the sky above intensely

And then

It was gone

Propitiation

You, Lord, became a person

To grow as we do

To be hurt as we are

To love as we can

To die as we will

To rise again so death will

No longer be permanent for us

And so the story is told

Of You in Bethlehem with Your parents

Visited by shepherds and wise men

The story that gets lost in the anxiety

Of gifts and parties and general busyness 

Yet it is so simple

You became human

And dwelt among us

Until You died for crimes

That we commit

So death couldn't keep You down

Christmas and Easter

Are the two ends of the whole

That makes us whole

When we believe in You, Lord

Monday

The introvert and the busy weekend

Requires a Monday that's quiet

Perhaps

A lazy morning after breakfast

And an afternoon editing a manuscript

--Just thinking of it brings

Peace 

Stained Glass at Church

Coloured glass cut to 

Catch the sun to glow stories

About Jesus' life

Arranged in windows

Presented as simple scenes

That radiate truth

Contemplate events

Narratives of a growing

Faith of redemption

Forgiveness leads to 

Freedom to live outside hate

With simplicity

The Warrior Woman

The woman as warrior

Was simply a legend in this culture

We heard of Joan of Arc in history class

A simple blip on the timeline of history

That was not repeated for centuries

We heard of Mulan in fairytales

Saving China

We heard of Wonder Woman in comic books

Saving the United States

But now women are soldiers

Living and dying in war zones

And yet the picture is still alien

To our stereotypes of women

Called to be the beauty

Who nurtures all

With the stamina of a work horse

Light

When evil is discovered

The response is often overdone

Everyone must fall in line with a new reality

Even if the good is destroyed in the process

Why?

Laziness? Emotional over reaction? Hatred?

But we are called to love

Each morning we awake we are called to love

Lord, You are light and You are love

And in You no darkness is found

You have called us into the light of You

To be light in this world

But hatred extinguishes that light when it can

And yet Your light will always come back

Growing as it moves in us

Photos

A moment captured

Expressions lighting the face

My heart leaps anew

Learning Tools

For learning there are both

Books and videos available

In today's world

Each attracts different students

Andrew and I both like to learn new things

He is drawn to videos that show how

To do what he wants to do

While I'm drawn to books that can

Progress slowly or quickly

Depending on how much I already know

Moving pictures or pages with words

Different styles to the same end

Learning something new

As a way of life

The Helper

God is the helper

Woman is the helper

Somehow the treatment

Has been vastly different

Throughout history

What are we missing in this term?

To treat God as the inferior

Breaks relationship with God

To treat woman as the inferior

Creates much of the pain of history

Yet people quickly realized anyone can be

The helper

And so slavery has long existed

But God is my helper

And he is neither my inferior

Nor my servant/slave

The helper is simply one who

Works with us in partnership

Leaving us working as a team

Moving Toward Poetry

Book two is on the horizon

But soon it will be close

Enough to work with

Close enough to choose

What it will contain

Six months of writing

Provides movement for choice

The Rewrite Continues

Writing fiction and yet trying to keep

Reality in mind

With made up characters

In a made up story

In a real location

Does keep the balance between

Fiction and reality interesting

The Painting

An autumn scene

Painted in oils by Grandma

Many years ago

Propped on the window sill

As encouragement to creativity

My Walk

Standing by the road

Watching me as I pass by

Calm and peaceful

Yet fully aware of my presence

The deer have become climatized

To me and to Andrew

There are no high fences between us

Yet they stay and graze

While they keep an eye on us

As we walk by

It has taken five months

Of almost daily early morning walks

Up my hill in the country

To reach this point

A city girl on a country walk

Amazed

Rewriting

Questions to ponder

While rewriting a story

To make the flow smooth

Bottle of Ink

Intense liquid words

Kept safe in a bottle

Ready for paper