Heaven in Our Backyard

Let's Take Back the Holiday (For Kelly - Nov. 2006)

Let’s Take Back the Holiday
(for Kelly – November 2006)

You can get upset
with the marketing
that takes place
and try to ignore
the messaging
designed to make
you spend

But beneath it all
are briskly beautiful days
with sparkling cold
snow and ice

And heartfelt greetings
from the people
you are meeting
as they all
hustle and bustle
through the holiday season

Look past
the retail displays
that started hawking
the holiday season
the day after Halloween

Ignore the
mandatory
shopping days
and the gifts
you are told
you “must have”

Shut off the media
which always ruins
what’s important to us
by trying to turn
everything
into “events”

and make it a
happy…
warm…
magnificently reflective
holiday

Celebrate
a wonderfully cold
time of year
that makes the
strolls in the snow
more purposeful
The warm drinks
more pleasurable
And fires
capable of igniting
a passion worthy of
the North Pole

And in the process
It may make
the music more
enjoyable
and the tree
and the manger
- or the Minora –
more meaningful

Snow Day (Dec. 16, 2005)

Snow Day (Dec. 16, 2005)

The morning sun
makes the frost
which borders my bedroom window
glisten
The branches on the trees
are covered with snow
I can only assume
as I lie on my bed
and gaze out the window
that there must be a foot of snow
on the ground outside

When you were a kid
didn’t you just want to
jump out of your skin
to get outside
and play in the snow?
to be I the snow?
To watch your breath
dance from your mouth
while you created snow sculptures
or just ran and fell
into the snow
with your friends?

There were not 150 channels on television
or DVD players (or VCRs yet for that matter)
to capture and babysit
your mind
holding it hostage on a snowy day
There was no video games
or the internet
calling us
tempting us
To keep us from running outside

It was just us
and the snow
and it was cold
and it was wet
and it was fun

Now, though,
my thoughts of snow activities
are dominated by shoveling the driveway
and scraping the snow and ice off the cars

But I still enjoy…
I will always enjoy…
a good walk
in the snow

Snow Kids

Jesus (November 2006)

Jesus never preached
to grand constructions
of brick and mortar
filled with goblets of gold
Jesus preached
to the people

I heard in a song once
I think it was by Stephen Stills
that said Jesus Christ was the first
non-violent revolutionary

He’d probably like that

Remove all the pomp
and the ceremony
which the church spends your money on
and you have
Jesus
the teacher

Jesus spoke of peace
and stood up to tyranny
(before tyranny became a staple
of the catholic church)

Jesus spoke of
brotherhood
and of living life
in a more loving way
For that
they hammered nails
through his hands
and feet
onto a cross
on a hill
to die

Jesus left us
a simple model
to live by
to be better people
Learn simple lessons
live simple lessons
live in peace

Before he died
he asked
of his god
“why have you forsaken me?”

If he lived today
(although in many ways he does)
he would ask that
of the church

NOTE: You can find Jesus everywhere – especially in the actions and the words of others…
In 1968 (a long time ago)
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver
Said,
“You are either
part of the solution
or you are
part of the problem”
An even longer time ago
Jesus said
The same thing…

Dakota

People gather at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, NYC, each December 8 to pay tribute to John Lennon. In the background is the Dakota Apartment, where Lennon lived with Yoko and Sean.

Strawberry Fields (Dec. 8, 2002)

Strawberry Fields


Strawberry Fields
forever
on Dec. 8
Central Park West
people gathering –
all ages, all shapes, all colors –
singing songs
many still ring fresh
more than 20 years
after five bullets
ripped through the flesh and bones
of a spirit we still hold high

“Happy Xmas (War is Over)”
“Give Peace a Chance”
“Imagine –
all the people
living life in peace”
the songs he left
still relevant themes
and not easily dismissed
in a time when many think artists and performers
should leave their voices
at the door

so hundreds of people gather and sing
they know all the parts
not a voice out of place
on this chilly afternoon
but the Dakota apartment building
sitting majestically
in the background
is a sad reminder
that one voice
is still missing

Imagine

Lennon Tribute at Strawberry Fields (Dec. 8, 2002)