Joy: The Anecdote For The Blues

two bikes in charleston

Joy: The Anecdote For The Blues

This thing called joy
Scarce commodity, some of these days
Other days more plentiful than tree frogs
After the summer downpour
Singing their hight-pitched song
Harmonizing
All wet, wild and wonky
While the steam rises from the pavement

Perhaps we learn best when we go
Creeping through life
That joy is a by-product of slow walking
Slow talking
Pedaling places and savoring sentences
Scavenging for joy
In a world full of pain
Seeking beauty in the slower pace
Downshifting to meander
Instead of full throttle

Slow is a multiplier of joy
Some days
Quencher of thirst
Chaser of dark shadows and bad news
And evil doers
And what lurks underneath the bed

But joy fills in the cracks
Calks the gaping black hole places
Where the dull and dark
Need light and love

I know a story or two
About sadness and pain
You do too
I re-tell them, wear them out
On rewind

But I know some stories of miracle
And surprise
Of overflowing joy explosions
Like a whole box of Hot Tamales
At a buck a box
Poured into your mouth, in the best
Movie you ever have seen

I think if we spill it
Like sticky Coke on that movie floor
The sweet joy might
Just grab on to someone else

Lord knows the pain is deep

So spill that uncontainable joy
Share your news of good, great and excellent
The by-products of your prayer
The miracles in your life
Whisper it in humility
Or shout it shrill, roller-coaster ride loud
Hollering at the top of your lungs

Cause Lord knows we need
To wash that pain away
Like an ice cold sweet tea washes down
BBQ smothered in liquid heat

Wash me in your joy
Spill it out on me
And catch the happy tears I weep

Tomorrow may bring
A new flavor of pain
Share in my joy and I’ll share in yours
Remind me when the ebony clouds roll in
That Joy will come
In the morning, or the day after
Tomorrow’s morning
Remind me, soul
And re-tell the good, good news
You just lived

Joy is the anecdote
For the blues

Color me
In every shade
Of joy

joy boat leland

 

 

 

++++++++++++

joining Lyli and Jennifer

It Turns Out – A Children’s Story For Grown-Ups

wpid-IMG_20140114_174844.jpg

It Turns Out – A Children’s Story For Grown-Ups

It turns out
The shallow end
Is where the mud puddles are
And snakes creep
Each step taking her ankle-deep
In pluff mud and oyster shells
Razor blade sharp
Leaving her both bloodied
And muddied
A yucky combination
Of grime and blood and more
If she were a hippo
Grand and glorious it might be
Or even a alligator stalking his prey
Instead, she is a soul in need of a Savior
Sinking further and further
Up to her neck in muck
Paralyzed in wet, brown, slick
Ick
Like a child stuck in fear
Mud baths are for pigs
Not for grown ups
Alone and afraid

It turns out
The deep end is where life is
Best lived
In the waters far from shore
Waters cool, crisp like
Green apples, mountain grown
Bittersweet,
The waters run
And she should too
She was made for deep places
Never found the shallow
Had much to offer her
In life, in faith, in love

Equipped, she is
Created for diving off the end
The high dive made for the Bravest of souls
Into the dark cool, water
She shall dive
Freedom replaces fear, there
In love
Ocean of grace
Wait for her

And it turns out
The edge of the dark
Is the edge of the light
Thin veil of faith
Separates the two
She, quick to forget
Quick to unlearn
Sinking, not swimming
Setting for muck
Instead of a cleansing bath in
Warm Mercy waters, lapping her soul
With salted grace

It turns out
She would need reminding
Again and again
Child-like faith
Bold and brave
Seemed out of reach
Hers prone to
Sinking at the first big wave

It turns out
He knew this about
Her all along
And loved her anyway
And saved her anyway
And chose her anyway
And redeemed her anyway
It turns out

This is not the end.

wpid-storageemulated0DCIMCamera2014-04-28-11.20.30.png.png

Still Here

wpid-storageemulated0DCIMCamera2014-04-26-17.19.58.png.png

 

Still Here

Cut grass, sweet and fragrant
Spring’s trademark
You could bottle the stuff, sell it
At Neiman Marcus
It punctuates my days
From sunup to sundown
Like the lady with the beehive on the elevator
Heavy handed with her perfume
In an effort to try hard, too hard
To cover her transgressions
Sweet smell of store bought grace

Smells like childhood and memory
Out there
Skint knees and day-light savings time
And those pint sized 747’s  go from here to there
You could set your clock by their work
Pollinating and cross-pollinating
So focused on their work
They produce guilt
In the poet
They, single-minded  and task oriented
The artist, wavering and wondering

And I am still here
Left in the wake of new beginnings
Wallflower, wondering
Why poetry dried up
A heart mining deep
Caught in transit are the words

I come to a ghost white page

Blinking cursor like an old school marm
Tapping her impatient brograns
Where are the words you claim you
Bought and paid for with your living

Where is the poetry
Saved up
On the floor of the mason jar
Like lightening bugs
Gasping for air

Still here
Polishing, pruning
Mining the story
And praying hard

The words don’t return to ash
And dust
For lack of air

Breathing deep
Still
And restless
Poet warrior
Her pen, her weapon

Seeking peace
And moving the sprinkler
To water the words

Celebrating
Poetry Month
In the still quiet
Of irony and longing

wpid-storageemulated0DCIMCamera2014-04-28-11.20.30.png.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joining Laura Boggess for Playdates at The Wellspring

Portraiture: Seasons

 

poem-a-day-dare-tweetspeakPortraiture: Seasons

Portrait of a poet
In charcoal unframed, Spring brought
Oils in tangerine

         ++++

Palette of flesh tones
Tan as brown sugar, sweet one
Summer warms our skin

         +++++

Orange flame burns down
Day, a torch lit long steals night
Fireflies bear light