Poem: Not Quite the Good Samaritan

Oh, what a jumbled bag am I
Indeed, and what a growing list
Of contradictions. Yes, I lie
A free man having sorely missed
The purposed point of his free living.
(‘Tis truly not the game of fakes.)
For men find pardon in forgiving
A fool whose faint heart only takes.

The pitied plight of this mistaken
Man yet yields his Truth unshaken:
Though jumbled in a bag, at rest;
Though listed and unchosen, best.

Written 3-11-08
Whittier, CA

Poem: Unintended Inspiration

Nobody knew
Such a chewy haiku
Would have nothing to do
With the dawn

When we read it instead
With the thought in our heads
That the sun was not dead
Or long gone.

Written 5-16-08
Whittier, CA

Time of Your Life: Green Day Rewritten

Flew down to Tulum, Mexico, for my sister-in-law's wedding last week. It's a little bit south of Cancun, and Rebecca and I stayed at a hotel on the beach with her family for nearly a week. Turned out to be a huge dose of perspective for me about what truly matters in life. As Ecclesiastes puts it (kind of): know God and enjoy life. Such a breath of fresh air for me during the heaviest crunch of the semester.

The wedding, of course, was beautiful, as were the newlyweds. A couple nights before the ceremony, I was thinking about the couple getting married, trying to appreciate the significance of their event and the surrounding circumstances. I decided to rewrite the words of an old Green Day acoustic number from my high school years into a recap of their story and a look ahead into a bright future of marriage. I had my guitar with me, so I sang this at their reception:

"Todd and Rachelle"
(to the tune of "Good Riddance" by Green Day)

Verse 1:
Todd and Rachelle, you fit so well, two of a kind
An easy laugh, an honest heart, an open mind
This perfect promise you just made in Mexico
Just let it guide you and don't ever let it go

Chorus 1:
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
You know you'll have the time of your life

Verse 2:
Do you remember when you met that day at sea?
It's no surprise those butterflies were meant to be
But did you expect that you would find on that cruise
Not just a lover but a friend you'll never lose?

Chorus 2:
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
You know you'll have the time of your life

(Guitar solo)

Chorus 3:
It's something unpredictable, and there's no end in sight
You know you'll have the time of your life

Chorus 4:
It's something unpredictable, don't be afraid to cry
Just know you'll have the time of your life

Written 5-2-08
Tulum, Mexico

Poem: To Hell and Back in an Evening over Macaroni and Cheese

No, not much approaches the joy
Of a well-made box, cooked an additional minute
With perhaps an extra quarter-stick stirred in.

And then to sit with the steam and savor
Its creamy simplicity, cut, of course, with a barley brew
Whose sharp bubbles serve well the inner child

In assertion of age, sufficiently advanced,
And of autonomous manhood, mustered and wrought
In stubble and plenty of well-worked years.

Musing, I convince myself against the idea
That my non-alcoholic has been emasculated, one often claimed
In the jeers and smirks of those thinking themselves somehow freer.

Only freer to stumble and speak stupidly, I contend.
Alone with my macaroni, it's somehow gratifying to grumble
Against something. A mere effort in avoidance? Could be...

Could be

Because it remains in the room
Beneath bowl, bottle, and alcoholic ambivalence
The same still question constantly imposed by the void.

Driving me to madness, around and around
Like ceaseless rats on rusty wheels, this bloodshot search
Silently steals my sight and sound balance.

No, it doesn't end, though summer come
Though seasons spend and speed me toward my final day
The question remains a threatening doom.

But tonight I hide in the safety of a childhood meal
A soft blanket in the bleak, and my drink, a cane, props me up
To walk another week or year. To reach...

O, to reach

This right arm towards heaven, in hopes
Of more than answers, more than issuance of manhood or destination
More than mere relief of worldly burden

But to find strength and be strengthened
To find freedom and completion and power in release of these commodities
To find the Lord at His table, to recline and to feast

And to behold what wondrous clarity spoke
The light into day, the breath into Adam, the answer into the depths
Of the void and the very soul of Satan, still beloved of God.

And to find compassion for that vicious asker
The one who would offer only death in rhetorical response
The one who so inadvertently shows even the lowliest soul not beyond the reach of love.

So now, in victory, I head to reheat the rest and open another;
For it seems the journey of this evening has again lightened and returned me
To simple and sufficient boyhood joys, such as those of macaroni and a tasty import.

Written 5-7-08
Whittier, CA

Poem: The Brimming Sunset

The brimming sunset
Seen from above
The cloudy blanket
Is boldly painted
And daintily brushed
Fluffed and crystallized
Within this airplane
Window of pink.

It does its thing
Day out, day in
While we do ours
Hour upon hour until
We happen to fly

Freely we buy cages
Wait for ages
Make like birds
And then return
To the feathery nest
Where sometimes
We are taken in
By the sunset
As it brims

Written 5-5-08
Onboard an AeroMexico flight home to LAX from Cancun