Poems

Willow shire

Weeping willow beside the river
Bowed down and thick trunked
Seasons flowing past
But steady you stay baring the memories
For the rest



Sitting Together

Mama you forgot we have to do the
sitting down close our eyes thing
Oh, you remembered, you want to Ok
Sit crisscross apple sauce
Rest your hands on your knees close your eyes
Think one happy word and say it inside your head
Breathe in – breathe deeply so they hear me –
I listen for their echoed inhale
Exhale loudly now do it again
again
again
again – giggles breath giggles are we done
Yes, I come back to them and they to me

More photos

It may just be me, but can anyone else see/find the face in the tree? ALT, I just had to post my hat pic once I saw yours.

Random Photos

The top two photos are of Garner State Park (a really great park to take the family to).

The mid-three photos are taken at a fellow parishener's ranch in Sisterdale.

The bottom two photos are of Lola and Blue - the family's hermit crabs curtesy of ALT.

Poem

Listen, listen, little heart
Take thine eyes and ears
into the great wide dark
Listen, listen, little heart

On My Mind

I decided that I wanted to post some of what I've read today:

In an email from Intergity which was sent me (Also see Intergity's blog: Walking With Integrity - The official blog of Integrity USA):
Friday, May 4, 2007
Nigerian Primate responds to letter from Presiding Bishop By StaffEpiscopal News Service
May 03, 2007

Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola has responded publicly to an April 30 emailed letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, asking him to reconsider plans to install Nigerian Bishop Martyn Minns as head of the Nigerian-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).

The installation service is set for May 5 at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, a nondenominational Christian event center in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Jefferts Schori said the installation "would violate the ancient customs of the church" and would "not help the efforts of reconciliation." Such action, she said, "would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ.

Click here to read the full ENS article.

Click here to read Archbishop Akinola's entire letter.

Then while at the Thinking Anglicans website I read the lead article and the following link
(Anything But Straight: Nigeria’s Frequent Flyer):
Anything But Straight: Nigeria’s Frequent Flyer
By Wayne Besen
Thursday, 03 May 2007

Snip: According to international election monitors, the April 21 vote in favor of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua was rigged, threatening the very freedom and stability of this oil-rich, but corrupt nation. Braving threats of a brutal governmental crackdown, thousands of courageous Nigerians took to the streets on May Day to protest the political charade that passes for political liberty.

Clearly, these demonstrators could benefit if they stood side-by-side with a moral leader who demanded an end to corruption and called for new elections. Such a man would be regarded as a true national hero who could lead Nigeria from a kleptocracy to genuine democracy.

Anglican Archbishop Peter J Akinola is perfectly situated to step in and fill this role. Not only is he a local powerbroker, he is also the leader of the largest province in the worldwide Anglican Church. This offers Akinola a unique international platform to draw attention to the electoral sabotage that is ripping apart the very soul of Nigeria.

But, instead of staying in Nigeria this week to bring his convulsing country together, he is flying to the comfy confines of Virginia to tear the Anglican Church apart. While his country is on the verge of a Constitutional conflagration, the Nigerian archbishop is burning with rage because in 2003 the Episcopal Church installed openly gay V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

Just something to think about.

Poetry Today

My wife got me a miniture rock garden as a gift
It sits perfectly still on my desk
Neatly raked everything in its place
Three stones three models (cottage cottage swan)
Two trinities
Equally spaced perportional grace
Swan fallen awaiting its arising


Questions of place and space and my place within the space
Questions of grace within divine conversation of late
Questions to grapple and wrapple and untangle within inner sactum

Internalized treasure chests lay claim to anwsers yet unvocalized
Open me open me open me you see
Ah yes maybe no what if what if not oh so oh bother

What kind of risk taker am I
Well that depends on whether you ask the mother or the other idealist inside
What balance what risk what compromise

Gifts upon gifts and life experience
Heavy from the holding in
But for the grace of God where go I

Update

The family is pretty excited about going camping this weekend. It’s our first camping trip of the summer. I just checked the weather for the weekend and it’s a lookin’ good!

I need to check my camera batteries before we leave – I think the power supply is going. If that’s the case, the camera probably won’t even be worth keeping. What really stinks is that the camera is only a few years old and only moderate use.

In Sunday school we’ve been discussing what the Book of Revelations is and isn’t. The book that goes with the class provides a really nice overview about what it means to read Rev. as a road-map, myth, or historical-critical. It’s been nice having my paradigm shift. It’s no longer this going to hell scripture but a “wake up” call to what being Christian means.