Monkey bars and why I won't succumb

Remember the monkey bars?
I do.
I was tiny, short, shimmying up the pole
just to reach the first rung
I'd swing maybe two more before my palms
got sore, then I'd swing up and hang or fall
I would succumb.

Fatally overwhelmed by the ache of reaching
for the next bar, it's rough iron crust
too much for my tiny hands. My goal  felt forever,
impossible and possibly not
worth the ache, the blisters. I would try,
try some more, but truth is I was never willing
to hurt to get to the other side.

The palms of our souls blister too.
We find ourselves dangling from the rung, hurting
so we succumb. We hang around gripping something
that was meant only to be swung from to get to the next bar.
We weigh the pain but don't count the cost of letting go.

Lord, don't let me succumb. When another rung seems too far
for my short and aching arms please send a good wind, a good friend
show me the balm for the blistered parts sitting at the end.
Help me cross the monkey bars. Help me conquer this playground
of do and don't. There are those that don't let go, they are on
the other side of the monkey bars, where I would like to be.

a quick poem about the lake

Midnight on the Lake

When was the last time you sat alone at the edge of midnight waters 

Bare shoulders seduced by come-on winds? 

When was the last time you listened to the quiet smacking of 

the lakes satisfied lips lapping up droplets of milky moonlight? 

O the last time you sat still, alone enough to 

hear the fidgeting of nature's minutiae? 

Don't forget that midnight gives the most tender kisses 

Don't forget the perfume of the stars 

The way tall scruffy pines sweep the pale edges of the sky

whispering in their husky voices, "stay, stay".

Autumn sun

Autumn covers me like soft clean sheets The ones my grandmother would snap over Me at night as the lightening bugs dimmed, pink ones with white stripes Perfumed with lilac and moth balls a nubby chenille blanket stretched over me like white fondant Autumn blows in like that, like the snap of fresh sheets That land softly on sunkissed skin

Where fore art thou fall?

Summer has become possessive and pimp like Unkind, abusive, never really gone There is no amount of coolness that will get rid of him All my pride, dignity, goodness have been worn down by his scorching hold I'm like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman Waiting on my Richard Gere, and it's you Fall. Where are you? Because My feet are tired of This Sunset Boulevard, this day in and day out hot. Breeze through like you do Drive up in your fancy colored leaves Stop for me so I can smell your smokey cologne. Cover me up and make me a respectable woman. You might be the third season for me But your the truest one, the kindest one The only one I'll kiss on the lips, all any other Season does is take something from me You, Fall, give and give. That's what makes me fall for you every time.

This is it. Tear down the towers

I'm the sorry architect of towers
Tall obelisk of deeds
Stacked toward heaven

I'm the high priest of bright flames
And spotted calves
A self-satisfied incense my praise

Tear down the towers.
Remove the alters and high places
Bow low and know
There is no good, no justice
Wrenched from your own blood.

Lay at the alter of His feet
Offer up your hopes
Your dreams, your expectations
Watch His fiery embrace refine
Watch the temporal flesh of your desires
Liquify, turn to precious metal

I'm the sorry architect of towers
High priest of bright, empty flames
Bowing low I know He hears my prayers.

Watch me jive, turkey!

Time is double edged
Finite and infinite
It heaves the living dust
Of life into it's circular spin
Like a hay baler

"Umph! She's in! Watch her
Dance, watch her spin!"

I'm stuck in an eternal
Square dance, Time calling the steps.

I circled round, I Followed
Time, dancing behind like a conga line

Time laughed at my clumsy feet
My vain attempts to repeat

I danced to disco, rock
I Rodger Rabbited, did the robot
Moonwalk, sprinkler, jitterbug
Bopped my head to the raps of thugs

I danced all the dances
Time taught me, danced like a fool
And clumsily spun around in time's typhoon

Uh-uh! Not now!
Watch this jive, turkey!

I move to spite your beat
I dance with two left feet
Anything to teach that square dancing Time
That the dance I dance is all mine.

Watch me jive, turkey!
Watch me jive!

Your stop watch beat leaves no room for grace
My dance card's full
So tick away Time, tick away.

1 of 3, poem from mom

You have to know her to know how funny this is but not to know how sweet it was :)

I tried to read a blog, I did
Hard for a person like me
All but 25 posts are hid
And what is this "feed" I see?
 
Is this a code for people your age
It seems confusing for your Mother
Is this just Yet one more stage
For a daughter and a Mom, oh brother!
 
I sit and laugh, it's late tonight
I tried to get up to speed
Wanted to leave a post to your sight
But how the he_ _ do I accompish that deed.
 
It's way over my head, I say
But it really doesn't matter at  all
Here it is, your final day 
A blog, you made it, you did not fall.
 
Well done on meeting this, your goal
It took a year, but you came so far
Every poem was a part of your soul
I give to you, another gold star.
 
Congratulations, I'm proud of you
But could you do me favor
Next time you write a blog, please do
Send me instructions, so I can savor
 
The works of the author, my princess.
 
I love you and am proud of you.
You did it; but I never doubted that you would.
MOM