Categories
2024 2024 American Place Songs

The River and The Road

Standing on the precipice
I turn to face The Road
The River rides beside me
Quenches our thirst as we flow
On down into The Valley where the darkness tends to stay
But don’t be afraid dear, we’ll find our way back home

We’ll find our way. We’ll find our way.

Up to The Mountain
Where we see everything
Those who would stop us
And those who would Sing
For this Freedom that we’ve found here
Near The River, on The Road.

Coming down The Mountain
Back to The River we must go
For where The Road can’t take me
The River always seems to know.
As we freeze past cold shadows
To find The Sun rise with The Dawn
We’ll make our way back…home.

To The Mountain
Where we see everything
Where Nothing ever stops us
And we are Free to Sing
From the Top of The Mountain to The Valley far below
To The Road of Wandering

Where we must all Go!

(with Jimmy Stewart)

Categories
2024 American Place Breaking Muse Oklahoma Poems Why

(________________) for Louisa

The sounds we make
when we are truly
Upset or startled
Are strange indeed.

Not strong
or fierce!
More like a
Whine or a whir…

When I’m startled
It’s a high pitched
Eeeeeeeee!

Or if I’m having a nightmare
AaaahhhAeeha

Or when I’m confronted
Whua!

We don’t have words for them.
I can’t just tell you
On paper, how the sound
Is to be delivered.

I cannot tell you what it
Sounded like when I heard
The news of your death…
For these is no word for:
Tear your hair out
Pound your chest red
Cry til your eyes are dry
and sparkling with salt
There is no word for
(________________)

Categories
2024 Albuquerque American Place

Commencement

So, It Begins!
So, You Commence
— A Life
of your making —
— Decisions of your choosing —

The long hike
to the summit
So, that you may stand
and see the vistas
of your Independence!

Remember,
that even when we
are not walking with you…

May we be
the shoes that support you
may we comfort your steps
and offer solid footing

May we be
the staff
that guides you,
carries the burden,
offers a moment of rest
among steep grounds

May we be
your basecamp
where you re-supply
and sleep before
the next ascension

No matter
where you tread
In Body
Mind and
Spirit
We are with You
Beaming with Pride
and Hopeful
For the Man
That you have
Become!

Categories
2024 Albuquerque American Place New Mexico Poems Poems of a Nature

Slow and Steady

The Snow
Falling through
The Air
Low Clouds hanging near

Warmer here
Than when the wind howls
Across a stark Blue Sky

Calm out here
On The Trail
Revealed Only by the
Footprints
Running ahead of me
Fading
Eventually
By the new Falling
Snow
Easy to lose your way
When a white blanket
Softens every inch
Of The Foothills

Acuity Clear
As the miles
Cure Anxieties
Of a week hard trodden
No truer sense of Purpose
Than keeping one foot
Steady in front of
The Other.