We were trying so hard

Therefore, every help to salvation bestowed upon believers, and blessedness itself, are entirely the gift of God, and yet in both the Lord testifies that he takes account of works, since to manifest the greatness of his love toward us, he thus highly honors not ourselves only, but the gifts, which he has bestowed upon us.
– John Calvin

Pictures piled from the pre-digital dump
ten moments within the same 30 seconds of opening a plastic toy, itself long missing
hoping to commemorate the milestone we’d arrived at – the eighth, or the nineth,
for the younger, or older boy? All forgotten.

No picture as good as what we can do with a smartphone now,
much less with the Canon EOS, even though it’s ten years old
and I never did get the lens I wanted.

The boys posing; my clicking on the right moment –
We were trying so hard. I think I’m getting wiser
but it’s just the fire dying – less fuel for the drive,
since I know now I’ll never succeed in so many things.

The things our parents wanted, what our church
wanted us to be, all the striving. All the wasted time.

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If the Medium is the Message

We might ask ourselves
why we’re so eager to let
machines speak for us.

My fear is not losing my job
my fear is having to wade through
more spam job listings, spam
results when I need to replace
a water filter but don’t know how.

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Signed Broadsheet “The Dream of a House” Reynolds Price

We’ve been working for the past two years moving, fixing up a house, selling a house, buying a house, painting a house, moving into a house, decluttering the results. So this poem by Reynolds Price, “The Dream of a House” had been much on my mind of late. It was part of the inspiration for an effort of my own.

I was simply looking for the text of the poem online (I have it in a hardbound copy of Price’s Collected Poems, but I was too lazy to get up) when I found a signed broadsheet copy for sale for $45 online (the framing at Michael’s cost more than this).

I feel fortunate to have it. It’s temporarily on an easel, but once I’m sure of the spot it will likely get hung on a wall in my reading room (where it currently sits on a bookshelf).

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Used Book Arrival: Blessings in Disguise

I mentioned in a recent post about David Clewell that I had been reluctant in my younger years to buy and collect poetry books. I wanted to buy something that had the poem We Never Close in it, so I found this book available used on Amazon (and in no other form – no Kindle, certainly not new).

I mentioned that I wanted to buy something that contained We Never Close. It took a bit of a leap of faith, because this book didn’t have a table of contents online. Still, just look at that cover. There’s got to be a poem about a diner in there somewhere, right? I also hedged my bets by finding a collection that came out after his poem was published first in the Georgia Review (1989). And sure enough, the poem was in it.

Continue reading “Used Book Arrival: Blessings in Disguise” →
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Bedeviled

I read a book on spiritual discipline
sitting in the cigar store
but I didn’t inhale.

Going home the pleasing aroma
was a whiff of tomorrow’s day-old
sacrificial stench. I showered,

practiced a song about
relationships that need to end,
proud of hitting the right strings,

Continue reading “Bedeviled” →
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Celebrity

For J.H.

But you’re the diffident one
who has trouble looking me in the eye
and we sit out back of my house
you smoke and get your throat down a half-step
(use a capo; you’ll live longer I joke)
and you go out there night after night on the road.

I slip a hundred dollar bill in your case when you’re not looking
And wish I had made more of myself.

5

Confirmation

I baptized men all day, my
limbs tiring, shivering with cold.
Toward evening the teachers appeared,
seeking baptism.

Absolution, not repentance.
Or just to laugh at me – my
sight does not extend to hearts.

I had a vision of snakes in my river,
blood and dirt in the water,
never clearing, God striking me. I said:

Continue reading “Confirmation” →
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Pantoum: Taking Leave by Slack

for T.S.

I really want to keep in touch with you.
Congratulations on your new role.
Let me know your personal address.
Your contributions did not go unnoticed.

Congratulations on your new role.
The time you brought in the big hitters,
your contribution did not go unnoticed.
I liked how we seemed like a team.

The time you brought in the big hitters,
we brought in food and they observed
how we seemed like a team.
You said to say “yes and”, not “yes but”

Continue reading “Pantoum: Taking Leave by Slack” →
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