The Christmas Program

Gobble down dinner
Have to shower and
Prepare for departure
The return to the
Strangely unfamiliar
Classrooms of evening
Where wire-hanger
Wings and halos
Are fashioned
With tinsel and care
And Middle Eastern
Ensembles designed
Using all available
Pile-filled towels and
Faded sheets
Where dyed cotton balls
Become woolly beards,
Doll babies that cried
And peed become
Substitutes for a Savior

And we sing
Our hearts out
In fear of Mrs. North's
Constant companion,
The busy ruler
Quick to thwack
Inattentive boys and girls
With a focusing rap
On the tentative hands or
Dancing legs
Offered up for
Reluctant communion
With the corrective
Twelve inches

We sing,
Angels we have heard
On high,
Sweetly singing
O'er the plains
And the answer
In reply...
Glo-o-ria en excelsius deo
The high notes breathy
Clear and true
We sing out of
Love for Baby Jesus
And to have sips of
Sugary punch and the
Gigantic chunks of Entemann's
Butter pound cake
Provided by the PTA
For afterwards

When we
Are through
And all the mommies
And daddies and
Grandmas and uncles
And an older brother
Or two
Mill around,
Chatting with the
Exhausted teachers,
Family members
Still beaming
With pride
Because we,
Part of the
Angelic host
Had remembered
To say our very
Important lines
Right on time,
Holding out our hands
Towards the beveled
Church ceiling
With its Gothic arches,
With the
Twinkling
Golden chandeliers
To proclaim,
"And behold
A virgin shall conceive
And shall bear a Son
And His name
Shall be called
Jesus"

Conundrum Explanation

I wrote this poem when I was around eighteen and although I've edited it somewhat over the years, it represents my thoughts when I was confronted with blatant racism for the first time living in the dorm of a conservative Christian university located far from civilization on the flat Michigan landscape. These sentiments still ring true for me today. What about you--when did you first experience racism and what was your response?

Conundrum

Conundrum

I can’t understand it:
White = purity
Black = evil
Yet white bakes, roasts, and perms to diminish
Porcelain clean and its accompanying factors
And black creams, bleaches and straightens to hide
Earth browns and their accompanying factors
Someone should point out that with these physical changes:
White = evil
Black = purity
This doesn’t compute with current social ideologies.
Something’s wrong,
Balances are thrown askew.
If things continue in this ludicrous manner it will mean:
White/Black = Potential for evil and purity in both.
And everybody knows that’s not possible…
Right?

Universal Appeal

by VIP
I want to be innocence and mischief,
Universally adored and held
Without request.

I want to eat with caloric ignorance and gusto,
Spitting out or tossing the unsuitable,
And clapping and smiling for
Culinary favorites with happy shrieks

I want to sleep when tired,
Cry inconsolably when sad,
Throw tantrums when I'm angry,
Never needing to hide the rawest of true feelings.

I want to wonder at glass rainbows,
Endlessly ponder dancing dust motes,
Make faces or ignore passing strangers
On a whim,
And explore the intricacies of my toes
With focused diligence for hours.

I want to be someone's
Sunlit joy for living
I want to bring laughter just by my being
I want to be everything good
This broken-down world has left to offer,
Always knowing that if I
Hold out my chubby arms,
I'll always be picked up,
Universally adored and held
Without request.

Why Blog Now?

I've resisted using this format for a while now but I have a son who showed me the wisdom and way. I have so many words inside that I thought it was only fair that I share a few