Standing Ovation

Imagine You’re
the Playwright of
Your Life,

You scripted it
before You ever
came onstage.

Of course
You planned
to play Your
way through
risky
Improvisations,

after all,
who doesn’t love
a Mystery?

Other Players
share Your stage,
there’d be
no Show
without Them,

Some play
Heroes,
Some play
Crooks,

next time –
there’ll be a
next time,
You all love
Theater –

next time
maybe You’ll
play the Crook,
or maybe
You’ll die
in the second act
and bring Your
audience to
tears.

You’ve been told
Your Play
will be reviewed
by a Critic
who thinks
He’s God,

but that’s a Lie
and here’s the Truth:

It’s The One
who leapt up
when You took
your bow,

who set off
a standing ovation,

The One who
can’t wait to
see Your next
Show,
who’s loved
Everything You’ve done.

That’s The One
some call
God.

(Photo by Anthony Delanoix; UnSplash)

 

It’s Just a Train Whistle

Every morning,
around 4 a.m.,
a train whistles
into my head
and stops
somewhere behind
my closed eyes.

Without hesitation
I board and
off we go.

The landscape
we roll through
is as familiar as
my damp pillow.

Billboards
spelling out
every adventure
I missed
because I feared
the effort or
thought I smelled
danger.

Neon signs
vivid with the
panoramas
of every misadventure
I didn’t avoid
because I
closed my eyes
and laid my head
back on the
couch cushion.

Fields of
dreams I
planted,
but wandered off
and someone else
picked the fruit and
plucked the flowers.

I ride this train
nearly every day,
but I’m thinking
I do too much thinking.

Today could be
the day
I see the train
coming and
wave it through
without stopping.

Why do I imagine
I must
get onboard?

Awhile ago
I received
a message

that I’m
adored
by the Maker of
All That Is,

inviting me to
remember
I have lifetimes
of Adventures
awaiting,
acres of
landscapes
where dreams
can be planted.

I don’t need
to keep
taking that train.

(Photo by Brian Suman; UnSplash)

 

The Specifications of You

Are You still looking
for the Specifications
for The Perfect Human?

Still imagining
a distant Deity
with The Specifications
hanging on the Wall
of Their Throne Room,
for comparison
purposes,
when it’s time
to make a record
of Your performance?

Are You still combing
the shelves of the
Self-Help section at
What Have You Done With
Your Self
Bookstore?

Following
@YouCanDoBetter
on Facebook?

Have you crafted
your New Year’s
Resolutions,
copied word-for-word from
The Specifications?

What if
it turns out
there are no
Specifications,

except the ones
formed by
Fearmongers,
written above
the forged signatures
of their
impersonated
Deities?

What if
that photograph
of You
grinning,
after finding
the perfect words
to tattoo on
your inner arm,

what if
that photograph
of You
grinning
has all
The Perfect Specifications
for
You?

 

Matchsticks

There is a stone
upon which
many walls
have been built,

the millstone
around the neck
to which
Jesus referred.

Upon this stone
is inscribed
a Law,
designed to be
a shock collar,

a Law
unequivocal
in its insistence
that every wrong
must be righted
with
Consequences,

a Law
meant to be fueled
by Fear,

and often wrapped
around the
human heart
with the ligatures
at the heart
of religions.

There is another Law
written in
the Foundation of
All That Is,

transcending
walls
and severing
millstones
with Joy that
shatters
Consequences
into dust
beneath the
bare feet
of exuberant escapees
going over
the walls
of Fear,

laughing,
as the Fear fades
into the Light
of the
Law of Love,

which insists that
when it comes
to righting wrongs,

Consequences
are little
matchsticks,

whose only
task is to ignite
the Light of Love,
then fall away
into
ash.

(Photo by Jamie Street; UnSplash)

 

100-Proof

I searched
in vain
for the origin
of this pernicious
phraseology:

“Prepare to Meet
your Maker.”

This hanging
threat of
judgment
that has been
distilled to a
toxic brew and
served to every
Soul,
in one flavor or
another,
sometimes by
fathers and mothers,
sometimes teachers,
often paycheck writers,
and gangs of
preachers.

100-Proof Fear.

The closest
I came to
the roots
of this poison

were planted in a
Garden of Eden,
tended by a
Maker
imagined to be
angered by a
couple
of humans
audacious enough
to smack
their lips
on forbidden
fruit.

I know
a better story,

of a renegade
son,
probably drunk
on Fear,
who fled home
with full pockets,
only to come
shambling
back,
empty pockets
now filled with
pig pen filth,

Prepared to
Meet his Maker,

who came
bearing gifts
of Welcome Robe
and Honor Ring,
and dance
music and
gorgeous
pocket fillers
of every kind.

I wonder if I’m
Prepared To
Meet My Maker
and drink

100-Proof Love.

(Photo by Nathan Dumlao; UnSplash)

 

Humoresque

Do you understand
how free you are?

How determined
your Maker is
to help you
defend your freedom?

How your Maker
exults in the Way
you do This and
not That?

Adores your quirky
little preferences and
odd choosings and
Weirdo ways?

Before you answer
the doorbell and
invite that one in,
with his reversed
white collar,
clutching his
black leatherbound
goldleaf-lettered
Rule Book,
like it was actually
hand-scribed by
your Maker,

determine in
your heart-of-hearts
that you’ll have some
divinely demented
fun
showing your new pal
how delighted
you are to have
an audience for

your Sermon
on the Saintliness of
Surrendering to
the Holiness of the
Heavenly Humoresque.

(Photo from Universal Life Church)

 

Open Book

You say
your Life is
an open book,

but,
the question is,
who’s writing it?

Did you imagine
you were meant to
send out invitations,

asking for
submissions to
an anthology,

every chapter
someone else’s version
of your story,
as if their version
must be better than
your own?

Their adventures
more interesting
than your
misadventures?

Their successes
more captivating
than your
did-the-best-you-coulds?

Their hard work
more impressive
than your
slacker escapades?

Did you imagine
you’ll need
an agent
to persuade
a major publisher
to consider your book
worthy of publication?

Sort of like
Jesus making a pitch to
a judgmental God?

I’m thinking of
taking my own
advice:

Write your own book.
Publish it your Self.

(Photo by Yusuf Evli; UnSplash)

 

Out of Context

I change from my
“Lebowski 2024” t-shirt
into a white shirt and tie,

find my King James Bible
between
“Another Roadside Attraction”
and
“Jitterbug Perfume,”
and
ride my bicycle to
First Church of the Open Bible.

My attempt to be
surreptitious is
betrayed by being
the only one
wearing a tie to
Bible Study.

A friendly voice
calls out:
“We play a little game.
Latecomers must give us
their favorite verse,
from memory.”

I’m ready.

“God is Love,
I John 4:8,”
I yell,
lifting my hands.

From somewhere
near the front
a hand and voice
are raised:

“Fear only God,
who can destroy
both soul and body
in hell,
Matthew 10:28.”

My life has been spent
preparing for this.

I rip my tie
from my neck
and wave it
in triumph.

“There is no fear
in Love,
but perfect Love
casteth out fear,
I John 4:18,”
I shout.

All eyes are on me,
a finger points.

“That’s out of context.”

Without words I turn
and walk.

It’s time to take
my Self out of
this context.

(Photo by Aaron Burden; UnSplash)

 

Take Back the Pen

I urge you
to consider
who has been
writing
your bio.

Beginning with
whoever wrote,
or even told you
in person,
from that pulpit,

that you
were born a
sinner.

Or the ones who
reported
that you could
be graded
A through F.

Are you still
reading
that faded
sheet,
hand-typed
on a Smith-Corona,
that your boss
handed you
on his way
to lunch,
that concluded
you lacked
an adequate
work ethic?

How about
that bio
that won’t let you
sleep,
that last hour
before sunlight,
as it weaves
nightmares of your
unworthiness?

Dream your Self
a new Bio,
my friend.

Take back the pen

and write that
you have sprung
from the same
Imagination
that only knows
how to

let there be
Beauty
from Light.

(Photo by Grisha Tadevosyan; UnSplash)