Tuesday, March 15, 2011

war and peace: poetry by Rhonda


TWO THINGS CANNOT BE IN ONE PLACE
My car and the SUV just behind me shouldn't occupy the same
space-time continuum.  Insurance companies would complain.

Your septic tank and the walnut tree might try to co-exist
but I'd bet that a reputable plumber and his back-hoe
could undo the harm.

An idea of roses--soft, sweet, warmly gracious--
will overcome withered days, lonely nights.

Thoughts of peace can surely disarm a thought of war.

Your bright laughter--unbidden and charming--
echoes down all the long hallways of life
and dark creatures in odd corners
burst into light, and then song.
 ------------------------------------------------------
THE LESSONS OF WAR
Now there are plums on the table
and a cat padding softly nearby.
Now a chld awakens in a cradle
of linden branches, swaying in the breeze.                                     
Now you touch the delicate hole
burned near your heart
and ponder the river of life
pouring into a parched earth.
Now the origins of the universe make sense.
Now the end of time is clear.
 ----------------------------------------------------
SOME SHAPE OF BEAUTY
Very soon will there be voices calling us all to come home.
We will loiter in tall summer grass,
fireflies in hand, feet bare and streaked with mud,
waiting for the sound of our true names.
We will run away from long shadows leaping behind us
toward some shape of beauty.
We will find ourselves home again.
Tired.
Happy.


5 comments:

  1. I love your words, Rhonda, the sound and shape of them; the thoughts they stir in my own head and heart. You have a gift.

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  2. Some Shape Of Beauty - resonates in me.

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  3. Wonderful! Especially brilliant the last two; especially clarifying the first one.

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  4. Your poems are so beautiful, Rhonda...

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