To Last a Lifetime (JM)

(Joseph MacRae, published in Writers At Play Presents: Our Legacy, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2022. From June 9, 2021)

To Last a Lifetime 

A hammer, 

     a handsaw,

         a measuring tape.
Frame a pile of lumber.
Measure your boards.
Now here's a tool
to last you a lifetime.

Cut to size,
lay them out.
Nail them together.
Now here's a tool
to last you a lifetime.

Such simple things
can build a house,
can build a home.
Now here's a tool
to last you a lifetime.



*From prompt: freewrite about advice you want to pass on, then highlight a line for refrain, highlight other parts like, and form into a bop poem; Daisy Barrett-Nash's Legacy Poetry, June 9, 2021.

A Good Day (JM)

(Joseph MacRae, published in Writers At Play Presents: Our Legacy, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2022. From May 20, 2021.)

A Good Day

Today,

a good day --

to finish a project?

Today, plant a garden

between the showers 

that make flowers grow. 

Today

will be a good day

after all.

*From prompt: offer life advice in the form of a bop poem, from Daisy Barrett-Nash's Legacy Poetry, May 19, 2021.

Things To Do When You're Plowing a Field (JM)

 (Joseph MacRae, May 12, 2021, Rosh Chodesh Sivan)

 

Things To Do When You're Plowing a Field 

1. Feel the ground.

2. Know how deep to set your drift.

3. Remember how it turned last season.

4. Grow a new crop, soon to

5. become a field of green.

6. Notice as it grows.

*From prompt: write a six point advice poem, based on advice topic of choice and a series of six freewritten verbs; from Daisy Barratt-Nash's Legacy Poetry, May 12, 2021.

Symmetry (JM)

 (Joseph MacRae, May 1, 2021)

Symmetry

(for Holy Saturday)

This morning Jesus in Hades 

is getting ready to trample on 

the powers of Satan.

When Autumn comes, flowers die. 

Their seeds sink into the ground, 

as Jesus died and was laid in the tomb.

Blooming, greens dance their part,

rose and rosemary, alive out of earth,

just as Jesus was resurrected alive 

from the tomb.

May Day Awaiting (JM)

(Joseph MacRae, May 1, 2021)

May Day Awaiting

(in honor of May Day, 2021)

And now, our blessed Mother,

Smile on our festal day

Accept our wreath of flowers,

And be our Queen of May.

- from the hymn Hail Virgin, Dearest Mary)

This morning as I walk

outside I smell the 

fresh cool morning air.

Last night we received

the gift of a light rain,

a welcome gift to a

newly seeded children's garden.

Which we seed each year,

a delight to see

its first tiny green

shoots appear.

After so many dry days, 

it seems as though they

were awaiting the gift

of Earth Mother's 

nurturment,

the rain.

How To Be a Dinosaur (WC)

 

(April 30, 2021, Great and Holy Friday in Orthodox Church. Feast day of The Passion Icon of the Mother of God, of Saint Marie Guyart of the Incarnation, Saint Apostle James (brother of Saint John) and Blessed Hildegard the Empress, and Saint Onenn of Brittany. On Jewish calendar is 18 Iyar, the Haisidic holiday Lag BaOmer (above). Image from here.)

How To Be a Dinosaur*

Well, it's easy. 

Eat only what you can taste.

Close your eyes to listen deeply.

Look at what's in front of you, not on a screen.

Mull things over. Tell stories. 

Write letters. Actually mail them. So

someone can hold them. Hold the 

hand of someone who needs you. 

How to be a dinosaur? 

Well, it's not so easy. 

Talking with someone he's checking his

phone. Wishes you'd text him instead. He's

got things to do, moves faster than you. 

After all you're only a dinosaur.

Why be a dinosaur?

Well, it's bound to be asked. Truth is,

the world needs something. Something

real to hold to. But don't worry we'll 

be here. We're easy to catch up with. 

After all, we're only dinosaurs.

*For my Joseph-- my favorite dinosaur

Where Wolves Have Slept (JM) (published version)

(Joseph MacRae, published in Mindful Poetry Moments, third edition, edited by Stacey Simms and Eddie Gonzalez, The Well (in partnership with NPR's On Being Project), 2022. From April 28, 2021, a response to prompt James Wright's "A Blessing", from On Being/The Well's Mindful Poetry Gathering.)

Where Wolves Have Slept

(Alaska journal, Noyes Island, 1993;

after James Wright)

It was hidden in plain sight.
On ground still warm, as

     morning wakens

     where wolves have slept

     a tuft of fur

     left in wild deerhearts

It is a blessing.