
Poetry For Now
Poetry For Now
SEASONS CHANGE
I am sitting here in a wild Florida summer monsoon storm: rain, thunder and lightning. You will probably hear the sounds of the storm and this is a perfect backdrop for the idea that nothing physical is permanent and that everything - almost everything - is changing every moment.
You will hear poems about how technology, time and nature change AND we can create our own unique future.
SEASONS CHANGE
CONTACT CONTACT
Can you hear me.
No-one answers
The number you have dialed is not in service
the email is undeliverable.
My contact list is full of history
old clients, dead relatives
past acquaintances
chance meetings forgotten.
Some it’s easy to delete
some I hang onto
still remembering them fondly.
Ok, it is time to move forward
to accept that life has moved on.
I have moved on
and, like old clothes,
empty the closet.
refresh my wardrobe
Time to clean up
refresh my contact list.
Be here now
Siri put clean up time
in the calendar
Alexa, play something new.
PAPER CLIPS
Everything has changed
my boxes of paper clips
shiny metal
bulldogs
multi-colored
multi- shaped
are waiting, hoping
to be used again.
the world has changed.
paper piles gone
now email chains.
Docu-sign and pdfs.
Checks replaced
ETFs, paypal, bill pay.
getting anywhere the next day.
What to do with my clips?
bracelets and necklaces
pick locks and change SIM cards
hang clothes
replace buttons
fix zippers.
Maybe just more to the dump.
Saturday Morning
Pink puffy clouds
Mirror pond
Baby alligator
Floating frog.
Minutes later all has changed.
So goes life,
A feeling here now
Another jumps in,
A mosquito lands.
Slap - in time,
Next one lands
Too late
Blood is drawn.
The mailman comes
The box is filled,
The box is emptied
A never ending stream of paper
Recycle now swallows
most of it.
The doves search the grass
for scattered seeds.
It's all transient, transitional, transactional
A neighbor dies, reminding us all
Even the body is a transition
Time passes, everything changes
Grows, shrinks, dies.
Even memories and thoughts
Today is tax day,
Tomorrow is what day?
Zappos delivered
Swanson ordered
The flow continues.
Time to stop
Let all that pass
even the Roland Garros final
was without RAFA.
Focus on the stillness
Between the breaths
While the iPhone updates
Does nothing stop?
Breathe, breathe
Sit still
Be alone
With your own Self.
MOVING TOWARDS THE NEW FUTURE
We can try and run away
from something unpleasant
from something unknown
that hangs in the air of the mind.
Yet in the true quietness
in the golden heart
waiting to be revealed and followed
is our unique role in this world.
Our dharma and duty
that if we don't find and follow
will leave us forever incomplete
forever unfulfilled
and keep us from the goal
of human life to live in the true love
To live in the heart’s wisdom
To be fully present in every moment
To follow the music of the universe
To its source.
The source that lives in everyone
In every living creature
In every growing plant
That explodes into 1,000 Suns
and holds the universe
In its embrace.
So it's time to stop running
And honor the time and place
Where you find yourself now
As truly perfect
resting in the one heart of all
In the quietness, in the peace
Discovering your special gift for the world
Your unique place and role
Your Dharma, your duty, your path
forward
into the future
you alone create.
SWEET SURPRISE
The box arrives from Miami
the sweet aroma of ripening mangoes.
Friendship delivered by mail
that will be savored for days,
Sweet juices dripping from lips,
the soft fibrous bright orange fruit
is sucked off the giant seed.
Delicious, and delightful
the joy of nature’s bounty.
reminds us of the joys of friendship.
Thank you J & G!!
©MartinStrasmore2021