Category Archives: Poetry

A Poet’s Breathing Prayer

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Breathing Prayers
8 syllables in, 8 out:

Mysterious Divinity:
Show us what we can know and do.

We have left the path, lost our way:
Forgive us, O God; set us straight.

Loving God, you create, sustain:
give us dreams, energy and skill.

Your grace and love surround us, God:
Help us be grateful, loving, kind.

— — — —

Gracious God, Jesus Christ, Spirit:
Give me (us) peace, patience, joy and love.

Jesus Christ, Child of God, Savior: (teacher)
Have mercy on me, your sister.
(on me, your brother) (on us, your siblings.)
(Have mercy on me, a sinner.)

Holy Spirit, Comforter, Fire:
Mold us, move us, keep us alive.

Our life will soon be over, God:
Remember us in paradise…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, September 22, 2014

Click HERE for information on the history and practice of breathing prayer and the Jesus Prayer.

Blessed Mary

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The CHOIR magnificently sang
Bach’s LOUD complex “Magnificat!”
The orchestra was small, but rang
Out BRASS and DRUMS and ORGEL that
Reverberated through the Hall.

That GOD was GREAT there was no doubt,
The fugue repeated that till all
Could not help but join in the SHOUT!

(but then the oboe d’ amour stood
and quietly began with D
a tune of slave and poverty…
the cello cello cello droned

as pure and sweet soprano voice
recalled the Virgin’s humble choice.)

– Steven R. Shoemaker & Margaret R. Grossman

Note: Peggy Grossman is a Biochemistry professor at the University of Illinois who plays oboe in the Champaign-Urbana Symphony. She and Steve shared the experience of the Bach Magnificat.

Burners

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Verse – Burning Man (A Negative Acrostic)

Burners all must have real money,
Unless they will win the draw.
Rich folks flock to wear the funny
Nighttime costumes, whites will all
Imitate the best black dance moves,
Not that many blacks are there…
Get the best rental motor homes,

Make plans, we have time to spare
Art’s in our homes, our museums:
Narcissistic, not a care…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 31, 2014

Steve attended Burning Man 2014 in Nevada this past week. Steve’s 71, had the money to go, but shared a tent.  He wrote by email “I did accapella singing, heard great jazz, rode on an art car (see the burningman.com web site). I would only go back in an RV… For the quiet, AC, & clean toilet & shower.”

In Memory of Jean Redpath

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Verse In Memory of Jean Redpath
An Acrostic

Joyful on the stage or off,
Even after doctors gave
A cancer diagnosis. Have
No doubt that the Scot did laugh,

Reassured her friends and fans,
Endured treatment with a song,
Drank some scotch, then sang again!
Played the guitar, sent emails,
Always asked about her friends,
Thankful that she could still sing,
Hearing her sweet Robbie Burns…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 26, 2014

Verse – psalm for the green prairies

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august brings blooms to the midwest
prairies, some restored to the time
prior to when the settlers came:
blazing star and the false boneset,

compass plant and black-eyed susan,
white and purple prairie clover,
flowering spurge and pale coneflower,
prairie dock and hoary vervain.

present prairies are productive:
in the i-states: indiana,
illinois, and then iowa,
field corn, soybeans, are pervasive.

checkerboards are green and golden,
maize from native american.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 16, 2014

O, not Oprah

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Why do parks calm and refresh,
Backyards give a sense of peace,
Beaches, mountains, forests, plains,
Even deserts give a rush
Of pure pleasure?  Oxygen
May be part of the answer:
Leave stale air in house or car,
Stand near trees and blow out pain,
Breathe in health, escape the walls,
Fences, ceilings, chemicals,
Television, motor sound,
Hear your own breath, look around…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 14, 2014

My Mental Illness

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Perhaps I’ve had it all my life,
(you’d have to ask my kids, my wife,
my mother, sibs, kids in the band,
my teachers–school and Sunday School),
but if they knew, they never said,
(I know at least I never heard
or recall one word mean or cruel),
but when I came to middle age
and could not work in manic phase,
or more precisely, when depressed,
wrung out, unable to get dressed,
only a good psychiatrist
could find the meds to slow me down
when high so I could get around
(But then I found I was not bright–
I could not think, I could not write–
and so I had to fire the shrink…)

(After the suicide of Robin Williams, comedian extraordinaire)

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 13, 2014

NOTE: This morning MinnPost published yesterday’s Views from the Edge brief commentary on “Robin Williams and Us” as a Letter to the Editor.

Of Guide Dogs and Legislatures

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Verse – The Blind Leading the Blind

To train a guide dog for the blind
it has been learned a puppy should
be taken from the mother on
the forty-ninth day exactly.

But in my State of Illinois,
there is a Law that says eight weeks,
not seven, is the earliest
a little pup can leave the dam.

The bonding to the new feeder
and comforter will not take place
so soon or easily, but this
was not known by the law-makers.

Or maybe some bad lobbyist
with deep pockets got to them first
“Eight…seven–no matter which!
Just let the blind fall in the ditch…”

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 11, 2014

incomparable

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I do not like
that she said like
like ten times
in twenty words

Nothing is like
anything else
really

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 3, 2014

Editor’s Note: If you really like this . . . I mean REALLY like it because it’s like nothing else you’ve ever read . . . please let Steve know you like it.

Our Family Bush

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We go back to the Mayflower,
but to a murderer found there.
No property or position,
no wealth, no fame, or profession.

No beauties seen now or then,
but we managed to have children.

– Verse by Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, July 26, 2014