Category Archives: Poetry

Renovations

Posted on by
4

Verse – “Renovations”

The unexpected is to be expected.

Bathrooms are the worst.

(Some say it’s kitchens, but to be

forced to eat out is tolerable–

outhouses are impossible

to find these days.)  Even the best

contractors, builders, architects

do not know what will be behind

old walls:  the pipes and wires they find

will cost you time and cash and tears.

Just forget new sinks and mirrors!

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, 11/12/15 sent to Views from the Edge’ blogger whose bathrooms are now in the sixth week of renovation because of unanticipated challenges. Wish we had had Steve’s advice before we dove into the project. Maybe wisdom will be born out of the experience? Nah. Too late. We’re never doing this again…ever.

Thanks, Steve.

Thanksgiving (an acrostic)

Posted on by
Reply

Thanksgiving Pilgrims and Wampanoag all

Huddled together to eat by the fire.

After the Palefaces learned to trap fowl,

Native Americans also taught fair

Knowledge of maize farming. They heard of God’s

Son who had died for them, teaching of love.

Gathering to offer thanks for the goods

Ingathered at harvest, both of them have

Very much happiness to celebrate.

In years to come would be broken treaties,

Native folks killed, forced to flee or to fight.

Give thanks at least for a few meals in peace…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL Nov. 21, 2012

Haiku – Rain 4

Posted on by
1

Fourth in a series of four haiku poems on RAIN: “Rain 4”

the rain falls on all 

falls on the just and unjust 

just give thanks for grace

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL 11/12/12

The first two lines refer to a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

– Gospel According to Matthew 5:43-45

Sammy Williams, Pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Richmond, VA, posted a thought-provoking piece on the Sermon on the Mount, including this picture that was taken just before “the hilicopters, tanks and jeeps swarmed in” on military maneuvers.

Site traditionally thought of as place of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount

Haiku – Rain 3

Posted on by
Reply

Third in a series of four haiku poems on RAIN: “Rain 3”

is it rain I hear

dresses rustle–young girls dance

future mothers smile

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL 11/12/12

Haiku – Rain 2

Posted on by
Reply

Second of four haiku poems on RAIN: “Rain 2”

earth thirsts first for rain

but in moderation please

no flood hurricane

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, 11/12/12

Sandy – CBS This Morning

Haiku – Rain 1

Posted on by
Reply

rain pings on steel roof

inside is dry and lonely

soggy knocks on door

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, 11/12/12

 

Basho and Election Day on Views from the Edge

Posted on by
6

Old pond,

frog jumps in –

splash.

Views from the Edge jumped OUT of the blog pond two days ago. Then… yesterday… it made a big splash. The daily number of visits soared to 1,466 yesterday, 14 times larger than average. Why would the visits go up … at all … after announcing silence? Was it applause? Three cheers for one less noisy gong?

Answer? An earlier post, “The Germans at the Service Club Meeting,” had suddenly gone viral with 1296 visits – on Election Day.

Why or how it happened is a head-scratcher. Maybe yesterday’s inexplicable splash is a tribute to the efficacy of silence, our preference for the Older Pond over the new one, and reason for a humble re-write of Basho’s (1644-1694) old haiku:

New Pond,

frog jumps out –

splash.

This old frog is smiling the day after Election Day. Big money can’t buy the Old Pond…or the country. 🙂

Archimedes

Posted on by
Reply

Chris Jones was old (he must have been

fifty) to us teenagers back

in 1960.  Summers, when

the two of us (a running-back

and center) worked as laborers

for a construction company,

the foreman had assigned him as

our guide.  One arm hung uselessly,

although both hands could grip and hold

a shovel.  We would flail away

down in the ditch we had been told

to dig.  “Use legs, not arms,” he’d say,

“Push with your knee against your fist–

to work all day, swing dirt, don’t lift..”

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL November 2, 2012

A Retirement Obsession

Posted on by
2

on-line Scrabble

The game’s computer keeps the score,

so we don’t  have to add.

Its dictionary tells us clearly:

 words are good or bad.

Yes, on-line Scrabble, Words-With-Friends,

that is the game we play.

My iPhone held up to my face

a hundred times a day.

I play my brothers, nephews, niece…

a guy who’s in my choir.

A don in England always wins

–he probably reads Shakespeare!

My fingers cramp, my eyeballs hurt,

my thumb is even sore,

but Scrabble keeps my mind alert

and keeps me from the bar.

My spouse complains, she feels left out,

but I play just the same.

How can she bitch when it turns out

Sudoku is HER game?

Nadja’s game – on-line Sudoku

-Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Oct. 30, 2012

Spirit Tree, Urbana, IL (a Tree City)

Posted on by
1

…with thanks to John David Mooney

Falling Leaf

It’s best to see at dawn or dusk.

Pines and firs and spruces guard

the tiny park.  The walk of brick

(light and dark) leads to the sound

of falling water.  Then the lights

(L-E-D) that shift and change

from orange to blue lift eyes and hearts,

joining high above a branch,

(no, two or three or four) that point

up and up and up.  The sound behind

Spirit Tree

of running water pulls our sight

from the tree to leaf.  We find

the silver kissing leaves that drip

drops into the pool:  breathe…feel…

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Oct. 29, 2012