Tag Archives: Steve Shoemaker

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.

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.”

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

 

A Ride at the Fair

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The Umbrella Ride

The County Fair was in July that year
as usual. In 1959
we had been dating since last December.
I played basketball, she was a sports fan,
we both played in the high school band. At five
foot two she looked up high to my shoulder.
I stood tall, but I hated heights. I never
rode the midway rides. I saw her wave
from on the Ferris wheel.

…………………………………………… One ride looked safe,
even for me, two kids in each small pod
just spun close to the ground. I saw the force,
centrifugal, would swing her nice soft body
into mine. I vomited–she stared…

There was no help with foreplay at the Fair.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urana, IL, July 20, 2014

Editor’s Note: apologies for the use of ……s – the editor doesn’t know the code to put the line far to the right as in the original. And, BTW, six-foot-eight Steve and five-foot-two Nadja got married and have lived happily ever after. They no longer need to go the fair.

 

Blind Spot

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The walkway
four stories up
went from store
to parking spaces.

They had walked
under it for years
but now they
were driving cars
and saw it.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, June 15, 2014

Verse – Culverts

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Used at least since ancient Rome
to let water safely flow
under roads, a culvert acts
like a bridge and also makes
travel safe for folks above.

Fish and frogs can glide and dive,
chased by coons and also kids.
Parents warn of danger there,
but a hiding place will share
mystery, enchantment…love.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, June 12, 2014

Time

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walking
dancing
heartbeat
breathing
poems
music
all have
rhythm
living
dying

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 30, 2014

 

 

 

 

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 30, 2014

Verse – A la recherche des amours perdus

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A widower for 20 years,
at 88 he lived alone
and sat without TV or tears
in the front room of his own home.

His grandson asked him if he read
the books nearby on dust-free shelves,
or called his daughters. “No,” he said,
“They have enough problems themselves.”

“I mainly take a backward view
of past, of people, understand?
I think of things I can’t tell you.
You’d call me a dirty old man.”

His housekeeper said he asked her
once if she’d go to bed with him.
He smiled when she said she was sure
her husband’s view of that was dim.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 21, 2014.

 

Delivery Boy Education

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Fritzen was the German name–
“Fritz” was what he called himself.
I was just the high school boy
hired to drive my rose-red car:
deliver Flowers by Fritz.

At the University,
back in 1959,
girls in the sororities
(yes, then they were all called “girls”)
received flowers from their “boys.”

Actually they smiled at me,
then they read the little card–
usually they smiled again.
If they did not like the name,
I thought, “humiliation.”

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 111, 2014

Verse – No doubt

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No Doubt

I know he is guilty,
I know what he did.
He was wrong,
He was wicked,
He lied and deceived.
I’ll never forgive him,
I’ll never forget.
My resentment I’ll
Hold in my heart
Till I shrivel and die.
I know I am innocent,
I know I am right.

“The opposite of faith
is not doubt–
the opposite of faith
is certainty.”*

* Anne Lamott

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 28, 2014