Poem 2

The flowers keep coming but everyone knows I failed at the ice skating performance and had no business being a skater at all in my jeans and long sleeve cereal brand shirt. I mean I just skated around the rink flipping birds at the crowd and some people found it liberating in some way and I got the high score and a bronze medal. And they want me to shoot birds during the medal ceremony too but it might be during another country’s national anthem. Well all the more reason to go for it depending on the country and whether or not they use electric shock gloves there. You thought I was going to say Russia well who needs Russia when you have ice. Get it? Ice?

 Poem

Pretend you’ve never seen me before. And then I will pretend to recognize you and say hey I think you went to my high school. And then you say hey I did go to that high school and then I say are you still allergic to raisins and I say yeah that was me and then I say I’m sorry I pushed  you down in the lunchroom and then you say hey I forgive you and then we give a talk at church about it and pass the plate if you know what I mean. Hmm what do you mean. I mean we could probably collect two hundred dollars and buy some steak and eggs at the diner. Hmm I was thinking Red Lobster. Cool it is a deal. I mean if you think about it we could collect enough money for everyone to go to Red Lobster. Yeah and honestly I think that might turn out to be the actual church experience that people were looking for.

 The Chief End

I want to give an offering

And to the greatest altar bring

A life of virtue, great success,

Some famous prayers that I confess.

And say to God it just was him

Who made the others seem so dim.

But as my dreams are torn to shreds

And all the hopes turn into dreads

I have to look for other ways

To share the love of heaven’s rays.

So what is left when life is done?

Forgiveness prayers just like his son.

 Fifi was a forgetful person and she got a lot of Cs in her classes for the nursing program at her community college.  But she liked her major and she liked people. She felt like in real life she would not forget to do the important things for patients.

On social media, there were a lot of articles about new technology, and one of the articles was about a new memory device where you could put on a pair of glasses and see someone else’s memories.  Fifi thought this was very interesting and went to the website to order some. The glasses were arranged by name of the person who had offered their memories for the program, receiving a cash bonus if someone bought them. Fifi saw one of her friend’s names on the list. It was a guy from her nursing program named Fred.  Fred sat in the back of the class and had done his internship at the same hospital.  She thought he was cute and wanted for him to get a cash bonus, so she bought his memories.

When the glasses arrived, Fifi was shocked to find that a lot of his memories were from watching her and caring about how she did in class, and her responses when the teacher called on her.  Fifi sorted through all the memories and found that some of Fred’s memories were from him thinking about her when he was at home, and viewing her facebook page. She realized that he must really like her.  But the strangest thing was that viewing his memories made her do better on her tests and quizzes, and she started getting As in school.  

Fifi had an idea and sat down to make some valentines that said “I love you Fred.” It was on pink and red construction paper, and she sat there for about an hour and then looked at his profile online, and then rested and daydreamed about him. She daydreamed about them getting married.   Then she put on some blank glasses and transferred her memories to the glasses.

The next day in class, Fifi handed the new pair of glasses to Fred.  She said, “I think these memories will help you study.”  Fred said, okay, and put the glasses on right there.  During the class, Fred watched Fifi’s new memories and found her surprise for him.  He was so happy and asked her to go to a restaurant with him and then be married.  They now work at the same hospital and have discovered the cure for many diseases by reviewing people’s memories in the health field who could not remember everything they were taught. 

 Poem

There’s more to life

than jelly beans

But not that much more

 Afternoons offend me

The heat on each tree.

When the clock says 4 pm

It really says you’re a bm.

What I like is the night

With a cool breeze in sight.

When it says 8 oclock

It means I don’t smell like a sock.

 A Good Place

It could be like childhood or a yummy piece of pie,

We imagine heaven and how life is when we die.

What we know without the answers as to if it’s joint,

It’s most of all, relief for those who have no reference point

 New Rendition 

God is not deceitful and 

it’s not his fault at all

That Adam ate an apple and 

humanity would fall

And yet there is a trick that works 

a lot like lock and key

And that is the reversal from 

Christ’s torture at the tree. 

 Caution

God is keeping me at a distance

In case I say something racist.

Like if I eat mexican food and say

“I wish I was Mexican.”

That is over the line for him,

And as it is, I have some people

I will already have to apologize to

Before they themselves 

Are tossed into the lake of fire.

 Personal Statement

If I was a doctor I would

Collect gallbladders.

I would keep them in a jar 

But sometimes put one in my hand

When I shake someone else’s hand

And say gotcha! Ha ha ha!

Like a hand buzzer but slimy.

Then I would let them keep it.

It’s not that hard to find a good doctor

But it’s not that easy to digest some things.

 This poem is a classic

I had an idea for an art sculpture

Called prayer machines,

Where there would be a mechanical process

to generate prayer requests

For complicated population combinations.

But I didn’t get into art school, 

and years after I had the idea,

My friend sent me a video

Of some other artist

Who created a colorful whirligig

“prayer machine.” Similar to my idea

But without the actual prayer requests.

Without the love and people.

Without the missing art degree.

My poems didn’t get published, either,

after twenty years of depression survival.

It makes life seem meaningless,

but maybe instead of my poems,

teachers can go find

an actual piece of crap

on the sidewalk 

from a homeless person,

and bring it into the classrooms,

and have the students worship it.

A Certain Kind of Love

A certain kind of love is when you’re stuck with those who hate you.

And if they all could question God, they’d choose to just negate you.

And they know you’d do anything to be there anyway,

So then they make that happen with the things they do and say.

A problem here, a problem there, whenever you seem happy.

They’ve studied all your feelings so they make you feel most crappy.

And yet you try to help them all until the day you die,

When they will face their shame and you can also ask God why. 

 Unfriending Zuckerberg

I lost my friends on facebook as the algorithms stole,

a lifetime's work and suffering were wasted as a whole.

We all came through with updates in the kinder early years

But monetizing changed it fast and left my pals in tears.

And since you traded all our friends to glorify your name

The angels fly above your yacht and they are chanting, “Shame.”

 Learning Your Lesson

I heard you have a question for your day at Sunday school,

And only not to ask it is what makes someone a fool.

But I know what you’re thinking so I’ll answer it right now,

And what to know is Jesus never sinned, no way no how.

And please don’t be ridiculous or say that I am odd,

Because I know your question was “Did Mary spank our God?”

 Mass Movements

An empty church could be a sign of people who don’t sing

Or maybe it's a humble and disguised commissioning.

Main Export

Think of all the cash we’d have and how some things would be

If government could find a way to sell hypocrisy.

Judgement Day

Hahaha this poetry is fun to just ignore

But I will get my “well done” grade and you will get a “poor.”

The Ledge of Allegiance

Some want social justice or religious liberty.

Rarely it is both and that’s the issue I can’t see.

There’s a third one in the mix- without it we will fall

And that’s the fact that either thing is meant to be for all.

Waging 

To work for pay instead of “justice” might create enough,

Cause time and time again, we see that you just want our stuff.

Tax Forms

Corporation slavery wage or socialism’s dues.

That’s a problem option though we’re always free to choose.

 Leaves of Class

A mentor’s like a shady tree that towers kindly over me

And blocks the burning summer rays that threaten all my fleeting days.

They help me calmly plan my path, and take a break to do my math.

And when I want to teach instead, they drop an apple on my head.

 Equal Opportunity

Adventurers go very far to find a special land,

Fossil hunters can’t believe what’s hidden in the sand.

Professors, too, philosophers, and theologians seek

For hidden truths and thoughts that they can share with all the meek.

Treasure hunting pirates find some gold in ocean space

Runners look for victory when they compete and race.

But if you do not want to be a person such as those,

Anyone can find impressive boogers in their nose.

 Transplant

A southern thing is aspirations you might never do

In northern states they do more stuff to make your dreams come true

But there’s a thing that you’d feel sadder feelings if you knew

You just have no idea how much they like to bully you.

 Standing Up

Trying not to be like all "those people over there"

Is not that bad a plan if they are trash and do not care

But as a whole religion it will someday fall so short

And other things neglected will put all of you in court.

Mercy and Salvation

The power’s in the service

Though this truth is often hid

You want to topple leaders

But the great already did.

Lock and Key

some people blame our God 

for things that he has never done 

and they will act like apple trees 

were something really fun. 

They’ll say that he’s a trickster 

who has caused the fall of man 

and then they say to curse him 

if you think you ever can. 

But there is just one trick 

that tricks a bad deceitful heart. 

And it is at the cross where all 

can sing how great thou art. 

The people seeking evil find it 

near that racist place 

where Christ was mocked and tortured 

with the tears upon his face. 

and yet their captured heart might find 

a way to be set free. 

For God reverses death and shows

his love on this new tree.

 Rations

I’m going on a diet and the only thing I’ll eat

is Christian baker wedding cakes for gays who are so neat.

I'll sue you if you never feed me or I haven’t ate,

Cause it is my religion and you must accommodate.

 Hmmm

Something crazy fun to do

That might be gone too far

Is when you meet somebody,

Wonder what their worst sins are.

Challenge

I didn’t do what I should do 

And now my life’s upended.

How can I confront myself

And say that I’m offended.

 Heritage

We look at those who came before

and want to do a whole lot more

and not make their mistakes so bad

but there is reason to be sad

because we think that we're above

the failures of their work and love

but really what they did bequeath,

we're often very far beneath.

 Hidden Harbors

Our normal settings overlap with

other spirit lands,

And realms and worlds and habitats

not made by human hands.

So while some people walk in fields

where they can play and romp,

A person in the same bright room might

cry within a swamp.

 Basic Mental Health Care

When someone is depressed

With scary demons in their view

The crucial thing is no one needs

for you to be one too.

The Way it Works

I’m gay and cannot scrog a guy for we’d be brothers then.

And that’s the truth no matter who would say that it’s a sin.

But when I truly be myself as male it feels so good.

And makes me such a happy friend that wow I almost could.

 World of Pain

Mental hurt can make the heart

Drop deep into the night,

Bringing chronic sadness that 

weighs down the mind’s whole sight.

People with depression

Carry quite a burdened load-

And may in fact be in a swamp

With much a snake and toad.

They walk in realms and spirit lands

with scary evil powers,

And sorrow worlds that overlap,

Invisible with ours.

Shadows, threats and haunting loss

become a constant fear

And there might be attacks that bring a 

scary legion near.

Surrounded by some gators

Or a demon evil elf,

We have enough bad foes right now 

So don’t be one yourself.

 What’s in it for me

God is very glorified when we do awesome things

And when we suffer well and show him thanks for what he brings.

But he is also glorious when he does stuff for us

And gives you what we need through storms and safety on the bus

So as I think of how to show the world that he’s a winner,

I think I’ll choose the option where I get a lobster dinner.

Final

Why is life so horrible with pain on every day.

All the news is sad with nothing comforting to say

But maybe we would feel alright and not give out a yelp

If we could even guess at all the people it will help.

Redo

There is bad stuff happening on every single day.

The news is being horrible in every single way.

But all of us might be more willing to endure this pain

If we had even hints of all the people who will gain.

Who What When Where Why

How could this be happening,

it isn’t what we want.

it doesn’t match our prayers or what 

the people said up front.

But we don’t know what we would do 

Or not be able to

If ways that God was helping people

we already knew.

 Wal-Mart vs. Target

Welcome, muslims, to our land,

There’s a lot to understand.

America had civil war 

and all the stuff they fought it for

And Coke and Pepsi market fights

and arguing with human rights.

Courts and protests, wins and loss,

Flag designs by Besty Ross.

Revolution, died up-on,

Sacrifice of those now gone.

Lots of people disagree,

Some of us will never see.

So while you work things out with God

You could upgrade your jihad.