Tag Archives: Grandfather
A Kinder Gentler God
WHY THERE’S NO POEM ON THIS PAGE
WHY THERE’S NO POEM ON THIS PAGE
Six year old William comes in
with his teeth growing back smile
and wants to play chess
I could tell him
that I’m writing a poem
but where’s the poetry in that
GRANDFATHER’S MOUSTACHE
GRANDFATHER’S MOUSTACHE
The moustaches
of my grandfather and Carl Jung
(Twins separated at birth)
have lives of their own
Jung’s stays in Switzerland
combing the unconscious
My grandfather’s travels to Brazil and Canada
gathers rainforest moisture, dirty thirties dirt
and remnants of strong cheese and pipe smoke
(Carl’s certainly contains some of that too)
When grandfather sneezes, I get to share it all
SEASONS
SEASONS
My grandfather came to Canada
trailing the civilities of Europe
Planted ten thousand trees
on the bald-assed prairie
Plenty of produce for a family
and acres and acres and acres
of flowers as well
On the other side of a depression
and the rationings of war
every plant like every animal
on my parents’ ranch
had to pay its way
At our house in Austin
we have only flowers
A KINDER GENTLER GOD
A KINDER GENTLER GOD
As we look around the world today we see
with God as our father in trouble all are we
Fathers as you know, often have a tendency
towards discipline, judgement and wrath
while grandparents almost always
take a wiser, gentler path
There may be much to learn
as we choose, or create our deity
from the Blackfoot, Sioux and Cree
who still gather at Grandfather’s knee
THOUGHTS TO PONDER
THOUGHTS TO PONDER – a story from the internet
An old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt about the tragedy (9-11) and what should be done.
He said “I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving compassionate one.”
“So,” asked the grandson, “which wolf will win the fight in your heart?”
“The one that I feed,” answered the grandfather
LEARNING FROM GRANDPARENTS
LEARNING FROM GRANDPARENTS
From my Swiss grandfather
who dreamed and grew a prairie Eden
combining Europe and High Brazil
I learned the impossible is possible
From my English grandmother
I learned that niceness is very nice
but you can leave feeling empty
except for cookies and milk
From my father’s mother
and my mother’s father
I learned that early death
is a form of theft