31 October. Octopowrimo

Waves of Renewal

History flows in five hundred year waves
As I learned  as an undergraduate.
A few years more and we commemorate
95 Theses nailed on  church door
Amidst searches for lodging, friends,
Announcements for disputations
And similar convocation.
Miles away I wonder if anything
Slouches  toward Wittenberg
To catch a coming wave.

28 October Octopowrimo

A Day after Sylvia Plath's Birthday

You felt the men in your life let you down;
in some ways you were right
but in others shared the culpability.
Perhaps had you written a poem to Ted
some of the anger increasing in you
might have escaped and granted
you more time, more writing.

Dylan Thomas Centennary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XG1B_7r4y8
I read this in high school and began to appreciate poetry that did not rhyme or exist in four-line stanzas.

Octopowrimo 27 October

27 October

A century ago this day
Dylan Thomas drew breath.
For far too short a time
he invited us into his world
telling us of Wales
as only a Welshman can,
using the mastery and majesty
of language and sound
to sweeten our lives.

26 October Octopowrimo

Reformation Sunday

A quick scan of the anthem before singing
reveals familiar hymnody
recalls others like it
sung in far-off places.

By no means a musicologist
I repeat what I hear
until with confidence and
enough proficiency
add my own spin to it
joining my voice to others,

This is the root of traditio
passing it on to others.

Octopowrimo 25 October

This Time Last Year

This time last year was reconnection.
In some cases, like sitting in
the cafeteria or hanging ot
in the mall after school,
In others attempting to gather
wisps of memories of sitting
in some class or another.
But what matters most of all
is that we are watching the
memorial slideshow
pausing at each picture
remembering them as
they were once and
ever will be to us.

Continuation 23 October----Octopowrimo

The Twelve Bridges Road

If you are going to the Eccentricity
you travel the Twelve Bridges Road;
some of them are span a creek
or a tributary stream
but the one over the Broad River
stretches out in the sunlight,
a slender ribbon between
widely-separated bluffs.

Coming from the old place
the route was shorter
but not as interesting.
Flatness between fields
punctuated by crossroads.

But now out of friendship 
and a sort of obligation
I travel the Twelve Bridges Road

Not being told some things,
but expected to know them.
Not being told other things,
because I am not in the loop,
I offer pieces of the puzzle
but some are working on it
with pieces unknown to me
in clandestine conversations
while I am on the Twelve Bridges Road.

At some point you must realize
the road only goes so far.
Eventually you sense that
there are others roads to travel
and that you will never
resolve the enigma.

Since then I have never traveled
along the Twelve Bridges Road
through forest and crossroad
across streams, the North Tyger
or descended from the ridge
downward toward the Broad River.

Other roads delight me
and I roam to other places.

22 October continuation Octopowrimo

Continued from 21 October.....

If you are going to the eccentric place
you travel the Twelve Bridges Road;
some of them are span a creek
or a tributary stream
but the one over the Broad River
stretches out in the sunlight,
a slender ribbon between
widely-separated bluffs.

Coming from the old place
the the route was shorter
but not as interesting.
Flatness between fields
punctuated by crossroads.

But now out of friendship 
and a sort of obligation
I travel the Twelve Bridges Road

Twelve Bridges Road- Draft Octopowrimo 21 October

This will be over several days' time:


If you are going to this  county seat
you travel the Twelve Bridges Road;
some of them are span a creek
or a tributary stream
but the one over the Broad River
stretches out in the sunlight,
a slender ribbon between
widely-separated bluffs

Collaboration with Denise Baxter Yoder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brqm9pNSP1A

I merely wrote the lyrics, and she did all of the magic! Thanks, Denise!

20 October Octopowrimo

Newly-mown fields offer some perspectives
to me as I drive by late afternoons.
Dotted with circular bales of hay
resembling loose wheels from some
wagon that is nowhere in sight,
offering a manicured look,
But I know the grass slowly grows
waiting for the wind to blow through it.

At the Lakeshore- 19 October OctopowrimoAcross the blue-green water before usAcross

My dog and I, standing at the lakeshore
on a sunlit October afternoon:
the brisk, autumnal air reminded us
that the new season was well underway.
Across the blue-green water before us
blazed several clusters of distant trees
red-orange-yellow interspersed by green
of Southern pines among the hardwoods.
Pausing, looking, savoring the moment,
the Husky in her relishing coolness,
the pragmatist in me realizing
that the once-distant is now much closer.
She in her way, and I in my own way
acknowledge what waits as we head for home.

18 October Octopowrimo

Catching the afternoon sunlight
Trees stretch skyward in colors
Of gold, red, orange and constant green.
Barely a ripple on the waters,
Nor sound here or over there.
Serenity spreads as far as eye can see.

14 October Octopowrimo

The music we hear tonight live
we heard long ago
in halcyon times
of learning about each other.
Now the music
reminds us of those times
and of how our lives
have been sweetened
by the people we are

13 October Octopowrimo

To slake artistic thirst
only Castalia's springs
will satisfy.

Hurry then!
We shall go
and savor the taste
of inspiration
at its very source.

10 October Octopowrimo

A burst of velocity between treetops
framing the exit ramp
Southbound geese in uneven chevron
I wanted to head whence they came

Octopowrimo 9 Oct

Asking which name I use decades later
causes me to wonder if you remember
what you so long ago used.
History's curse and blessing is memory.
What went awry becomes a wry moment in today.

Octopowrimo 8 October

Variations on a theme
that was discordant the first time.
Different composers attempt
melody but mire in cacophony.
Oblivious the band plays on.

Octopowrimo

For 7 October:

Gonzo-like hammering on the keyboard
in hopes of ome spark catching fire
and flaring across the universe
for admiring minds to ooh and ah
seeking temporary relief from
constant anxiety. Poets do their best.

5 Octopowrimo

Slender narrow yellow fringe
shimmers in the east.
Pastures and farmland await dawn
in autumn coolness.
The stars have moved on
so blue skies may fill the heavens.

The Telos of Time

The Telos of Time

I

If all time is indeed

Eternally present, somehow

Past and present coexisting

With future that has been

Will have been

And contained in every moment

That was, is, or will be,

How is any moment discerned?

Am I soaking my sneakers

In morning’s dew

In early coolness

With the sunrise over the hill

And sitting in the den

Composing these lines

As darkness shrouds the tall pines

Or as I do whatever it shall be

In the years granted

Wherever, however I will spend them?

II

Blissfully unaware of the connection

We remain

Separating them by tenses and times

Compelling time into a flowing stream

Into whose waters we step only once

At any given time.

Every so often, some of us

Glance at distant stars

Whose fleeting constellations

Show connections we perhaps

Suspected and set our course anew

III

At the axis mundi

Where the veil between

Eternity and time

Is somewhat lifted,

We experience the

Moment above time,

The transcendent moment

Where Creator and creature

Redeemer and redeemed,

Sanctifier and sanctified

From all places and times,

Host holding a host

Shatter time as it is measured

Transitioning into timelessness.

IV

Through action long ago

Continuing, never repeated,

We stand on the verge

Of was-is-will be and

Never-changing now

Ever-transforming

Ever onward-rushing

To consummation.

© Arthur Turfa, 2014