[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: 5 Poems

[Dwyer Sullivan]

Hello all 
Here are 5 excellent thought provoking poems from a friend of mine (and Fr Holmes and Brenda H) that some of you may benefit from reading. 
Sharon gave me the idea to consider sharing meaningful poems. Kevin is in the process  of publishing so there are no privacy issues in my sharing his good work. 
Peace Dwyer 

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: PAUL MURPHY <paulannemurphy at rogers.com>
> Date: March 3, 2023 at 8:06:59 PM MST
> Subject: 5 Poems
> 
> 
> 
> From: Kev Anderson <andersonkev at hotmail.com>
> 
> 
> Paul
> Thanks for sending Brian’s treatise on the one year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.  I started to read it on my phone, but as Brian suggests, it was too much to read that way. I will need a larger screen and look forward to getting deeper into his thought process and research.
> 
> I am about to publish another book and thought I would include a few of the poems I wrote this week that will be included. They also deal with the insanity of this war - also with Lent - and the Paschal mystery.  
> 
> Perhaps they’ll speak to some. I hope so. 
> 
> Apparently yesterday was world book day. I just dropped off about 100 old hard bound books to Wastewise for Suzanne.  She had kept these books for decades on the shelves in our front room and had decided to give them away; she has recently been giving lots of her things away - finding it liberating to let go of her stuff - clothes and books and all sorts of paraphernalia - just glad that others might use them - and lessening her clutter quota. 
> 
> Speaking of books, as I mentioned, I’m in the final editing stages of putting together my next book of poetry which I hope to publish in a couple of weeks  
> 
> It will likely be titled:
> “Winter Wonderland: 
> Pathways Toward Easter
> Paradigms of the Paschal Mystery”
> 
> If you read the poems I wrote this week, you’ll get a sense of what the book is about.
> 
> I still have not given them titles so I will just number them. 
> Peace
> Kevin
> 
> 
> Poem 1
> Nature teaches that death is always
> The only way of being born again
> 
> Only by giving life
> Only by giving away the old
> Can something new be awakened
> 
> This is the wonder and mystery 
> Hiding in plain sight
> 
> In all things 
> and all life
> 
> We are meant to have an ending
> So there can be a new beginning 
> 
> The only path to wholeness and holiness
> The only path toward creativity 
> The only way we are made into a new creation …
> 
> Comes in the crazy act 
> of surrendering 
> of death 
> of relinquishing and letting go
> of everything
> 
> This is the mystery revealed in everything
> 
> The truth of all genesis
> Of all generativity
> Of all creative power and poetry
> The truth behind all the generations 
> that have brought life to this earth
> and this world
> 
> The simple obvious fact
> The simple loving act
> 
> That we live to give
> And give to live
> 
> And through that generosity
> Everything becomes possible
> 
> It’s always the same story
> 
> We are here because of generosity
> All life is born out of generosity
> All generations are generated out of generosity
> 
> Genesis is always about generosity
> 
> The paschal mystery is about generosity
> 
> Family is an incarnation of generosity
> 
> All our relationships exist as wondrous expressions of generosity
> 
> Art is generosity
> 
> Prayer and silence and patience in times of turmoil and terror is generosity
> 
> Facing the unknown with courage and faith and resolve is generosity 
> 
> All things that are made new
> The seasons and reasons for our being
> Our children and their future children
> Are born out of generosity
> 
> Surrendering and offering ourselves
> to a higher power 
> and a higher purpose
> 
> Is generosity
> 
> And so we lay down 
> Our lives
> Our ego and pride
> Our agendas and plans
> Our attachments and our comforts 
> 
> These are all passages
> of becoming and succumbing 
> of entering and exiting
> into the dance of generosity 
> that is the heart of the paschal mystery
> 
> It is all
> genesis and generosity
> 
> Dying to self
> 
> So that others might simply live
> 
> And
> It is of course 
> The only recipe for love
> For redeeming our world and ourselves
> 
> Poem 2
> A year of war
> more measures of hesitation
> hegemony and hedge funds
> 
> ensuring
> more money
> more oil
> more weapons
> flow in staccato waves of desecration
> controlled destruction 
> inevitable devastation
> 
> It is madness 
> postponing the inevitable
> expecting time 
> to magically heal the wounds
> 
> War cannot protect markets
> and the pristine state 
> of the status quo
> while at the same time
> pretending and posturing
> to promote stability
> or protect security
> or provide safety
> for people and planet
> 
> Hubris and hostility
> is folly
> is wishful fantasy
> is denial and delusion 
> 
> Employing half hearted measures 
> Postponing action
> Condoning threats
> Delaying our response 
> 
> It’s the same rationale 
> multiplied countless times 
> around the world
> dealing with crisis and change
> 
> Like the climate emergency
> 
> Let’s set far off targets
> delay serious measures
> do the minimum
> appear we care
> when our lacklustre bluster
> our lack of resolve 
> our inaction 
> ensures that the crisis will intensify
> and ensures
> for the sake of money and markets
> that our half measures 
> will be too little 
> and too late 
> to prevent serious calamity
> to avoid inevitable death and devastation
> 
> all to protect the wheel of fortune 
> that enriches the rich 
> and devastates the poor
> 
> This war
> is one of many
> in a series 
> of cascading acts of desperation
> as our world realizes
> that the clock on unlimited growth 
> is ticking down
> the days of oil and gas and war
> fueling an out of control economy
> are coming to an end
> 
> We can no longer suck dry the marrow
> the life blood of the planet
> to fuel our maniacal wars
> and insatiable greed
> 
> this ignorant and crazy trajectory inevitably and undoubtedly 
> will destroy us
> 
> debilitate nature
> 
> cause massive human suffering
> 
> death
> migration
> poverty
> and irreparable harm
> 
> The delusion
> that money and markets 
> are worth saving
> but not people or nature
> is lunacy
> 
> Putting the economy 
> before the planet 
> that is source of all life
> is craziness
> 
> We are living in the twilight zone 
> 
> Maximizing profits 
> on the last reserves
> of nonrenewable energy
> at the expense 
> of nations
> of people 
> of the climate exploding
> 
> well I guess it’s no stretch to suggest
> that our mixed up priorities
> and procrastinations
> 
> will be our undoing
> 
> Poem 3
> There was a story in the papers last year:
> an older Ukrainian women
> stood up to Russian soldiers
> cursing their carelessness
> and offered them sunflower seeds 
> to take home and plant
> 
> The sunflower is Ukraine’s national flower 
> 
> Sunflower
> sun power
> shine a light 
> on hope
> courage
> integrity
> truth
> leadership
> beauty
> especially in dark times
> 
> Let not the wars
> hates
> divisions
> calamities and cruelties of others
> dissipate 
> our faith in love
> our care
> our service
> our compassion 
> our will 
> to offer healing and forgiveness
> and if need be
> our lives
> 
> as witness to the belief 
> that love conquers all 
> 
> If not today
> then as a seed for tomorrow
> 
> In the end it will be the crazy dreamers
> the daft and delirious storytellers
> 
> the flower children and flower grannies
> 
> the poets
> prophets
> protesters
> painters
> priests and people of conscience
> 
> the word warriors
> and seed planters
> the myth makers
> the artists 
> and teachers
> 
> whose calls for justice 
> whose pronouncements for peace
> 
> will rally
> reinstate
> reunite
> reimagine
> resuscitate
> rejuvenate
> replenish 
> and renew our faith 
> in the human spirit and imagination
> 
> This is the spiritual revolution 
> and resurrection promised 
> by all the great teachers
> 
> It is being born in us already
> if we just believe
> if we can just surrender
> 
> If we can only love
> 
> Poem 4
> I believe grace is freely given
> Lent to us for a season
> For a reason
> That we might serve others 
> 
> Yet 
> I suspect more and more
> it is casually and callously 
> refused and reduced 
> to false piety
> then forgotten
> so that nothing really changes
> 
> Like the convenience of cheap energy
> like our excuses and excesses
> and ongoing extraction 
> of oil and gas
> of fracking and sacking the environment 
> of depleting rivers and reservoirs
> of maintaining coal and nuclear power
> and our staining nature with dirty energy
> 
> pretending 
> this is somehow morally neutral
> 
> refusing to see
> what is driving us
> to the brink
> as we sink 
> as we fail to think 
> about becoming extinct
> 
> Because
> we prefer to ignore the inconvenient fact
> that our greed and convenience 
> is behind
> all the insanity 
> fueling war
> fueling inequality and injustice 
> fueling the climate crisis 
> 
> We are now in Lent
> 
> It’s a time for reflecting and relinquishing
> It’s a time for naming and framing 
> our excesses 
> our addictions
> 
> It’s a time for us to repent and realize
> we are too fat
> too entitled
> too addicted
> too greedy
> to even recognize
> our complicity in our own demise
> 
> How delusional to pay homage
> But not to pay attention 
> Having no real intention
> To pay for our sins
> To pay for our inattention
> To pay the real price
> For our addictions and appetites
> Meanwhile, knowing they are killing us
> 
> Even as we make more excuses to pig out
> to live every day as Mardi Gras
> ignoring Lent
> our need to repent
> 
> and so 
> we miss the chance to change
> and so 
> we refuse Easter
> 
> This means 
> we choose to lose
> to borrow from tomorrow 
> with no intention 
> of really paying our debts
> (not today anyway)
> 
> preferring our deferring
> deflecting and disrespecting
> letting tomorrow 
> take care of tomorrow
> rejecting both the cross 
> and the resurrection 
> 
> We like to pray:
> “forgive us our trespasses
> forgive us our debts”
> 
> But
> what we mean to say
> amidst our delay 
> is that it’s okay
> if every day 
> especially today
> that others may
> be forced to pay
> for our debts
> and our regrets
> 
> Because
> we don’t want to pay the real price
> of forgiveness 
> of salvation 
> of healing 
> of conversion and change
> 
> We recall the words 
> of the child of God
> while dying on the cross 
> who stays and prays:
> “forgive them
> they know not 
> what they do”
> 
> But
> like the idiots who crucified him
> we fail to acknowledge 
> our culpability and responsibility 
> in creating the crisis 
> that leads to war and hate 
> and the killing of our family
> and of our planet
> 
> All because 
> we remain 
> the trespassers
> and the addicts
> who refuse to confront the disease 
> that is suffocating us all
> 
> we are the unaware 
> we are the unapologetic sinners
> whose transgressions 
> are ravaging
> ruining
> raping the planet
> 
> We like to blame others
> 
> Let’s deflect our responsibility
> Let’s reject our culpability
> Let’s protect our deniability
> Let’s select a scapegoat
> 
> Let others pay for our neglect
> 
> Professing the convenient lie …
> I’m not personally responsible 
> for war
> for famine
> for social collapse
> 
> No 
> that’s on other’s shoulders
> let them carry that cross
> 
> But 
> the real reason 
> we don’t want to connect the dots
> the real charade behind 
> the excuses we employ
> to ignore our impact 
> to keep the status quo intact
> to ensure we don’t overreact
> is because the present system 
> has benefited us
> 
> Yes
> we enjoy capitalism 
> and cheap oil
> and money 
> and markets 
> predicated on cheap transport 
> and sweatshop labor
> 
> Because
> pretending and intending
> our acceptance
> our tacit approval 
> has no serious consequences
> no serious flaws
> ensures nothing really changes
> 
> And so
> contending that by defending
> this military industrial complex 
> this creepy superiority complex
> this mental disease
> this broken system
> that benefits 
> the unaware and unapologetic 
> we maintain 
> we are not part of the problem
> 
> Yet
> this is the moment
> for awakening 
> this is the propitious moment
> this is the moment for needed change
> for conversion 
> for wisdom
> 
> Now is the time to say
> 
> Now is the time to pay
> 
> to pay for our transgressions 
> to pay for our tardiness
> to pay it forward
> 
> and to pay the heavy price
> for our salvation
> 
> No more wars!  
> No more oil!  
> No more slave labor!  
> No more taking what does not belong to us! 
> 
> No more excess!
> No more half measures!
> half diets!
> half hearted reforms!
> 
> No more fear!
> and cowardice!
> and reticence!
> 
> Now
> we know
> the waves of refugees
> of migrant workers
> of those forced to flee war
> and poverty
> and ecological devastation 
> 
> This will not end 
> until we are all willing
> to take on our own shoulders 
> the responsibility and remedy
> for the inequality
> indifference 
> and injustice 
> that has benefited us
> 
> We must absorb 
> the cost of our excesses
> comforts 
> and conveniences
> slam down the brakes 
> on our runaway economy
> fueled by greed and dirty energy
> 
> It’s time for “lent”
> 
> All we have 
> has been lent us
> given and borrowed and offered
> for healing
> for others 
> for love
> 
> It is time for medicine
> for abstinence 
> for healing 
> for humility and simplicity
> yes to live more simply
> that others might simple live!
> 
> Poem 5
> The dark night 
> The desert
> The neutral zone
> The time betwixt and between and before 
> The waiting room for transformation
> The long pregnant pause
> 
> It’s that place and time 
> between opening and closing
> 
> It’s the seed aloft in the air 
> Not yet planted and not yet a plant
> 
> Not life or death
> But pure potential and possibility
> 
> Every day and breath and journey
> Tells the same story
> Contains the same pattern and passage
> Reflects and intersects the same design
> The same creation and relation
> The same arc and spark
> 
> Of divine emanation
> Of spiritual emancipation
> Of informing and infusing incarnation
> 
> Not only night or day 
> Not merely dark or light
> But the mix and matrix and moment 
> of dawn or dusk
> of sunrise and moonlight
> of twilight and the faint glimmering 
> of the new day yet to be born
> 
> And of course it’s no surprise
> this tender, tenuous and fading moment
> often gone in an instant 
> often is the most beautiful to witness
> 
> My breath in and out 
> Is a metaphor 
> For receiving and relinquishing 
> The in and out flow of my spirit
> 
> Yet always at the end and beginning
> Of my exhaling and my inhaling
> There is a pause 
> There is a waiting 
> There is a moment
> When I am nothing 
> 
> Every story has a beginning and end
> 
> But the drama is in the middle 
> The learning is in the yearning
> 
> The journey is not about destinations
> Nor about origins
> 
> It’s about discovery
> And wonder 
> and waiting 
> and whispers
> 
> Life and death are seen everywhere
> 
> It’s only resurrection that demands faith
> 
> It’s what we can’t see
> What is not obvious
> Not known
> Not understood
> That calls and beckons us to mystery
> 
> In essence there are only two seasons
> In everyone’s life story
> 
> Two ages and stages
> 
> Of beginnings and endings
> 
> Of life and death
> 
> The barren time
> The bearing fruit time
> 
> Winter and summer
> bleakness and blossoming
> 
> The rise and the fall
> The mountains and valleys
> The heights and depths
> 
> But there are also 
> those times between
> Of letting go and letting become
> Of fall and spring
> Of entering and leaving
> Of climbing and descending
> Of journeying and wandering
> Of not knowing the way
> 
> And those between times
> Which are often the most arduous
> Are often times the most glorious
> 
> Wait for it
> It’s not yet here
> It’s coming
> It’s the mystery of grace at work
> It’s the laboring time that can’t be rushed
> It’s the pregnancy and poignancy
> Of giving birth to something new
> 
> 
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