Clinging

November 9

CLINGING

Large bugs cling to the soffits, upside down, as an alternative to the rain soaked landscape.  I salute their efforts to find security in a shrinking list of possible locations.  Awkward situations place me, fingertips and toenails holding position, trying to avoid life’s harsher choices.  Bitter, chilling options are cheerful alternatives to no options at all.  I can take the difficult positions as an advantage.  I have survived and this is the goal of the game.  I am here come what may.  I make the best of the worst times so God can help me make the best of the best times.

Turn with the tide.

*

Picture Window

When God sticks His face in my window it brightens my day.

What that shining face looks like in other windows I do not know,

but I try to memorize the eyes, the brow, the winning smile

before my time is up and the wind shifts.

The flash of a friendly face lights up the house,

my yard, the corners of my soul.

I imbibe the rich glow before it moves on,

letting my core charge with incandescence, warming my mettle.

I am long and longing for this happy countenance

and only when the blocks tumble in my mind

do I realize that it is two- way glass in that window

and stick my face in it and offer it to God.

You are reading selections from Sober on the Way to Sane and More Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault

http://www.amazon.com/Sober-On-The-Way-Sane/dp/1440417342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576888&sr=8-1&keywords=sober+on+the+way+to+sane

http://www.amazon.com/More-Lines-From-My-Life/dp/1448677203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576956&sr=8-1&keywords=More+Lines+From+My+Life

Wild

September 23

WILD

When I run wild through the rain my hair streaming behind me, water fleeing my face, I see with my heart the thousand other rains pouring from my past.  How I peel from me the soaking luggage covering my naked pain.  Nothing drives me to the cozy retreat of my bed like the humid chill of an early fall drizzle.  I slip my trembling skin between the comfort and the comforter, flex my toes, towel my hair, wipe scenes of lost love from my pale, pale soul.  Leaves rush my gutters, clog my mind.  I see the change in me as I turn heel to heel, trees spinning bare in a blank wet world.  I know this ever relived fluid, this recycled life.

Interest yourself.

*

What is Dear?

I am angry that I was taught I must hold on for dear life

instead of being taught that life is dear,

but they couldn’t teach me what they didn’t know

and couldn’t know what they had not discovered for themselves.

I wish I had learned earlier

to love the life I was taught to cling to,

but I am grateful I have been bound to life

long enough to find the joy in it.

I have found that knowing joy

causes me to cling all the more,

cling in sweetness to what was once such a bitter task.

I am angry for what I wasn’t taught,

but sadder still for what they didn’t know

and all that is lost in their lives to ignorance and tradition.

I wanted better for them

and they wanted better for me

and this is the circle which closes

around the dear that I hold onto.

Circuit Speaker

October 27

Circuit Speaker

It isn’t until I listen long to the Northside poet that I realize there is such a thing as a Chicago accent. I hear it as I never have before. I don’t hear it in my beloved Rodger, hear only the hope he brings to share. As I get ready to walk to the podium I wish that no one hears the Jersey in my voice only the experience I bring to share.

Dance through the mud then clean off your shoes

*

CLINGING

Large bugs cling to the soffits
Upside down as an alternative
To the rain-soaked landscape
I salute their efforts to find security
In a shrinking list of possible locations.

Awkward situations place my fingertips
And toenails holding positions
Trying to avoid life’s harsher choices.
Bitter, chilling options are cheerful alternatives
To no option at all

I can take the difficult positions as an advantage.
I have survived and this is the goal of the game.
I am here--come what may.
I make the best of the worst times so God can help me
Make the best of the best times.