Invitation

Love, the mist
chills this morning.

The season turns;
the cold returns.

How I miss the warmth
of your nearness.

Come to me.

Spark a fire in my arms.

We will burn together,
slowly melting
one into the other.

Consume me until,
reduced to embers
and ashes,
our flesh becomes
one mingled jumble
of spent desire.

Then, love,
we will rest
and glow,
snug against
this raw morning,
together.

Two bodies;
two hearts;
one being.
- mce

Today's Economic Outlook

Broke,
busted,
tapped out,
destitute.

Once again
I have
no money.

Once more,
I don't care.

Too bad
my stomach
and creditors
do.

Oh well,
let them wait.

Money,
like women
or luck,
shows up
in its own
good time.

Patience,
my thin
little wallet.

You will
be fed again
directly.

Meantime,
chew on
a bit of faith.
- mce

On Waking Again Alone

Love, the day dawns bleak
and still you are not come.
My wars have ended
and I have time and heart
to offer your living presence.
Peace brings no respite
without the mammal warmth
of your human flesh,
the soothing caress
of your singular spirit.
Love, do not dawdle.
The morning has broken
and my arms are empty.
Arrive. Fill them. Fill me.
- mce

Bless You, Wolfy

Funny that a
somewhat creepy
fat little Austrian,
218 years dead,
remains the only voice
in the world
that can always
restore my spirit
when the joy
has seeped out
of my life.

Somehow, he caught
the sounds
of God laughing
and weeping,
and transcribed them
into human music
that I might obtain
the vibrations
of divinity,
the melodies
of holiness,
the intensity
of nexus
centuries later,
even in this silent
Tennessee cabin
on a dismal
gray morning.

The women
who said no,
the debts,
disappointments
and dashed dreams
mean nothing now.

Your suffering
transcended it all.

One clear stream
of universal beauty
flowing down the years,
allaying doubt,
renewing hope,
caressing mortal ears.
- mce

Other Voices

Sometimes the silence
in my life
whispers, you're lucky.
Sometimes the silence
in my life
whimpers, you're lonely.
From moment to moment
I never know
which voice it will be.
- mce

"God is alive; Magic is afoot" - Leonard Cohen

Prelude

Lift your sweet eyes, Love.

I want to enjoy
the beauty of your heart
dancing within them.

Such wondrously
graceful steps
your heart takes.

If only I might dance
that dance forever.

Lift your sweet eyes, Love.

Let the dance begin.
- mce

Joy

Coffee and Mozart,
sunshine and birdsong;
grace abounds,
a new day beckons.

So many proofs
that God smiles
lie close at hand.

Delicious creation,
uncertain life:
gifts to unwrap,
blessings to enjoy.
- mce

A Personal Note

This is my little son, Richard. Not so little anymore, tomorrow he leaves for Marquette University and a very, very bright future. Although he hasn't spoken to me in three years, I love him dearly and my heart goes with him.

Go get it, Bear! Study hard, play hard, enjoy life. Even at its worst, it is a gift. I know you will knock them dead.

Love you forever, Dad.

Our Private Mystery Cult

Love, you make
me tremble.

There is marvel
in that movement.

I do not ever wish
to be merely still
in the presence
of your body, your spirit.

Stir me and wake me;
raise me to a new state
of feeling and knowing,
both scary and lovely.

Allow me the pleasure
of our souls touching,
quivering, merging,
one from two,
two in one.

When I am near you,
I want to become
a holy, knight-errant
slaying impossible dragons
only because you are
in the world
for me to please,
only because
you make me tremble.
- mce

Blueberry Autumn

The blueberry patch,
subtly altered now,
exhibits gentle variations
in hue and tone,
its character maturing.

The plants, once
sharp summer green
are softened;
the swaying tufts
hint at gold
whispering softly
of fall and beyond.

Change, irresistible
and splendid,
infuses creation and life
with new meanings
and possibilities,
rendering days to come
numinous with delights
as yet unknown.

The path leads
always onward,
but it never remains
the same path.

Love the world
in front of you.

Take joy
in your passage.

Keep moving.
- mce

The Buddha

"Work out your own salvation with diligence."

On Rough Patches - for JLB

"The only questions that really matter
are the ones you ask yourself."
- Ursula K. Le Guin

For some of us
God provides
a long list
of questions
and a short list
of answers.

Our work,
the real work,
the only work
that matters,
is filling
in those blanks.

A hard blessing,
but a blessing,
still.
- mce

Let My Eyes Discover The Beauty Of Your Heart

Tennessee Prayer

Lord:

Let me be
where I am.

Make me
like the soil
of this obscure
Tennessee valley,
known to few,
but verdant, fertile
and alive.

Let my life grow up,
like these local,
yearning plants,
into the embrace
of your patient glory.

Let me live
in the greenness
of your creation
as a simple man,
free, but found.

Let me finally be
where I finally am.
- mce

Insomniac Celebration

It is 2 AM.
I am still breathing.
Admittedly,
that's not much;
but sometimes,
it's enough.
- mce

Don't Wipe Off That Lipstick...

Flowers
are God's kisses
made visible
on the face
of creation.
- mce

An Imaginary Toad Considers A Real Garden

I do not create poems
from fancy or for fun,
but to engender reality.

Stories I tell
about stories
I have been told,
or told myself.

All the more real
for being imaginary.
- mce

Another Odd Prayer

It's Sunday morning, God.

Why don't you show
a little initiative
and put in an appearance.

There is coffee
and the deck awaits.

I can't do this
all alone, you know.
- mce

A Necklace Of Tears

Love, my loneliness
is a necklace of diamonds
wrought from the crystal
of my soul's tears.
Take it, wear it, transform it.
I long to admire
the work of my pain
remade into beauty
sparkling at your neck.
Not much of a gift,
but all I have to offer.
- mce

Day Late; Dollar Short

My extravagant heart
has pulled me
to the threshold
of heaven.
On that mountain
I stand and peer
into the green
and water
of the promised land.
But mortal body
cannot serve;
I remain, always,
one step short;
only in death
to cross over.
- mce

Febrility

Waking at 6 am
from troubled dreams
with a light fever
and odd chills.

Rarely ill,
this catches me
off guard.

Coffee doesn't help
and soon I lie
on the porno couch
caught and drifting
in a disturbed trance.

Vanished children
missed chances,
lost loves,
current fears
dancing in my
febrile brain
like hungry ghosts
distorted as in
a fun house mirror.

Where has the strength
of my youth gone?

What is this aging body
trying to tell me?

Reality, hard enough;
I have no wish
to see beyond it.

Keep your visions, God,
I don't want to know.

Just make me well;
restore me to the day.

Let me see clearly
and move on.

All I can take,
anymore.
- mce

Why Not Me?

I used to dream of true love
forever and ever.
Now I dream of one true heart
to share mine
for what time remains.
Forever and ever
reside only in this moment.
True love is just a name,
at best a portal,
the opening of a door.
Two hearts that touch and blend:
love true enough, and more.
- mce

Love The Ones You're With

Forgiving strangers
who have hurt strangers
is a cheap luxury.
Forgiving those close
who have hurt us,
an expensive necessity.
The truth reveals itself
clearest in suffering.
The hard path,
often the best path.
But oh how difficult
to take those first steps.
- mce

The Remains Of A Life

I walk in the world
with empty hands,
a man stripped bare
by madness and rage.
All that I am,
and all I can be,
is this human man,
what is left of me.
- mce

Worth The Risk...

To reject compassion,
a path of great danger:
hard hearts, in the end,
are prone to break.
- mce

Considering Another Job Interview

Job: work done for money,
to pay the mortgage,
to keep the wife and kids happy.

Vocation: what sustains you,
done for the love of it,
the pure craft of the doing.

Job: external, coercive,
necessary only for lucre,
status, accumulation, dross.

Vocation: internal, freely chosen,
necessary for your heart,
creative, affirming, alive.

The singer who sings
freely and from the soul
creates beauty
and informs the world;
the drudge who labors
for sustenance and stuff
murders time
and deadens reality.

What we do
paints the portrait
of who we are.

Real work brightens being;
useless work darkens the heart.

Choose carefully.
- mce

There Must Be Somekind Of Way Out Of Here...

Hurt is human.
Anger is human.
Hatred is human.
But, to be hurt,
to be angry,
and to hate
forever
is inhuman.
Worse, it is cowardly.
It allows you to avoid
the source of suffering.
It denies compassion
by forever removing
its possible object.
It puts you in a prison
where you become
your own jailer.
Face your fear,
return to your pain,
and be set free.
The way is never to,
it is always through.
- mce

Spring Creek Morning

Hope is the glue
that holds life together.
Everything broken
can be repaired
for a little while yet.
So wake up, get up,
paste the loose parts
back together,
and continue on.
- mce

Tennessee Via Hell

The end
of a journey:
not as important
as the journey
to that end.
- mce

Surprise!

I hated the woman
I spent my life with
so much and so long
that my anger
consumed itself
and gave birth
to compassion.
This came to me
as a great surprise.
- mce

Not That I don't Love You...

If I knew who
my readers are,
I would buy
them all a beer,
but I don't,
so I won't.
- mce

But Look Closely...

The rain falls,
the air sweetens,
the earth lies
wet and lovely.
Every humble
happening
contains a beauty
it longs to reveal.
- mce

Casual Sex

Nothing
wrong with it.

Everybody
wants it.

The young
deserve it.

Only, after a point,
you realize that
you don't need it
and that taking
what you don't need,
can interfere
with getting what
you do need.

And that, as the
old, but true
cliche points out,
makes for
a whole new
ball game.
- mce

An Odd Sort Of Prayer

So tell me God,
isn't divinity
ever boring?
Don't you tire
of being distant,
unapproachable,
and worshipped?
Isn't it lonely?
Don't you ever wish
you could have
a burger,
sip a beer,
just hang out
and bullshit?
If you ever
get the notion,
let me know.
I'd be happy
for the company.
- mce

Nothing is Free

If you could,
honestly and clearly,
see those
who have hurt you,
those you hate,
can you be certain
that your hatred
would still apply?

Or would you face
wholly new individuals,
unrecognizable,
deserving from you
another reckoning,
a second chance
at your heart's opinion?

If that be true,
what stops you
from offering them
that second chance
now?

Pride? Fear?
Uncertainty?

Clarity comes
at the price
of compassion.

Pay it now
or pay it later,
but pay it you will.
- mce

A Good Old Fashioned Country Ass-Whupping

Thinking myself invincible,
I tried to break the world.

Instead, the world broke me.

Surprise!

Sometimes, to learn humility
requires taking a beating.

The pain doesn't matter;
what you learn through it does:

be wary of pride;

you are not as strong
as you imagine;

no one is immune
to reality.

Getting my ass kicked,
the only way for me
to know these things:

the price I always pay
for being a slow learner.
- mce

A Matter of Perspective

Every step taken
contains the possibility
of an adventure,
when seen with
the heart and eyes
of an explorer.
- mce

Grace Abounds

"To be alive is to be broken;
to be broken is to stand in need of grace."
- Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Grace often arrives
in disguise:
work, friends,
a shared meal
or quiet drink
on a deck at dusk.

Pay attention.

Listen with your heart.

Live to learn.

Accept the gifts given
even when they hurt.

Grace abounds.

God's voice never falters,
only we do.
- mce

The Uses of Anguish

Do not dismiss your suffering lightly.
God allows pain to enable learning.
He hands you the hammer of distress
and says, the tool you need
has been given into your hands:
be like the carpenter, build a new world.
- mce

A Sabbath Poem

Steady my heart, Lord.

This day is long
and my pain is great.

Show me the path
to your better tomorrow.

Lead me away
from self-destruction
and self-doubt.

I know there is a way,
but today,
I can't find the way.

Show me
the peace that abides
in your grace.

Open the gate
that leads to peace.
- mce

Supplication

Give me the strength
to be a better man
in this new place,
to accept my past
and build a future.

You have shown me
the truth in suffering
and I have learned
many bitter lessons,
your word manifest
in many scars.

Show me the way
to truth in joy.

My arms and heart
are open.

I believe I am ready.
- mce