yellow house on Lyndale
stucco, warm and bright
sits upon a steep incline
surveying what’s in sight
so much the canary
who knows its song is best
saffron hut, in maple glow
a perfect golden nest
I can feel its windows
regard me on its lane
I wonder what it tallies
of my upward lasting gaze
perhaps it deems I don’t belong
on Lyndale long agleam
a borrower of sidewalk views
address pretend and dream
but I suspect it honors me
this girl who marks its worth
stucco, warm and yellow house
perched in light and earth

“We do not want merely to see beauty… we want something else which can hardly be put into words- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.” – CS Lewis

image: painting by Mark Rothko

contact fail
and we so frail
a jar reduced to rubble
so incensed
we sink the mess
to utter inane muddle
the thing is though
I love you foe
and quarrels matter not
compared my friend
to spirit’s mend
the gold that good begot

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Philippians 4:23

image: book cover art from Mended by Angie Smith

the odd kid at the bus stop
drops his backpack in the grass,
sorta with defiance,
but not really, not actually.
do you know him?
he gets quite near my space.
odd comments, odd questions.
where is his mother?
I’m on his side,
but I feel awkward
pretending it’s not awkward
(though I try).
home
we
go,
me and my kid,
and the odd kid
circles the bus stop awhile longer.
friday (or was it monday?),
we saw him on the corner
as we drove by in our car.
he smiled and waved,
sunny like, funny like,
as if we were his people
and he was ours.
or maybe he didn’t, not actually,
but I saw him that way
that day
he being he, not odd at all,
and me
not awkward.

For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. – Samuel 16:7b

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2

images: School Boy with Backpack, by Karen Ahuja; magic 4 walls wallpaper anime