Poetry
Poetry
#NaPoWriMo 11: The Kidney Stone
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/12/2016 - 11:34After that first wave of pain
was determined to be a kidney stone
friends suggested
I write a poem about it.
Really?
As I took pain relievers
drank gallons of fluids
and the symptoms subsided
I wondered,
“Did the stone break apart
and pass secretly
or do my kidneys contain
a ticking time bomb?”
With the stone dormant
my thoughts shifted
to other concerns
family, finances, and politics,
but still the stone remained
in the back of my mind.
This morning
as I doubled over in pain
beside the toilet bowl
I was reminded
of the suffering in the world
and in my kidney.
#NaPoWriMo 10: Infirmity
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 04/10/2016 - 12:54I didn’t make it to church today
I tried,
but the pain was too great.
I love the story of Ananias
praying for Saul
in Damascus
and I wondered
whom I was supposed to pray for.
I love the story of Jesus
being reveal to the disciples
in the breaking of bread
after the resurrection
and I wondered
what will be revealed to me
today.
I love the story of Peter
saying “Yes, Lord, I love you”
and being told
to feed the sheep.
Who am I supposed to feed today?
But the pain was too great
so I laid down and rested.
When I awoke
it seemed
I could still make it
if I rushed.
But I couldn’t rush
and before I knew it
church was starting
and I wasn’t ready.
Someone else
can sit in the pew today.
Someone else
can greet the visitor.
Someone else
can taste
the body and blood.
Someone else
can pray for the infirm.
Today, I am the infirm
and others are praying for me.
Perhaps
being a person prayed for
is another way
we can serve God.
#NaPoWriMo 9: The Rainbow
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/09/2016 - 20:03Off to the east, the sky is still grey,
and it is probably raining
in the next town over.
The road is still wet
and I’ve set the wipers
to intermittent.
The storm has passed
and in the west
the sun is breaking through.
It is too easy to think in binaries;
rain or shine,
black and white,
but in doing so
we sometimes miss
the beauty of the rainbow.
#NaPoWriMo 8: Road Poem 2
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/09/2016 - 07:29Careening down the interstate
I pass the spirits
of drivers long past
who in their rush
listening to NPR, Springsteen, or Rap
have left their souls behind.
The spirits pause
to drink from the glistening dew
beside the road
carrying their dreams
in handkerchiefs
tied to long sticks
like hobos
of yesteryear.
On my way
to soul crushing work
I wonder
where I’ve left
my spirit
and what I can do
to protect it.
The travel guide of souls
is hidden
in the white washed graffiti
of bridge abutments
where the homeless sleep
and the Gospel of the travelers
once easier to find
in the eyes of waitresses
at the Mom and Pop diners
along the way
are still there
obscured
in the bright plastic light
of fast food joints.
I look for hints in the differing
groves of trees
along the way,
in the sunlight
reflecting off the reservoir
and the giant fluffy clouds
which seem to be
in no rush.
#NaPoWriMo 7: A Digital Aborigine
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 06:36At times I feel like a digital aborigine
showing the digital immigrants
and their offspring,
the new digital natives,
the paths of cyberspace.
At times we come across a fence
one of the digital immigrants has built
obstructing the way
or a new bridge
over a difficult stream
that one of the new digital natives
has put up.
The digital immigrants
long for their analog homeland
distrustful of the ways
of this new world
and their digital offspring
are puzzled
by the nostalgia
for the old
analog ways
of their parents.
I cherish my digital world
as I lovingly show
my newbie friends
the beauties of this place.
I show the digital colonialists
the ways of my world
knowing full well
what happens
to aborigines.
