Sunday, November 27, 2011

My Daughter's Annual Thanksgiving Poem

D's Annual Thanksgiving Poem
(Thanksgiving 2011, 3yrs)

Thanksgiving's about bein'
together, we never sever.

She's makin' pie.
We make pies
and we roast stuff
and we cook.
We don't sigh.

It's about bein' together
and puttin' up stuff
and having fun - that's what
it's really about.

So that's my silly poem.
Pie's the best part.

Raspberry pie
and mashed potato pie,
blueberry pie, sprout pie,
carrot pie is what we eat.

Broccoli pie, muffin pie,
celery pie, turkey pie -
take a seat,
put up your feet.

The turkey's dead,
the turkey's dead, we killed it
with a knife
when we slapped it.

Before it died, it said
No, don't eat me.

You killed the turkey
on Thanksgiving Day.
We put oil on it
and put it in the oven
at eleven degrees.

It gets super hot.

Turkeys wanna eat
turkeys. A whole family
of turkeys sitting
at a table. The second one
gets eaten.

All the turkeys
get eaten - ow, ow, ow,
ow, ow, ow.
Momma Si's the turkey
at our table.

Our turkey has a name,
its name is Momma Si.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Against All Odds, Linus and The Great Pumpkin (Everybody Says Don't)




  


I swear to Gorgonzola, sometimes I AM Linus in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin each year (even on nights OTHER than Halloween), ever believing that THIS will be the year that the GP will see the good deeds I have done, kindnesses I have shown and innocence of my heart, and grace my patch with hir presence. Refusing to give up hope. Against all odds.


Linus is what makes the Great Pumpkin Great. He's the best thing about Hir.
Some people can't be helped. Some people don't wanna be helped.
Some people shouldn't be helped.
Linus shouldn't be "helped," he's just fine and dandy the way he is.
As tired out from all his hard work as he is, he's happy in his state of believing.
Who wouldn't want to be tired out from believing?
Some of us believe in God (I do sometimes, when it's convenient).
Some of us believe in the Great Pumpkin.
If you tell me I'm crazy for believing that the Great Pumpkin will come to my patch,
then all I have to say is this:
Are the odds greater that the God you're praying to will hear your prayers?
I think the odds are greater that my Great Pumpkin will come to my patch in this lifetime
than they are that your God is a a God is a listening
God is a God who will see you on the Other Side.
So let's take our bets or let's not.
You pray to your God, and I'll pray for my Great Pumpkin.
Peace, peace, peace.


Alright, here goes, my little 2011 Thanksgiving Prayer Thingamajig.

I'm grateful for all the love I have had.
I'm grateful for all that I have right here and now.
I'm also grateful for the love I don't now have but that could be on it's way.
I'm grateful for hope. You might call it delusion. That's you.
To ME, it's a perfect hope for a perfectly plausible and more than fathomable destiny.
I keep what I have had, what I now have and what might be
coming all inside me at the same time.
I love and am grateful for love in the zone beyond past-present-future - the zone that is my spirit.
I'm not talking an externalized Heaven, I'm talking about an innate Heaven living inside my being.
If you relate, bless you! If you don't, bless you!
It was/is/will be beautiful in this place right then/now/when.
I'm much better with all that love at once than with only one part.
They don't always come at the same time, but I sure do love it when they do.
I am trying to keep that kind of love alive in me.

If this makes sense to you, you probably feel very good right now (I hope).
This revelation shocks me, but, ahem, I am faithful.
Not to a god or to "God" but to what was/is/will be real to me.
Halleluiah, faithfulness soothes.

Cheers to those of us who persist in waiting for the Great Pumpkin
(or whatever it is we're waiting for/seeking/receiving/accepting).
It's not about whether or not s/he actually comes.
It's about all the love and joy (as well as all the other things) we feel inside, year after year, while we're enjoying ourselves in the pumpkin patch, carrying out all of our ethics and ideals, doing our good deeds in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving to all ye Unrelenting Idealists with loving hearts and believing minds.
Happy Thanksgiving to all ye Disbelievers and Pessimists with loving hearts, just the same.
And Happy Thanksgiving to that Source Beyond
- that Eminent, Intrepid, Elusive Great Pumpkin!!!




Everybody Says Don't (Anyone Can Whistle)

Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't-
It isn't right,
Don't-it isn't nice!
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't walk on the grass,
Don't disturb the peace,
Don't skate on the ice.
Well, I. Say. Do,
I say, Walk on the grass, it was meant to feel!
I Say Sail!
Tilt at the windmill,
And if you fail, you fail.
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says don't get out of line.
When they say that, then
Lady that's a sign:
Nine times out of ten,
Lady, you are doing just fine!

Make just a ripple.
Come on be brave.
This time a ripple,
Next time a wave
Sometimes you have to start small,
Climbing the tiniest wall,
Maybe you're going to fall-
But it is better than not starting at all!
Everybody says no,
Everybody says stop.
Everybody says mustn't rock the boat,
Mustn't touch a thing!
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says wait,
Everybody says can't fight city hall,
Can't upset the cart,
Can't laugh at the king!
Well, I Say Try!
I Say
Laugh at the kings or they'll make you cry.
Lose Your Poise!
Fall if you have to,
But lady, make a noise!
Everybody says don't,
Everybody says can't,
Everybody says wait around for miracles,
That's the way the world is made!
I insist on
Miracles, if you do them,
Miracles - nothing to them!
I say don't,
Don't be afraid!