Heaven Our Home

Heaven Our Home
Hinged through this temporary time
Into the larger chapter of this life of mine

Rooms
Some large, some small
Their size representing blocks of years
Measured by clock and calendar
Mechanized through laughter and tears

I am alone
In this grand home
Rooms vacant of any furnishings
I just left God's throne

This mansion's beauty indescribable
Opulent with ocean view
Fountains spray rainbows on lengthy lawn
On winding path with subtle dew
This is not my lifetime home
But the one my Savior gave form

Here come those I was expecting
There are those who followed
And those that preceded
Me through the Gates of Heaven

They are all carrying a treasured possession
I did not expect this
Jesus leads the placement directions
Stories are shared
Telling the details of the furnishing birth
Fashioned by the moments we shared on earth
Each guest blesses
With laughter, embrace, and kiss

All are accounted for
And now I meet more
Generations of family who interceded
Before the Author of Life
Their prayers carried us all
Through rooms full of strife
Who seeing our worst inclinations
Prayed for us as a united family nation

The list of sur names
Boucher and Kaeterle, Costa
Suprenant, Sowalskie, Michaud
Martin, Gomes and Andrews
Guana, Dearing and Harris
And others still

All of us living with Jesus
This is a thrill
All of us having come through refiners fire
Are beautiful and meant to inspire
Each tear has been wiped from
Crying and laughing cheeks

Our Redeemer
The architect of this Mansion reunion
Invites us to sit,
We share communion
No more tears
For all of us are home
Heaven is now the place
We get to roam

50 Washington Square

The Personification of 50 Washington Square

Yellow brick skin, and marble stair bones

Conscience watched by a prince of the street

He is depicted in recycled art,

Sitting on the wall doing his part 

Shadows of soldiers and sailors

Adorn its historic walls

Mother's sons did more than their share

Lungs in a shaft that sniff the Newport sea, 

But breath Broadway blues neighborhood air

Frames of all shapes and sizes

Circulate through veins

Of its living corridors

Each man and woman

A life sized cell and more

Its hands belong to

Working men, and fisherman

Cooks, cleaners, and CNAs

Its creative mind belongs to

Painter, bakers, music makers

Seers and poets, writers of verse

Its thoughts heard through

Lips and on tongues

Of those who converse

This yellow brick body

One building, with three addresses

Has its very own Oz

Who has protected it from

Those who do not understand

This building
Is a vital organ

In Newport's larger life

Why would you need to protect

What is vital to life in our city

A place where all are greeted with a smile,

Shared laughter or handshake

Well you see

It has housed many

Who did time

Others have illness of mind

There are those that fight addiction's monkey

Others whose dress is more than funky

And of course some who ask tourist for money

It's personality wide and winding

Like it's artful banister

Three addresses one building

For the soul of folks who

May need a hand

4 Farewell,

Where no one need say good bye forever

15 Meeting,

The place for a roof top BBQ

50 Washington Square

The shape that will

Help if you come 'round

Its architectural excellence

Adds to the hospitality

The heart beat of the building

Sits in the directors seat

Looked over by a service man's Mom

Who gave life to that heart

And commissioned a building form

Where living art is the norm

Janis Girls

To all those Janis girls 
Who wake up with curls 
Loving curls is your way to go.

Life is too short 
To be measured by vanity insanity 
From those who try to control

Beauty is beauty 
Found in every sister and brother we see
Because it is ourselves 
We are trying to be!

So put on a tee shirt
Mini skirt
Or a dress to your feet or your knees
Because it is the you in you 
That you are trying to please

Life is too short 
Not to convort 
With living from inside to out

Be you mild or wild 
There is nothing so freeing as finding your own kind of shout!
So dance and sing
Like one who left us too early
And jiggle and giggle 
No matter the size of your belly
You’re Janis girls 
So take that whirl 
Braless and breathless with your morning honey!
She would tell to live and to play
All that you can 
While it bright and sunny!

I Dream a Dream Beyond Myself

I Dream a Dream Beyond Myself

My Life is more than a Single Volume Pulled from as Shelf

Yes, It is Bound, It has a Beginning and an End

But it is also to Connected to what has Gone Before and what Lies Ahead

There are other Volumes that tell My Story too

Stories of Men whose Voices I still hear in my head

Some I heard, others simply Echo through time.

Their influence only felt in the lives that influenced mine

There are Women too, Their Essence, their Smell lingers with the Turning of each Page,

Maybe it is a Recipe or a Craft I embraced and thought was our own along the way,

But it was really a Gift passed down by a Still Watching Sage

They Compel me, in the routine of my day, to write on the pages of lives who are still on

the way

I dream a dream beyond myself, my life is not a single volume just pulled from a shelf

Life Cycle of Truth

The Life Cycle of Truth

Truth is conceived in living imagination

Nurtured in creation's imitation

Heard in ears of revelation

Born through the womb of expectation

Strengthened in recitation of generations

Taught in the mind of consideration

Lived by tradition's reputation

Weakened in language deregulation

Buried for cause of atrophication

Lost in the dust of institutionalization

Discover in archaeological restoration

Reborn for new interpretation

Truth there finds revitalization

Hillbilly Cajun Canuck

Dedicated to Too Many Dead People

Hillbilly Cajun Canuck
To me they all got that
Same kind of look

Work hard to pay your way
When you're done
Then it is time to play

Many did time with Uncle Sam
In order to feel right
You got to serve the land

Hillbilly Cajun Canuck
To me they all got that
Same kind of look

If you fight
Get hurt
Don't give a damm
Sometimes you just
Gotta throw hands

Never minded
Paying my own way
Got that job
Intended to stay
I gave you my back
You gave me the wave

Left in the city
Factory gone
Ain't educated but
I am young and I am strong
Easy to see
The Man did me wrong

Hillbilly Cajun Canuck
To me they all got that
Same kind of look

What to do with my time
Maybe I will cop a dime
Pick up a pint and few beers
All I got to kill
Is years

That pint turns into a quart
Lost my crib
No place to squat
Now on probation and parole
On some kind of devil roll

Doctor gave me oxy for
Factory back
The odds against me
They are stacked
The needle and the damage done
In a coffin
I am laying flat

Hillbilly Cajun Canuck
To me they all got that
Same kind of look

Seasons

Watering the grass
Knowing it is going to rain
Doing what you always did
Though the elements have changed

Life is tolerated
In the same old routine
Wisdom recognizes
When seasons switch scenes

Are you shovelling sand
Acting like it is snow
Are you sticking around
When it is time to go

Are you raking leaves
Through puddles of mud
Living in fear
Is really a drug

A summer heat wave
Is not made for igloos

Don't blow up your spot
For confusion of reason
There is a perfect place
In all of your seasons