CAMP HIPPOCAMPUS

      CAMP HIPPOCAMPUS

Remembered what I had forgotten,

then forgot what I had just remembered. 

Time to send the Sea Horse out to pasture,

“Camp Hippocampus,” a well-deserved rest

after many years of first-class service.

I’ll miss her,

but with these neurons by the million,  

each with thousands of synapses,.

how can one be lonely here

in this network of connectivity?

        February 17, 2012

GOD AGAIN

                    GOD AGAIN

 

God is just a guess—

good guess or bad guess? 

wild guess or lucky  guess?

Meister Eckhart said the most beautiful thing

one can say about God is to keep quiet

“from the wisdom of an inner wealth.

So be silent and quit flapping your gums about God.”

 Fortunate for us, he didn’t follow his own advice.,

going on to claim that all the names we give to God

we get from the knowledge of ourselves; 

whereas God, the ineffable one, has no  name.

He alone has isness

and everything created

is nothing in itself . 

God does not dwell in us;

we dwell in Him.

Meister Eckhart was brought before the Inquisition,

and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXI,I.

but he died (or “disappeared”) before a verdict was given. 

Two centuries later, Giordano Bruno wrote

that Divine Mind is not in a “heaven above”

but in every particle of reality.

He, not so fortunate as Meister Eckhart,  

was condemned by the Inquisition and burned at the stake.

Brightly colored birds blossom in the cherry orchard; 

Brahms’ music is rich and warm in its sweetness.

Meister Eckhart stated  that all creation,

 including this brief epiphany, our life,

depends upon God’s love for its existence,

and if we could say but one prayer,

 “Thank You” would be enough.

           March 14, 2012

PERIWINKLE

          PERIWINKLE

  Beauty is not in the blossom

          but in the bed

     so that when one falls

the others hold their heads high

      in periwinkle pride.

        Oh nature, nature,

      learn me your lesson

    that when others leave

        I will not grieve

          but be a lens

              for light

              to touch

             the living.

          June 25, 2004

WEST REQUEST

 WEST REQUEST

Let me go down

with the sun,

and the moon,

and the evening star—

the sun midst  russet and rose,

the moon in radiant gold,

the star in luminous silver.

For they will rise again

in brightest light,

and me miniscule,

I will be with them

unseen but there

infinitesmal  integer  

in the wondrous

oneness of nature.

 March 29, 2012

MORNING SONG

 MORNING SONG

The wild sea oats

Lean yellow gold

In early morning light.

They have no enemy,

Not wind nor sun.

And the faithful sea says,

“Just listen.  Don’t tell me

What I am saying.  Listen,

Listen, and one day you

Will receive my healing word.”

September 20, 2002

WOLF MOON

               WOLF MOON

We missed the moon last night;

something called clouds came between. 

But maybe tonight,

as big and bright,

one day down from gibbous,

we’ll watch in awe the golden wafer

inviting us to hold hands in sibling communion,

which can’t be done with weapons in them. 

Let’s get serious;

it won’t happen on a worldwide scale,

but in a single heart it can,

shedding all animosity

toward that which is other. 

And so our sister sings once more:

 

“Holding on is holding down; 

letting go is lilt of lilac,

blossom of cherry,

is leaving behind

the ticks of time,

the tocks of clocks. 

Letting go

is lifting,

laughing,

flying sans visa,

orbiting

the heart of Being.”

January 30, 2010

ANEW

    ANEW

Erase the board,

clean the slate,

abandon the baggage

that got you here,

new beginning,

peaceful as paradise,

born again,

lifted by light and laughter,

innocent as angels unfallen.

Happy birthday, baby,

      11/2/10

ADAM'S WALL

   ADAM’S WALL

With this wall

we do not grieve

for what no longer is

but celebrate what was:

the joyous gift of life

on temporary loan

from its Creator.

And with this wall

we sing and celebrate what is:

the spirit of these children;

it is alive in the pristine pink of dawn,

in the new blue of every sky,

in the fullness of the moon and

the incandescence of the stars;

their spirit lives in the green growth of spring,

in the rhythmic voice of the sea,

in the song of birds at dawn. 

Their spirit lives in the unwrinkled

skin and flaxen hair of youth,

in the allegretto of children playing in the park.

 

And if we shed a tear today,

it is a tear of gratitude,

gratitude for life, their life.

They live, they live

in the light and laughter

of all that is new,

they live in the now

of nature’s eternal renewal.

Jim Hietter

August, 2004

VIAGRA FALLS

                

  VIAGRA FALLS

From womb to tomb

without and in-between.

Escape that hole you’re in:

it’s not black,

just very, very gray. 

Dance upon the sea,

wearing a moon tiara,

waving a sun baton;

celebrate that slice

of being called life,

and sing, sing, sing:

“Let the dead bury the dead

in their prolonged weekend at Bernie’s,

where the women paint their faces

for men equipped with artificial woodies,

ready when you’re ready,

but not ever-ready—

after four hours

must call the doctor,

the undertaker or

maybe just the tree surgeon.”

                August 10, 2005

                

BEGIN AGAIN

             BEGIN AGAIN

Don’t know where that we went wrong,

but let us now begin again with

light and laughter,

music and merriment,

color and compassion,

ale and alliteration. 

And never more listen

to the serpent with shiny apple

and promises of treasure trove

that turned out to be

Pandora’s box.

      And oh the troubles that ensued!

            February 25, 2012

CAN' T KILL A CHICKEN

 CAN’T KILL A CHICKEN

All gods are man-made,

religions too,

as well as words

such as these,

but nature’s not:

moonlight and sun-source

( we tend to take for granted.)

All gods are man-made,

which is not to say

there is no infinite being—

always was and always will be.

Chances are good—

creation must have a creator

who knows what he’s doing

and his divine mind dwells

in every thing that is.

But don’t listen to me,

me who can’t kill a chicken

but can eat it.

No, listen

to your own

inner voice

deep within,

unscarred

by man’s makings,

the voice of peace

that calls you home.

9/15, 2011

LA MER POSTSCRIPT

 “LA MER” POSTSCRIPT

“To be”

to me

is not to vegetate –

leave that to the vegetables.

 

No, for us,

animals of nimble body

and magnificent mind,

 “to be”

in its fullest sense

is to attain

and maintain

the optimum balance

of somanoetic energy.

   August 16, 2011

LA MER

    LA MER

Can’t see the sea,

but can hear it,

which means it‘s there,

la mer, la mer.

But what’s the point? 

There is no point

except to be,

except to be,

unlike the ones

with minds

who give themselves

a raison d’etre;

must have a goal,

must have an aim,

unlike the sea

from which they came.

       1/10/11

'ET TU' DAY

   “ ET TU” DAY

Altair not there,

but Morning Star was,

and this is what she said: 

“Beware the Ides of March,

‘Et Tu’ Day, Et Tuesday, 3/15/11.

Now that you have journeyed 

to the center of your earth,

you must seek the center of the center. 

Do you dare go there

where no one else has ever gone,

where no one else can ever go,

your core self, the secret ewe of ewe,

all quarks aligned,

the spin is in,

at one with the universe?’”

     3/13/11

Ask Any Bird

Creating a blog to share some of my poems. Response appreciated.


            ........................Ask Any Bird



                                   A song is a song;
                                  ask any bird. 
                                  The must be is in the  sung,
                                  never in the heard.

                                    

                                 Jim Hietter
                                 March 16, 2012