Beyond the world of discovery that music has been for me, there was always the bigger world, the universe of questions about what we’re a part of, how it works, and how to best fit into the larger whole.
My love of words, a fascination with scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inquiry, and a quiet determination to learn how to be a better human (and a happier man) have led me on a path of shaping my experience, breath by breath, into poems.
Here are some of them.
June 11, 2020
In most of our moments,
the fear we feel
is pain we imagine
in the future.
And the sadness we feel
is pain remembered
in our past.
Without the mind
reminding us
of past or future,
there is only the present,
where, in most of our moments,
there is no pain
to be found.
June 9, 2020
Love is simple.
It is seeing
with compassion,
accepting
without prejudice.
June 9, 2020
I have heard it said that God is Love,
and that God is the Creator of everything,
and that God IS everything.
Can this all be true?
If so,
then I am one
of God’s creations,
and I am part
of everything,
and God the Creator
is in me,
creating
and loving.
June 5, 2020
Don’t be a hater of hatred -
that will only spread more hate.
Be a lover of love instead,
and that will spread more love!
June 3, 2020
As I stand here
with my neighbors,
my brothers and my sisters,
we stand in silent witness
to a status quo
which we can no longer
accept or tolerate.
Standing in silence,
my heart opens
to the pain we all share,
and the compassion
that we may share as well,
if we are resolute
in our intention for change.
Standing here,
I am reminded
that I am a member
of the human race,
and hiding
is no longer an option.
My aging body
said it could not kneel
for a whole nine minutes,
but I asked it to, and it did.
“Now you know
what nine minutes feels like”,
a fellow next to us said,
as I remembered George Floyd,
who had no choice
about how he spent
his last nine minutes.
May 28, 2020
I am not a Democrat, nor a Liberal;
not a white man, nor an American.
I am sick and tired of being tugged at
by the forces of my culture
that yearn to label me
as a faceless member of their group,
proud in its difference
from every other group.
In the words of the prophet Groucho:
“I refuse to join any club
that would have me as a member”;
I am a human being,
and I am simply myself.
Let me be,
and let everyone be,
so we may become the human family,
united in our idiosyncrasies,
that we were meant to be.
May 25, 2020
We are becoming a nation
of indignation.
On this day of remembrance,
let us trade our cynicism
for understanding and compassion,
so that we may become
a different kind of nation,
worthy of the lives
that have been sacrificed for it.
May 25, 2020
Swimming against the tides of life
is a struggle not worth living.
Learn instead
to float with the tides,
trusting them to take you
somewhere worth going.
