Sharing my original poetry which encompasses topics that touch my heart and soul including spirituality, faith, theology, nature, authentic being and belonging, social justice, and social criticism.
Being that today is my 73rd birthday, I wrote this haiku in an effort to find some thread through all the years and answer the question of what has brought me here and now.
haiku: sign of my birth
under Pisces born
at the end of long winter
Earth child, Mystic heart
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 21, 2021
photo by Herb Stone
‘The Warm Heart of Winter Buddha’
(reader’s note: Born a Pisces
in the age of Pisces, February
is a raw, bitter cold, icy snow,
muddy month when our minds
long for Spring. I am aware of
the signs influences on me,
Earth lover, Cosmic being,
Creative soul longing for the
Divine that unites it all in
a story I am always trying to
tell.)
preface: Beloveds, when I write a poem like this one, of social criticism, hard truths,
suffering, difficult emotions, I am concerned
many will just pass it by with no thought, as a
downer. Who wants to read that stuff? My
hope is that such poems might challenge
our thinking, might unite us in shared
experience, might shake us awake, might spark
new insights into the challenges we all face
together in authentic communities of belonging.
And a reminder, the redemption comes at the end so
please read it all the way through. Peace upon
peace, dear ones, for a better year we have earned.
poem: new years eve post-apocalyptic blues
and authentic new beginnings
on the eve of the new year 2021
wondering if the apocalypse has
already happened and we are
just to numb to notice
this talk about the lessons
we can learn from the pandemic
and its’ new normal and how
we will be the better for it
to be a victim of the machine
and its’ broken systems
in which we are but a cog
is maddening and a tragedy
let us count the ways:
a terrorist bombing in Nashville
which could have been prevented
leading to a communications blackout
due to corporate greed and inaction;
a pandemic due to a reality show
president so incompetent he broke the
public health system;
a broken medical system swamped by
viral death;
alt-right anarchist riots sowing discord
and chaos across the nation;
police killing blacks and treating
black protestors like criminals;
and the count goes on
please, no more platitudes
no more stiff upper lip
no more too numb to notice
no more waiting for the new normal
let us be witnesses
speaking our truth to power,
authentically belonging together
taking action, being the change
for a better world, you are the
only one who can change you
and acting together, we the world
Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
New Years Eve 2020
