Showing posts with label Lucille Ball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucille Ball. Show all posts

Friday, November 22, 2019

We Always Hope


We always hope
behind the smile
there is
true joy
or
at least
honest amusement.

We hope
the smile
is
not hiding
fear,
or anger,
or hatred,
or conspiracy.

Hope
is what
we cling to
so that
we will not
be overtaken
by
conspiracy,
hatred,
anger,
or fear.

We always hope
the smile
is hiding
nothing.

Friday, August 30, 2019

True Colors


How do you see it?
“Black & White”
We say this phrase represents the idea of absolutes. 
We also say “cut and dried” or “open and shut” – 
meaning no further investigation is necessary. 
“It is what it is.”
Most of us freely acknowledge that there are nearly infinite shades of gray
as we advance toward or away from one extreme or the other – black or white.
The existence of all those shades of gray would seem to contradict the philosophical concept of absoluteness.
Nevertheless, absolute black and absolute white, in the realm of “color perception,” do exist,
and they are absolute in their representation of total blackness and total whiteness.
But are we misaligned in this interpretation?
I believe color itself is what testifies to the existence of absolutes.
And I believe the rainbow, with its unerring display of seven different colors from red to violet, 
is a natural witness to the existence of absolutes.
The stark and wondrous beauty of the multitude of colors in nature speaks more surely
to the assurance and confidence of absolute truth
than either the total absence of color (black) or the presence of all colors simultaneously (white).
“Black & White” gives us the temerity to argue against truth
because our eyes tell us all day every day that life is much more colorful than black and white.
The truth is colorful.
“Black & White” obscures the truth.
It is when we see in full color that we see the truth.

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Memories of the Future


There seems to be a Hall of Fame for everything;
And an International Museum for All Things;
And a National Day for everything else;
Plus a Facebook page,
a Twitter feed,
and a LinkedIn Group
to connect them all, and then some.
Mr. Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame” has become
a serial virus of momentary flashes
in the seemingly eternal
digital ball of string
that is the internet.
What is memory?
Is there a collective universal memory that is storing all the experiences of the ages?
What is legacy?
What do we leave behind when we go on to the next level of existence?
What is immortality?
Do all of us live forever, one way or another?
What is heritage?
Does it change us when we discover the lives of our ancestors?
Will one small blip in the digital libraries
of all the devices in the world
remain forever for someone to discover
untold ages from now?

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Tidbits of Timelessness


shoeboxes and scrapbooks
trinkets and traces
memories of love and laughter
joy and peace
singing and shouting
dancing, running, skipping, flying
tidbits of timelessness
and bittersweet tastes of time standing still
I am still standing
on a bridge
watching the water rush by below me
urgency and peace at once
life and death
movement, thunder
matching the rush of blood through my veins
and the beating of my heart
the flow, the pulse
the cleansing, the healing
as those timeless tidbits
rise to the surface
winking
drifting
lingering on the crest of my memory

Monday, December 17, 2018

Huddled Masses


Crowds

Huddled Masses

Seething Swirling Stockpiles of Humanity

Surrounded by Kindred Strangers

We Are Many

We Are One

“I am you and you are me”

[ …to quote a mid-century poet-philosopher… ]

Everywhere I look there are people just like me

“all the world over so easy to see”

We know each other intimately while not knowing each other at all

Famous or unknown

We are who we are

And we are all human

The same five senses for most

And emotions and ambitions

And hopes and dreams

And expectations and limitations

We Are One

We Are The Crowds

We Are The Huddled Masses



Attribution to Emma Lazarus for the term "Huddled Masses"
from her poem "The New Colossus"

Monday, September 26, 2016

Chaotic Order


Finding order in chaos
is a bit cliche, yes?
Yet our lives are defined
by chaotic order.
Moments strung together
by nothing more
than the fact that
we are present.
Thoughts in our heads
and
stimuli to all of our senses.
Color, light, shadow,
patterns, words, phrases,
whispers, tunes, shouts,
exclamations, interrogatives,
declarations, complaints, praise,
whether faint or otherwise.
The links from one moment
to the next
are less tenuous
than we care to admit.