Lemons, tomatoes
Brimming over in trucks.
Big 16-wheelers
Between which we’re stuck.
Windmill propellers
Sixty feet long.
Convoy of army trucks;
Young men looking strong.
Low-riding race cars
Police were escorting.
Garlic aromas
And cattle all lowing.
Tall tandem bicycles
Built for a scream.
Cruisin’ on the highway
Was it a dream?
(2011)
There is a far and distant land
Of which we all must dream
Where tears turn into diamonds
And laughter runs in streams
Where children play along that shore
And dance in bright sunbeams
Where hungers are all satisfied
And wounds long held do mend
Where strife and sin are but a dream
And troubled thoughts at end
There is a far and distant land
To which we all must look
And if I knew it very well
I’d write it in a book
‘Til then while life’s strains take up time
Our hope is in that land divine
April 12, 2012
There is a far and distant land
Of which we all must dream,
Where tears turn into diamonds
And laughter flows in streams,
Where children play along the shore
And dance in bright sunbeams.
Where hungers are all satisfied
And long-held wounds are healed,
Where sin and strife are but a dream
And troubled thoughts have ceased.
There is a far and distant land
To which we all must look,
And if I knew it very well
I’d write it in a book.
‘Til then while life’s strains take up time,
Our hope is in that land divine
clarakatalin 
False Enemy
[I thought I should explain how this poem was inspired. I watched a documentary about the real story that the book “The Hunt for Red October” is based on. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh0N3iG-7Uc . In the true story, a Russian naval officer is disillusioned by the way Communism had played out in reality (although he was still a Communist). He tried to start a revolution to bring back Communism to it’s ideal (helping the common people). The documentary also portrayed the Cold War in an interesting way. I thought about all the hopes and dreams of people from very different backgrounds. Then my mind jumped to other differences, like Protestant and Catholic, “conservative” and “liberal”, etc., and I thought, “I wonder if we are all wrong about each other?” Not too say there are not good reasons for the differences and conflicts, only that each person in his heart has a dream that we need to listen to.]
I thought you were my enemy
But someone had told me lies about you,
And so it seems,
Someone had told you lies about me.
We went around in a fog of falsehood
That seemed so normal
Because the fog was constantly around us.
Then the light
Began to break through
For me, for you.
The mist still mystifies
But it’s getting thinner.
Slowly the sun’s light
Is burning through.
Are we just relating
To ideas of each other
Or who we really are?
If I could see
With eyes divine
I would not believe a lie.
Category:
Commentary, Poems
Tagged with: