Sailing along the sea Guided by a northern light Becomes a willing collaboration To reach our destination
Somewhere between the purity And the places of sheer beauty Is the presence utterly revealing Concealed inside the naked feeling
Profound as it is somewhat beguiling In all its traces, where God is willing There in the miasma of golden voices Are the parameters of solid choices
Between the detritus of repetition The mind knows its own competition Between what rarely passes to inspire And that story the writer truly desires
It can be shared as we live and hallucinate By all the nightcrawlers who participate There is a risk between listening and reading A trail of thought often leaves us bleeding
Disembodied voices continue in their appeal Somewhere between shuddering kept to real And the midnight's mass of broken alleviation That whispers of the madman's inebriation
Mass communication is obsessed between the purity And the beauty that combines into life's absurdity It's the missing aesthetic principle that is inked Into the words that drift about somehow interlinked
(c) June 7, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.” – Thomas Jefferson (1821)
“There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world, I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary, and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair, and disrespect.” -Nikki Giovanni, poet and professor (b. 7 Jun 1943)
In a celebration of one another We commemorate the blessings of each other This is part of being God's family As we live within God's holy community
The lessons taught by new faces Are blessed when revisited by old traces And in all these hold up our names As seen differently because nothing remains the same
Today's a day to remember grandparents and their blessings In all the touches that never never left us guessing With heart full of love and filled with God's grace We knew we were loved and safe in their embrace
It's turned out that the baby boom Has transformed into the Grandparent boom And this should be lived with godly intention And given to the grandchildren with full attention
To shape the children with something positive Influencing them toward good and away from negative We cannot overstate the importance of being intentional Deliberatively and with purpose providing the correctional
We must be the loving eyes that always see Giving loving lessons with the caress of dignity Showing right honor in all our given examples Living a godly life, full and vividly ample
There is so much to teach by what we show Teaching lessons and allowing learning on the roll While doing this, we must not just lead with talk We must endeavor to strive to walk the walk
In all the time we spend with the immediate family We must spend this time with true and good quality Filled with the good things of lasting impression That become a memory scrapbook filled with expression
Let your words be spoken always giving full blessing The words chosen with love to never leave the kids guessing That the blessings of God are meant to fill with confidence Every word spoken needs to be wrapped in loving relevance
The tongue can bring its traces of death or give life Bringing God's true peace or failing into endless strife This is all the part of knowing how and leaving a legacy One that teaches God's ways with a soul's integrity
There are traditions that we share by how we live These are the ways that become the legacy that we give Let it be known what our values are in what we teach And the stories we tell revealing a God always within reach
This is the narrative that teaches the best of our history Through these words of faith revealed, we live out the glory In all these things to be a supportive godly influence Along with parents to serve in just the right confluence
All of this is part and parcel of the family's living culture As we try hard to build together in the goodness we nurture Helping to keep the focus on Godly ways and the full gospel All these things done will help in telling the good tale
That we must live every one of life's living stages Demonstrating our best reverence for God's holy pages With prayers lived out full of love and humble blessing Given outward to those we love without any hesitating
(c) June 6, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“The general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws: its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.” – James Madison (1787)
“There are two kinds of fools: One says, ‘This is old, therefore it is good’; the other says, ‘This is new, therefore it is better.'” -William R. Inge, clergyman, scholar, and author (6 Jun 1860-1954)
Pulling up to the state line The moment we crossed over The rain began October 24, 20004 I swear it seemed to have no end 40 days in, the jokes began Should I build an ark There would be no stopping at the Dunes Just a beeline down the highway To Indianapolis, in the pouring rain Then looking out the window for some 60 days filled with day after day Of pouring rain
So then, this is the Indiana That my then wife wanted back to see For a California man I had never seen so much wet Besides the water in the oceans Precipitation, snowfall, and The extreme temperatures Not since 1935 had it been so wet The outlook of the window seemed a bad bet
The day we went to the movies I heard the shrill cry of a lone seagull As if the gull was commiserating With the wounds in my psyche Questioning whether I had made a bad choice Dwelling on questions of distinction Wondering if I would find my extinction 2100 miles away from what had been home
January and February felt almost benign I was assured this was normal As I watched ice hanging from the trees Branches falling off as if icicles Telephone lines brought down under the weight Of the normal amount of ice With a sudden onslaught of freezing rains I stared out the windows Again, feeling alone in my isolation Waiting for my final annihilation
Straight-line winds whipped across The backyard and snapped the willow Having never seen this before I ran out the door, uncertain How I was to lift half the tree Off the neighbor's chain link fence The neighbor and my former wife laughed But I managed to get it off the fence Before it collapsed When I got back in our home My face and my shirt were in shreds No one had told me this wasn't done
Spring brought the tornadoes With the entire region, wet and warm Two days in May brought 10 tornadoes Five on each day This was a novelty to a man like me Who had lived in fairly stable weather For most of my life I thought about the occasional earthquake Realizing how easy those had seemed In light of this midwestern comparison Supercells brought even more rain Lord, my prayer began, what have I done
Summer 2004 was cooler than average And filled with yet more rain Nearly every day, there was more rain Then came July's widespread derecho Trees and powerlines came down yet again And found me still staring out the window Wondering if even the heavens disagreed With a surfer moving to Indiana Wondering if this was the life that I had signed on for The most power line damage since The 1974 tornado outbreak
Winter season 2004 brought winter storms The greatest snow totals ever recorded Something new for the sunshine surfer Jokes came about learning to surf the snow Humor is often the best remedy To moments filled with puzzled doubt One inch of black ice on the ground Came with the layers of freezing rain Learning to drive on ice was wonderous A bit like body surfing in the middle Of 2000 pounds of vehicle that was Stuck in a power glide As it slid into the intersections To make turns on a wink and a prayer
Welcome to Indiana, everyone said, And I kept it to myself That voice inside questioning If I would end up dead After all, this was the life That everyone around had grown up Living except for the few like me And it brought smiles to everyone's face As I tried my best to humbly embrace A life that I had never lived 2023, it seems I have adapted And now all of these memories Are just that and something more
A new way of life learned to be lived And accepted Two seasons are how it seems Too hot and then too cold With maybe a week or two in between That pass for four seasons And embraced for two reasons Daughters one and two Who I love more than life
(c) June 5, 2023 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots.” —Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814)
“The radical Left thinks the only way to be successful in this country as a child of color is to be the ‘exception.’ Yesterday’s exception is today’s RULE. In America, you can go as high as your character, your talent, & your grit will take you.” – Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)
This gentleman remembers and stands by the principled words and beliefs that Martin Luther King Jr. fought and died for. Perhaps some, if not all, the Democratic Party remembers might take a moment to reflect on this and the call the abusive members of their party into check. For example, do these words by Tim Scott ring a bell in the limited recall of history by most in the Socialist wing of the Democratic Party?
“We are not defined by the color of our skin. We are defined by the content of our character, and if anyone tells you anything different, they’re lying.” – Tim Scott
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
