Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Apathy

Apathetically Enmeshed 

The evil of apathy,
Was to be my subject today.
It is not that I don't dare,
It is just that I don't care.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Christmas Blues ???

Christmas Blues ???

Tears dripping from my face,
Prove I am of the human race.
I don't have the Christmas Blues,
I have the Christmas Chartreuse.

Monday, December 21, 2015

One Eyed Monday

One eyed Monday

Until I brew coffee to sup,
no cause both eyes to wake up.
I see fine with just one,
Until the coffee is done.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Cow tie

Preacher's Regret

I told cow jokes,
To lots of folks.
I got Christmas gifts with udders,
You just can't imagine the clutters.
I find this quite regrettable,
I should have joked about something edible.


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Politic

Politic

It is enough to make one sick.
This play they call the politic.
Actors all feign a worthy cause,
a fat cat fight without claws.

They all go to the same bars,
They all drive the same fancy cars,
If you want to get rich quick,
The legal way is to politic.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Fruitcake

Fruitcake 

Gift given for given sake,
Most likely is a fruitcake,
If you do not partake,
I don't discriminate with cake.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Usual Suspects

Usual Suspects

If you're missing a silver spoon,
The thief could be a raccoon.
He always wears a mask.
His nimble hands suited to the task.

Then again it could be a rat,
If the spoon aint where it was sat.
They collect shiny trinkets,
To impress a prospective Misses.

Or if you had a party of tea,
Seated under a tall oak tree.
A big black gleaming crow,
Is most assuredly the foe.

We are so quick to blame,
To our everlasting shame,
Look where I found the spoon,
In a coffee cup in my room.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Good Morning Planet Earth

Good Morning Planet Earth

Thank God for each new day,
Even if you're ugly, sick, and broke,
Thank God for what? You say.
Thank God that you awoke.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Is God is?

People like honey,
And poems that are funny.

A Rhyme of pure philosophy,
Appeals like stalk of celery.

A dose of theosophical truth,
Is as popular as pulling a tooth.

To discuss the relativity of time,
Wrap the thought in a funny rhyme.

Is God is?
Or
Is God not?

Remove God.

Is is?
Or
Is not?

If is is,
Then God is not not.

Ergo

God is.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Am I an onion or an acorn?

Am I an onion or an acorn?

It's a vain quest to explore one's inner self,
Desperately searching for a clue to the "who?",
Excising layers upon layer to find the core,
Longing to find the "you" that is true.

Like an onion, 
layer after layer is onion still,
And who ARE you is in question no more.
You WERE those layers now strewn on the floor.

I do not wish to leave us in despair,
Heaps of layers no one can repair.
The point is to look without, do not look within.
Even an onion has a next of kin.

Follow the family tree,
Ask yourself, "who made me?".
And Who made who made who made me?
Till you come to the root of the family tree.

An oak tree is from an acorn,
Each tree is from a seed,
Each seed is from a tree,
Was it a seed or a tree that was the origin of me?

An acorn is a set of oak tree plans,
Each tree replicates the set in its seed,
But trees can plans replicate,
Tress can not plans create.

So who is the Engineer who drew up the plans?
Plans replicated like the dessert sands.
To answer the question "who I am?",
I must answer the question, "who drew my plan?"

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Virtual Blackmail

Appeal to Blackmail More

"Insert a noble cause,
Must copy and paste without pause,"
Is a virtual form of blackmail,
"I am a bad person if I fail."

Daily comes these assaults,
Like a slug tortured by salts.
If I post not Merry Christmas today,
My wall will be heathen, is what they say.

"Stop the torture of innocent slugs,"
Copy and paste or you're all thugs,
So repost this without fail,
And spread some more virtual blackmail.

p.s. Merry Christmas

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Hate

Read the fine print!

To consume this hate,
Will seal your fate.
Danger, Danger, Danger,
Do not forget the Manger?

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Chronic Illness

Chronic Illness 

Sliding downhill,
Is such a thrill,
Unless that hill is health,
And a crash all thrill will kill.

Alas there are no brakes,
On a sled you see,
You must risk all limbs,
To avoid the tree.

If you survive the crash,
And try to climb,
One step at a time,
After each step a slide.

With all your strength,
With all your will,
Despite miles of steps,
You are still sliding downhill.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Apathy

Apathy

I am apathy.
I applaud conformity.
I guile actors off the stage,
To script the writ of critics' page.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Bare Soul

Bare Soul

Poetry is how,
I bare my soul,
To bear my soul,
Will take a toll.


http://grammarist.com/spelling/bare-bear/

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Starbucks Cups from Hell?

Starbucks from hell?

Starbucks cups from hell?
Is this our testimony to tell?

Gospel means "good news",
So why do we sing the blues?

Smile, hug, give love away.
Lest we are those gone astray.

But the Bible says you say?
So go in your closet and pray!

Love both friend and foe,
Love em good from head to toe!

Feed the hungry,
Tend the lame,
Love both sinner
and Saint the same.

(Some in the USA are upset the Starbucks holiday cup 2015 edition is generic with no Christian symbols)

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Judge Not

Judge Not

Some judge others,
To be morally inferior,
If they saw their own posterior,
They wouldn't feel so superior.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

World Hunger

World Hunger

Almost a Billion people hungry,
How do any of us sleep?
Did we not learn the rule?
My brother I must keep.

The answer is so simple,
I can even make it rhyme.
How do we stop hunger?
One person at a time.

Friday, November 6, 2015

2 pee poems

2 Pee Poems
(Warning, bathroom humor)

Holiday at Ocean or Mountains ?

Some men dream,
To pee in the sea.
To pee on a tree,
Suffices for me.
•••••

Wasting Nitrates 

Civility Proclaims,
All must pee in a pot,
Every green thing retorts,
"Waste not waste, want not."

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Eternal Life

Eternal Life

The two words,
"Eternal life",
Sound like a dream.
What do they mean?

To explain in a poem,
Would never do,
But what I can do,
Is give you a clue.

Jesus is not speaking,
Of after we die,
Jesus is not speaking.
Of pie in the sky.

You will find it in the Bible,
In John chapter three,
Read it for yourself,
If you don't believe me.

You may not believe,
You may wonder how,
But if I am not mistaken,
It is supposed to start now.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Cannibal Soup

Cannibal Soup

White Chicken Chili,
The words were suppose to be,
Autocorrecting chicjen? to children,
Made a Cannibal of me

Recluse

Recluse

Like a turtle I retreat,
Snug inside my shell,
And though I feel safe,
My how that shell do smell.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Speaking the truth in love

Speaking the truth in love 

Truth is not safe!
It has no handle like a spade.
It is both a sharp,
And two edged blade.

It spends its days,
Upon the shelf,
For many a fencer,
Has sliced himself.

The way to control,
This razors tilt,
Is to hold it firmly,
By the hilt.

Speak Truth gentle,
Like a dove,
Hold tight the hilt,
The hilt is love.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Factory

The Factory

The oxygen we
breathe,
Came from a solar factory,
Of course I am speaking,
of a tree.




Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Wishing the day away

I can't wait till this day is over.
No puedo esperar hasta hoy se termina.

Never wish,
This day is past,
You never know,
It could be your last.

Nunca espera,
El dia se va,
Nunca sepería,
Si es su ultimo dia.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Rx Verse

Rx Verse

Poetry is medicine,
to heal a broken heart.
Grief must first release,
to let the heart restart.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Horror house

Horror House

Screams of pain,
Tears of consternation 
Loud pops as joints strain,
Limbs creaking in contortion.

Victim panting like a fawn, 
Exhausted on a bed,
But success the socks are on,
Alas no blood was shed.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Shy Rocks

Shy Rocks

When a rock,
Looks like a block,
One hopes when its older,
It will learn to rub boulders.

Flea Count

Flea Count

If I judged me,
Like i judge thee,
I'd spend my day,
Flicking fleas.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Fear of Death

Why fear death?
It is a great waste of time.
Fear wasting life,
Each breath is a gift sublime.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Hope

Hope

Hope is universal.
For...
atheist and theist, 
rich and poor, 
black and white, 
liberal and conservative, healthy and sick,
Can not live long without it.

Hope resides not in the mind,
but in the very soul.
It is not logical,
It is not biological.
It is purely and simply spiritual.

Hope is why farmers plant their crops. 
Hope is why lovers tie the knot. Hope is why Columbus unfurled his sail.
Hope is why the defeated will one day prevail. 

For the lucky "hope" is just one book on the shelf. 
For the desperate "hope" is the only book for oneself.

So guard hope with your very life.
Count as an enemy all who try to steal it. 
Count as a friend all who help preserve  it.

There is one hope greater than all other. The hope to again see lost father and brother.

Hope is universal.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Tears

Lest you should think,
God does not understand,
He guards each salty drip,
In a bottle made of sand.

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?  http://esv.to/Ps56.8

Salmos 56:8 Tú llevas la cuenta de todas mis angustiasy has juntado todas mis lágrimas en tu frasco;has registrado cada una de ellas en tu libro. 

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Leaves

Leaves spring in Spring,
Leaves fall in Fall.
Leaves glimmer in Summer,
Leaves splinter in Winter.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Is

God is.
All that is
Is
Because 
God is.

Dios es.
Todo li que hay
Es
Porque
Dios es.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Coughing

Weaker Than a Gerund

If you send a gerund,
On an errand,
It can convert cough into coughing,
It can convert sleep into sleeping.
In fact "inging",
While singing,
Is its "thinging".

But I on the errand,
Can not compete with a gerund,
I can convert cough into coughing,
But not while sleep, sleep, sleeping.
Coughing,
Not sleeping,
Is my "thinging".



Thursday, September 24, 2015

Focus on Life

Focus on Life

Days of pain,
Days of doubt,
Try to drain,
what life's about.

Life's about Love.
Life's about Duty.
Life's about friends.
Life's about Beauty.

So if at noon,
It's dark as night,
Whistle a tune,
Don't surrender the fight.

Life's about Love.
Life's about Duty.
Life's about friends.
Life's about Beauty.

Focus on life,
Each day that you live.
dwell not on death.
Be quick to forgive.

Life's about Love.
Life's about Duty.
Life's about friends.
Life's about Beauty.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Common Cold

I think I am much too old,
To have just a common cold.
So let Google inspire us,
It's not a cold it's a rhinovirus.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Funny Story



This is funny story my grandfather was found of telling me. I don't know if it's fact or fiction so I call it "a Harlan Ky WW2 Legend". About a half dozen people in a Harlan County group I am in contacted me to say it was fact.

It seems a draft board official asked a prospective draftee, "what's your name?" He was surprised by the young man's answer, "I don't rightly know."

Now angry the official demanded, "what do you mean you don't know, everyone knows their own name!?"

Sincerely the youth replied, "we was born twins. Mom named us Silus and Gilus. One of us up and died. We ain't sure which one."
       JSM

Rev J Scott Martin in a blogger and author, more into jscottmartin dot com


Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Shell

The Shell

Is it fear?
Is it fright?
Is it wrong?
Is it right?

Love is wasted,
Never tasted.
Stuck in a shell,
Social norms spell.

A pain shared,
Is a burden paired,
But Inside the shell,
You must not tell.

I see the tears,
Aged past years,
I must not ask,
Tis not my task.

Love is wasted,
Never tasted.
I am the stranger,
The norm of danger.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Perfect Morn

Excellent Morn

Sipping Coffee,
Clear my mind,
Search my soul,
Love, joy, peace,
Intact the treasure trove.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Black Hole


Death stole,
The goodly role.

Never more the face.
Never more the embrace.

Just a,
Black hole,
In my soul.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Anonymity

Anonymity

The soul in anguish
A smile may feign
But the heart's windows
Divulge the pain.

Hold my gaze
And we will see
I in you
And you in me.

Silence

Silence

Impetuous we beg, scream, bang our head,
Awaiting an  answer we hear silence instead .
The ears, the ears, can not this Word hear.
in this world's silence,
He Shouts, "I am here."

Patience

Patience

I ordered some patience on E bay one night.
I paid extra postage to  go out the next flight.
The parcel was very late to arrive.
Not taking one day but instead taking five.

A box full of nuts arrived at my home.
Not nuts made of nuts but nuts made of foam.
My face turned red , red as a beet.
I picked up the phone I just had to speak.

On hold many minutes with music so gloomy.
I Finally spoke to a gal named Soe Soomie.
"Patience was packed in the box we did ship"
I was so mad I  just bit my lip.

"No no no, no patience at all."
"Why do you think I'm making this call?"
"Don't worry sir, you don't have to pay"
"We'll ship some more this very day"

95 boxes now clutter my hall.
95 times I made that same call.
Box 96 was empty and small,
But I found patience after all.

James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

Smile Collector

Smile Collector

I tread along a path unknown,
Many shadows slumber in stride.
I search each face that passes,
Looking, hoping for a sign,

Eyes open I see her coming,
Today's angel along my path.
Though the exchange is unspoken,
I guard her smile in my belt pack.

God is a Whisperer

God is a Whisperer

I have slowly formed the opinion that God is a whisperer. Now and again he sends a hint. However I am conflicted about my own opinion. After all He wrote a book whose first line reads "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". But even then He never put quill to parchment but was a Holy "ghost writer." Still when one considers how God could communicate using multiple media outlets, writing in the clouds, mass megaphone, etc., I think my opinion is safe. After all. If God wasn't a whisperer wouldn't He have a Facebook page?

Suffering of Job

Suffering of Job

Not job as in work but a man named Jōb pronounced with a long "o" like "grow".  Have you read the book? I think it is a book worthy of contemplation many times in a lifespan. One's  perspective changes as decades pass and one accumulates his own set of losses and encounters with God. As a result of an argument between God and Satan over Job's righteousness, Job endures unthinkable loss amplified by the ignorant judgements of family and friends. For his trouble he gains an audience with God Almighty whom Job has accused of playing unfair. Job is awed by the grandeur of God and apologizes for complaining.  God then rebukes those who had told Job his suffering was a result of sin. Next he restores Job's fortune twofold and Job has 10 more children to offset the 10 he lost.  The end.

What? The end? It's like one of those movies you wish you hadn't watched. Did I miss something? It's not that my question wasn't answered. It is an answer I didn't want to hear. It's like when a  child ask a parent why they cant do something and the parent answers "because I'm your parent." It does nothing for my curiosity. Yet somehow I know the answer is true. No matter what befalls me, God is good.  Who am I to question God? Shall the clay say to the potter why have you made me into an ash tray?   God's  perspective is eternal. My perspective is temporal. Job's 10 dead children would never return to Job but Job would go to them. To Job they were lost but not to God.
Like Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

Cycles


You ask me a question.
I answer it the best I can.
No sooner than the sentence is finished,
You ask the same question again.

I repeat the same answer.
As Inside I feel  a little fear.
When I contemplate my future,
I know my turn is near.

War

War

"War is hell."
Was said very well.
Even a small bit of hell.
Is a very tough sell.



Dark Stories

Dark Stories

We each have stories We wish to tell.
We want our friends to know who we are so we feel understood.

A car nearly hits you.
A utility pole 10 yards away is struck by lightning.
You find a twenty dollar bill on your door step.
You hold in the story trying not to burst.
You calculate to who you want to share the story and at what time.
You rehearse the story in your head  while scolding yourself for embellishments.
You encounter a friend. Now's the time. Out pours the story like water from a gutter in a cloud burst.
Did he listen? A nod, a chuckle, a few kind words convince you the answer is yes. As you go your separate ways You reflect on what a good friend he is .

There are other stories, dark stories, stories we are afraid to tell. The stories that haunt our dreams and ensnare our souls. They themselves resist being told. They are ugly, dark, sticky, slimy monsters that covet anonymity.  They are true enemies. We only dare tell them to mentors, counselors, close family, or close friends. The irony of life is that dark stories brought to the light lose their power and are eventually discarded. Their memory no longer brings tears or angst. 

A poor person pays large sums of money to tell a dark story to their shrink. The rich person pays nothing to tell it to a true friend.

Counting Sheep

Sheep induced insomnia 

To lay in bed
Yet not sleep
Is cured they say
By counting sheep.

12, 13, 14 sheep
Jump over my head.
And just when I'm sleepy
There's no more room left in bed.




Sunday, September 13, 2015

Repose

A few days of complete repose,
Are not as pleasant as one might suppose.

Fall Falls

Fall

Fall colors the leaves so bright.
Frost will soon enlace the dew.
Fall displays her awesome sight, 
"Look, look now, my days are few."



Peanutbutter Friends

Good Friends are like Peanut-butter.

Peanut-Butter you say???
Delicious,
Nutritious,
Adjectives true.
No matter how neat or how messy,
It clings to you like glue.

Angels Unaware

God is extraordinarily amazing.
Some think this is absurd.
While they wait to see the Red Sea part,
They miss the angel with the smile and kind word.




Sailor of Time

Sailor of Time 

As my prow slices the waves of time,
Sea foam spray drips memories from my beard,
Memories of glass smooth seas and gentle puffs of breeze.

I try to turn and tack into the mighty wind, to wash back the tide of time.
My vessel threatens to roll under the angry swells, 
so I return to run with the ever faster gale.
I baton the hatches and trim the sail.

Sea foam spray drips memories from my beard,
Memories of glass smooth seas and gentle puffs of breeze.

Axioms

Discard old fore it's old?
accept new fore it's new?
It's a pity an axiom,
Is not like a shoe.

Mighty Oaks

Mighty Oaks

I have met a few mighty oaks.
They are superbly steady folks.
Lean on them you feel no sway,
Not even on the blustriest day.

7 things you could not guess about me

1. I was stopped by soldiers in Uganda and forced to spend the night in a refugee camp. At a different location I was arrested by soldiers the next day but quickly released. The journalist I was with did an award winning documentary that aired multiple times on CNN Español, La Otra Cara de Africa.

2. I got lost in an abandoned coal mine is Pennsylvania but later discovered signs I had left for myself.

3. I rappelled into a 180 foot deep subsidence crack in Harlan County.

4.  I once preached for an all night worship service for native Americans in a remote reservation in Costa Rica. I has no advanced warning. The next morning I had the privilege to baptize converts in a mountain stream.

5. I once had to evacuate a Wall Mart due to a dangerous construction situation I was engineer on.

6. I toured a multi-story shanty town in the Philippines suspended by ropes under a bridge and over a river.

7. I have been held at gunpoint twice in my life, once surveying in the mountains of West Virginia and once in item number 1 above. I can't count the time union thugs pointed a 45 at my vehicle after I refused to stop.

Ugly Thoughts

Ugly thoughts are like a bitter pecan.
The best medicine is to spit it out quickly.

I stuck in my thumb


I peeled an orange,
Inside was a plum.
Till it happens to you,
You'll think I'm dumb.

It's not that I care,
Both are fine by me.
It's just that I thought,
The orange was thee.

Born Again

Spiritual Birth

Have you seen Jesus?
I saw his blood,
I washed his feet,
I brought him bread,
How can you think
He is dead?

My color blind friend sees
Red,
Blue,
And yellow,
As but various shades of gray.
I always did feel sorry for that fellow.

"Unless one is born again He/she can not see the kingdom of God."
JC

Dinosaur

If I was dinosaur,
In a chorus.
I would be,
The brontosaurus.

Bad Deal

They say you're only as old as you feel.
Well, no thank you, I do NOT want that deal!

The Past

The past,
Has past,
So very fast.

Facetime

FaceTime Modesty

I like FaceTime
But not all the time.
Though I love you a lot.
I'll not answer on the pot.

Sound of Silence

Sound of Silence 

Do you ever stop to listen? I mean to hush the noise within and really listen. Is the silence you hear like that of an empty 55 gallon drum, whose metallic echo betrays a void? Or is it the silence you hear that of a universe so well oiled the mechanism and the maker make no noise except the peaceful purr of a well ordered silence?

Old Coffee

Day old coffee,
Is not as good,
as
Day old toffee.

Big Thoughts

Big Thoughts

Greatest thought,
That could be thunk?
 Is of a loving God,
Who makes no junk.

What is the reason
We mortals live?
If not the will of God
Our life did give.

And when my heart,
Beats it's last.
I'll fly with angels
His at last.

Listen up friends 
And foes alike,
We tread this sod
To meet our God.

Pick up and read
The Gospels four.
So you will know
What lies in store.

For God so loved
You and me.
He sent us Jesus
Our souls to free.

Feed the hungry,
Help the lame.
Do it all,
In Jesus name.