John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog – Soaring with God

We are where we are
because of where we’ve been.
It may have been saintly;
it could have been sin.
They may have been strangers,
or they could have been kin.

—————————

May we find that place where
the ego never flies
where all we see are blue
and cloudless skies
and all we hear
is the silence of our sighs.

We’ll have no need
to offer up our share
of constant whys
or pick and choose
from a string
of constant lies.

—————————

Some seek their messiahs behind
the monitors of this multimedia age;
I’ll seek the second coming
somewhere inside myself.

—————————

We pirouette through life
giving and taking energy
from each other like
the push and pull
of the heavenly bodies
in constant orbit.

—————————–

Why does beauty prefer the beast?
Why does the calm accept the storm?

—————————–

Pastel personalities are superficially attractive
as they are flimsy and difficult to define.

—————————–

For most of us it’s something
to brag about if we do today
what we should have done yesterday.

Trying out something new.  What do you think?  I sent this video (a favorite song of mine) to my friend, Leo Campos, as a poetry prompt.  Here’s what he sent me:
————————————

Riots

When why what how much
Questions like chairs
Stacked end to end
To the burning end of town

You’re better off
Living in a dead end
Future, every end, every
Stone you throw at the police,
Every fist upon fist, mad boys and girls

Many circles growing to the size of Lake Geneva
Whispering end on end, East and West

You’re mad, you think. Too many whispering voices
Too many
Faces ending in more faces
Boys with faces like glass, girls like stone
Take the last chairs
At a Finland dive bar with stone tables
Watching for home
Watching for home

———————————————

My response:

Did you see the nun in the video?….

Convert

Convert or die!
Madmen rule the world.
They are us –
kicking in chairs,
tantrums
knocking down
tables, East and West.

Maybe a dead end
but better than death
whispering, yes,
it’s best.

Which option to choose
when we need
too much, damning
the past, fearing
the future.
Convert now
to find rest.

—————————————

Leo sent:

Mannequins in love

The beautiful people
Whispering sweet nothings in
Public displays of affection
Like mannequins in exclusive shops
In expensive malls

Plastic attraction
Surface tension

The chemistry between us
is perfect
I love your augmentations, you
Love my financial acumen
We love
the perfection
of our mutual reflection

When you are all surface, all opaque
It does not matter what side of town you come from
East or West End cross over histories

Prejudices. Lust and greed are the
Great equalizers, the engines of democracy

Love, true love, is the melting of polymers
In fashionable clothes, in fashionable bars
Fashionable smiles, posed, poised,
Polished
Complete each other

John packed me a lunch this morning – but I forgot to bring it with me. I was halfway to the gym to teach my first Yoga class of the day when I realized I didn’t have my lunch. I e-mailed John a little later and told him what happened. He sent me this in response:

We give and we take;
we shuck and we jive
doing our best
just to survive.

Indeed.  And my lunch will be just as good tomorrow.

Today’s post is a collaboration….

John:

Shrink tanks
and whineries
dot the landscape
of cyberspace.

Lisa:

Lonely
and searching
we reach for
anonymous others
who know the pain –
someone to listen,
but really, to hear.
Yet we may whine
today in vain.

“What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”
(Matthew 10:27)

Not much between
despair and ecstasy.*
This floating
nothingness
sometimes empty
dark and cold –
metallic;
sometimes full
bright and warm –
cashmere.
No matter.
You, Lord, know
all and your Word
whispers, kisses
in darkness –
freeing for self-giving.
Your intimates
proclaim:
God is Love!

———————-

*Note: from the song “One Night in Bangkok”
written by Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus
for the musical, Chess.

Even though I have two years on her,
this little Cub’s got many more take-offs,
landings, slips, stalls, spins
and inspections than I.
She was flying almost as soon as she was born.
I had to wait a few years.
She didn’t have to study and learn
a lot of rules and regulations.
The only laws she has to follow are natural,
such as, don’t exceed your angle of attack
or you will stall and fall out of the sky.
I also realize she has been flown by other pilots
just as I’ve flown other airplanes.
For now, though, we keep each other flying.

It has long been my wont
to hope for the best
while expecting the worst.
Then I’m never disappointed
and sometimes pleasantly surprised.

I heard an unknown voice say:
“Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you.
For it was I, the LORD your God,
who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.”
(Psalm 81:5b-7a,10)

Heavy chains now removed,
my limbs light and free
abound in joy,
highest gratitude.
You heard.
You granted food,
gifts beyond measure.
Unburdened and empty
I remain —
already tasting
Your bounty.