Poem for the week: "The Family Curse"

 

The Family Curse

 

Family demons, karmic baggage, sins

of our parents, or character flaws, it

doesn’t matter what we call the human

condition of Hillbilly Elegy, a story

of family dysfunction, we can all identify

to some degree with the misery it sets

free from the dark recesses of our unbeing,

unleashing tiny explosions of chaos into

the normal routine of our comfortable

existence; and as I watched the movie

with the love of my life, holding her hand

now and then for comfort, she could not

fathom how people could behave that

way, losing their center and spinning into

chaos like a whirling dervish from hell,

but it was all much too familiar to me,

a Calabrese boy born into my own family

dysfunction like the young author of the

distressing memoir whose only goal in life

was to redeem himself from the family

curse of unforgiving hubris.

Poem for the week: "Like a Tornado from Hell"

 

Like a Tornado from Hell

 

Everybody’s right, and everybody’s wrong,

it’s only what we believe that matters;

and if what we believe no longer resonates

with our soul, it’s up to us to change our belief

system. That’s what came to me this morning

as I wrote my chapter, “Opening the Door

to My Soul,” my active imagination discourse

with my inner guiding principle, which came

to me this morning in the guise of my mentor

Carl Gustav Jung. But it takes courage

to walk away from what we no longer believe,

and even more fortitude to seek another

belief system that will give our life more purpose

and meaning. This is what my oracle wanted

me to convey to take the oppressing dismay

out of this covid pandemic that has interrupted

our life like a tornado from hell.

Poem for the week: "This Need for More"

 

This Need for More

 

Is it enough to fill one’s life

with the activities of daily living

to give one enough meaning

to go on living? And if not, how

much living does one have to

do to fill the hole in one’s soul

with wholeness? Must one endure

this need for more and leave

this world wanting? Another

round of golf, another cruise,

another fortune; how much life

does one need to satisfy this

need for more?

New poem: "A Simple Gnosis"

 

A Simple Gnosis

 

I’ve read all the books,

explored all the teachings,

and lived my life in full,

and I’m left with nothing

but a humble truth: not

a new religion, philosophy,

or radical way of living,

just a simple gnosis that

this life is all we have; but

what a life it is, when we

know who we are, and

our reason for being.

Sunday poem: "Ersatz Virtue"

 

Ersatz Virtue

 

When I slipped on my work jeans

the other morning to do some leafing

and taping and sanding to finish off

the rest of our garage, my right foot got

caught in the frayed tear of the worn

knee and ripped a bigger hole, making

my jeans look more like the fashionable

denims that are distressed and fatigued

at designer jean factories to imbue them

with ersatz virtue that can only be earned

by genuine effort and honest labor, and

which sell for ten times more than what I

paid for my old reliable blue jeans that I

distressed and fatigued working my trade

of drywall taping and painting old and

new homes here in Tiny Beaches, in

beautiful Georgian Bay, Ontario.