The Lenten Fast of Two Sisters

 Lord, I got so much stuff

Each bedroom has a pile of junk in it

Five bedrooms for three people

Its just too much

I've gotten to where I'm ashamed of Sheri cleaning up my house

Firing her is no good because she needs the money

Lent, a time of renewal

A time to offer all my sufferings to Him

An opportunity for more rosaries, confession, and ponder Divine Mercy

Happy Lent Laura

Not quite sure its happy, but happy Lent

What are you giving up for Lent

Well, I haven't thought about that

I know what you mean

Thought about giving up watching the news, it always makes me so darn anxious, and madder than a hornet

Pamela, I'm not good at giving up stuff, its so hard

Well, maybe you could offer forty free cupcakes to the first forty people that come in the shop

That's crazy talk, I got people to pay 

Ok, donate some stuff you don't use

Didn't Father Gabe suggest that at Mass

He sure did

Thank you for reminding me, I got so much stuff to give away

just make sure you do it 

Jesus is watching

Caffeine, it seems like a pretty good Lenten offering

No coffee, no cake, no tea, no chocolate

Thank God, I get a break on Sunday, otherwise I don't think I'll be able to make it

Gotta make sure I don't cheat especially after midnight

After all, Jesus is watching

Call Me Juan

 My bones are beginning to show their age

They creak like old wood in the morning 

My fingers, stiff from the cold makes it difficult to weave

That’s just my body

My soul, youthful as a baby’s

Maybe that’s why the Lady came to me

She saw my soul and not my bones up on Tepayac

Child, she called me

Like a child, I set out to do what Mama asks me to do 

Even though, I don’t know how to do it

Like. a mother she shows me the way

Rachel’s Lost Baby

 They took him from her breast

His screaming and distress caused by a single tooth trying to come through 

Soldiers bursting through the door just exasperated the problem 

The men in arms showed no mercy 

Slit her baby’s throat in front of her

Even with this pain, there was a sliver of hope

She still had the twins who were nearly four

Twins should be safe

Should be, but weren’t

They looked smaller than they were

Saul, sweet Saul came to check on his mama, and  Micah followed 

No questions as to their age, just heartless murder

Rachel cried out in sorrow for there were no more

Night Birth

 He made his appearance at night as people slumber

Only a stable full of animals were in attendance and kept watch

His mother's body ached, not from labor, but from exhaustion

Only hours ago, she sat on a donkey as a traveler looking for lodging

How serene our Queen must have been holding her Savior

Snow Globe

 There right location and a small fee is all that's required to step inside the globe. For forty-five minutes you can watch teens in athleisure wear, tailored coats on eight year olds, and moms wearing seasonal graphic sweatshirts. Of course there's the kid who's underdressed and shivering as well as the overdressed kid with neurotic parents who fear a winter cold. Around and around they go. With each lap they get a little more daring If I could, I would lock us in here and stop timeThat way my daughter will always be ten and willing to try new things, even if she falls

Beauty of Youth

 For two hours we drove on a Sunday afternoon through small town underneath a canopy of pines and oaks

Once we got into town, the magnet of Ellianos drew us inside the cafe for cookies and iced coffee

As we took our seat, six teens came in and ordered $5.00 lattes. 

The boys had that all American look and dressed like they stepped out of a catalogue.

The girls, they were the ones that stuck out almost like a sore thumb

Midi skirts with leggings in the hot Georgia sun along with shirt collars up to their neck

Hair pulled up in a ponytail with a little poof on top

If you looked only at their Nikes and Addidas sneakers they would look normal 

Everyone in the county knows their religion by how the women dress

I've mocked their kind before, but not today

That day with my daughter beside me, I only saw a couple of beautiful modest young ladies comfortable in their own skin

I'd love for my daughter to be the Catholic version of this

Drink Garnishments

 Three blueberries sit atop the plastic lid of a 12oz cup

A lavender cold brew with blueberry foam, then garnished with fresh blueberries

It's the berries that got me with its three little edible jewels

On Amazon, I search for drink garnishments and found a little company in Ireland that sells all the garnishments I could dream of

It sits in my cart untouched

There's nothing special about putting freeze dried strawberries or blueberries in your coffee everyday.

We've got to have something to look forward to in this instant gratification world 

Jesus in the Neighborhood Kids

 To the tween girl  who won't change out of her Daisy Duke's for bible study, Jesus help me see you

To the manipulative sassy tween girl who gifted us with lice, Jesus help me to see you

To the little girl who's loud enough for three kids and constantly  leaves trash in my yard,Jesus help me to see you

To the little boy who threw rocks at my daughter, and made lewd hand gestures to me, Jesus let me see you

Dont Look Behind the Curtain

 Everything has its place

Anything out of order could cause a chain reaction of disaster

To put it bluntly, stressful on the person who worked so hard at organizing the city

Only one road leads into the city

Can't get in without an invitation

Once there, you'll be treated as a treasured guest

Whatever money you walked in with you will keep

No need for expenses

Wear the proper attire, always

Remember the most important rule

Dont Look Behind the Curtain

Distractions

 I awake each morning with a to do list:

Pray

Make bed

Brush teeth

Eat breakfast

Tell myself I'll write and read today

But demons drag my fingers to the internet for endless scrolling

Mindless time wasted

Let me watch that SNL skit one more time

What's the celebrity shoe trend today?

Burgundy out, soft pink in

Scroll for an hour looking for pink.dresses

Order nothing

Kate Spade outlet sales

Add to cart

Click

Noonday devil, I cast you out tonight

Tomorrow's a new day with a fresh trap to fall into 

Shucking Corn

 We gotta get this corn put up before the days out

Why in the he'll did they order so much of it?

Just like Mama to order all this corn and her be in the hospital

Lord, we gotta laugh, otherwise all we'd do is cry

Jenny Lynn said she'd go to the hospital and sit with Mama

Daddy, sure can't go

He's been drinkinh all night

The bedroom closet is all tore up

Can't hold her, probably never will again, but her smell is all over her clothes

We gonna have bushels of creamed corn for the funeral

I shouldn't have thought that, but I know it's true

My brothers and sisters need to come to their senses and prepare to say goodbye

She ain't coming back after this heartattack

This here's a good crop

It's only June and we got plenty of time for a second go round

Well, Mama,you didn't waste your money this year

If you's sitting right here, you'd say the soil was just right

I look at my brothers and sisters laughing and working, acting a fool

Reckon your soil was good too, Mama

Blank Page

 It stares back at me, almost mocking

Aren't you going to fill me with ink, or do you have nothing to say again?

I stare and stare, but nothing comes

My thoughts are full, but they come in the form of pride, anger, fear, and sadness

Oh wait, I have that story in my head

The one I keep forming in my mind

Each day, I keep telling myself that I'll write it down, but don't

Maybe I can buy a pretty journal and write it down instead of dreaming about it, just a thought

Here's a thought

Stop thinking and write from the heart

Isn't that what they say?

Don't you dare do that, that thing's way too fickle

Just ask the Holy Spirit

He'll help 

When He decides of course

Its His time, not yours

Aching Body

Children, more like toddlers run down the hall underneath large blue streamers hosting silhouettes of sea turtles and whale sharks. Chasing after them, my body rebels. At 49, every part of my body moves in protest. Worse yet, there's no comfort in rest. My legs want to swim while me head desires a pillow. Those eight hours of sleep do not exist in my world. When I wake, my back cries out. Guess this old age. My new job is to embrace it.

Dementia

To my window she comes

There's not much time

Tell me your secrets and and I'll carry them with me

Sprinkle them.on the wooden path, on top of your footprints

On good days, I sit at my window.

Open my broken mind, fish out my memories

And speak

Two by two in song, they drink my words and sing

I'm dying, but my body will go on functioning in this world

In the midnight hours, I busy myself

Boxing up memories, bitter and sweet

Rereading books and poems that contain words for stirring emotion

Saying prayers with the hopes of finally getting the meditation right

Once done, I close the box on my life and bury it

Underneath the bottle tree my husband made from the wine we drank

Before the last pile of dirt was out back in place

I beg and pray that I remember one Word, just one

Christmas Carol Practice

We clicked going for a 9am practice on a Saturday morning 30 minutes away.

We were late, of course and lost

There were no directions posted in the email for the music room

The only one around to ask for directions was a caffeine starved priest seemingly desperate for peace

His directions were perfect, thankfully.

You could here them, 20 girls not quite in tune singing classic/commercial carols for the elderly

I had flashbacks of my choir days in college and wondered why the girl's voices weren't being whipped into shape

Until I realized it's not about perfection, but joy and fellowship

 

Dogwood Tree

My neighbors dogwood tree bloomed the color of purity

As five neighbors stood outside between my house and the tree 

Watching somebody's home across the street burn

All if us in awe, sorrow, and fear

If it happened to their house, it could happen to ours

That vinyl siding house went up in flames like nobody's business

I looked at my cedar house, knowing if it burned, it would be a bonfire for the ages

I put that out of my mind and watched the firemen hook up the water main two steos from my yard

I'm the last of my neighbors to go inside partly in awe of the sight, but mostly in shame

That it was them and not me

Saint Barbara

 It was a tower he put her in

You know, the one on Green Street

In his determination, he declared with a beer in hand

"Ain't nobody gonna disrespect my baby

So up in her tower his daughtet sat pondering creation

When your view is that of a bird, the world looks different

You become above petty shit

Only the best pagan teachers cone to visit

But they that lived below didnt understand that her view was above and closer to God

Boredom sat in

Father sent suitors to her in the prospects of marriage

But they were all sent away

They did not come with water and a crucifix

Only a man of Christ could give her what she desired

Baptism

Butterfly Emerging

 My cocoon is made up of sins

Venue sins sparkle and can almost be dusted away

But the mortal ones require force and will to remove them

Only a real Mariposa will fight to remove the heart of sin and emerge it's beauty

One Drop

At Mass, the priest sips from the chalice

Ever careful not to spill a drop

But how do you measure a drop?

It takes three drops of peppermint essential oil to soothe my headache

In America, there once existed the barbaric one drop rule

What would happen if one drop spilled from the chalice?

Some would simply wash the linens as if it were a wine stained blouse

Little Li at ten knelt down and took a small piece of the Eucharist like a dog in a country that has only a drop of Catholics

Little Li's faith is an ocean

Most of us only a drop

From heaven all Jesus has to do is shed one drop of His blood to heal the World

But why would Jesus shed his blood from heaven when he's already given it to us?

The salve is on the altar, but we have to believe

Death and the Old Woman

 I've grown tired in my old age

At one time, I could walk that two mile stretch like I was walking from my front porch to the garden

But now I rest every few steps

The work I've done all these years have twisted my bones

I dream of sleep and beg Jesus to awaken me with a kiss in the morning