Summer Vacation, Day 61: Nice Office

Blogger’s Note: I have a nice office. I’m not bragging – but when I downplay it, people think I’m being silly. I have windows; they get sun; and the views are lovely. There – I said it. I intend to enjoy it as long as it’s mine. Now, a haiku.

ivy-draped windows
in this green sanctuary
god whispers sunlight

Blogger’s Addendum: It’s nice to have a meditative moment here at work. I’ve stayed late because I have a meeting this evening in St. Paul – so the building is quiet and the light is at just the right angle …

Summer Vacation, Day 43: Radiation

Blogger’s Note: Betsy was a high-school girl from our youth group in Michigan when we moved to Minnesota. She moved with us, lived with us, and took care of our kids while we settled in, located jobs and day care, and found our groove. She was wonderful, and we loved having her here. It’s been a long while since we’ve seen her, and we all miss her something fierce. She’s trying to come see us this fall – and that reminded me of this. It ain’t great, but she liked it.

she radiates
there is a light that breaks
like summer sunlight from her smile
that sparks — electric! — dancing
in the hazels of her eyes.
she radiates, and we are drawn,
moths to the bulb struck blind and dumb,
or wide-eyed children gazing at the
pop and crackle of her fire.
see it now? — just there! — like daybreak
rising pink upon her cheeks:
she’s reading this, it’s dawning on her
she is loved, like sunrise,
sunset, moon and stars;
like blood-relation, she is ours.
we’ll keep her close, a vigil flame
lighting the dark —
she radiates.

j. thorp
13 aug 2003

Summer Vacation, Day 14: Love’s Lamp

Blogger’s Note: Here’s some sappiness I wrote in summer of 1996, just prior to marrying Jodi. In case you’re wondering, yes, I wrote it for her.

Love’s Lamp
When day breaks red o’er eastern shores
And east-bound clouds hang low and black,
Dark waters swell and Zephyr roars,
And we, too far now to turn back,
Must set our sails and forward go
With storm above and flood below.

Soon all is one grey water-world;
Rains drowns the air ’tween sea and sky.
November’s witch, her wrath unfurled,
With thunder drowns my frightened cries.
Brief lightning grins on my distress;
The gale now blows directionless.

At times like this, when hope is gone,
When ship is battered, spun and tossed –
When light from stars, or moon, or sun,
Cannot be found, so path is lost –
The witch spews forth with earthly might;
You guide me with more heav’nly light.

On far horizon thru the storm
You beckon me to harbor sweet.
Light of the earth, yet heaven-born,
Thru wind and rain my eyes doth greet.
Toward you I turn for strength and aid
And forward press, my fears allayed.

Angelic beacon, guiding light,
Send forth thy beams to me embrace
Like lover’s arms in dark of night!
Smile softly on my weary face
And draw me near, that I may sleep
Dream-free from visions of the deep.

The sun has sunk beneath the sea;
The sky glows scarlet to the west.
The witch had fled, and as for me,
I’ve found safe harbor, food, and rest.
You’ve led me home, to my delight,
I’ll sleep in peace near you tonight.

J. Thorp

Summer Vacation, Day 9: Pleasantville

I finished Don Quixote tonight. The end of the book (and especially the reactions of his sane friends to the knight’s sudden return to sanity, made me think of something I wrote when we lived in Michigan.

Pleasantville
He waves from the walk as I’m pumping gas — a buzz cut and a smile. His hand is insistent, fingers flapping for a response. I smile and nod and raise a hand. It’s enough; he steps toward the curb well-pleased. We all know this one — the kid who waves to everyone; who always says, “Good Morning” and means it — who wouldn’t mind if you took the time to answer his “What’s up?” or “How you doing?” Ours has Downs — but what of that? He has a thousand friends, too, in a village of less. Watch him as he walks, smiling and waving to everyone — the fellow stacking wheel-barrows in front of the hardware; the old woman weeding in her broad hat and yellow gloves; the red-faced sot righting himself outside the bar; the cars, pickups and semis — smiling and waving like folks care, like we’re all in one of those public service announcements from the ’50s, where everyone smiles and waves and does the right thing. We all poke fun at them now, but it works for him, he’s living it. Ah-ha, you say, but he doesn’t know. He’s ignorant; he’ll go through his life believing he matters because a stranger said hello; because no one was willing to break the spell — to which I reply, “And?”

J. Thorp
04 April 02

I’ll post more on the book soon, Coach. The Great Gatsby is next.

Summer Vacation, Day 3: A Calling

For awhile at my last job, friends came to expect haiku on special occasions in their lives. Often I obliged …

lazy summer moon
lingering by the river —
that sweet plaintive cry

“a calling”
for m. upon the birth of her second son
19 april 2005

My friend M. lives on the Mississippi not far from us. She loves to be outdoors, but sometimes babies have other plans. Tell me: Does the river call the woman out from the house, or the baby call his mother back in?