Monthly Archives: April 2019

What It Takes

No trees

Were destroyed

To write

This poem.

Honestly.

Dan Verner

April 20, 2019

Catching Up

On the Andy Griffith Show,

Sheriff Andy liked to catch up on

National Geographic magazines

As a vacation.

Apparently he didn’t have time

To read them when he was

Enforcing the law

During the year.

I suppose he enjoyed it

And felt a sense of accomplishment

When the summer was over.

I have stacks and piles of books

All the time and

I will probably never

Read them all

Over vacation

Or for

The rest of

My life.

Dan Verner

April 19, 2019

Delivery

The pitcher stands on the slight rise

Of earth, his arms dangling

Contemplating

His craft.

Satisfied, he gathers his arms

In the familiar deceptive fashion

The small white ball emerging from

This chaos

To hang in the space between

Pitcher and batter and catcher.

The outcomes are myriad

And only time will deliver

One of them

And as the moment stays

We wait.

It is all any of us

Can do.

Dan Verner

April 18, 2019

The Cats Are on Spring Break

Yeah, they think, if it were only a break.

After a winter of roasting in hot rooms

Wearing a fur coat they can’t take off,

You’d think they’d deserve a break.

But no.

What are they going to do on spring break?

Go to the beach? With all that sand?

How do you think they clean themselves?

Would you like the taste of sand? Thought not.

Or go to Disney World? Hello? A place that celebrates

A mouse? Maybe not.

Or they could stay home and play baseball

If only they had hands to hold a bat

And fingers and strong arms to throw a ball.

That’s another non-starter.

So they go to the basement and

Lie on the cool floor,

Not moving, taking naps and waiting

Until it’s time to eat.

Outside, in the sunshine,

Their humans are running and jumping

In their shorts and shirts

That are not made of fur.

Dan Verner

April 17, 2019

Center

This center of the Word for ages

Encounters fire

And unlike that ancient fire

Which burned but did not

Consume the wood,

This fire burns and consumes

But the plume stands apart from

Memories

Hope

And faith

Along with

Dreams by the young

And visions of the old.

Dan Verner

April 16, 2019

Ode to My Shoes

From the tip of your tongue

To your very sole.

You support me wherever I go.

And if I sometimes take you off

I hope I’m not putting you off

We’re too tightly laced together

For that.

You have uppers

But you never take them.

And if I need a toe

You have two of them.

You’re made by last,

And we’re made to last

Even though I walk all over you.

I won’t give you the boot,

Shoe.

You’re so important to me

I can barely stand it.

Dan Verner

April 15, 2019

Intimation

The pharmacy clerk

At the counter

Knows me by sight.

Such are the intimations

Of mortality

These days.

Dan Verner

April 14, 2019

Scenes from Easter Week

The press of crowds in the Holy City

For the Feast of the Passover

And One comes to claim a throne

Seated on a donkey

He is silent but

Speaks by his actions

Drawing acclamation and praise from those along the way. Then the silence of an upper room a ritual feast renewed feet washed bread broken a commandment given s trust betrayed a hymn sung prayer and loneliness in a garden a quick arrest

Then unspeakable violence and torture

Then a surrender of breath.

It is finished and then

A deposition

Three long days

And then

An empty tomb

And rejoicing.

Dan Verner

April 13, 2019

Wordsworth Had It Right

Beauty is Nature’s gift to herself.

She stands clad in

Myriad colors

Finding her vision in

Lake and echo of cave

But only for a time

And space

Making the spectacle

Even more to be

Treasured.

Dan Verner

April 12, 2019

Wordsworth Had It Right

Beauty is Nature’s gift to herself.

She stands clad in

Myriad colors

Finding her vision in

Lake and echo of cave

But only for a time

And space

Making the spectacle

Even more to be

Treasured.

Dan Verner

April 12, 2019