The People of the West Wind
Suisunes once lived
beneath the Twin Sisters.
Ascending beyond the vineyards and twisted oaks,
they still drift through morning mist,
and walk the sacred paths
of their fathers.
Guardian oaks still embrace the People.
Meandering branches lean low,
give their clambering children
an easy climb
up high to where acorns
fall in the western wind
to feed
their hungry
souls.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Suisunes people, called The People of the West Wind, lived for over 10,000 years in the area where I now live... but they nearly died out within a generation of exposure to European missionaries seeking to save their souls. They would have eluded the attention of the Spanish longer had they not given refuge to escaped mission Indians. In 1810 several dozen of these gentle people committed suicide rather than submit to the Spanish.
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Mass
f I trust You, everything else will become, for me, strength, health, and support. Everything will bring me to heaven. If I do not trust You, everything will be my destruction.
Thomas Merton Thoughts in Solitude
When it begins
music plays and we sing
songs of gathering, greeting.
This, then, is the family complete,
assembled around the table
ready for the thanksgiving feast.
Why can't we just remain
innocent,
present?
We tell the stories of our youth,
laugh at self-folly, glad
to tell the truth,
but soon we feel the pain
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
on the Feast of Christ the King
The long day ends, at long last, and we assemble in the sky.
I call it 'sky' though, like earth and sea, sky is no more,
and though I don't know how, I stand nowhere,
in a great hall of recalled light,
breathing a memory of oxygen.
I say 'we assemble' though I can
see no bodies, not even my own,
Yet I hear them breathe, and in their grasping hands,
feel their nameless fear as His voice fills this place
and begins the Great Division...
sheep to the right, goats to the left.
Uncertain of my fate I hear Him say,
'I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.'
In fear I search for an instance
when I stopped for the beggar,
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Chiron
Soon night will tie a knot
through the silky cord of time;
we'll gaze through gauzy windows
as day to nothing subsides,
as fly the avenging furies
through cimmerian skies,
Chiron will teach us all
the truth of all our lies.
----------
Author's note: KHEIRON (or Chiron) was the eldest and wisest of the Centaurs, a tribe of half-horse men. But unlike the rest of this tribe he was an immortal god. He was a great teacher who mentored many of the great heroes of myth including Jason, Peleus, and Akhilleus. Eventually, however, he passed away from the earth, after accidentally being wounded by Herakles with an arrow coated in Hydra-venom. The wound was incurable, and unbearably painful, so Kheiron voluntarily relinquished his immortality and died. However, instead of being consigned to Haides, he was given a place amongst the stars by Zeus as the constellation Saggitarius or Centaurus. (http: //www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentaurosKheiron.html)
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Baptism
I walked down from Nazareth with the crowd,
nudged on by their excited chatter
and rumors of a crazy man by the river
shouting God at sinners,
thrusting them into the Jordan
like so much dirty laundry
to be rinsed clean and pure.
These are my people,
hungry people
seeking new wine and
new bread, lepers
yearning to be cured,
But deep within me
silence grows,
and somehow I know
that I am closer to Home,
though so far away
from my father's workshop
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Another Exorcist
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.' Mark 9: 38-39
We saw him
down the road, exhorting,
calling on Our Father
to cast out crazy Satan,
and for reference
he gave your name!
When we told him to stop
that he was not
authorized
and did not have the proper
credentials
he replied that
a spirit greater
than we twelve
guided his arms
as he waved
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Grounded
The afternoon breeze
rushes through the top of my big tree;
its canopy sways and sings in hushed tones
as the declining sun ignites
its outermost leaves
with green fire.
Through swaying limbs
I see brilliant summer sky
promising stars beyond
if only I can rise high enough
to achieve black space;
but I’ve never been there, never risen
beyond this illusionary, flat world
that confines my sight.
Never have I ascended that pillar of flame,
pressed deeply against the astronaut’s contoured seat,
breathing noisily in helmeted glass,
as computers glow reassuringly in darkness,
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Days of Infamy
The day recedes into peaceful night
spreading gentle darkness
over wide California fields,
the flames of history
nearly forgotten
but for the ember glow
In the wrinkled cobalt sky.
But we remember
bloody days
when war-planes roared
into the rising Pacific sun
and ripped it
in sanguine strips.
Bombs pierced polished decks,
and amazed sailors dove
into crimson waters,
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
At The Death of a Young Girl
I see its raw fury clawing at her hands,
Kissing her sallow face with lies so perfect on silk pillows,
Concealing raw, gaping wounds inside, the insult
The harsh silence, the enforced peace.
I have seen all this before, this beast, this darkness, this indifference
To waves of anguish washing through the room
As her mother weeps, and her father strokes
Her dark, perfect hair.
I see her, and
I know.
But what am I to say to their terror? These children
Look at me, questioning … after all,
I am their teacher…
But why did she die? , well, asthma… breath denied… but why?
I know this insistent knot, this question piercing my gut,
And I want to hide in silence, but questions will not be denied,
And I know their questions, all of them…
So what am I to say to calm their red, flowing eyes,
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
In The Territory of The Gerasenes
From deep inside
I heard them,
howling hatred
lashing me with my own hands
gashing the rocky tombs
with my own bloody feet.
Late at night
they cursed and fought
deep inside
my aching skull.
I was their prisoner,
and they were many…
But then I saw Him by the lake
and my soul leapt
even as Legion arose
and with my ragged voice raged,
“what will you do to us? ”
[...] Read more
poem by Steven Federle
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!