Thankful

Thankful


I am thankful
For
For so much
The wind that
I sometimes curse
The dark that brings sleep
And thrills with
Thumping heart terrors
The sun that warms
Stings skin and eye
The cold that chills
And causes blankets to be drawn
In tight
Music that causes me to cringe
And send goose flesh running
The length of my arm
Stories that make me
Believe in strength
And cry for beauty
Your smile and soft breath
As you fall asleep in my arms
I am thankful


Ken Goree


It has been a good day.  And while I breathe … they are all good days (from my vantage point).  Each is one more chance to experience creation.  It may be pretty damn good after the breathing stops, but I plan to suck all of the wonder out of this life while I still have it.  I have eternity for what comes next, right?

Good

Good


Good doesn’t understand
Anger
Vicious unrelenting
Good Doesn’t understand
Evil
Wanting to inflict
Pain as its prize
Good Doesn’t understand
Domination
For its own sake
Good Doesn’t understand
Taking just to have
While others have not
Good Doesn’t understand
Hatefulness
Finding comfort
In destruction
Good Doesn’t understand
Why …
…
…
Thank God

Ken Goree



I love teaching young children.  When they do “bad things” they are minor, and the reasons are uncomplicated.  Even better, the “bad things” don’t occur nearly as often as the simple acts of innocent beauty and love.  How often does a “grown-up” give you a simple ugly crayon drawing that is so filled with wide-eyed innocence, and pure love that it is transformed into a priceless gold nugget that you can’t bear to part with, and stash away like a gem, in a treasure chest that was once a box full of copier paper.

Duck

Duck


Solitary
Lone Drake
In stubbled field
Surveying the flat terrain
Head high in an effort
Seeking a companion that didn’t arrive
Waiting patiently hour after hour
For his absent mate
Anxious for hen
She’s lost?
Alone

Ken Goree



There was a single lone duck out on the school’s playfield early this morning.  The few seagulls that are usually dotted amongst the tufts of crabgrass weren’t even present.  He was standing, head held high.  It did make me wonder, where his friends were; or his mate.  Between each long walk back to the office, and the copy machine, I’d check to see if he was still there.  Over the course of an hour, he hadn’t moved at all.  I thought of him one last time as the movement of the student tide began to wash in.  I worried that maybe he was not going anywhere because he was hurt, and also worried that some over excited and well-meaning students might damage or shock him while trying to do good by him.  On my last check, I found that he was gone.  I hope the winds of spring bore him on to someplace wonderful.

A Greening Road

A Greening Road


As Winter gives way
And Spring Begins
To sneak in
One little leaf at a time
The road I’ve traveled each
And every day
Begins to show me
The color I hadn’t realized
I’d forgotten

Bright green
The hue of life
Popping from buds
Long dormant,
Asleep
Declaring life
Renewed, vibrant
Producing energy
Sustaining


Ken Goree


Expect to see this poem continued on.  Locust Way, which runs between Kenmore and Lynnwood, Washington, is the road that inspired me.  Here in Western Washington, green never leaves us completely.  However, today, March 27^th 2011 was the day that I really felt life finding its way into this new year.

One Close Star

One Close Star

With a little try I know
I could reach a star
With one little fold in space
It isn’t all that far

Just a one step from here to there
Math does show the way
I hope within my lifetime
I’ll see that wondrous day

That new sun and other worlds
They are out there waiting
Those glorious lights, are for now,
Through the heavens skating

Ken Goree