Trying To Listen, Trying To Be: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse

It has been a very
long
time
since I have tried
to listen
to the Spirit
in everything
I do.

I’ve spent the last
lost
several years
lost,
just doing
my own thing,
not
having the Spirit
with me at
all.

That is a difficult habit
to get out of,
making your own decisions
and just doing
whatever
you want.
I don’t hear him
very well
yet.
I don’t even ask him
as much as
I should.

I am learning.
I’m very sorry
that you get caught
in the crossfire
of my ignorance.

And my mother and I
sing “I’m trying to be
like Jesus,”
and I cry because
so often
I fail
and
so often
I hurt others.
I don’t want to.

It Could Be Worse: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse Poem Lament

Death
of my
battery.

When your mother
keeps the car trunk light
on
for 2 days,
that’s what happens.

And what Chrysler engineer
had the idiot idea
to put the battery
in the driver’s-side
wheel well,
behind a splash guard,
with no easily-accessible
screws?

Stupidhead.

I was furious.
45 minutes
and 2 screws out,
6 to go,
I was worse.

I walked home.
I was cold.
I was angry.

Then I met the guy
who was a few blocks away
from getting on the freeway.

He stopped at a stop sign,
and his axle on his old van
broke,
and his front wheel
fell off.

And he was grateful.

“It could have been
so much worse.
I was blessed.”

He was right.
And now I’m grateful
and blessed.

What Mothers Don’t Know: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse Poem

A friend inadvertently spoke/created a poem for her grandkids. (You can read it here.) That typical “not knowing”, on Mother’s Day, inspired this piece. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers who, like her, don’t know.

Like a typical mother,
She’d influenced lives
(she didn’t know);
She’d spread joy
(she didn’t know);
She’d written poetic words of wisdom
(she didn’t know);
She’d taught self-esteem and
charity-pure love and
happiness
(she didn’t know).

She’d nourished,
and comforted,
and guided,
and protected,
and grown,
and fostered,
and healed,
and helped,
and blessed
(she didn’t know).

Like mothers everywhere
and in every time,
she didn’t know
what she’d done,
and what she was doing,
still.

And people would look
at what she did,
and exclaim:
“How could she not know?!?”
The answer is simple:
Mothers don’t need to know.
They just do.

And she still won’t know
unless
you tell her.

Not Sleeping Alone: Romantic Free Improverse Poetry

She never has to sleep
alone.
She never has to wonder
what it’s like to slumber,
deep,
untouched,
unwanted,
cold.

She always has an eager,
willing,
warm,
loving companion.

Perhaps I,
too,
should get a dog.