The Dark Gift

The war is waging.
I am losing.
Words trigger emotions...feelings...
"unnoticed"
"unwanted"
"unworthy"
Bitterness, my poisonous friend
stirring chaos.

Help me, please.

Shut out the hurt.
Effort!
Trapped within these walls of my own making.
So deadly,
So strong.

A light.
A hope.
An improbable healing.

"Look within!"
Pierce the confusing gloom,
Seek every corner
Extract the bitterness within.

Build a box carefully within my mind,
My soul.
First one side,
Then the other.
Deceptively frail...and then...

I pour my darkness into the box
Filling it impossibly
Darkness and swirling shadow
Forced within this box.

I look around my inner realm.
Silence.
Whiteness.
Peace.
Freedom.  

I hold this box in front of my mind's eye,
Carefully wrapping it in
Beautiful, shimmering paper
A large golden bow
Gracefully tying it together.

The beauty serves sharp contrast
To its dark and hurtful contents.

"Now, imagine Him coming to you."
The echoes of my friend's counsel drifts in my head.
"You give it to Him, and He takes it,
Keeps it
And it is never yours again."

Never? I wonder
Never? I ponder
Holding it out
To the One who can take it from me.

The shouts
The dissonance
The tendrils of bitterness..
...all gone.

"Is it really that simple?"
I wonder, I ponder
As I watch His retreating back.

A whisper of peace echoes
In the peaceful whiteness of my mind.
The peace that surpasseth all understanding
Has replaced my Dark Gift.
Borne away by Him.

NPPX

I like noodles.
I like pie.
I like poodles.
I like Xai.

I Met A Frog

I met a frog
Down in the fog
Its face was upside down.
I told that frog
Down in that fog
Are you alright?
It looks like you
Need a light!
The frog went hopping
Up the road
But this time he went with me.

The Struggling Poet

(by anonymous)
I like cheese
A whole stinkin' lot.
I like to stir it
In a big metal...cooking container!

I like pasta
I love it so much
I like it enough
To have it for...the meal after breakfast!

Unheard Song

Unheard song
Awaiting a chin
The violin's bow brings it to life.

Unheard song
Stirring within
Bringing peace, quenching strife.

Unheard song
Wondering when
It will be heard, soaring high.

Unheard song
Bringing a grin
When bubbling, jumbling it spills out awry!

Unheard song
Hiding in sin
An unclean vessel keeping it down.

Unheard song
Emerging again
Joyful, cleansed, triumphant it sounds!

For many a life's
A song unheard
Potential hiding deep inside.

Waiting and hoping
Someday to be stirred
Squelched by evil, sin and pride.

When once again
The soul is pure
The song comes soaring, lifting on.

Rising, swelling
Until on high
It wings itself into the dawn.

--Zoe Zephyr

Poem for Food

I write a poem here for you
Because I have nothing better to do.
(Besides, maybe to pick my nose
And scratch my...head and then, who knows?)
And now I'm here, not telling you
That I only came to get the food.
(Aside from that, I just dropped by
To hear a story 'bout a butterfly.)
And now I will end in front of you
'Cause now I can't rhyme with no word but 'pooh.'
(And ain't that good grammar, too?)

--Lightning Man

A treasure from times past

Thanks, Q-dawg, aka "Mark Wilson"

Don't Worry Baby

My soul is repentant and I feel real bad.

I said what I oughtn't and mommy is mad.

I spoke of our love and the birds and the bees.

Now I am down on my hands and my knees.

At night I am lonely and the dog house roof leaks.

This celibacy stinks and I feel like the Meeks.

Please let me return back in your good graces.

I won't speak of zygotes, of bums or your places.

I've learned my lesson and I've learned it well.

I don't want to get banished to what rhymes with Kel.

See, I refrained from my cussing,though it was hard.

And I feel like a man, like Jean-Luc Picard.

So I ask that you reach down deep, to your toes,

Forgive me my weaknesses, my smell and my nose.

And know that I love you although I am rough.

Composed of dead bugs, poopoo logs and crude stuff.

Hava's Story

So.

This story is called "The Big Dog."

Chapter 1- "The Big Dog"

Once upon a time, there was a big dog.  He was not happy.  All of the other dogs were afraid of him. So one day he went on a walk.  And then he saw a cat.   He ate the cat.

Chapter 2- "The Fat Cat"

So then there was a cat. A big cat. She was not happy. All of the other cats were afraid of her. So one day she went walking.  And then, she saw the dog who ate her baby cat . Because he ate her baby cat, she ate him too.

Chapter 3- "The Skinny Cat and the Skinny Dog and the Skinny Baby Cat"

So the skinny cat went along and the skinny dog went along but then they saw...a bear!!!  Ah!!  Said the cat.  Ah!! Said the dog.  Then they started running.  The bear started running after them. BUT sadly the bear ran into a tree, so he couldn't get to the yummy food he was going to eat.  And then they kept on running.  And then they saw a tree tipping over.

Chapter 4- A New Animal!

So they started running!
And then, they saw some fire blowing out. And then they saw a cave.  And then when they went in the cave, it was all dark. So, and then, they saw a dragon!  So they started running.  And then!  The dragon said, "come back! I'm friendly, I'm not mean."  So they stopped and then they turned around and went back and then they was the fire blowing and actually saw all the colors.

"You look pretty!" they said.  "We didn't see all the colors on you!"

So the dragon invited them to go with him into the forest, because they told him before that they told him that he was a baby dragon and his mommy was gone.

And the mommy cat she was like "Oh, my child is gone too!"  "Oh!  We saw a baby cat hopping by.  We told him to follow the stream." And so, and then, they heard a shot gun.  And the dragon was like, "Oh no!"

So they started running!  So then he was like, "I'm sorry!  I can't run!  My mommy said I have to stay here and I didn't hear her say anything about running away!"

Chapter 5- They Take a Journey to the End of the World!

Be Kind

Be kind

you won't go blind,

Be mean

I'll eat your spleen .
--Chugger-dude

The Hog The Dog and The Frog, pickles and rocks

Once there was a Hog

a Frog and a Dog,

Then the Dog ate the Hog,

and the Frog ate the random fly

which just happened to be flying

                                    past

THE END
(KANGAROO RAT)

I love pickles

And I love pie.

And I love pickles...

I, I, I.

(by Miss Butterfly)

I once had a friend named Rock

Who was a good friend of mine,

Now he's gone...

Because I left him at Buckskin Gulch.

(By Tulip)