We feel a call sometimes
To be sublime or kind
To think we can find
the right path aligned
With our close knit group, devine
We pass the time pointing at opposite side
Throwing a fit, claiming they're not legit
I submit to a higher power that I've claimed as my own
prone to fits of self righteous rage on a stage of my life
In time i might improve
In time i might remove these moments that blind and misguide me
The only way i see clearly now is to answer the call i feel.
I had a close knit and
Happy family until
A slick and silent enemy
Stepped in wanting to
Take my place
In me is a spark divine.
A vivid light that shines within,
Lifting the pall and connecting me
With God and my fellow beings.
Let me be, what God intended me to be:
Neither a wicked elf, nor a fairy godmother,
Never a demon, nor an angel,
But a true woman,
One with a loving heart,
Calm and caring,
With passionate dreams of love and laughter.
I enquire what my true design is-
In my life, love and light is all I seek,
As I know there is no greater gift than love.
With God on my side and by His blessing,
I wish to gracefully run towards the finishing line,
Feeling the strength running through my veins,
When years slip past in the blink of an eye.
How gracefully God does guide my ways!
Embracing the divine each day,
I try to piece together different roles.
Let me into a close-knit texture weave,
The fabric of my life,
Like the interlacing threads
Of a great tapestry!
In a way, is not living the art of quilting
Bringing out unique patterns,
Of exquisite beauty and delight
From the scraps thrown in our way!
No matter what race, there's always family
Nothing else bonds that closeness and love
When life looks gloomy, there's the family
When there's no where to go, you have family
Families are rich, families are poor
Some of us have those close knit families
Then there are those from broken homes
Without unity of family, exist many problems
In today's society, it's self evident that
Though many problems exist, and growing fast
This family suffers from "broken homes blues"
However, they are still family
As a people, we mirror our environment
Seeing and living one kind of life
Being blinded from life's realities
This is, the importance of family
Author: Floyd Nea;
Date: July 2003
Inspiration: Family struggles
Went down to the river
each time I sang
and washed presumptively
the flesh of kin
down, down, down
with knees bent
unfolded and rent
circled the floors
each time I sang
and raised the roof
and arms in praise
‘tis not enough to say
‘tis a start not lame
to accept His holy name
into your heart
down, down, down
in the burial tub
not shamed nor shoved
but proofed
Went down to the river
he did…he did
and brought his kids
each time I sang
and didn’t know
the refrain
my brain is too small
too weak, not all
that good a matchup
for the King
for the smiles He brings
when the robes are light
and they bring up all
onto the wall
certificates
down, down, down
to the store
not three but four
digging up the old old song
for just a while
my child in a frame
the whole world gained
NO…that is not it
it is for such a time as this
a family close knit
one returned to church
God gives back
threefold
folding my knees
holding my heart
down in the river
remember who parted the sea
remember who walked on the sea
kin came up from the water, free
Quote By Poet "The faces of pretty flowers will brighten anyone's day."
Here in a lovely garden we sit,
growing very close-knit.
Our faces of pretty color,
are bigger than a sand dollar.
We love to get a kiss from the rain,
makes our growing not feel in vein.
The bees came by to say hello,
they give us a big glow.
It is said we are an annual plant,
we are loved by the owner's aunt.
Shout out loud and proclaim,
Zinnia is our name.
trembling dry leaves
cling to close-knit exhausted twigs ---
green leaves and stems laugh
Let's entertain no doubt. This book was ,
but birthdays come around, and must be feted.
Five brothers and one sister celebrated
each other's anniversaries. Close-knit
would hardly do us justice. When you fit
into the world around you, predicated
on shared assumptions, fine. I knew we grated
on all our neighbours, weren't identikit
buffoons. That drew us closer, you'll allow.
Each birthday, one same present overlapped.
We each got "Field and Hedgerow" (kids adapt
when they've got nothing). But I vow
I'd love to give that present, poorly-wrapped
in flimsy Woolworth paper, to them now.
laughter arises
beneath the spreading birches
close-knit cousins play
the ward is stamped white
a fidelity to fading, sometimes in a smear of shadows
in her corner, Lilly sits
wheelchair bound
her white hair falling
like her winks at strangers
John's arrival cuts solitude
raises Lily's soft shell of aging
their homage to love like Billboard vows
interlocked fingers that bind intimacy
till close knit words trail to song
his voice dusky
washing over Lily like cologne
Broadway tunes
"the sun'll come out tomorrow
bet your bottom dollar
that tomorrow there'll be sun"
his affecting gush of song ushers remembrance
caught in the tucked curl of her smile
stoic
remarkable
peeling back impairment
outside this place of pleading
outside what recedes to hollow
sands of life sifted into this short hour
place of togetherness
as they want it to be
one soul into another
Poem written June 6, 2023
A bundle of joy she had arrived as a treasure
with the dulcet deep eyes that sparkled like star.
Rocking in our arms she held softly our fingers,
down the years her silken touch lingered.
In the scenic sky we showed her the scarlet sunset
when the flock of birds flew back to the nest.
The fairy tales she heard from us before she slept,
took us to our childhood, made us the ones like her.
We built a close-knit nest, hoped to be together forever,
kept it warm in the dreary days of frost and cold,
No storm of strife could ever blow it away,
for we made it secure with twigs of love.
She grew up under our caring wings of affection,
learned how to face life in her chosen way.
The process was a source of parental pleasure,
lasting till her adulthood time when she flew away.
The unique bond is now the live strands of memory
we keep to bind the feathers she left in the empty nest,
where we weave the tapestry of the everlasting dream,
we crave to see unbroken till the end of our time.
____________
May 4, 2023
Contest : Empty Nest
Sponsored by : Cooper Etheridge
Christmas has always been for family;
it has always been more about them
than the season’s trappings and gifts.
A time for wide-eyed children,
for delight and giddy happiness,
for smiles that come easily to each and all.
A time when we can appreciate
our close-knit bonds; all of us wanting
to be right where we are, right then.
A time when jubilant hosts and exuberant guests
go off to midnight mass in the dark winter’s snow
while a grand feast awaits, before the tired children sleep.
Christmas morning, with laughter and late breakfast
turns into laptop lunch amidst gift-wrapped presents.
And then, 'the visiting' when we travel to other festive gatherings.
Christmas has always been first anticipation and then joy;
the joy of being together, reliving memories of our past
while making memories for our future.
Written in collaboration with T. Kirk Tierney
AP: 2nd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2022
I DIDN'T KNOW YOU THEN
I didn't know you then but
Because you strutted alone
Unafraid, attired in outrageously loud colours,
Performing your provocative
Dance of sacred magic
Through sombre, unwelcoming streets,
You are my personal, angelic hero,
Though you didn't know me then.
I am the one who willingly
Follows in your confident footsteps
Along the golden avenue of hope,
Even though it took me many years
Of unwarranted suffering in my attempt
To squeeze into a role, unfit for me.
I know you now, just as you
Know me now, belonging each to each
Within a close-knit community of saints,
Who have had their Calvaries
And risen again to reach the open skies.
AUDIO: Danse Macabre by Busy Strings.
Lint's Aura
Dignity gliding,
Resplendent in red was I,
Generous eyes felt,
Occurrences display me,
Stellar launched my existence.
Wardrobe visit hung,
Collection of new threads fills,
Close-knit paradigm,
Fussy fingers orbit me,
Small room phases a small box.
Reduced unstructured,
Yond pilfered vigor stills I,
Tattered wisps attend,
Cleavage currents my image,
Flew with the best ere sole flight.
2022 June 03
*7th Place*
A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE CHOICE
~~Brian Strand: Judged 2022 June 06
*HMS: 5,7,5,7,7 syllables per x 3 stanzas
They’ve been my constant buddies through experiences
bad and good
And like any close-knit friendships things don’t always go
as they should
Lately I’ve been coughing and running out of breath
Asthma? Emphysema? Cancer? It’s scaring me to death
When I run out, I panic like a climber about to fall
or a little lost boy looking for his mom
at a crowded carnival
Though they’ve been my family for over a hundred years—
their kinship I regret
But through all the suffering that they’ve caused—
I need a cigarette!
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