Long Franciscan Poems

Switzerland,
part of my own historic root system,
has a Bill of Rights for vegetation,
protecting rights of intrinsic dignity
with concomitant human respect for their healthy and aesthetic purposes.
It is not OK to merely throw away 
without regard...

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Angelus Silesius Translations

The rose merely blossoms
and never asks why:
heedless of her beauty,
careless of every eye.
?Angelus Silesius, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The rose lack reasons
and merely sways with the seasons;
she has no ego
but whoever put...

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It was a crisp day October 27th 1942 
that's when my pop set out for WW11
right after my grandmother Nona
gave birth to my dad orders arrived 
his job assignment was to protect the 
priest arch...

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Surfeit of stalagmites barring, hampering my way
Clouds descending from heavenly heights
Obscuring my outlook in the rarified air
Mount Certes challenged all my senses
Aching muscles, pounding heart, gasping intakes of breath
But for all that I felt elated,...

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ON THE DEATH OF GINSBERG

Rain-damp street outside my window voices 
punctuate early morning street dogs 
bark car engines cough start 
someone’s day  
lie in half-light thinking of you Allen Ginsberg 

what demons drove you...

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The Orphan

At a time a young mother and her secrets knew,
that a infant boy in her life where counted days in few.
A priest helped her to put the child into an orphanage he knew,
a Saint...

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I once thought I could never be like them,
the privileged and rich whose every whim
is catered to by underlings like me--
but then last year I won the lottery!

The family I’d worked for soon went broke.
I...

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Saint Blackheart walks the Autumn streets and smiles with diamond eyes;
   She's well-aware of what you think, but listens to your lies.
Confess your deepest fantasies or never look her way --
  ...

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In A Mood of Confession

Turbulence
Terror
Of the throbbing rainy clouds.
But , they were mine too.The red-hot arrow
Pierced tenderness beneath ribs
Fell near my window.

In a full moon, midnight
A withering Franciscan priest,
Bent forward, with salt-pepper beard
Frightened to the...

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Flatbush . . . Bedford Stuyvesant . . . Saint Jerome's . . .
Our Lady of Good Counsel School . . . The Sisters of Mercy . . . The Franciscan Brothers.
Double features at the...

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Looking down, I am pleased to see
Youthful pilgrims from St. Joseph’s and Francis of Assisi
In this Year of Faith
Making a journey toward many a sacred place

Mother is happy
As they proclaim a decade at each Holy...

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Duns Scotus was an enormously important theologian
He significantly influenced Catholic theology, early on,
A brilliant man of considerable influence in Scotland
Doctrines we take for granted were from him drawn.

A thirteenth century Franciscan, he was very erudite
Strange...

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She lived the kind of life she always wanted to 
like a lion out of cage fierce and always good 
full of laughter, she was an arrow built straight   
and like the ocean...

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"Engraved on his tomb in Latin:

Scotland brought me forth.
England sustained me.
France taught me.
Cologne holds me."

Blessed John Duns Scotus

1265 - 1308
_______________

Blessed
theologian, philosopher, logician, realist, professor
entered the Franciscan order at 12 years old
became a catholic priest and...

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Thinker, scholar, sophist; Duns was, yet, a humanist,
His thoughts actions exhibited him as true philanthropist…!

Constructing a metaphysical argument, he said,
Of the existence of God, that like rivers moves ahead…!

Aristotle or Aquinas need not be great...

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(I)
I am the seer
to whom every nation
is my homeland,
but my own cradle
is a capsized galleon
laid to rest
among the custodians
of the Atlantic's abyss.

(II)
Fortune was a
camel-led caravan
that exhaled
deific brushstrokes
into this carnal tabernacle –
a transient dwelling
for the Franciscan...

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Jesus Christ is the Catholic’s High Priest
Jesus Christ is the Catholic’s 1st Priest
Jesus Christ is a Priest according to the order of Melchizedeck
Jesus Christ is Father Christ

Father is used for the Franciscan Friar’s or Catholic...

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she's more
angora since
she sheared off
her locks but since
i've lost the key and so
certain doors must remain
closed as if off season for reasons
that only monthly disagree so i seem
to see but by the blood of christ...

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“Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without the squeeze”
It is of the traditional Wensleydale cheese made with the milk of a Ewe
Franciscan monks used to keep the little cheese making sheep
They used a...

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glory to god in the highest 
the godfather was rather tense 
today and why shouldn't he be
why to profess the pure dedication
 
of caring so very deeply for a child
he hadn't fathered 
to share ones...

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The poppies show their many blossoms bold,
vast field of flowers stretching forth from sight.
Such view doth speak creator's awesome might,
a splendid tale in scene that's rightly told.
Thus they appear surrounding mission bold,
a sea of color...

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O Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lord's servant-- so humble
Hearing your Seven Sorrows makes my heart almost crumble
I wish to imitate your loving prayers (and not mumble)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Virgin Mary, humble servant of the Lord, was
open to...

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Yesterday,
the father,
in the soft brown shroud of peace,
blessed the rosary 
I got in your honor.

A Franciscan priest,
a man of the mission,
placed his warm hand
over mine
and the crystal clear string of beads.

In a soft voice 
that...

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