The Rented Veneer
They offered gifts
Nothing but rotten silk,
A cheap spectacle
Staged for the public eye.
Now, in the suffocating quiet,
I am forbidden to touch it.
I can only breathe,
And give it back.
(“Birth of Gaia”, 2017, original encaustic)
Destiny’s Child
Who am I, where am I from, where am I going?
Are all questions some of us never even ask.
Some because we don’t care
Or ever look beyond the immediate and material,
Others because they have no doubt
About being first and foremost spiritual.
And then there are those in between like me
Who have our doubts, and evolving identities
Who may well have come from the womb
As if from Earth herself
But have come to know we are destined
For something bigger, even greater than the stars.
As for who we actually are
Well, that’s for each of us to come to know
In our bones and blood
And within the heart of it all
That intangible part of us all
That has never been of this world.
(8/26/25)
Love is not something that belongs only to a living soul.
It could be anything your soul is tied to.
Neither human nor god,
but something you chose above them both—
that is what love truly is.
You look at it and know you cannot live without it.
It is not a person, nor devotion.
That is love.
RAGS
You have rags
Of rags
Some bragging rags...
Must be your rag,
Because you have rags
With nothing in them
Except a bifurcate rag;
You have enough rags for life,
For a billion stars in the sky__
If there was a total number of lug rags
You would tote have it
In the rag,
I wonder why you hoard so many rags
When all you ever put in them
Are other dirty rags.
~Tile Tersoo
Two cars in every driveway
the '60's economic boom
In 2023, a screen or three
~ in every single room
Flames sifts and seizes all, mankind’s desires burns through all
All is exchanged for fire, for fire is the highest priced gold
With a pearl within the flickering flames, still and wailing
Those with piggish hearts I'd berate
for desiring each worldly prize.
Avarice is a shameful trait.
Materialism blinds their eyes.
June 23, 2022
Greed Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Margarita Lillico
Syllable count checked with howmanysyllables.com
Queen of Materialism Versus Queen of Minimalism
She shops and shops and shops and shops.
She is either in a store or on the phone.
Amazon boxes surround her house.
Some are opened, some are not.
She is a consumer, smothered under boxes.
You can find her hand reaching toward the computer
As she tries to click “buy” but the rest of her is under boxes.
Hear that click? She just bought something else.
Will she have time to open all of these boxes before she dies?
Doubtful.
The Queen of Materialism lives.
Our next Queen has signed up to be in a tour of homes.
Her friends are horrified.
It is a Christmas tour. She has no Christmas stuff.
She has no quilts, no tree, no ornaments, no stuff.
Her house is black and white and blah.
There are no pictures on her wall.
She would not recognize an Amazon box.
She is not curious, not interesting, not tantalized by shiny things.
Colorful sassy things do not amaze, intrigue or entice her.
She does not go into stores, and she does not shop online.
Her house is stark, empty, bereft. She is the Queen of Minimalism.
The earth belongs to the One who created it*
We are only stewards of the area we possess,
Known to the ancients, this fact is no secret
No one owns anything forever is my guess,
So, enjoy it while you can is as good as it gets.
(*Psalm 24:1)
Written May 10, 2022
now the branches of the peach tree bend under the weight of the fruit
in the lake the sensible little fish avoids the heron's pointed beak
almost all the children playing on the lawn are smiling
the muscles of young people contract their atoms on display
Insects land on the branches obeying a spring rite
nothing disturbs the ragged wanderer's insolent stroll
on the stone stairs the elderly man supports his cane step by step
the wind blows from the south and the white plastic bag dances in the air
the injured praying mantis antenna hangs beside the restless head
gravel paths are bordered by rows of bricks
workers stack cement bags on the truck bed
the hospital expansion work moves the entire block
drops of serum drip slowly and the boy follows them with his eyes
birds on wires watch the dark clouds move
lightning strikes the mountain that seemed placid on the horizon
our current face doesn't differ from others we've had until then
we finally dive decided from the height of certainties
into the invigorating waters of an illusionless existence
Social media can be a great thing
It helps us connect with our friends and distant family
It educates us on issues around the world
That we aren’t able to see first-hand
It can teach us useful things, and keeps us entertained…
At the same time social media can be awful
It disconnects us from our surroundings
It distorts the way that we see ourselves, and our bodies
It creates too high of expectations for many
It creates this false idea that materialistic things
Will provide us with the happiness that we’ve been longing for
Which is not the case
Picturesque and simple with sweet little windows,
Tidy guestrooms beside stylish bedrooms,
A kitchen straight out of a home catalog,
All contain inside plastic walls.
Blush, copper, teal walls leading to a bathroom,
Cobalt blue hibiscus designs on matching tea sets,
Coordinating furniture in every room.
Delicate and perfect from the roof to the garden.
Impeccable ideal home, a tangible version of home.
A grounded fantasy that profoundly consumes all,
Yearning to live in a dollhouse.
A prayer is like seduction to your soul
Your church is the glamour the world bestowals
Your bible is the flashy neon lights and billboards
Your truth is the multiplicity of greedy
Your salvation is fruition of materialism
Your retribution is its finitude and lost satiety
Heaven becomes invisible through the eye of a needle
O do not covet all U C
Materialism shun must U
Never a lover of money B
From Jesus' pattern take your Q
***
1/20/2020
F F I Series 63 capqu
Brian Strand, sponsor
Capital quatrain (capqu) our form after Keats "O Grant That Like to Peter I"
Scriptural references: Hebrews 13:5; 1 Peter 2:21
seeds of malaise cultural materialism for permissions
atrial, nothing functioned more than citizens' terms of right
values, possible domains of rivalry
defined, a phenomenal world of functional conditions
great as moaning Rome, livid
women are secured in natural churches rife
locally, rational and relational, religiously riotous
parties are luminous, phenomena explained physicians
permanently maimed, publicly
recognised more properly decipherable reasons
for determining domestic chains
of events differently referred what cunning
tricks warring crowds respect, believing
as needed transferred, predictably changed
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