February 11, 2013
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Huge pines in darkness
Moan against the howling gale
Soleri bells chime
© 2013 Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: Haiku, Nature, poetry
Posted in Haiku, Nature, Poetry | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2013
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Pale to dark spectrum
Blue behind scattered gray clouds
Hidden sun’s rose blush
© 2013 Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: Haiku, Nature, poetry
Posted in Haiku, Nature, Poetry | 4 Comments »
February 3, 2013
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Wake!
Winter
Wonderland …
Look!
© 2013 Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: 7S-four line, Nature, poetry
Posted in 7S-four line, Nature, Poetry | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2013
I visited someone in this assisted-living home yesterday. This poem came rushing back to me.
In a dim light...
A Small Upper Window
A light is seen through the treetops
A small window on an upper floor
It’s late
Someone must be reading
Or can’t sleep
Perhaps an attendant is there
The building looms in the dark
Like a castle
Sitting on a hill
Stone
Stories tall and a block long
But that one small window … there’s a light on
I imagine a castle keep
A safe place, caring, secure
Or a tower
A prisoner’s room, lonely, confined
Possibly either or both
Only the occupant knows on a particular day
Maybe that’s my room someday
In that old nursing home on the hill
How will I see things?
Filled with hope and gratitude or despair?
Grace-filled or having been forsaken?
In peaceful surrender or stubborn resistance?
That light, that window
So peaceful looking
Against that immense silhouette
Light does that to darkness
Even the…
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January 28, 2013
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Owl
Perched high
Intoning
Dawn
© Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: 7S-four line, Nature, poetry
Posted in 7S-four line, Nature, Poetry | 1 Comment »
January 23, 2013
I must admit that this came forth very painfully. I’m supposed to be writing for my book on prison ministry, but this came out instead.
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An Immeasurable Distance
A young black face
Male
In profile
Through the narrow cell window
Just his profile
He was leaning
His back against the wall
Standing
Less than two feet away
But the door
The cell door
The solid steel cell door
Imposed an immeasurable distance
Between us
A gulf socioeconomic, judicial, racial
A span of years, experiences, hopes, dreams
Fears
Separated us
He spoke softly
“It’s hard,” he said
“I know,” was my only reply
Tears
Flowed instantly
Glistening on his dark skin
Catching the light from the small window
Twelve feet away
I also wept … inside
Silently, invisibly
Carrying on my own tears
Hundreds of young men
Hidden behind those doors
For the past twelve years
I’ve stood at those doors
This young man facing life
Without parole
Wept
Now 25 years old
He was eighteen
The day I first knocked on his door
© 2013 Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: justice, poetry, prison, prison chaplain, prison ministry, racism, Social Justice
Posted in Criminal Justice, Ministry, Poetry, Prison Ministry, racism, Social Justice | 2 Comments »
In a dim light... 