Insight

He had always wanted to meet Thor Heyerdahl ,

And now that he was dead, he could,

And, in fact, had been granted his wish

Of meeting two others he’d always held in high esteem

While he was living.

But because he had to go back in time to meet them,

He had a chance to view their lives in rewind, too.

In toto, he could see how they had actually been,

How they had treated their own families,

And he found that they were all assholes.

But then he arrived at a place in space and time where they were born.

What sweet babies they all three were!

And he managed to peek behind the curtain 

To find them as their spirits were in death now,

So perfect, and so at peace with themselves and everyone else!

And so he decided that in his next life,

He wasn’t going to wish to meet anyone famous,

Or either would he work to be anyone whom others might admire,

But his only striving would be to stay as innocent 

As the glorious, angelic infants he’d seen were.

-jenn

 Practice Squad

The unsung heroes of the practice squad!

The better they are,

The better your team will be!

Nameless, faceless wildmen 

Who square up for fun on the frienemy:

The starters!

They run divine routes,

Inspired by some hidden energy matrix.

They gather strength from an unknown source, 

Motivated by something intangible 

And incorruptible.

They can’t be bought.

They can’t be sold.

But they can take you places,

Or they can take yours.

It’s rare, but brother, when they do,

When they rise up through the ranks of the five star blue bloods,

They become the very ones

Who get statues of themselves placed

 In front of the stadiums!

The eternal spirit of the underdawg!

They are gold

In a silver standard.

They deserve our notice and respect.

My hat is off to you today,

You great, unsung heroes of the venerate and venerable practice squad!

-jenn

 Systems 

The trunk, the leaves, the seeds, the fruit:

These are the visible parts of the tree.

But what about the sap, the root?

Aren’t these just as important to the vitality?

And what about the rain, the wind?

The stars throughout the farthest cosmos 

Send forth their rays of energy.

It’s not just the sun that shines.

What about you? What about me?

Are we not also an integral component 

Of every tree?

And what about you?

What about me?

Are we not a part of one another?

Are we not a complex system, too,

Like the tree, with roots that are hidden,

Beyond our fathers,

Beyond our mothers?

Are you not a living beam of energy,

Affected by the stars that shine

From the farthest depths of the galaxy

And beyond?

Is not every essence of existence, 

Any possible creation, seen or unseen,

A spectre of systems that spring forth

All from the same great intangible source

That may, or may not, be hidden from us,

That we may, or may not, become aware of

At some point of realization that we could perceive,

If we could just get

Beyond our beliefs.

-jenn

Perspective 

It’s just a red umbrella

And an orange poolside chair,

But the ripples on the water

Make the reflection there seem to be

A million butterflies.

I stare into the crystal blue 

Waters of the hotel pool 

Into the mirage.

And what’s funny is,

Of all the butterflies I have ever seen,

These are the most beautiful.

They’re magical.

They pop like bubbles

Then reappear

In a place that seems deeper

And more “in.”

They come and go.

I have the urge to dive in to them

And see their world below.

And who knows?

Maybe I would look up,

And then,

Would I see

From within, 

How magical,

How beautiful,

How unreal 

The reflection

Of this stale old world’s exterior 

Might look to me?

-jenn

 Peanut Time?

It feels like something you have to do,

And you really, really don’t want to,

But your feet are taking you

To a place you don’t want to go.

Your fingers reach for the task at hand.

This time of year I always get a hearty case of worry and doubt,

A little taste of what being a Virgo is all about.

If something’s not perfect,

Is it worth doing at all?

It’s fall,

And peanut harvest is just around the bend.

But you have to wait for the first frost,

And when will that be?

When will summer really end?

No one knows,

And no one can even hazard a guess.

Isn’t it best to wait

In abject patience?

But who can do it?

If anyone knew a way to predict 

Exactly that or exactly this,

He or she would save the world from lots of grief.

Or if someone could control the weather…

As it is,

We don’t know whether the sun will come up or not tomorrow,

But in some ways, that is the beauty of existence.

We don’t know anything,

But don’t they say, “Ignorance is bliss.”

And these very trials,

And the faith they can build,

May convince us of our ignorance 

And yet strengthen us,

If we’ll let them.

-jenn 

 Something In Common 

I try to tell my cat and dog

That they should try and get along.

I suddenly realize, 

They have something in common.

I want to sit them down 

And have a talk with them.

So I open the door to let the dog in from the back yard.

She runs in like a big galoot.

The cat instantly arches her back 

And floofs her fur and hisses.

The dog never stops,

But continues to run for cover, now,

 Heading for my bedroom in the back of the house.

And so I shout as she goes by,

The beginning of my pre-planned speech:

“You guys know you have something in common, right?

You’re both female.”

-jenn 

 The Pineapple Gets In My Eyes 

I’ve been up all night

Exploding cans of pineapple juice,

Then cleaning all the pineapple juice up as best I could.

Now I’ve sprinkled salt on the kitchen floor,

And I’m sliding around in my canvas  shoes.

I take the rug outside to shake it

And see the stars.

Everything…. 

Truly…..

Is beautiful…..

Last night I cried all my makeup off

Because of people like you.

Tonight I cry because I have pineapple in my eye.

It’s a better reason, 

And it helps me see your broken heart.

Humanity has broken its own wholeness, 

It’s own health….

It’s own inner wellness…

So many times.

But these stars are the fragments across the sky that shine in the darkness. 

They sing the expanding universe. 

They sing the glorious dark matter

That will never allow anything to be created or destroyed.

They sing the Eternal Truths: 

That no matter how broken we declare the world to be,

All things are eternally connected as One,

And something so incomparably complete exists always and ever,

Before any moves are made.

And I have learned much more

From staying up all night

Exploding cans of pineapple accidentally,

Than from all the directed studies I ever endured at The University of Texas Textbook.

-jenn