THE WHOLE BALL OF WAX

Sex. Drugs. Rock-N-Roll.

Wine. Women. Song.

Church. Religion. God.

Three. Three. Three.

They say things come in threes

and apparently they are not wrong.

But I digress.

1.

God.

My whole life.

Not church.

Not religion.

Not superstition.

Heaven forbid!

When I was three,

Mom taught me

Matthew 3:27

Love the Lord

Your God

With all your

Heart. Mind. Soul.

All three.

What a failure I’ve been.

Turned my back,

walked away

did it MY way.

But I digress.

2.

Awareness has a way

of sneaking up behind

to pull the curtain open

one foot at a time, and our

only hope is to see with

open eyes.

Open ears.

Open minds

everything out there.

Everywhere

the evidence of

infinite space,

infinite time,

infinite being...

Father

Son

Holy Spirit

when we are awake,

in our tiny insignificance

we can touch eternity.

Stunning!

But I digress.

3.

How many ghosts of me

have I left behind?

More than a few, I can tell you.

One of them poured out of me

the first time love broke,

only a few tatters left

to flutter in the wind.

For a long time, every bit

of my substance

every atom

every molecule

every cell

went empty, so

I left myself behind

to ponder why I can 

say I know that this great

magnificence of Universe,

infinite consciousness,

knows me,

walks with me. 

Is all I am.

Reviews

[Kady R.]

I like how realistic your poem is. The reality of choice. Great freedom that comes with the power of the choices we make good or bad. I myself learned from some of the bad choices I've made but I'm hoping for better choices ahead!!! "You did it your way" happy to see this quote reminded me of the song Frank Sinatra.

[Vol]

Kady, A favorite poet and friend of mine, known around Nashville, Tennessee as The Jefferson Street Poet, once told me, Poetry is not about the poet, it is not even about the poem.... it is about the reader. People who read poetry, what few there are, are seekers and thinkers and they tend to care about the condition of things, inside themselves first, and in the world outside world as well. A real poem is a little stopping place in the road where we check our bearings...
Vol

[Kady R.]

Wooowww Vol!! Deep stuff!! Thanks🤗🤗🤗

[Lorry]

Tut tut teach! Can't believe you forgot THE perfect trilogy... BURGER, FRIES, COKE! 😃
(Bet you thought I was gonna say star wars there! I've never watched them all the way through and would say the Matrix before that borefest saga any day)
I do remember coming across something during lockdown though. Think it was called the gospel according to Thomss Aquinas, which of brainfogged memory serves said just that, to walk and learn your own path and everywhere, every moment can be your church.
I often wonder about the ghosts of me too. Left behind in the long ago until memory recalls a person out of the blue and back into my heart.
A good trick is to think of your past and see how many memories make you smile. They may be long gone in your rear view but as you recall them you remember how much they mean to you and hopefully they will remember with a smile also.
Maybe even that's how we win at this game of life, by collecting smiles along the way and being judged on those.

[Vol]

Lorry,
it's what I keep saying about poets finding their own voice rather than using someone else's style... they all think ee cummings is a role model... and accounts for why 90% of the doggerel on here is so awful. They walk someone else's path where there is nothing for their own set of necessary lessons and morals, and principles where what they want to say actually lives. You knnow what? When my first wife ran off and abandoned me and our sons, my heart was shredded, but it turned me into superman, If that didn't kill me, what would? But even with that, when I look back, it feels like it is into a great field of riches. I wrote once that whatever happens, grab it by the horns and take a big ole bite just to see what it tastes like... chew slowly, look for the nuances, live all of it.
Has seemed to work for me.
Vol

[LisaCarol]

Vol - this is very touching. You’ve embraced your vulnerabilities and shared them here. The last line so perfect. Who you are is a mentor and friend to many, including me. Thank you for sharing your writing.

[Vol]

LisaCarol,
I don't cry easily, but when I do it is over words like yours to me here in this review. An interesting thing is happening to me. I am a gregarious guy, but only if the people I'm talking to have conversation. I had my regular folks over in Tennessee, but since I've moved to Texas, 35 miles from the closest place to spend money... ZILCH!. out here in cowboy land, oil land... well not so much... If I knew how, I'd set up some kind of weekly zoom for us to do once a week...
Vol

[emmajoygreen]

Tis said that there men who become a small part of everywhere ever been, every person ever met, every thought every had more than twice. That being the truth, your truth shows a man who has felt, searched, wept and laughed about, plus the man we are proud to call teacher, friend and of course, fine poet.

[Vol]

EmmaJoy,
There is absolute truth that we and everything around us are connected in ways we do not even know... when I think that some random atom floating in the air might be entangled with another light years away, and instantly react the same way to a stimulus just one of them experiences. It would be a kind of evidence for non linear time... and I find beauty there.
Vol

[Michael Sun Bear]

Hello Vol, I imagine you already knew this poem would speak strongly to me. I love it. It’s going into my Favorites library. MSB