Rookie at the Barre (the poem)

Now enter child-ballerina,

 

delicate, pretty

in pink-long-leg ribbon-wrap,

stretchy tights & leotard:

 

entendre before plie,

            then en pointe:

 

beauty-gone-broken-toe-shoe

wibble-wobble             plop,

but will she rise

 

to try floor-skim: bourree,

 

or opt, once again,

for just running and jumping

away?  Allegro!  Slender girl

 

climbing a trellis—

happy,

beside the climbing roses,

and looking in the mirror—

 

sees American Beauty

& a rookie at the barre.

Rookie at the Barre

In yesterday’s mail, I received copies of my newly published micro-chapbook, Rookie at the Barre.  Richard Hansen, editor and publisher of POEMS-FOR-ALL, promised it would be here for our anniversary.  And true to his word, #586 was right on time.

What God Has Joined Together

Today is our (my and Bill’s) thirty-seventh wedding anniversary.  It’s not a biggie, and we have not yet decided what we will do to celebrate.  We have been blessed with two sons, Troy (age 31) and Victor (age 20). Today is a day of joy.

From Nouwen

Spiritual Courage

Courage is connected with taking risks. Jumping the Grand Canyon on a motorbike, coming over Niagara Falls in a barrel, walking on a tightrope between the towers of New York’s World Trade Centre, or crossing the ocean in a rowboat are called courageous acts because people risk their lives by doing these things. But none of these daredevil acts comes from the centre of our being. They all come from the desire to test our physical limits and to become famous and popular.

Spiritual courage is something completely different. It is following the deepest desires of our hearts at the risk of losing fame and popularity. It asks of us the willingness to lose our temporal lives in order to gain eternal life.