PAD 2014 #29 TWO FOR TUESDAY

MAGICAL AND REALISM POEMS

Magical Words

Sometimes what I consider magical

others decide is just coincidence

It behooves them not to believe in miracles

perhaps for fear of being disappointed

Magic happens in writing three pages a day

Poems show themselves, ideas, even

how to handle difficult relatives

Magic happened when I first started this

and wrote “Dear God” at the top

Then I didn’t need to,

because I knew He knew to Whom I was writing

Writing is often a 3-D printer from my head

I conceived the notion that I should play music

even though I was ‘too old’

used my credit card to buy a violin at 30

a sax at 50

and a full-sized harp at 59

in spite of arthritis and lack of education

and never once regretted those purchases

I complain about the weather, about my figure

about being pissed off at anybody and everybody

without the risk of having to defend it and

magically the rancor often disappears!

I write psalms about gratitude

unexpected prosperity, hopes, dreams

disappointments, failures, poor health

and depression

The magic is not in making them disappear

but in seeing it outside myself

and realizing each new challenge on my page

is merely the universe’s way of

giving me an opportunity for growth

REALISM POEM

WHAT’S REAL?

When I was a kid with a burst appendix

They gave me ether to remove it

The operation was a success

but the flashbacks from the drug lingered

and sometimes for no apparent reason

I would have spells where things didn’t feel

REAL

I would be conscious

I would feel pain

But I would be so distant from things

that they didn’t feel REAL

Thanks to Madeleine L’Engle

I can imagine a fourth dimension

without too much academic clutter-talk  

matter vibrating at different speeds

and the idea that life as we know it

might just be an illusion

This sweet illusion gives us experience

and distance from the experience

gives us objectivity and choices

But

reality is that

falling down a flight of stairs still hurts

hunger pangs are not fun

and you can get an ice-cream headache

if you eat it too fast

Still, escape from reality even if

only in our head

is sometimes better than what

IS