Tuesday, June 06, 2006

1.5 months

since I last wrote a poem...

COMPLICATED
Flowers so delicate, there are none to call your own.
Floating in the world, unimagined colors unrestrained to shower the world in radiated beauty to enliven and entertain - to draw hopes and dreams nearer, forcing the unfathomable deeper into hidden darkness.
Cusping on a wisp of smoke, the echoes shudder in the frozen air, crackling and shining, mirrored reflections dancing in unimagined eyes still crystal blue from the life trapped beneath ice, drowning in deadly waters so pure and so true, numbing everything beyond the point of pain.
Sounds of laughter distant memories that resound as loud as the beating heart that begins to slow - for the end always comes. Dark clouds shape, but it is the thunder and lightning that release the storms that wash away the errors, but leave also the remembered aches and pains not so easily dulled - for fear is not brushed away like a butterfly and its magical ceaseless flapping. No, nothing is ever quite as believed, all is more that what is easily seen.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

*Blue


Blue
Originally uploaded by kjshoemaker.
My moto has a first name, its B-L-U-E-!

Ah, reminiscence for those in the know.

*Meet my trusty motorcycle. She has 100cc and great gas mileage. No, with 100kg to lug around she cannot go very fast. Just like me.

North shore sunset hour


2006 05 04 062
Originally uploaded by kjshoemaker.
I've got a couple pretty shots up on flickr.com
my login is kjshoemaker, as if you couldn't guess so as to find the rest of my pics. I'll try to find a link. But, hey, you all are pretty smart. But i've got pretty beaches AND warm ocean water...


***EDIT: apparently if you click on the photo it will take you right to the rest of my pictures at flickr.com. YEAH!!!

Monday, May 01, 2006

"I" (pronounced like the letter 'e')


DSC00130
Originally uploaded by kjshoemaker.
Your friendly reporter, live (ok, 2 months ago) from vacation in Brazil (on the border, but still technically Brazil here) at the world famous Iguacu Falls.
Interestingly, the word is really just Iguacu. Why, because "I" (pronounced like the letter 'e') means water.
Why is this interesting? Because the word for water in the spot in Indonesia I work in is, yup - you guessed it, "I" (pronounced like the letter 'e')

Patience and expectations

Motorcycles whiz by, each expecting the other to slow down.
Driving carefully, big and white, surely looking like a clown.
All expect the other to stop and wait, confident they don't want to die,
but none realize that the other thinks it too, so really they believe a lie.
Waiting for things that are better than good,
waiting for things sometimes misunderstood,
waiting for the time when I am who I am,
waiting patiently, eating grass, stupid little lamb.
I cannot wait but must,
counter-intuitively I trust,
knowing mistakes made do not end,
knowing some messages I am not ready to send,
knowing it is only my will that must not break but bend,
knowing that I'll live longer and wiser if I wait and follow rules I too recommend.

rainbows


DSC00248
Originally uploaded by kjshoemaker.
are quite beautiful, don't you think?

on the boat


DSC00235
Originally uploaded by kjshoemaker.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Easter poetry

Dinner with friends
Drink and eat, for you must soon understand
that the order from my father is one final demand.
Soon we shall part, and then with a start
you'll cry, and mourn, but you must take heart.
Washing you now – know you are clean –
for a savior you know – it’s him you have seen.
Do as the teacher shows, no servant is greater,
so do not disobey now or sooner or even later.
This body will break – for you it must.
This blood a covenant bond you shall trust.
Go – ignoring the hate – it is the same;
I know it well, such is the price of this fame.
I am the way; I’m the truth and the life,
and though you may not get it now, you are my wife.

Gardens at night
Tears flowing like blood,
sorrow sinking like mud,
purpose sure,
loving life pure.
Giving all for life,
fearful of such strife,
not quite ready for the knife,
agape for chosen wife.
Another could do this, not true?
Why not another, why me and you?
Do not abandon, won’t survive if you do.
Almost ready to be unleashed to the zoo.
All this must happen, musn’t it?
My friends won’t survive the bottomless pit.
Remind them to not turn back or wait and sit;
make their hearts pure, minds sound, and spirits fit.
So much awaits, but the end so daunts;
what nightmares I’ve had, a vision that haunts.
Soon ears will hear reckless and vicious taunts;
but no reply will they receive – though it is one of their wants.
Rising, lights awaken me to the end,
they come to take me, men for whom I did not send.
This evil, from a brother who I knew upon not to depend,
for such is the vision I know of lambs I would tend.
Chains and beatings begin,
the kiss to seal the sin,
a battle they cannot win.
Ready as I’ll ever be, I am in.

Friday, before dawn
Cursed and condemned by those who think they know,
betrayed by a brother, now the rest don’t even show –
another denying three times before turning to go,
a world drowned in madness, ruled by an evil shadow.
But all are cast by a reflection inside.
All listen not to the father, bit opinions far and wide.
But no force can turn back the coming tide,
and it is for this that innocence will have died.
The keys lie far below, eyes see now true.
The pain must be suffered, and done so for you.
The burden is mine and has always been;
this is the cost of life, the wage for sin.
Do not forget to reopen the door.
In three days you’ll see what was in store.
Comprehension will arrive that night,
And then you can choose to follow what is wrong or what is right.

Morning sickness (Friday after dawn)

Thirty-nine cattails.
Bleeding crown of thorns.
Fist upon fist to face, side and below.
Kicks to the groin, the nightmare still to go.
Lies and screams.
Spit and beams.
Torn wounds from skin dried and peeled.
Ground into sand and dust and mud and steel.
Strength destroyed.
Lungs no longer buoyed.
Commanded to walk,
but unable to talk.
Endless despair,
sweat profuse from mangled hair.
God, I want to die,
But first I must be raised on high.

Carrying the cross
Endless weight, the race to be run.
All has been stripped away; I am finished – I am done.
Fallen – again, orders to a man to help me, to finish.
Thirst and hunger nothing compared to pain mothers do not wish;
everything fails – the hill too steep.
Suddenly upon it I long to weep.
Laid down to rest, a pull to the side, AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
AHHHHHHHHHHH! NO, PLEASE, STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Raised up for all to see. Naked. Can’t breathe. Father forgive them.
The know not what they do. Into your hands I submit my spirit.
It is finished.

Saturday
Just another day in the pits of hell.
Man it’s hot, and – oh! – the smell!
If I had ice, I’d surely sell,
but I’m out of here tomorrow; just as well.

Risen
Doors opened. Nothing remains. Not robbed, just… gone.
Vanished as promised, but forgetful followers weep needlessly.
Memories run short, fears rise, promises seem to disappear.
Old lives renewed, old habits not quite dead,
hearts that fail, three years of sweat and tears like smoke.
Taking flight the journeys lead them right back to him.
He is the one – the only one – the coming king,
the beginning and the end;
he who must be named to the gatekeeper for admittance.
He is the sacrificial lamb, whose pure blood lines were pure,
whose true heart was true,
whose loving spirit was love,
and whose life was for all but his own.
Risen as he promised he must be.
Risen as the prophets foretold.
Risen as God may not remain in any box.
He is risen.
Seek ye first his kingdom.
Honor and prostrate yourself before him and no other.
His judgment is fair and true and full of grace.
And he shall judge.
His blood was required.
And so it was paid.
The sacrifice.
In debt to him.
Gladly done, through unbearable pain.
He never lied.
He is risen indeed.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

riding on the back of a motorcycle

Have you ever ridden on the back of a motorcycle and shut your eyes? The feeling is so eerie - I was at the complete mercy of the driver's will. The wind and the sounds... I FELT the cars and other motorcycles around me. It is a silent helplessness that I can't quite describe, only somehow I think I feel it all the time when I travel. It's like I'm being led around sometimes into really cool adventures, but... it's still scary, you know?
But I just have to learn to trust the driver.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Me and my shadow



Playing in Foz de Iguacu

or Iguacu Falls (amazing, btw) at the corner or Brazil, Argentina & Paraguay

Monday, January 30, 2006

Behind these hazel eyes

Forward again, a world that spins and cycles fast, dreams that never fade, and no time to breathe. Thoughts endless and wondering and traveling from everywhere across the world, never knowing what is happening - friends dying, loves disappeared, decisions right, pain and sadness drunk with joy and gladness. A world left to see - worlds left behind; full in life but throttle full forward to the wall approaching... no turning back - the screams are mine in delight and dismay; brown eyes open big and behind them lies truth that many fear. See? It is their screams and not mine. It is their fears, but it is my burden. Cast aside and shared, but the aches are not forgotten. Still it is the happiness I sing that my friends hear and know deep inside.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Thursday, January 19, 2006

then again, did THAT happen too?

breaking apart into tears i cannot cry, tears that make me fly, joy that cannot bear, and a life that is but isn't fair. Love that burns and moves and shakes, love that breathes, and lives and quakes. truth that rings and hands that hold, grips let loose as life continues to unfold. prayer and blessing that make us move on, a hope in the true god, his spirit, his son. trembling now i must hold back, this dam shall not break, this rope shall not slack. strength not from within but above, strength that is more glorious and powerful than any because it is love. she made me see, she made me believe, she proved what you said; now i know, now i trust, now perhaps i have fully risen from the dead. these ashes that scattered are not mine i know, because the sweet fragrance is heavenly and fills me with glow. dreams that magnify to the journey i follow, a smile that will never frown now - it shall always show. thank you thank you thank you and know that you have been a gift. though none but me may understand, between us was never a rift. restored now into wholeness and life, I won't say what rhymes with this, but, you know, you know, don't you, goodbye and sweet dreams - good night!

Monday, January 09, 2006

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?

Tuesday, December 27, 2005