Figments

This week our theme was based on the poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay First Fig and Second Fig. I hope everyone posts theirs! We got quite a variety. My contributions are below.

Next week come prepared with something related to The Love-Hat Relationship by Aaron Belz.

Third Fig

"Reap what you sow," it's said, and "Love

your neighbor as yourself."

Or you can reap his crop instead

for free food on your shelf.

Fourth Fig

From goals delayed anticipate

more joy eventually;

from chances taken now, instead,

you get great memories.

Zeroth Fig

A falling fig, obedient

to force Newtonian,

will travel down until it lands

and not go up again.

My First Contribution

Josh just told me to post this so here it is...P.S. this is my version of "Imagine" by John Lennon:

Suggested Title: Reimagine

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you lie
No hell below us
As long as we don’t die
Imagine all the people
Living without hope

Imagine there’s no countries
No band of brotherhood
Nothing to live or die for
Nothing that’s really good
Imagine all the people
Living without choice

You may say that ‘God’ is trouble
And you’re not the only one
But we’re the ones in trouble
Till we learn to live as one

Imagine there’s no virtue
And no integrity
No cause for us to fight for
Not even charity
Imagine all the people
Sharing a joyless world

You may say that ‘God’ is trouble
And you’re not the only one
But we’re the ones in trouble
Till we learn to live as one

Black and White

I used to think
in black and white
A thing was wrong
or a thing was right

Why don't you think
the way I do?
What's right for me
is right for you.

But then one day,
twixt dusk and dawn
I saw the grey
come creeping on.

I stumbled--
There was naught to grasp
No absolute
for me to grasp

But on I pressed
through mists of dark
Not quite depressed
Yet not a lark

And as I toiled
throughout the day
A guiding hand
Showed me the way

And through the struggle
I gained strength
and hope sprang up
Until at length

A shaft of light
pierced through the gloom
And in my heart
I felt more room

The fog was broken
by the beams
of Daybreaks'
diamond dewy dreams

A thousand colors,
shades and hues
Of purple, orange
reds and blues

Danced across
the damask skies
Till teardrops glistened
On my eyes

The golden morning
sailed on
Yet in my mem'ry
It lives on

That day when first
I learned to see
The rainbow's
Multiplicity

And when I'm tempted
to give voice
to judgment
on another's choice

I feel the glory
of that day
And then I'm thankful
for the grey.

Invitation

Paper snowflakes drift across the window,
and icicle lights drip from the roof,
splashing white on the gravel yard,
covering it with snow.

Stockings are anxiously whispering of Santa,
but you can hardly hear it
through the patient glow of the luminarias.

Tonight, they flicker
to welcome the Christ-child to their home.


Well, it's December, so I thought I'd start in on the holidays. In case you aren't from the southwest, luminarias are a Christmas tradition. They are brown paper bags with candles inside. You set them up to line the path to your door so that the holy family will find their way to your house, since there was no room in the inn and you want to offer them a place to stay.