Spittin’ Snow
we can have ‘snow globe’
whiteout
blizzard,
skiff
and we even do one more:
spittin’ snow!
I know! Hard to believe!
But if you had my window
my office, you’d see
a combination that’s new
No, not sleet
that’s ice
ah, come on spring!
Meanwhile we start a snowstorm
with something new to see
better yet get out the door
and feel it!
Yup! It IS spittin’ snow!
Lin, Adventureland, March 2015
Brrrrweather!
First
an interesting lot
trained the boys to be
hunters, and warriors
Hunter meant meat
the women did farming
childbearing, rearing, cooking
clothing, blanketing, beading
corn, beans and squash, the staples
Then first white folk
Europeans, of differing ilk
Importantly, crucially,
people of The Book
a different concept therein
First among equals
Indeed, there were still ‘Firsts’
and still are
but the Apostle Paul nailed it
“No longer Jew nor Greek,
neither slave nor free,
nor male or female…
You are all one…
in Christ Jesus.” *
But the struggle remained
over who ‘owned’ what
where the lines are drawn…
Yours…Mine.
it’s a fleeting state
History has them strewn
across the land and time
But
First among equals can
The wise leader knows
especially in America
every vote, thus every person
counts, is equal
What tomfoolery says
“The winner takes all!”
It’s only for a moment
not sustainable…
Wise ones seek wisdom, so
they ‘turn their eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonder full face.
Then the things of earth
grow strangely dim
in the Light of His glory
and Grace…
Selah,
Lin 2/2015
*Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, verse 28
Windows on the World (2015)
have our own windows on the world
that would be our world
the one we pour ourselves into
checking
watching
thinking
three come to my mind at once
first being,
when my feet hit the floor
after a night of rest
Three quick steps to the window
looking across the driveway
where grandpa and I ran footraces
where I rode a pony, and then a bicycle
then drove an old car, back and forth
I’m checking the little world
where I live, where I farm
That view is loaded with memories
snapshots of people and machines and cattle
of putting hay up into the barn
and butchering days with neighbors
I see little faces, our kids,
smiling and laughing
and swimming in the horse tank
where the cattle used to slurp noisily
same view but from ground level
it looks different somehow
Here grandma stood, looked and commented,
somehow mom is missing
but from here my wife commanded
the house her castle, the farm she embraced
her hands on every surface
her arms around us all
The third window is in my shop
all seasons I spent there
designing, building, repairing, maintaining
and in the winter, by the wood stove
settin’ with a fella, or fellas,
solving the world’s problems
well, analyzing and discussing anyhow!
Here the windows are looking out,
not in
From here we travel far
nearly the ends of earth
and nearly around the globe
oh, so precious
to come home
to the farm
Here I was conceived
Here I lived my first days and years
and here we settled in
family
the farm
our centennial farm
we own as tenants
It is good
Selah, Lin January 2015
Rain Reigns
Created that way
Sustained that way
Pause and reflect on rain with me
Picture a prairie farm
Mid summer day
Hot
Soil dry and hot
Thirsty plants
Dark clouds rolling in
Thunder
Farmer and his wife looking up
Praying
Big raindrops splash their faces
Tears of joy mix with raindrops
The soil drinks
Harvest is possible again
Think 1927
Mississippi River
Wet fall, wet winter, Minnesota down
Extra wet spring
Roaring streams screaming rivers
Ever expanding their footprints
Scouring soil away
Whisking away homes
And more rain pain
Good things taken to excess
Come back to bite us, haunt us
How lovely balance is
How utterly fine
To fragile humans
Soil and Seeds
hidden and waiting
unendiing discoveries inside
soil and seeds are diamonds
precious
What comes naturally
is to simply walk on soil
unknowing, uncaring its value
yet life depends upon it
no one could live without it
A particle of this and that
chemistry and physics
and mystery, no
mysteries!
Bacteria, for example.
50 years ago in college
I studied a few
now we think a million, or more
are living in the soil (and us)
doing things important
who studies seeds and plants
breeding, sorting and sifting
selecting
50 years ago in college
we knew a little
genes and chromosomes
and mystery, no
mysteries!
Genomes
genetic modifications
a million chances for change
carefully
What some my think lifeless
soil, seeds,
discovery shows alive
fully alive, teaming
Surprise!
Thank you for the soil, the seeds!
Selah, Lin January 2015
9 in the Evening
Good day
The sun came up
in all its Glory
Resplendent! Awesome! Power full!
No way to stop it, it just keeps rising!
It’s arc complete, work done for the day
it sank out west
slowly, slowly, then ever more quickly
and gone…
The evening quieted the winds
so more and more softly, gently,
nighttimes blanket settled over
as stars poked through the darkness
brighter and brighter
and the moon rose, full
9 in the evening
found me leisurely walking
strolling across the harvested rows
to pull in the last, now lonely, grain truck
I stopped
of stalked and grain
the softness of the soil
now blanketed for winter’s keep
a cock pheasant calling out
(“I am here. Where are you?”)
and the sky, overwhelming me
stars
I realized…
Great grandma and grandma saw the same
grandpa and grandma
dad and mom
now me.
Same stars, same field
I’m so small
I raised my strong arms in praise
stretching them as far as I could
to get them round the universe
no way
My part is so small
and the rest is so huge
I live in God’s creation
in God’s grace
I’m held in God’s embrace
for my little time
9 in the evening
Selah
Lin, ending harvest, coming winter 2014