Lamenting Our National Tragedy:
Wherein Does Our Hope Lie  

Living in a nation and its’ society of
dominant systems with its’ daily
lies , propaganda, and apologists
leaving us gasping and grasping

In this world where individuals
are challenged as to their truth and place
constantly being pounded into numbness
leaving us vulnerable and exiled

Struggling to meet our primary needs
of true self and belonging
and nourishment and growth
leaving us wounded and suffering

Is there any authentic community
of true selves becoming where we belong
to meet one another’s needs in relationship
we are left to question and wonder

Wherein does our hope for redemption come
from the chaos and descent of this world
and the darkness of these troubled times
we return to our relationship to the Divine 

Universal Christ hear our cries of grief
and songs of lament from our symbol carriers,
our prophets, poets, mystics, artists,
agents of restorative justice, and all seekers

Awaken in us all your Eternal Cosmic Vision
of kin-dom in diverse community
of radical grace, love, mercy, justice, and hope
like truth rolling down like water

Singing our lamentations, crying out,
protect us from evil leaders and their followers
as we have our collective visions and dream
our dreams, returning to you, be here with us now

Herb Stone, here&now working poetry
October 2019

Photos: Prophets, Poets, Visionaries, Dreamers,
and Change Agents We Should Know
(living and Maya Angelo recently deceased)

Reverend Doctor William Barber II
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Maya Angelo
Walter Brueggemann
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Richard Rohr
Toko-pa Turner
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Ode to My Beloved Longtime Companion (for Cat)
Part IV: Wife and Mother in the Time of the Counterculture

Back home in the States, Cat stayed busy working
and she stayed in touch with his family;
both counting the days until the day
she picked him up at the airport in the yellow VW

During a brief illness, he took care of her,
bringing her meals and sending her flowers;
and then both knew it was time to be together forever
and a small wedding was planned for November

Life together was good in her shoebox duplex
and despite neither knowing how to cook, they thrived
in the intimate ways of lovers learning one another
and their life together as newlyweds was bliss

It was 1971 and the youth rebellion and its’
counterculture of hippies was fueled by
government war lies, corruption, corporate greed;
the young couple living its’ ideals of peace and love

Cat’s job supported them and he returned to college
to complete his bachelor’s degree and volunteered
at the local alternative Rap House serving the cities
countercultural youth with a beehive of activities 

Four years later, exciting news arrived,
Cat was pregnant with a baby boy due in November
however the baby suddenly arrived on a chaotic,
hot day in mid-August to the surprise of all

A tiny two and a half pound, two and a half months early
premie baby boy developed holes in his lungs
and jaundice in his blood, covered in tubes pumping
oxygen and a total blood exchange saving his precious life

Two months in the hospital, most in an incubator,
they finally held him in their arms and took him home
where we carried him on a pillow so as not to bruise
or drop him, this four and a half pound miracle child

Cat a wife and mother now, she settled into
this making of her family, taking extended
family leave to bond with her son and care for him,
their family life together was sweet 

–Herb Stone, here&now working poetry, October 2019

Photos by Herb Stone

Poem: Where We Belong

Souls forever searching
grounded in primary need
for true self and  belonging

From that place of exiled
being alone in the great, dry, barren
desert of silence and solitude

The natural flow state of tension
engaging, disengaging;
self truth, authentic belonging

Our first Home, Creation,
the ecosystems of our Earth 
and kinship with its’ creatures 

Spinning within the Great Universe,
Cosmic Home in the Milky Way
in the starry darkness

Soulmates coming together
in communities of authenticity
and kin-dom of true selves

Sharing our liminal spaces
and watershed moments
and ordinary graces of our lives

Nurturing, nourishing, growing,
trusting  our vulnerability
becoming whole as one

Around the fire
sharing our stories
along the journey

Giving and receiving  love
little else is needed
as we walk each other Home

Where We Belong

– Herb Stone 
    here&now working poetry
    October, 2019

Photos: The Milky Way Galaxy by NASA, Congo Lowland Forrest unattributed, Around the Fire by Joris Voeten on Unsplash