We urge the legislature to act.

With these words, the majority opinion ends
How sad, they are, how ignoble an assessment
of failure on an awful scale
years and years of unmet obligation,
education squandered, lost, opportunities
frittered away, in the sands of time
the hot air of debate, the green-eye shades
of regulations, schema, rules, codes
adequate, enough, a concept to be measured
this much we must do, the rest is your choice
a concept lost in the minutiae, the blather
the wrangling of state responsibility,
local control, local bureaucracy
weak kneed legislation
callous calculations,
real consequences still, as fifteen years ago
at the beginning of the process
from Claremont to Concord
a peel of the bells, the hollow gong
of loss, of inadequate resolve
and greed

September 9, 2006 19:50
On reading the latest NH Supreme Court opinion, 2006-258, LONDONDERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT SAU #12 v. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, September 8. 2006.
http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2006/londo103.pdf


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 19,730+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

A Prayer at Your Bedside

I raced from court
We stood beside you,
beside the hospital bed,
awaiting the surgeon
Husband and pastor,
touching you, holding your hand
huddled near you
in the temporary cubicle
the falsely private space
sharing words of encouragement
words of prayer
beside your bedside
words of faith in the
Grace of God
His hand on our lives
his guiding of the doctors,
the nurses, other staff
caring for you
in your moment of need;
Human concerns still,
in the passing of the time
the uncertainty of the minutes
ticking away, beyond the estimated
surgery, numbing waiting,
uneasy
By you again in recovery,
answer to prayers
How good He is
how blessed we are

September 9, 2006 14:18


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

I am with You

Even when we are apart, I am with you
I walk in the footfalls next to your path
I lean toward you, feel your hand in mine
see you close to me
beside me in this journey of life
walking together wherever our paths lead
together always
I love you
always

September 8, 2006 7:49am
About having to go to court instead of taking my wife to the hospital for surgery today and the feeling of her close to me anyway.


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Sleeping Angel

So peaceful, so still
she lies there,
napping on our bed
commandeering the sanctuary
for her own devices
but so sweetly
so angelic in sleep
so much a blessing
when awake
as are the other two

September 6, 2006 23:54


All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

1st Day of School

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Unpublished

It is funny; feels strange
being so exposed, so public
so many poems, so many thoughts,
passions, ideas, blurted out into the ether
shared across the planet’s web
ripples sent down the strands
into the ooze, the stream
the stream of ideas, of thoughts
for others to see, feel, share
so many words uttered
spoken, without a publisher
without an imprimatur, a blessing
of worth, of value, of merit

September 5, 2006 16:35
on being unheralded but #3 on the http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/ site in terms of the number of poems posted there, only behind Emily Dickinson, with 1779, and Robert William Service, with 854. I have 726 at the writing of this post. The next one is Robert Burns with 579. Of the top 28, those with more than 150 poems posted at that site, I am the only living poet. It feels weird sometimes, when I think about it.

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Snorkel Coat

An olive drab
snorkel coat
seemed like the coolest thing
once upon a time
a long snout of a coat
ready for duty at the airbase
on Iceland, or Minot, ND,
or maybe McMurdo Bay,
hardly necessary for
middle school in New England
but we were so happy
in our snorkel coats
back in the ugly 70’s

September 5, 2006 16:27

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Black and White

Eisenstaedt and Goebbels
stark colors, black and white
evil captured still life
on the page, staring back at all of us
unspoiled by propaganda, big lies
Clear, unadulterated evil
staring us square in the face
Wake up to evil, if only we did
act when we could
long before the costs
of world war

September 4, 2006 19:05

Black and White

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/09/black-and-white.html

&

edited April 25, 2015

The Granary – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-granary-v2.html

January 30, 2010

The Granary

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2010/01/granary.html

This poem is about my memory,

of the jarring sensation

seeing a photograph circa 1994,

of one of the all-time

great pictures, capturing evil,

before it rose up to full flowering

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9911/icon02.htm,

http://www.granarygallery.com/title.php?titleID=10005991

of Joseph Goebbels,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels,

in 1933 at the League of Nations

on display at The Granary Gallery

(http://www.granarygallery.com/),

on Martha’s Vineyard

taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898 - 1995),

http://www.gallerym.com/collections/alfred-eisenstaedt/

a master of black and white. Photojournalist of the century, http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9911/eisieintro.htm.

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 37,270+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Why is Blue, Blue

Why is the color blue, blue
why is red, red
you get the idea,
the idea of color
but why are they as they are
why is it blue for blue and red for red
what was it the colors said
to be blue or red
sky blue, blue mood
blood red, candy-apple red
well read
golden yellow
violet eyes
or green, summer warm and green
emerald green
snowy cold and white
fall dying brown
dead and blackness
orange, pineapple
colors, textures, tastes
of hue, of spectrum
and rainbow
A box of color
living color
all around

September 3, 2006 16:57

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 18,820+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

A Bowl of Walnuts

Pining for peanuts
praying for the nuts
begging for them
a gray squirrel by our porch
pitch a peanut, watch his scurry
race to it, dart away, to a few feet of safety
over and over again, till we had no more
walnuts, from outside the shells,
no, they weren’t accepted as is
they must be presented,
given with more flare
a plastic bowl, if you please
so they wouldn’t get dirty
on the wet cold ground
while they are eaten
Great, a particular squirrel;
stick with peanuts

September 3, 2006 16:07

A Bowl of Walnuts

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/09/bowl-of-walnuts.html

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 36,870+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Raining Prayer

We were all in prayer
heads bowed in the sanctuary
as she began to speak
to proclaim our petitions
speak for all of us
in pastoral prayer
speaking of the holiday
the meaning behind the pausing
the remembering of
Labor Day
She spoke of our concerns,
our celebrations, sharing
with each other, with God
But then she paused,
murmuring reminders of the larger world
the unfinished business
of laborers tired, laborers working
through Labor Day
of the forgotten and used
minimum wage
The sky opened, as if in retort
giving an Amen from the heavens
rapping suddenly, intently, insistently
on the domed roof
echoing through the wood
high above us
Preach sister! Preach of the oppressed
the migrants and the unwanted jobs
the unskilled, and our desires for things
make us remember that laborers
still labor, this Labor Day
that we in this land of excess
have forgotten the mills, but they are there
they are still in use
for our desires, our wantings
We are kindred with them too
even when we forget
see only the day off
reminded by her words,
the staccato of the rain raising its voice
while ours were still
heads bowed
listening to her prayer
and the Amen and Amen again
echoing in the rain

edited November 17, 2016

Raining Prayer – v2

September 3, 2006 15:52

Raining Prayer

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2006/09/raining-prayer.html

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 42,310+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

creator, Faith, Family, giving, God, heaven, hope, Job, king, Methodist, Poetry Where You Live, rain, sanctuary, sharing, sing, sister, sky, voice, work, world, Pastor Ruth Foss, Labor Day,

#creator #Faith #Family #giving #God #hope #Job #rain #sanctuary #sharing #sing #work #world #Pastor #LaborDay