Three Years

Three Years
But like yesterday
Remembering the feelings
The steps, actions taken
As the nation awoke, realized
Vulnerabilities (resolve to follow)
Towers fell and we wept
Another innocence lost
In our time, this time
Personal and angry


written September 11, 2004
about September 11, 2001

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 41,680+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Yeah, But How is the Ham?

Hushed service
sanctuary in prayer
people sharing, concerns raised
speaking mike passed

Ann holds her hand up to share a concern
Her new husband injured
Struck at work
Hit in the chest by a frozen 20 lb ham
Sure we’ll pray for him;
But how is the ham?
Is it cured?

9/3/04 20:30


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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Cottages

Gingerbread cottages
on the old revival campsites
around the Tabernacle
on the Bluff
over the Atlantic
on the Vineyard

Hearing ghosts of sermons and
summer sounds of families
year after year
as wood frames replaced tents
on the narrow plots

Rev. Brown, retired now,
told me the history
The story
of the faith community
resident there
each summer
on the Island.

9/3/04 22:45

Cottages

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 37,080+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Sister Muses

Oh the pen flowed
jumped to the words
found the voice
Talked the talk
said his piece
next to them
the Sister Muses

Aware of the weaknesses
of my chromosome
but gave me the start
the push
to jot and post
the poems on the page
Again.

9/3/04 22:48

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. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 27,490+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Rejuvenation

A weekly warming of my soul
Voices raised in song
Lyrics on the screen

Making a joyful racket for the Lord

The band in tune
feeling the spirit
in rare form


started 8/24/04 18:25 (1st version)


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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Eye Candy

You’re there
with that hair
framing your smile

Social saccharin
Pixie sticks, or pez
All about the affectation
The pose, bravado,
Strut on the catwalk
(or by the track)

The mocking tone and certainty –
We’re all talking about you
Mr. Eye Candy.


9/3/04 22:20

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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

I’m not Stupid

I’m not Stupid
What!?!
What did she just say?
Evan, can you confirm it?
“I’m not stupid; I’m Greek.”

Oh sure, Diane; that explains everything
But Elliott,
Does every stanza have to end with
I’m not stupid; I’m Greek?

Easy to do Mr. Gott, I must say
to see the world through your eyes
laughing at the thought or a refrain, mantra
I’m not stupid; I’m Greek

Trust me,
It’s no
“Nice Teeth”.


8/18/04 23:20

Rejuvenation

A warming of my spirit at the starting of the service
Slides of now familiar songs
Friendly voices raised, broadening smiles

8/29/04 16:40

A congregation joined, prepared, to hear your Word
Your message that night

8/29/04 16:56

An opening prayer
Community prayers – concerns and celebrations
Open and real
Fun and free sharing – a family together
Competitive greeting,
Passing the Peace

8/29/04 18:00

Written in 3 parts, about the Rejuvenation service at Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH, each Sunday at 6:30pm.

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 22,220+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Mrs. Oleksak

My teacher
A force in my life
Keeping me with the pack
Putting herself out
To give me a chance
To succeed.

8/24/04 22:05 – About my 4th grade teacher Susan Oleksak, at Abner Gibbs Elementary School, Westfield, MA, who came to my house every Thursday afternoon for 3 months in the fall of 1969, keeping me with my class while I recovered from knee surgery, before arthroscopic surgery.


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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Planner

In the dirt
in the space
under the pines
A town planner toils
roads and structures
stone walls of gravel

Peeled silver maple helicopters
the product in the matchbox trucks
roads of mud bulldozed into the hardtack
an overpass, an engineering feat itself
twigs, needles, sculpted to support and frame
a corduroy road in miniature

Glass of lemonade or cool aid
Building homes of Lincoln Logs
Tunnels and moats
a plan, cityscape
of my own creation


8/24/04 20:54, 21:32
8/25/04 19:30

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 18,710+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Tide Pools

Tide pools
caught in the rocks
fishbowls without bubblers
waiting for the tide change

Microcosm of the sea
under glass

Stop and watch
See the world, like Jacques or Felipe
adrift on land
inside the Calypso

A tiny crab
Brushes the fronds of the anemone
Urchins with spines and flesh
swaying sargassum

A universe
in the puddle
with the rocks
waiting for the tide
Governed by Luna

8/24/04 21:57


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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Brim

Tom Joad had it right
His introduction to us all,
more in print than film,
of a man fixing his brim

Brim you say,
not the cup but the lid,
The hat, chapeau,
you remember the Dr. of Seuss;
but listen to John
He knew

Break the spine, the arch
Crack the store-bought form, symmetry
of my ballcap.
Three folds and you’re set
cut and cup, make your own
Ready for sweat


8/24/04 21:42


Brim – breaking in a new hat, like Tom Joad. See http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thehub.com.au/~greg/steinbeck.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thehub.com.au/~greg/grapes.html&h=400&w=350&sz=16&tbnid=zPbOQSO3J4wJ:&tbnh=120&tbnw=105&start=36&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522tom%2Bjoad%2522%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN and http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/dubious/essays/essay1.html and see photo at http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscience/english/faculty/grady/joad.jpg




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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Memories

History, my history
fighting to come out,
exploit my voice
Document and catalog
shards of my life
snapshots, senses,
feelings
caught in the gossamer of my mind
frozen now on paper.

================

edited October 8, 2017

under the sheet – v3

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/10/under-sheet-v3.html

(editing original)

edited October 8, 2017

under the sheet – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/10/under-sheet-v2_8.html

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/10/under-sheet-v2.html

November 8, 2011

under the sheet

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/10/under-sheet.html

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2011/11/under-sheet.html

the dying of Jack Grant, 2003

“The Wish”, by Donald Hall

with line “Let Me Go”

Poet’s Corner

monthly poetry readings

Suncook Senior Center

November 7, 2011

&

edited January 19, 2016

Memories – v3

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/memories-v3.html

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/memories-v3_19.html

(editing original – version 2 is not about this poem)

posted August 26, 2004

written September 26, 2003 22:45

Memories

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/memories.html

&

edited January 19, 2016

Love Everlasting – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/love-everlasting-v2.html

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/love-everlasting-v2_19.html

posted March 3, 2004

written September 26, 2003 22:41

Love Everlasting

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/03/love-everlasting.html

&

edited January 7, 2016

Last Breath – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/last-breath-v2.html

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2016/01/last-breath-v2_7.html

posted February 19, 2004

written 9/26/03 22:00

Last Breath

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/last-breath.html

edits 9/27/03 12:45

edits 10/1/03 15:26,

after reading it at Jack Grant’s memorial service,

adding pauses

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, and 2017. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 45,110 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Concord NH, Faith, God, Family, hope, Nature, UMC, New Hampshire, poetry, touch, Wesley United Methodist Church, death, husband, wife, dying, breathing, widow, hospitality, presence, Spirit,

#Faith #God #Family #hope #Nature #UMC #NH #poetry #touch #husband #wife #dying #breathing #widow #hospitality #presence #Spirit

=====================================================================================

Faith, God, Christ, Spirit, love, grace, Methodist, calling, witness, God’s purpose, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, disciple, poetry, writing poetry, sacrifice, cross, cup, offering, death, Donald Hall,

#God #Christ #Spirit #faith #love #calling #servant #grace #poetry #sacrifice #cross #journey #writing #clay #death #DonaldHall

Got a Match?

Oh how to tell the tale
to spin the yarn, to pull you in
Bring you along, down memory road
to that night in April 1993.
 
Small town Yankee
Eating my fill, drinking in
The Big Easy,
Day and this night.
 
Early flight back north, 6am
Too soon to leave, need to run back
Experience More
 
Paranoid of what might happen
Money clip, ID, and a pack of hotel matches
(marked with the room number), my only
companions, out into the night,
after a promise to be safe.
 
A cameraman in a foreign land,
without his camera.
Can you see me out there in the wild
Like Marlin Perkins’ assistant Jim.
What will he find out in the
jazz-dipped urban jungle.
 
Oh yes, the wild creatures of the night
Nocturnal denizens of the street
and the game rangers of the NOPD too
Walked, strutted, sauntered, or stumbled by
 
Propositions, male and female (or was she?)
made me laugh, under the officer’s gaze
Sound and noise and smell and taste
Marched on through the night toward closing
 
Jackson Square to Rampart and back
Light and shadow stalked
the thinning crowd
Until Beignets and chickory
called me to Café du Monde
 
4am, bag of beignets
and tray of six coffees in the other hand.
Trek through the dark
streets after last call.
 
Off in the distance, another figure in the
dark, the shadows
Bridging the space
Between us
Where oh where do I turn?
 
“Hey, buddy, got a match?”
Perfect.
 
-------
8/7/04 18:36
Got a Match?
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/got-match.html
 
 
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, 2022, and 2023. 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.
 
poetry, poem, senses, taste, sound, sight, smells, New Orleans, night, Raymond A. Foss, light, coffee, Poetry Where You Live, memories, beignets, fear, imagination,
 
#poetry #poem #senses #taste #sound #sight #smells #NewOrleans #night #light #coffee #PoetryWhereYouLive #memories #beignets #fear #imagination

Learning

Voracious appetite
For learning new things
about many topics
To acquire knowledge and context
of why things are as they are
How they fit together
Language, history, politics, science
Eat from the buffet, some from each bar

Share in the discussion, discourse, debate
But rankle at the papers, the rules
The rubric for sharing
Because I’d already gotten
What I came for
and rarely cared
If the grader knew
It too.

8/8/04 11:37


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 18,700+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Open Mic

Can you hear me in the back?
Let’s see –
A little about me

Set the mood, a light laugh line
Parse the group
Gauge the crowd

How’s it going?
Thanks for the opportunity

Shouldn’t the listeners have to wear name tags
Expose a bit of soul too
Like those of us sharing

Aren’t they though,
If you pay attention
to the fidget and the clap
Subtle and not so oblique silences

Hello?
Is this on?

=====

edited November 17, 2018

Open Mic – v2

Posted August 23, 2004

Open Mic

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/open-mic.html

August 18, 2004 22:03

&

edited December 15, 2015

Second-Rate Song Lyrics – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/12/second-rate-song-lyrics-v2.html

8/21/04 16:40 – Inspired by Adam

Second-Rate Song Lyrics

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/second-rate-song-lyrics.html

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, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Adam, creator, Faith, faith poetry, God, hope, Methodist, New Hampshire, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, praise poems, praise poetry, Raymond A. Foss,

#Adam #creator #Faith #Christ #Spirit #God #hope #slam #openmic #poem #poetry

Second-Rate Song Lyrics

A rhyme
in time
can save nine

Oh how I hate
the need to equate
poetry
symmetry

Upper case to start a line,
no fragments, rules,
poems with meter and rhyme

I don’t have time
to get the rhyme
right

Words need to flow
not be just so, so
I break the rules
parse my thoughts
schemes and let
it flow

------

edited December 15, 2015

Second-Rate Song Lyrics – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/12/second-rate-song-lyrics-v2.html

8/21/04 16:40 – Inspired by Adam

Second-Rate Song Lyrics

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/second-rate-song-lyrics.html

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, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Adam, creator, Faith, faith poetry, God, hope, Methodist, New Hampshire, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, praise poems, praise poetry, Raymond A. Foss, religious poetry, United Methodist,

#Adam #creator #Faith #Christ #Spirit #God #hope #Methodist #poem #poetry #United Methodist #UMC