Poetry

My Brother David

I open the heavy door

     scent of cedar

         empty pews

I see my brother talking

    to the preacher.

Choir members gone home to Sunday dinners.

Just him and

a man of God.

David didn’t just read the Word

He studied it

     considered it

took it apart and scrutinized its meaning

Dissected parables and sewed them back together

Sliced apart meanings and gazed at new angles.

My brother asks, “Would you get the mark of the beast

if they threatened to kill your children without it?”

Preacher narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.

My brother made people think

“Adam and Eve weren’t the first,” David says.

“If they were, then who did their son marry

When he started a family?”

Preacher walked away from my brother David

As if with new profound insight.

An imprint on his mind.

My brother made preachers think

David analyzed life

And illuminated its meaning

He listened to colors

And saw sound

My brother talked about the end of the rainbow

And knew the texture of moonlight and sun.

He tasted blue rain

My brother

            my muse

                  my mind

My brother made me think.

The French Broad River

In a weathered canoe

I glide along the cool river

With silence so rare it’s bewildering

The wilderness on each side

Vast, quiet, undisturbed by man

A translucent world courses beneath me

    Amazement in my eyes as it delights me

Underneath the water’s surface 

Liquid flows over even, glossy pebbles

A boulder stands alone in the water

A snake swims away from me

I paddle near the edge of the forest

And from amongst the trees

a squirrel peeks at me

Odd how when on water, I’m fascinated by land

When on land, I’m fascinated by water

Why do we always want to be where we are not?

I tilt my face to heaven and squint.

An expanse of sky

Limitless in its glory

Virgin air, pristine scenery

Fresh like the feeling of mint in my mouth

Scenery that opens the senses

I inhale deeply

                                 I smile quietly

I appreciate greatly

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IMAGE CREDITS:

Man Sitting On Broken Vehicle · Free Stock Photo

By Edwin Ariel Valladares

River in the Forest · Free Stock Photo

By Joni Touhimaa