Saturday, February 25, 2023

On the Other Side

On the Other Side

For the man filled with sorrow
anxiety that rises from brokenness
wondering if today is the day
when what your heart longs for
connection and comfort rests as a blanket
like a soft caress within

Where shame and failures wash away
leaving pure scars of vulnerability
that capture the eye as if priceless works of art
on display for all to see
beauty that's on the other side
the struggle that yields fruit of redemption and restoration

Poem 21-099B
Perhaps these words will encourage the man that is struggling with breaking free of shame and failure. A poem written a couple of years ago as journey through life in the journey of redemption and restoration. May God grant you peace in this moment, be of good cheer for there is hope.
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#hope,#healing,#shame,#failure,#redemption,#restoration

Friday, February 24, 2023

If My Poetry Were A Place

 If My Poetry Were A Place


My poetry is a sacred interior soil 
that reclaims fertility
where the earth blooms
in a well tended garden

A place that invites
the weary to rest
and the wild to relax
solitude in secluded corners

Where dew drips off the vine
and sweet nectar drifts sweet
from blossom and bud
richness of earth mingled in a cocktail

Interior places inked
what was lost is found
growing hope from ashes
and love takes root beyond brokenness

Poem 23-020y
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#healing,#rest,#hope,#spiritual,#peace

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Grit

Grit

Yesterday…
I felt old

Like that old cottonwood
that creaks in the wind
with a few withered limbs

I never thought of myself
as old,... even though my face shows age
a little more each year
adding another ring to the trunk

Aged character like the gnarly grain
of finely polished oak
drawn out by the perfect shade of honey stain

Perhaps I'm just feeling
the stains of life upon my veneer
that has finally caught up

A weariness in the mirror
just below the eyes
like a gray-purple bruising

The bruising of life
that rest doesn't seem to cure any more


Poem 22-325.1 © Now, Brian 
#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#highplainspoet,#aging,#weariness,#the_journey
https://www.westernnebraskathoughtsandlife.com/

Human Condition

Human Condition

Like the stark winter wind
blowing over the drifts
a frigidness draws questions
of life and love

Who have I been
why have I been
remembering things once forgotten
that leave me exposed in the light

Truth has this way
of feeling uncomfortably uncovered
in a room full of strangers
until I realize that all are bare

Everyone covers up who they are
some more than others
because vulnerable intimacy
is something shared over a lifetime

Poem 22-035z
#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#highlainspoet,#nature,#love,#vulnerability
https://www.westernnebraskathoughtsandlife.com/



Saturday, February 11, 2023

Drifting

Drifting

Snow skitters across the ground
driven by tyrannical wind
whipping up a ground blizzard

Those light fluffy thoughts
not rooted, looking for a fence
to drift against

Forming a cornice at the peak
of rigid stories
waiting for that stop

That avalanche that crashes
tumbling through the roof
until the mind calms and hope digs out

21-345A (c) highplainspoet
#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#highplainspoet,#ground_blizzard,#busy_mind,#nature,#peace
https://www.westernnebraskathoughtsandlife.com/

Friday, February 10, 2023

Cypsela

Cypsela

Love drifts like the white dandelion cypsela in the Nebraska wind
looking for a place to land, to bury itself in wet soil
or to float on the surface of the irrigation ditch
water that carries far from birth
into the gooey muck where life begins again

Poem 21-258A
minor edits
#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#highlainspoet,#nature,#love,#rebirth
Note: Cypsela is a dandelion seed.
https://www.westernnebraskathoughtsandlife.com/

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Peace Upon Inner Critic

Peace Upon Inner Critic

November mornings filled with dirty pink dawns
light tenderly brushes the clouds in glory
hidden moments when world still asleep
where blessings and beauty bestows a new day

Moment where volume turned down
when inner critic is told to sit down
find solitude's connection and grounding
drawn to gaze at painted sky and live in today

The voice inside that catastrophizes yesterdays and tomorrows
bound with my own words that not welcome here
just an energy sucker and bearer of unnecessary suffering
I say get out… GO

This day is a day born in stillness
grounded in connection with Father
where I am His and He is mine
the accuser has no quarters here

Poem 20-320a © highplainspoet
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#inner_crtitic,#healing
https://www.westernnebraskathoughtsandlife.com/



A Lament

 A Lament

A winter gale that pushes
snow about as if it
were sands of time
right into my lungs as inhale
all its rage pushes so hard against me

Memories like the glistening crystals
of winter's fury dance
as if to taunt me of heartache,
of all that I'd hoped for
that now lies about
being pushed teasingly out of reach

One of those days where acceptance
is feeling the bruise on my heart
an ache with every inhale
and 
sorrow with every exhale
as lean into a truth… 
suffering is part of being human

Expectations of a shared life that
is tempered with disappointment
of opportunities not shared
experiences that I had alone, without you
and that is part of journey of disconnection and repair

Still, I'm left wondering how we got here,
so far apart
with each of my micro-rejections
a small pebble placed
until a wall stands between us

How do we find each other again

How does the pain get reconciled
where does love begin to blossom
and we return as allies and lovers
where a sparkle returns in our union

And realizing…
love always finds a way



Poem 23-026z (c) 
A musing of my heart today that rambles all over.
#westernnebraskathoughtandlife,#highplainspoet, #love, #suffering, #life, #hope, #relationship, #family, #marriage

Threshold/Story Line

 Threshold/Story Line

Chiffon clouds veil the sun
teasing light and shadows
upon brown prairie blade
as year is at its threshold

Seductive memories jiggle about
to catch my eye
and thus beauty of life
remembered in each inhale and exhale.

Of God's goodness
as our children find love
watching them grow
in maturity and giving of themselves

Of remembering pain
of failing my lover
seeing the ache in
her mocha eyes

Of learning how to
stay present when all I knew
was to disassociate
the way I ran

Of those brought in my path
to stretch and grow me
to challenge the story I believed
and offer a Godly perspective that
alters my story line


Poem 22-364 ©
#westnernebraskathoughtsandlife,#highplainspoet,#remembering,#healing,#hope,#reconciliation,#story_line,#perspective

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Thaws

Thaws

Beneath the warmth
of the winter sun
snow slowly moves
across the river valley
settles lower and lower
in all the crevices and ravines
and dampens the sandy loam

Just as my heart
ebbs and flows
with the warmth for you
settles in our crevices and ravines
which thaws the season of pain
melts the distance and all that
was frozen between us

Poem 23-008 ©
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#love,#reconciliation,#seasons,#winter,#nature,#sorrow,#grief,#beauty



Ode for the Dog

 Ode for the Dog


Some of my best friends
have been dogs

they aren't fickle and
they are always happy to see me

a wet nose and nuzzle
excited for my presence

in the turmoil of life
they are better than most

January 8, 2022
Poem 22-008B
©
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#love,#dogs

Sunday, February 5, 2023

I'll Call You Nebraska

I'll Call You Nebraska

Upon finding myself in the backwater
of tall brome and blazing sky
I get it
the revulsion many have to this place

A taste acquired over time
a bitterness at first that lingers
like apple cider vinegar
deep in the throat

Until I realize that
I no longer have to swallow
the story of the high plains
painted by others who haven't paused

To notice the solitude
that disturbs the busy mind
upon the Great American Desert
where small things catch the eye

Years to see the wonder
and to accept the beauty
that was present all time
blind to what was before me

Poem 23-021z
#highplainspoet,#nebraska,#high_plains,#home,#beauty,#nature

Friday, January 27, 2023

What If

What If


Some say life it's about leaving a legacy…

what if life is about leaving a smile on another's face
 what if life is it about another knowing you love them fully
   what if life is about the times we made loving connection
  what if life isn't about leaving a monument or legacy 
 what if life is about love and loving well
what if that is a life well-lived

What if that is legacy

Poem 22-016z
#highplainspoet,#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#love,#relationships

Cedar

Blue green berries
on the tips of the cedar
hang seductively
as the finch lands close
only to spot me and fly to a perch
watching me, wondering what I'm doing
until his anxiety peaks and flies away

The top of the cedar broken off
leaving a scar and broken bark
pealed off from when natures violence violated
the tender growth
that in time will heal
and the cedar will grow
beyond my lifetime

Poem 22-017C
#westernnebraskathoughtsandlife,#highplainspoet,#nature