Idols

        Idols

Places of the heart

Seeking comfort

In ways that can't satisfy

Looking to external in vain

Painful places to sit

Acknowledging desire to fill void

In counterproductive ways

Sabotaging the very thing need

Allowing self to be carried away

Exposure of Truth don’t want to see

To sit in ambivalence - torn

See what truly is

No more denying

Acceptance of what was

Of wrong ways to cope

Healing comes in surrender

Build no more idols

Knowledge can't save

Addictions won't save

Only surrender today

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.  (16-364B)

Long Nights Yield

         Long Nights Yield

Slice of moon hangs low in the sky

Tint of maroon reflected

Few moment before dawn deflected

Timidly fading into day

Long nights yield to cycle

As winter solstice has passed

Begrudgingly less dark

Every morning day breaks sooner

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-363)

Corn Stubble in Winter

   Corn Stubble in Winter

Pair of deer

Move slowly

On far edge of field

Foraging in corn stubble

Stiff wind reminds

To keep moving

Out into the pasture land

They fade into the brown tall grass

Now a dozen geese

In the stubble graze

What's left behind brings life

As they glean upon the field

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-361C)

Taunts Me

      Taunts Me

Dawn taunts me

Sleet pelts me

Insulated coveralls peppered

As sky spits on me

December's rudeness

Falls heavy on land

Bracing for heavy hand

Cold slap across face

Silence except tinselly noise

Sleet quietly playing on brown sleeve

I taunt the sky

Parading the dog about ten acres

I'm fully awake in our daily ritual

She is impervious

Dampness slide off her coat

As she sniffs and explores

Soon her night watch over

My day begins

When start the car

I'm already far away

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-351C)

Snow Moon

        Snow Moon

Waxing gibbous moon rises

Pale white glow

Illuminates fresh snow

Nature's cold beauty shows

Moon snow white

Radiates from such height

Gazing down so bright

Captured with beauty of night

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-346A)

Unconditional

     Unconditional

To live in Father's love

Unconditional expression

Engulfing intimacy

Safe in His presence

Walking together in that space

Husband and wife free

Shame no more

Joy to explore

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-350B)

Embraced in Three in One

Embraced in Three in One

Expressions so tender

Love's willing surrender

Moments for us today

No work, all play this day

Remember the goodness

Wash away all the pain

So much loss everything gain

Today is a beautiful gift

Father has blessed

The Son has kissed

Holy Spirit caressed

Embraced in Three in One

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-348A)

Into the Horizon

         Into the Horizon

Small flock of geese

Fly low directly overhead

As they approach with honks and squonks

Sound of wings moving air with each stroke

Sounds forgotten until hear again

Beauty in sounds as they fade

Back into the horizon

From where they came

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-359A)

Consider My Ways

Consider My Ways

In morning quietness

Thoughts flow

Pen to paper

Gentle ease

Simply be

Life expressed

Expressions manifest

Never knew within

Discoveries abound

Morning is my time

Where I thrive

Contentment washes clean

Lost in moment

Time fades

Eternity now

Fools wait

For another day

Living out a lie

Remember whose I am

Resets gift of the day

Life renewed before dawn

Consider my ways

Before light of day

What will I display

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-357B)

Fractured

              Fractured

Tectonic plate of relationships collide

Separated by shaky divide

Wound try to hide

So stick to own side

Fault lines navigate

Not seen or known

Fractured trust hesitates

Interpretation of reality shown

Projecting meaning on another

Truth remains undiscovered

What's lost needs recovered

Reconciled place with lover

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-357A)

Seasons Wrestle

     Seasons Wrestle

Early sunsets

Pre-winter evening

Struggle of transition

Fall to Winter to Spring

Winter's forceful statement

Bone chilling cold

Ball wrestles back

Taunting Winter with Spring

Written the last day of Fall about within 36 hours went from -27F to 47F.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-355C)

Spring Taunts

         Spring Taunts

In the distance a flock

Turkeys slowly crossing the road

Causing a pause in the afternoon

All creation out from hunkering down

74 degree temperature change

36 hours ago 27 below

Ground soft and gooey

Snow packing under foot

As melts into the ground

Creation on edge of extremes

First day of winter approaches

Spring taunts before winter

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-354)

Picked Clean

    Picked Clean

When I falter

Torn between

Internal altar

Bones picked clean

Make a choice

Take a stand

Use voice

Enter the land

Fork in road

Baggage to lose

Lighten your load

No longer used

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-355D)

Default Places

          Default Places

Default places to survive

Going through motions

No longer alive

Mind full of commotion

Weight of dead thinking

Stuck in mental replay

Mental corpse stinking

Break free today

Embrace life giving Truth

Shame flees in the Light

Release memories of youth

Forgiveness lets go of my rights

Mature love requires

Dropping lies hold tight

Placing self in refining fire

Years of debris blazes bright

Pure and clean deep within

Peace settles in vacant space

Free from all that's been

Experience Father's love and grace

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-344A)

Secrets Laid Bare

      Secrets Laid Bare

Days slip past

Sinking below surface

Leaving not a trace

Of what once occupied the space

All things fade

To ashes they turn

Time works on all

'Til renewal of all things

In that day

All made right

All secrets laid bare

All love finally known

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-326B)

December's Cold Moon

      December's Cold Moon

December's Cold Moon
Hidden behind clouds
Curtained in darkness
After ground kissed by clouds

Light hidden in thick clouds
Long Night's Moon grudgingly yields
Glow begins in the East
Dawn's curtain slowly drawn open

Last full moon of the year
Flees from sight
Displayed by sun's strength
Piercing thick cloud curtain

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-350C)

Fading

                   Fading

Strength of a generation fading

Memory and legacy dwindling

Soon to slip silently into the night

Just a wisp remains of what was

Carried on through children

Willingly or unwillingly

Who I am

Layered generation upon generation

Layers of geology

Lay one upon another

Archaeology boring down

Exploring each layer

Piecing together history

Secrets that glare

No long hidden

Brought to light of day

Freedom in the light

Don't have to fade

If live a life of love

Loving well walking in Truth

Memories float

Like cotton off cottonwood

Air thick with memories

Moments and events of formation

In twilight moments of life

Not too late for redemption

Periptery of legacy still possible

Transformation in the end

Unspoken spoken

Splitting hardened hearts

Reconciliation like honey

Binding fault lines together

Love breaking through

Displacing bitter resentment

Hearts at peace

Pieces puzzled together

Stain glass of family

Put together in artistic joy

Playing with light

Colors of truth prism'd together

God's bigger than brokenness

Making right all that's not

Trusting He'll deliver

In fullness of time restoration

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-327A)

Gives Way

             Gives Way

Morning's chill gives way,

On the wonderful Nebraska day.

Sandhill cranes call above,

Sounds like cooing of doves.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-282A)

Core Bonds

            Core Bonds

Core built on shifting ground,

Heart moves back and forth.

Vacillating between truth and lies,

Double mindedness tossed around.

Reality of need of God,

More than lip service.

More than performance.

More than legalism.

All the ways make my own way,

Are ineffective at core change.

Ugliness of double-minded,

Severs intimacy fostering separation.

True and solid heart,

Stable and firm.

Open and honest,

Intimate and together.

Walking together,

Secure and confident.

Out of core bonds of love,

Bound together in unity.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-285B)

Chatham

          Chatham

No longer my home

Feels foreign and cluttered

Like surreal movie set

That I once lived here

Boyhood memories

Long cleared of debris

Past gives way

New built in old places

Trains go by

Rickety Amtrak

Plies the rails

Goes so fast

Space of grandpa's garden

Gave way twenty years ago

Apartments planted in soil

Different green to grow

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-286C)

Acceptance

     Acceptance

Reality of age

Soaks in soul

Like gently rain drops

On dry soil

Accepting reality

Clears the heart

Like air cleanses

With moist air

He walks

With a cane now

No longer fighting

Body's limitation

He sits

Dozes off

Awake hours in night

Time to be alive

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-288B)

Seeds

        Seeds

Preciousness of time,

So much to express.

Tick of clock,

Nail in lid.

Each moment,

Fill the space.

Choice in instant,

Defines a life.

Expressions today,

Seeds sown for tomorrow.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-289C)

Differently

         Differently

Present self differently

With love, kindness, gentleness

Broken yet filled from Father

Offering something worth having

Past can't undo

Can offer something new

Trust Father to make it right

Allowing Him into that space

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-328B)

Fifteen Below

            Fifteen Below

Ten miles away see the sun
Piercing through Mitchell Pass
Radiating soft orange light
Partial orb of fire revealing itself

Dropping into the river valley on highway 92
Sun's hidden again by Scotts Bluff
Approaching the river bridge
Heat radiates away from river's winding course

Beauty of hoarfrost glistening
On islands and banks of the river
Vapor rising off sluggish water
As frost clings to tall grass and scrub

Captured in the moment
Centers the soul
Purity of brilliant white
Glimpses of what's supposed to be

About the North Platte River on a -15°F dawn near Scottsbluff, NE.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-343B)

Gratitude Anew

       Gratitude Anew 

Ghostly hoarfrost
Grass brittle
Each step
Footprint's impression
Retreats reluctantly
Rising sun
Day begins
Gratitude anew

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.
(16-328B)

Reconcile This

        Reconcile This 

Harsh words spoken
Attachments broken
Hiding the pain
Heart's bane
Love's risk
Reconciles this

For an allpoetry poetry contest

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.
(16-328C)

Desire

         Desire 

            -i-
Desire to be known
Like honey on finger tips
Sticky and sweet
Golden yellow of sun seasoned flesh

            -ii-
Desire to know
Thick sweetness dripping from honeycomb
Lost in lush undergrowth
Blazing new trails in wild union

            -iii-
Desire to be touched
Softness burns
Marking two souls
Unseen brand

            -iv-
Desire to touch
Textures gossamer and burlap
Fiery heat conducted between
Reading each page of body in braille

            -v-
Desire to be claimed
Invisible fence's unseen glue
Woven together in silky cocoon
Radiant hearts adhesive union meld

            -vi-
Desire to be seen
Beauty of precision cut diamond
Facet splitting light of passion
Prismatic rainbow
Longing's complexity unlocked of another

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.
(16-308)

Unrecognizable

            Unrecognizable

When dreams come crashing down

You find your face bent low to the ground

Hope's been shattered

Don't know if you can go on

Wishing to be invisible

Unrecognizable on the inside

Adversity consumes all that's been

Foundation's crumbled in the heat

When day after day re-live the events

Ashes scattered, long gone cold

Burnt up memories residue

Sorrow cloaks heart once bright

When can't see what can be

Darkness plunges over mind

Let go and be swept away

When fully lost can truly be found

Out of the ashes rise

What was lost now found

Mettle tested and tried

Dead skin of doubt sluffs off

All the loss redeemed

Resurrection after depth of tomb

Unrecognizable on the inside

True image displayed

Face to face eye to eye

Inspired by a quote I heard by Bill Johnson, "don't waste your pain."

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-340)

Joy of Curves

         Joy of Curves 

Joy of curves
Ties my thoughts in knots
Straight lines are boring
Before you know it snoring
Curves are curious
Adventures around each bend
Beauty discovered on journey
Symmetrical loveliness each arc reflects

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.
(16-228)
For poetry contest.  

Softly

           Softly

              -i-

Tenderness of love

Comes softly

Embracing and conforming

Two into one

              -ii-

Crashing energy of love

Comes wildly

Adventure and life aroused

Melting in forge of love

              -iii-

Sorrow of love

Present something

Not worth having

Love requires change

              -iv-

Craziness of love

All of me accepted

Safe in being known

Healing of love

              -v-

Love unexpressed

Is love not known

Risk voicing love

Sweetness of love's melody

              -vi-

Joy of love

Sharing life together

Bringing a smile to another

Satisfaction of love

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.

(16-339B)

Thunder

         Thunder

In mist at bottom of hill
Distant outlines
Herd of horses
Grazing

Bolt
Thunderous hooves
Reverberate ground
Beauty in motion

Streak past
Cutting through
The grasping fog
Manes and tails in sync

Hard freeze
Friskiness in air
Jostling one another
Playful as charge past

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-281)

Terrible Cost

         Terrible Cost

In a creek bottom years ago,
Adventures, so much to explore.
Just a boy, naively so,
Memories learned to ignore.

Curiosity lost within soul,
Kill the memory kill the pain,
Life fragmented, not whole,
Frostbite's agony as life regain.

In the creek free from all,
Solace even though already shards.
Before knew broken already called,
Deception of innocence when already marred.

At the creek was safe,
Days filled with fishing and forts.
Time exposes what must face,
Lost memories need a port.

Scars that leave mark unseen,
Body tense though memories lost.
Truth washes away all unclean,
Paid a terrible cost.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-272)

Soil of Soul

           Soil of Soul

Brisk air arouses lungs

Coldness purges conditioned air

Alive another day full of gratitude

Liminal place between night and day

Walking Molly in predawn

Owls still hooting in waning darkness

Deep breathes gathering in life

Exhaling stagnant pools exchange

Another breathe in expanding being

Senses awaken to minute details

Vision of light soft on clouds

Grayness giving way to color

Sounds of horses, dogs, and chickens

Stirring at first light

Gift of another breathe heard

Quietness renews soil of soul

Inhale stillness's renewal

Receiving so can give

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-337B)

Feeding Fish

          Feeding Fish

Fish floating gracefully
In ponds in which they're raised
Tossing fish food hastily
Herds of them graze

Late November day
Waning days of Fall
Snow won't delay
Winter issues call

Short sleeve weather
As we hike the hatchery
Memories untether
Connection's itch scratch 

Inspired by visit to DC Booth Hatchery in Spearfish, SD.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.
(16-319B)

Bobcat

       Bobcat

Lurking on fringes

At the edge of darkness

Probing for access

Stealth in action

Seen from afar

Horses sense presence

At property line

Seeking opportunity

Paw prints at den

Soft loamy sand

Cat tracks deceiving

Underestimating foe fatal

Element of surprise lost

Who hunts who now

Boundaries watched

No longer easy prey

Nocturnal half border collie half pyrenees

Vigilant bark has new meaning

Rifle kept close to protect

Any encroachment of farmstead

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet.

(16-334A)