Busy Brain

     Busy Brain

Busy brain,
Anxiety rains,
Watering worry,
Mind hurries.

Busy brain,
Anxiety reigns,
Watering fears,
Mind unclear.

Busy brain broken,
Not living in today.
Creating stories about tomorrow,
Release control return to now.

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

Liminal Spaces

               Liminal Spaces

                        -i-
Liminal places in the change of season,
Where heart wrestles with reason.
Good letting go in loving well,
Waiting for clarity's clear bell.

                        -ii-
Liminal space fully embraced,
Emotions flood the face.
Step of faith to release,
Finding His peace.

                       -iii-
Liminal soul longing to be made whole,
Emptied out waiting for full.
Allow the turmoil reject becoming some stoic drone,
Cleansing and healing in the unknown.

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

Thank you Rob Bell for using the word liminal. A good listen on change and seasons of life. http://robbell.podbean.com/e/episode-115-seasons/

Fog's Embrace

Dense fog in Western Nebraska as walk in the fields.

                  Fog's Embrace

                        -i-
Dense fog embraces creation like lovers entwined.
Heat of passion creates steamy thick low clouds.
Groping each other, earth and sky, as young lovers.
Creation coated in glistening wetness.

                         -ii-
Beauty aroused in shroud of mist,
Veil of privacy upon the land.
As a curtain obscures bed chamber,
Teasing lover with what's obscured.

                         -iii-
Curiosity awakens in the brume.
Wind driving low clouds.
Creation blushes in voyeuristic pleasure.
Intimate dance of creation in the air at dawn.

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

For poetry vignette assignment. Inspired by thick fog on this Nebraska morning.

Stuffed Monkey

                           Stuffed Monkey

Stuffed monkey perched in the window,
Holding the Engineering Scepter of Knowledge and Power.
The magical scepter that corrected logic problems,
When waved over the HMI.
Made of scraps, a golf ball with a dose of silicone.

Trinkets collected over time,
Accumulating after project completions.
Items with memories with co-workers who are deceased,
Treasures from twenty five years ago.
Tokens brought back to the office,
That brought laughs and moments of sanity.
One day they will be boxed up,
Sent to the dumpster as seasons change.

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

Mellow Sky

Early morning in Western Nebraska, Scotts Bluff National Monument visible to the left.

                   Mellow Sky

Nebraska mellow sky as day begins.
Still air and quiet engulfs.
Creation begging for a breeze.
Drizzle finally plays on barn's tin roof.
Peppering dirt and forming beads of murky wet.
Animals quiet as slowly doused.
Releases aromas forgotten.
Tied to memories now awakened.

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

Toes in the Water

    Toes in the Water

Toes in the water,
Mountain stream runs,
Sweet relief,
Refresh feet.

Splash with my lover,
With our children too,
Cold brings a shiver,
When out of shoes.

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

Sullen Clouds

           Sullen Clouds

Grayish blue clouds linger,
Sullenly hang beyond reach.
Occasionally spitting contempt,
Foul mood disseminated on the land.

Land waits for change,
Calm before the storm.
Deep breath in,
Before the plunge.

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

Children

          Children

Waves wash over,
Love and sorrow.
Resistance gives way,
Accept change and transition.

Whirlwind of memories,
Want to pull back into past.
Instead a vast new horizon,
Invites exploration.

Ever advancing and growing,
Changing and maturing each day.
Resisting season change is futile,
Embrace and ride the wave.

Feel all the turmoil, touch it,
Express love in it.
Relationships maturing,
New ways of relating as let go.

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

Waterfall's Cleansing

Waterfall in Spearfish Canyon

          Waterfall's Cleansing

Pouring over sheer rock,
Plunging from such height,
Splitting light,
Multicolored aura fills the air.

Tumbling of rock,
Carving out a path,
Washing away,
Edges smooth.

Awe and wonder of life,
Pouring over the soul,
Smoothing jagged edges of mind,
Cleansing in the Water of Life.

Drink deep at the pool's edge,
Wade in a little deeper,
Cool cleansing flow,
Purges sooty soul.

Hope awakens deep within,
Captivated in the beauty,
What has been purified,
What will be set free.

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

This poem is about the letting go as launch children from the "nest." Our first child to leave home to complete college this past week. A time of celebration and of sorrow, a season of change.

Trust

               Trust

Deeper trust in letting go,
Launching children now adults,
Into the sea of life,
Knowing they will thrive.

Satisfaction in knowing,
Loved them well,
Being intentional,
Equipping them for the journey.

A place of giving that becomes joy,
Expanded ability to give as they cross threshold,
Passing through with blessing,
Love demonstrated AND expressed.

Walking through as a family,
Not isolated pockets to process alone,
Drawn closer together,
And roots go deeper.

Peace and presence of God settles in,
Filling all the crevices and holes,
Joy in the giving,
Celebrating the next phase of the journey.

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

Acts

                    Acts

                      -i-
Actions speak louder than words,
Motion building steam,
Creates locomotion,
Wheels start to spin.

                     -ii-
Actions speak louder than words,
Intentions are meaningless,
Just mental candy,
Unless creates actions.

                     -iii-
Actions speak louder than words,
Put money where mouth is,
Truly believe in something,
Actions focus resources.

                     -iv-
Actions speak louder than words,
Love without action is empty,
Love expressed with actions,
True demonstration of love.

                      -v-
Actions speak louder than words,
Just fooling self,
Wishing and fantasy,
Love without works is dead.

The Blessing

         The Blessing

Transitions of seasons,
Launching and blessing.
Giving away what wasn't given,
God is my supply from which I can give.

In the giving blessing,
Undone places are healed.
Generational changes,
Reorder all that's been unfinished.

Grief transforms to celebration,
Sorrow gives way to joy.
Struggle of journey softens,
Peace and contentment washed with love.

So much to pack into a few days,
Really just need to rest.
Not about last minute preparation,
Truth is son is ready to fly!

He will be just fine,
Love does win the day.
Love wraps up his departure,
He has journeys and adventures to live.

His metal will be tested,
He's seen modelled failure, get up, fall forward.
Truth is keep falling forward,
Deep struggle produces deep roots.

Intimacy with Father,
Everything will work out.
Don't have to worry about missing it,
God has many paths to the same end.

Love wins the day,
Cost all that you have.
Exposes the heart,
Go deeper in love with Him.

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

Cost of Freedom

                  Cost of Freedom

                                  -i-
Turning his head for one last look of home, giddiness washes over him as he walks away. Eerily ensconced emotions endlessly echo. Leaving it all behind, the cost of freedom.

                                  -ii-
Frail young body racked with pain. Callously cancer claimed creation.One last labored breath. Leaving it all behind, the cost of freedom.

                                  -iii-
Found the one to share my life with, giving self away. Joys and sorrows in the journey. Gladly giving grace gazing face to face. Forsaking all others, cost of freedom.

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

Dog Friend Bear

Bear, our dog

          Dog Friend Bear

My dog friend Bear,
Follows me without a care.
Loyal companion all these years,
He's slowed down yet walks still share.

Not as often does he follow,
Weather cool, he has a hobble.
White masks his face,
Age leaves its trace.

I pause more often to give him breaks,
He brushes close and rub his ears.
He's happy to wander the fields with me,
Keeping me close as I move irrigation water.

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