new year vow

 new beginnings – arbitrary

fresh vows we know we won’t keep

but every year we say we will

what if we picked one thing we truly want

and pasted it on the wall above our workplace

and designed steps, small steps that might get us there – or close

each week to work on a tiny step with that goal in mind

or forgotten in the busy-ness of life

only concentrating on one of the steps we’d designed

until we end up with our goal in sight

ahh, it would really be a happy new year then

my children are my friends

my children are my friends

adults who listen

even when i stammer

who guide my steps when i stumble

who forgive when i falter

who chuckle when i command

but listen and talk things over with me

who love despite my shortcomings

how could i ever ask more?

wind-whispered promise

 despite the cold

that burrows under the skin

to gnaw at the marrow

in my bones

the wind that lifts

and swirls sparkling flakes

tells me the snow will cling

to the mountains

and, in the spring, melt

as water for crops

a gift longer-term

and worth my shivering

            mjNordgren  12/26/2022  Omaha

random interactions

random interactions

like brownian movement

but an illusion as each participant

has a goal – somewhere to go

each jostles another, and another

pushed, shoved, knocked

out of alignment into a different route

randomly dislocated, delayed

within the sun, photons may take

millions of years to emerge to shine

from sol’s surface

or at airports, travelers lose minutes, hours, getting to the long lines to be

cabined, cribbed, confined by zigzag

tape to inch forward, wait, inch forward

to be checked by customs before being

spilled into the chaos beyond

and the lines shuffling onto the plane

to get home for Christmas with family

purpose, but, being part of a multitudinous whole, finding

no direct way to fulfill that purpose

                        mjNordgren  12/25/2022  Omaha

pieta

twenty-two-year-old sculpts marble

drapes folds, forms, features

in the agony of surviving

love and loss that weeps in souls

in generation after generation

traffic in Italy

in Venice, long, slender, black gondolas

each with distinctive hood ornament

pole-oared on one side only

with such skill the length turned corners

with bare inch and a half to spare

and slipped beside one another and other water traffic as jaw-droppingly as

street traffic and pedestrians in Rome

            mjNordgren  12/21/2022 Splendid Venice Hotel

asset among the ruins

Italians living among old, ancient

and modern gaining perspective

of ancestors who struggled

triumphed and failed

lived lives of human mortals

knowing the world that was

and not to take themselves as unique

or more seriously than they are worth           

mjNordgren  12/20/2022  Splendid Venice Hotel

Napoli

view from high up narrow

twisted streets to encompass

the entire bay with the castle

in the middle of the sea

marina for yachts and, beyond,

berthed cruise liners and freights

of enormous size

and across the waters, Mt. Vesuvius

“our father, our protector

and our killer”

The Vatican’s summer palace

summer palace, guest house behind

Italian brick wall – opulent, as befits

the greatest landowner and receiver

of gifts to honor deity

one elected after another and another

for centuries and still grand in power

and influence as supreme for millions

ceilings arching to sixty meters and more

painted, arched, frescoed, gilded

long corridors extended, side-roomed

elegantly lined with exquisite statues

and floored with patterned, ancient marble

                        mjNordgren  12/17/2022  Rome

inn at spanish steps

Inn at Spanish Steps

with tall floor 0, small, creaky

elevator with metal cage

and inner doors

narrow halls with angles

bathrooms lined with marble

windows looking out on leaning

cheek-by-jowl multi-story houses

in the Prada Building sourrounded

by tiny shops of name-brand glitter narrow streets crowded with double

parked cars and pedestrians walking

in front of, behind and both sides

of darting traffic

a plaza at the base of the incredible steps

a gold Christmas tree at the landing

and thick-walled church at the top

Rome!

                      mjNordgren  12/16/2022  room 808

landing in Italy

setting down out of the clouds

we had our first glimpse

of the sea edge of Italy’s knee

fields of intermingled oblongs

of field, a few guarded by hedges

and December-green trees

and thick-walled, multi-story

farmhouses picturesque as antique

oil paintings anticipating our adventure in Rome

share and share never alike

how do i share feelings

that touch me most

when i’d need also to share

the deep impressions

prejudices and nuances

that have tempered me

all my life?

or is there a basic being

we all share

however individually?

valley cumulus

 clouds trapped between the hills

create fog in the valleys

but whisper peace to those

who look over from above

but fear to tread

coping

courage under pain

calm while acknowledging fear

willingness to take one day

at a time in order to heal

emerging

 gentle chat and chuckles

as my daughter emerges

from anesthesia

expertly poisoned to sleep

through surgery pain

morning after

morning after

pines still after a night of rain

drops coalescing at needle tips

and dropping one by scattered one

as the wind, tired, subsides

long term project

push and pull of commitments

unsettle toward anxiety

learning to find peace within self

needs self-discipline

and acceptance of failures

how much more difficult then

peace in the world

theron

i asked for help understanding

from a man raised in a different

culture, a worldview i do not grasp

for my characters are men

of that tradition and i want them

to be true to what they believe

not caricatures from my prejudice

my friend answered with a book

of his own with depth of finding

self in the tradition of battle

so foreign to his own sense of being

december’s first

white bits so small, not qualifying

as flakes but mere sparkles

but persistent

white bits joining, growing, falling

as snowy individuals causing

raised eyebrows in surprise

then frowns of scrutiny to be sure

then smiles and whispers of discovery

as neighbor tells neighbor

“It’s snowing!”

bereft

the ache of old friends dying

surrounded by love and family

how can we console young men

who have watched comrades

torn apart in distant battles

and pretend they should return

to ‘normal’ without our understanding