WOW...

...this blog sure is empty. It's been a loooooong time since I did anything, so I barely remember how to post stuff. Well, let's get this baby dusted off!

Here are some limericks I made up a few years ago for a contest in the newspaper. I didn't win, but it was fun trying! The topic was Arizona summers. There may be a slight tone of cynicism to parts of this...maybe...


"Here in the sun and the heat
There is nothing for coyotes to eat
So they chew on our pets
We regale them with threats
And the coyotes just move and repeat.

Here in the sun and the heat
Where the weather just cannot be beat
We go out on the town
And we let our kids drown
Because fences are too hard a feat.

Here in the sun and the heat
Where the image of Hell is complete
Don’t bemoan your sad fate
Pack and head out of state!
A land free of whiners’d be sweet."

The Music Plays On

So, hello, friends of Musings. Cathy/Rose posted a stunningly beautiful poem here about two months ago, and commented that site has been rather devoid of new stuff lately. That's partly my fault, since I'm one of the contributors to this here blog, and since I've been over at WordPress starting a shiny new music blog that I've grown to love, I've kind of neglected Blogger quite a bit. Well, that, and I simply didn't really have any strong poetic inspiration the past few months. (I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to write a poem to post on here, but I just couldn't get a good one started.) Tonight (or rather, this early morning), that all changed, and here is a poem I just wrote a minute ago. It has to do with music and the profound power it can have. I could write poems and poems upon poems about this subject, but this particular group of verses was inspired by a specific experience I had tonight. I hope you enjoy it, and I give my deepest apologies for not posting for so long. :)

the music plays on

suddenly, simply, subtle as a wandering wind
a breath of life, a waking moment
eyes and heart, with the softest warning
change for the better
the music plays on

time inconvenient, thoughts unexpected as a change in the weather
before you know it, the hour is dim
sun almost rising, world almost waking
caught up in something
the music plays on

beauty discovered, something unlocked like a key turning slowly
quickly forgetting all worries and cares
the essence of living, the bliss of existence
this is the music
it always plays on.

Comes From Living in the Desert...

...wow, this blog has been rather barren lately. I may have to fix that...

My Grandpa died this past May. He was my last surviving grandparent. It was very sad, as he committed suicide. He had survived several bouts with cancer, but he was about to face the prospect of going through all the treatments another time and decided to end it on his own terms. He was a good man. He wasn't the best man, but he did what he could. He became a good man in time, and we are comforted by the surety that he is now praising his Savior in Heaven.

I wrote this poem right after his death, when the shock and sorrow was still fresh and painful.

You've gone, and left the world and me behind
it's never been so empty, or so cold
I'd follow, but I know it's not my time
though many prayers have pleaded for it so
I didn't know you well; I should have done
and now I'll never get the chance to try
I'm sorry that I couldn't see it come
so I could say "I Love You," and "Goodbye."


P.S. I'm depressed, yes, but I'm not suicidal. Don't worry! :)

Ignition

I wrote this while driving from Phoenix, Az to Philadephia, Pa with my dad. I think we were going through Texas at the time...

Swiftly though I travel
in the face of driving rain
boldly striving on ahead,
the wind to numb my pain
the moonlight soothes my aching heart,
the sun ignites my soul
stars above sing lullabies
and your love makes me whole

hotel view, 1:30 am

Yes, this is Brandon. Actually posting a new poem. :D Last night, I was listening to music in Room 574 of the Westin Los Angeles Airport (me, my dad, and grandma were in LA for the weekend because I had a Jeopardy! audition...anyways, not the point...), and looking out the large window at the street and whatnot, and I thought, "Hey, I should write a poem about this mysterious, interesting-looking view of Los Angeles." So I did. :) It is yet another poem inspired by California (I believe this is my third or fourth CA-related one), but I actually wrote it while sitting down, not in a car for once (haha...), it's not necessarily about nature, and after I wrote it, I noticed it was stylistically a bit different than what I've done before (then again I always say that, and could be wrong... :) ). Anyways, enjoy!


hotel view, 1:30 am
there's a world outside my window
it's almost 2 am
the cars have picked up again
humming, moving in a rhythm
irregular and arbitrary
ebbing, flowing
back and forth, white and red,
muted colors, spinning wheels,
pass me by.


a nice view of the city
it's after 1 am
lights poking through the dark sky of a nameless color
hundreds, thousands, millions
palm trees with their green
momentarily borrowed
to a distant shore
there are shores near here
but i only see the lights
a few--on wheels--pass me by.


it all goes on forever--the lights and the moving
it's halfway between 1 and 2.
the city is deciding between
waking and sleeping.
breathe in, breathe out.
the roads, the houses, the buildings, the palm trees--
they all
pass me by.
even as i sit here
with a world outside my window.

Enough

That face which haunts my brightest dreams
of shining light and things to be
That hand which guides my wandering feet
down winding paths, past closing doors
That voice which beckons silently,
through all my years it calls to me
Those arms which wait and promise love
beyond the gates flung open wide
All these I long to see and hear
and touch and know above all else...

...but until then
I have
Enough.

The Lonely Angel

This is a new poem, fresh, never before seen by human eyes!

...other than my own, of course... *awkward cough*

I wrote it just this morning, 5:50 a.m. Why am I up before 6 writing poetry, you ask? Because I Can.

enjoy.


The lonely, wandering Angel
straining for the light
The darkness gathers round us all
with only you to fight
Closer, nearer , creeping in
your seconds growing few-
one thousand ways to save the world,
but who’ll save you?