Impressions

Bones

Family companion.
Guardian of the baby boy.
Jacks first introduction to fur,
and licks on the face.
His first experience of loss as well.
Mom and dads only four-legged friend,
gone to hook up once again
with Gideon,
to report to him about all the goings on
since he’s been gone.
And most assuredly now,
Bones will never be without a ball.

Gideon

A big name.
And he left a big
impression.
Some have feared
his menacing presence.
Those who knew him
never did.
Protective of his family
like the Alpha male that he was.
A gentle giant really,
with a generous nature.
Like his best friend.

Dylan

Reaching tall
towards a welcoming sky.
Beyond vision,
beyond boundary,
beyond rhythm.
Dancing deep into the unforeseen.
Looking back for assurance,
but ahead for life.
Standing on the brink of reason
near a warm spring,
in the heart of the matter.
On the verge of self discovery.

Amy

Child of reason.
One foot in the future,
but rooted in the values
of time.
Draws the sky with one hand,
the earth with her other.
A gift of warm
in a cold place.
She paints the dark with light,
colors death with life.
And, like a quiet violin
she lifts the sad from within us.

Joshua

Firmly planted in place.
An ancient, weathered tree,
with roots reaching deep
and arms stretched wide.
Stability.
Larger than circumstance.
Reducing life to purpose,
love to embers,
dreams to earth,
soul to flesh.
With eyes that see the far side
of every fixed horizon.

Ami

Like a doe
in a redwood grove.
Wide eyed, awestruck,
embracing her surroundings.
Carefree but cautious.
Wise, but indulgent of life.
Deeply conscious of
ebb and flow.
A quiet strength,
with grace.
She makes her way
with eloquent determination.

Jack

John Dennis.
We’ll call you Jack.
It was a perfect Autumn evening
when we first met.
Last day of October, 2005.
You looked into my eyes
and saw an aging soul,
an old survivor.
I saw in yours a new light,
an unblemished beginning,
a fresh perspective.
The reflection of God
in a brief moment.
I know we have allot to teach
each other.

Pat

Little girl in a big world,
moves in a dervish dance.
Stretched beyond measure,
but her soul remains intact.
Beauty uncompromised,
passion at times untamed.
Body bending with the wind,
her laughter unrestrained.
Embracing truth in mystery
as the cards unfold.
Finding pleasure in the unforeseen.
And in the hard, yet tender nature
of her deliberate lover.

Sharyn

Sister
for life, by birth.
But it would’ve been
by choice.
The conscience of my soul.
The voice of reason.
A warm heart
in a frozen land.
Eyes that dance
in rhythm to my own.
Like the wind in autumn
or the moon at midnight.

Curt

Solitary man,
with strong hands
and convictions.
Heart on fire, head on straight.
Standing watch at the gate.
Like a lion in the desert.
Like an ancient sentinel,
or an Archangel with attitude.
Family man,
with a burning pistol in his belt.
Soft as velvet.
Hard as nails.

Trevor

A man among men.
Big men, dangerous men.
But a child in their world really.
Not in stature, courage or maturity.
But in how I still remember him.
Gives his best
in competition, and in life.
Twists the hand of fate
like an ankle.
Faces fear and beats it back.
Like Daniel in the lions den.
Like light beats down the darkness.

Summer

Like soft light
crawling through the front door
at dawn.
Like the color of daffodils
in the mid day sun.
Like the sound of laughter
in the yard, or a Martin guitar
on the back porch.
Mother of children born for love,
and for each other.
Like bread and wine.
Like earth and sky.

Scott

Quiet man,
with more to hear than say.
More to give than take.
Weighs the good
against the bad.
Lives in a place of honesty,
of conscience, and integrity.
Reduces life to its simplicity.
Plants seeds in barren fields.
Plants hope among despair.
Love where there had only been
indifference.

Gwen

A simple faith.
A quiet grace.
A safe place to find oneself.
Like in the shade of a willow,
or the shadow of an Angel.
Soft spoken, thoughtful
like the evening sky.
Hopeful, like the sunrise.
Extracts the wheat from the chaff,
the joy from the sad.
Expects the best from herself,
and those she loves.

Mike

Reaching wide across the world
to find what lies
within himself.
Without a traveling companion.
Only faith, only hope
to lean on.
Armed only with a strong sword
and a silver tongue,
sharpened like cut glass.
Like his own wit.
Like the Holy Ghost
in a midnight mass

Claire

Eyes that dance
like laughter.
A voice like wind
through a stained glass window
in an old cathedral
in a winter rain.
Sense of humor
like a teenage bride
who wants to hide a naughty secret
from her groom.
Saint of perennial circumstance.
By faith, not by design.

Mary

Architect
of family.
Matriarch, mother,
with faith to hold
water in a basket.
Friend to many,
strength for the weary,
salve for the wounded.
Beauty unqualified.
A quiet love,
with the guts to be
unique.

Patty

Movement,
like the breeze
on an Autumn afternoon.
Stirring up possibility
amid debris,
breathing promise into sadness,
hope into despair,
finding balance
of measure,
fair, but tough.
The breath of sons
who reflect her heart.

Dennis

A kind man.
He lived respectfully,
and with dignity.
A bright man.
A mind to the future,
with feet planted firmly
in the values of the past.
Accepting of others,
even before he came to know them.
An honest man.
Husband, father, grandpa.
Loving. Much loved. In this life
and beyond.

Dorothy

Standing alone amid the winds
of time, and circumstance.
Weak at times, but strong inside
with strength found in
the gracious, and pervasive love of family,
in the lifelong connection to a husband gone,
but not forgotten,
in the embrace of beautiful daughters
raised by her affectionate hands,
and in the clear eyes of each grandchild
as they grow to know her
by her love.

Socrates

Since you’ve gone
we struggle with the grief,
the sadness, the emptiness.
You left too soon, for sure.
We didn’t get to say ‘goodbye’.
We miss your personality,
your presence,
the love you gave, the warmth.
A gift of life.
And now we feel your absence.
Day and night.
In the yard, in the house,
and on the porch.
We understand now,
with certainty,
how God filled our lives,
through you, with you.
How He cared for us,
and kept us.

For all these years.

Marian F.

Like a safe harbor
in a strong storm,
A mother who has thrown
her arms wide
to welcome and protect her own.
To shelter them from harm,
to hold them close through time.

And as the hours of her own life pass,
as arms shorten, with each breath
Her children have become for her,
with arms thrown wide
and hearts made warm,
A safe harbor
in a strong storm.

Lisa

Balance between the safe
and the extreme.
Bringing calm waters
to a restless sea.
A solid sensibility,
honed like rock
by the wind
on a weathered beach.
Soft, like the thought of
friendship,
or the remembrance of family
gone on ahead.

Jackie

Floating near land,
head up, in a big ocean,
with a changing tide
and a strong current.
Looking towards shore
in search of familiar ground,
but with a pull towards
the horizon rising quietly
behind her.
Knowing there is endless sea
between safety and
the allure of it’s beauty.
Faced with choices that will cling to her
always.

Like some impassioned lover.

Mic

MicGuyver.
Mr. Fix-it.
The coat he wears to earn love
too long withheld,
to protect a heart
made cautious by time
and the callousness of life.
But a coat worn well,
I have to say.
His way of bringing kindness
to the table.
Warmth to the winter of
our lives.

Christ

Generous
like the sea.
Warm like
the earth.
Kind like shade
in the desert.
Soul and Spirit
to enhance the hearts
of men like me.
A human in our midst.
A friend who gives life
and asks only that we live.

Lance

Not the largest man in stature,
but a Giant man in Heart.
A Quiet Voice,
living in a Place of calm.
Of subtle, but deliberate assessment,
even as a storm may rage about him.
A Friend to friends who are his Family.
He blows the Lowest notes,
the Sound of the Earth,
with the Sweetest of Intentions.
A free Lance artist
who changed his Name for Love.

Mike K.

Sensitivity
like that of a child.
Feeling pain in places
only children seem to be
allowed to hurt.
Heart worn bleeding
on your tattered sleeve,
stain set deeply in your weary soul.
Strong enough to stand,
but not alone.
Drifting off to sleep
forever.

Mickey

You left too early
my friend.
The bell never sounded
at the end of the day.
It was just a lunch break
we were on.
How could you have mistaken it
for quitting time?
Now you can’t return to work,
or collect retirement.
And we’ll never get to fish
that mountain stream.

Jon

Eyes that bleed
with sadness,
and with regret.
Needs the company
of darkness.
Not the darkness really,
but the anonymity
of it’s nature.
Seeks relief in its embrace,
following its siren call
through a solemn door
which proves to be an exit.

Jim

Angel of confusion.
Always wanting
to fly,
but never having
had the time
for lessons.
You flew by the seat
of your pants,
in an old MG,
out into the beckoning sky
where you felt
most at home.

Norma

Smiles to tears
in the beginning.
Then slowly,
an emerging trust.
Small steps
carry large intentions,
to be known more fully,
more freely,
more truly.
A woman of her own time,
of her own mind,
prone to fits of kindness.

Linda

A visible mystery
to all but those
who know her well.
Mother of life.
A smile to light
the sky,
eyes to light
the darkness,
a laugh to make one’s heart dance.
A deep well,
where clear water waits
to welcome thirsty lips.

Ellen

Breathing life
into the barren.
Weaving words
like yarn.
Expressions of the heart,
which paint the sky soft
for the hardened,
the earth warm
for the frozen hearted.
A soul that knows
we are alive today,
and not just dreaming.

Bonnie

Kind,
like warm flannels
on a cold winter night.
Deep
like the darkness.
A friend for life.
Trusted
like family.
Generous like light.
Card carrying Queen
of the Bewilderment
Community.

Michelle

Physical poet
who writes love scenes
with her body first,
with pen to follow.
Playful, but deliberate.
Peculiar, odd
by some measure.
Wonderful by mine.
Sinking comfortably into
her seduction
like collapsing
into an old familiar chair.

Lera

Animated
like a child,
but with the depth
of water.
Sky to my earth,
Moon to my sky.
Rich,
like chocolate,
or Kahil Gibron.
Searching far
for an anchor,
wide for a port.

Mario

Pouring life
into the lonely.
A man such as he.
Seeds of kindness
sown only by one who’s known
his own share of sadness.
A man much more than muscle.
Weaker than a child,
yet stronger
than the songs we hear
that break our hearts
each time we get too near them.

Hollie

Sees the upside
and the down
in order to arrive at
an elusive middle ground.
Cautious like a cat
with eyes wide.
Curious like a child
without boundary.
Goes both ways in love
and play,
in joy and pain,
to embrace life soundly.

Michael

Chocolate Buddha
to my Vanilla Jesus.
A man who loves
much deeper than life,
more profoundly than words,
much better than me.
A laugh
to crack the sky,
A voice
to calm the restless.
An ancient soul
biding time between two worlds.

Helen

Forgets to breathe,
in her excitement.
But never forgets to laugh.
Likes hugs, and needs them
like roses need the morning sun.
Like lungs need oxygen.
Like love needs expression.
Suffers hurt harder than some.
A soft heart that absorbs pain.
Her own, and others.
Gives warmth to the earth,
Gives wet to the rain.

Pat

Like a Willow, willing to bend,
even when the wind does not provoke it.
Like the Sun, Comfort for my soul
even when the morning seems so distant.
Companion in my aloneness, and in my joy.
Lover in my need, and in my freedom.
You are my wife, my Woof,
my Chosen road.
You are my Light, my Laughter,
the Moon in my sky,
the Source of my Hope.
The Heart of my Life.

Kate

Little girl
who wields a big ambition,
in a big profession.
A family expectation
that she measures up to
well.
Without resentment,
without question.
A quiet disposition,
and a kind heart
that overshadows
even her own accomplishment.