images of my life?

The last few weeks have been busy. I feel a bit "worn @ the edges". However, I feel the need to take some time & "get creative". So here I am. "Barreling down the tracks" as it were. I'm trying to change life here, in my corner of the world. Fixing things, going through things. Deconstructing life @ home, & reconstructing it. Hoping that I'm reconstructing it in a more useful, real me now, sort of way. However, it is really stressing me out. So, as you can see, I took a walk. Got back out into nature. Which is good for me physically & spiritually....

Climbing rocks, exploring new trails...

Seeing things from a different perspective...

Finally coming to a restful position.

I've been reading, sporadically, about 4 books. Saw a good movie with my wife. [The Vow, which despite the "chick flick" vibe you may get... is really a good movie to see as a married person. It will make you think.]

Last, certainly not least, here is a poem. I'm kinda surprised came out of me. I'm not sure it's "done". Yet I like the length of it.

[untitled]
so many facets to myself
so many sides
how do I assemble them?
what do they together make?
do all sides belong to the whole?
or
are some intruders,
blur-ers, distorters,
thieves of the whole.
back to the ancient book I go
knowing the answers
lie there in those precious pages.
by b.e. noll

Valentine's Day

There is so much I could say. I've been blessed to watch one of, if not the greatest, love relationships there is. My Mother & Dad.
Then... there is the greatest story of love ever told. The love of God. I'll be listening to: Over the Rhine, Sting, Norah Jones, Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, among others.
I wondered how I could write anything that resembles poetry. I never really read any... or did I not realize that's what it was. To this effect, I post a Love song [of sorts] to God.

the Trumpet Child
by Over the Rhine

The trumpet child
will blow his horn
Will blast the sky
till it’s reborn
With Gabriel’s power
and Satchmo’s grace
He will
surprise
the human race

The trumpet he
will use to blow
Is being
fashioned
out of fire
The mouthpiece is
a glowing coal
The bell a burst
of wild desire

The trumpet child
will riff on love
Thelonious notes
from up above
He’ll improvise
a kingdom come
Accompanied by
a different drum

The trumpet child
will banquet here
Until the lost
are truly found
A thousand days,
a thousand years
Nobody knows
for sure how long

The rich forget
about their gold
The meek and mild
are strangely bold
A lion lies
beside a lamb
And licks
a murderer’s
outstretched hand

The trumpet child
will lift a glass
His bride now leaning
in at last
His final aim
to fill with joy
The earth
that man
all but
destroyed

Granted... maybe only in my strange mind is this a love song.
Anyway, enjoy tomorrow.
Be glad for all the relationships you've been blessed with.
[because you didn't have to be... & you never know...
how long you will be blessed with them]

My Valentine - Paul McCartney
Crazy love - Michael Buble
My Funny Valentine - Over the Rhine

Mickey

...she has the name
of a famous mouse
& it's carved
onto my heart
never to be removed
carved by a man
who's earthly father
was a carpenter
carved there by a man
who knows
what love really is

her smile
is like the sun
rising at dawn
her eyes
twinkle
like the evening stars
her voice
is the sound my ears yearn for
I know her so well
I can hear her smile
on the phone
in the way it changes her melodic voice
when she holds my hand
our skin
feels like sparklers lit for the 4th of July
her lips are a pink ribbon
her eyelashes
so wonderfully made
why would The Artist
allow me to live
with such
a work of art
as her?
While I cannot answer that
I can say
I'm glad He did...


Thank you Jesu, for allowing me to have a partner in life.
thank you for making Mickey. Thank you for sharing her with me.
I pray that I can grow into being a much better husband, than I have been.

welcome to the "sappy, mushy, closet romantic" side of me,
b.e. noll

today

Hello out there. I have written about 20 posts... inside my head. Honestly, I'm in the middle of about half a billion things. My wife did get unemployment. A wonderful thing. My Father is heading to Guatemala next week [short term missions trip]. I'm trying to do a mix of traditional V-day things & "unique to us" things. Currently listening to samples of King Crimson's THRaKaTTaK [a disc of improv's by them from the "double trio" period]. Still laughing @ a cartoon a friend has on his facebook page. Showing 2 Mayans, 1 holding a stone disc. It reads: "I only had enough room to go to 2012." [his friend replies] "Ha! That'll freak somebody out someday."
Silly as it is, I'm excited about going through the basement [aka the storage unit]. I'll try to post a poem or 2 on here soon again.

Mom continues to improve. [for Paul, & others who don't know, my Mother had back surgery for a cyst & shrinking of her spine's diameter, & then had a blood clot].

here I sit
my brain an orchestra
every instrument
reading different sheet music
15 trains of thought
all have left the station
none are traveling together
I futilly grab the conductor's wand
to no avail
I cry
"it's noisy in here"
but
it sounds
like a cat
meowing in a New York traffic jam
it'll go away
not soon enough
of course
I sit & sigh at myself
depressed that I'm not
progressing
yet
when I look around
things are improving
not as fast
as I'd like
A friend facebooks me
a new possiblity
perhaps what I need
is a "photography gettaway"
perhaps
what I need
is to get out
of my own road
who knows?

Take care all,
b.e. noll