Life

At times it does seem like sacrifice without success. 
At times it does seem like failure without fulfillment. 
But more often than not, it is like flowers in the lunch box.
You carry your meal in an old battered tin box, 
Then when you finally get to lunchtime,
You open it up to discover that someone has
Tucked flowers in the midst of your food. 

Susan Patterson
05-2013

Life at times can be pretty rough.  It would seem that there is no beauty or even civility.  But there is.  And sometimes, someone puts it right in front of us. 

My dad, Tom, was a logger.  He worked in the woods near our small town.  Every working day, my mother, Irma, would pack him a lunch which he would carry out to the woods in a tin lunch pail.  When he came home, she would unpack the lunch box and clean it for the next day.  Not every day, but often, she would find a rhododendron inside.  He had brought her a flower from the beauty of the forest.  She would put the sometimes worse for wear, but always beautiful flower, in water and we would all enjoy it for days.  Irma packed the food.  Tom packed the flowers.



You can find more stories of Tom and Irma in Susan's book Tom and Irma-Chronicles of the 1950s,  at her web site  www.EarleneGrey.com 

Cheery-bye!  skp

The Trick is to Eliminate  
The Differences


Some believe the Earth whirls through space
Turning to perpetually right itself.
Others know the Earth is flat and constant.  

Some believe study is the tool of enlightenment,
And discovery a necessity.  
Others trust what is told to them by their elders.

A few of us do the talking while
A great many of us are listening in fear.  

A few of us have more
Than the rest of us put together.

Some partake of the daily fill,
Others never have enough.

Some say we have come far
From the darkness of our ignorance.
Others say we haven’t even
Left the caves.  


Susan Patterson
02-2014

There is such a vast chasm in this world between those who have and those who have not.  We have different understandings to trust, different food to eat, different ways to live each day.  All this has come about because of religions, environmental opportunities, education and the availability of viable work. 

Before we can all get along, we must eliminate the differences.  And the key to that challenge lies in the opportunity for people to be educated and to find work.  It is of course more basic than that really.  To be educated,  people must be fed.  To be fed, they  must have water.  I know.  It is tough.  But it could be done.  My vote would be work at providing everyone with a reasonable source for water and then educate, educate, educate.  Schools, not bombs. 

We have enough resources on this earth to keep us all.  We just have to be smart enough to use our resources to benefit everyone...and to eliminate the differences.  skp

I'll be seeing you!  skp

The Risk of the Heedless

I had waited for days.
For the time
When we would talk and touch. 
I waited with intelligence and sophistication.
Then it was down to hours.

We would be off together for a mid-day meal.
I was eager. 
An amorous hour was my intention. 

We left, appearing nonchalant.
But he was busy with things to do. 
Then it was over,
Our precious time. 

We headed back. My disappointment cut. 
We climbed up the old stairs to the world
Where we were not known as one.

Following him like a besotted fluff,
I forgot my sophistication and whined
My letdown. 
He turned, as all heroes do,
Grabbed and kissed me
Right there on the stairs. 

Forbidden love. 

He could have had me on the stairs
For all I cared.  I was limp as a dishrag. 
It’s true. 
It was
Worth the wait.
But then,
Would it be so again?
The risk was his.  

Susan Patterson

8-2011

Hopefully we all take risks now and then.  It's good for us.  It's good for the economy. It's good for the country.  Okay, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away here.  But it certainly is what humanity is about, trying new things...taking risks.  This poem is a story about lovers, but it could be about joining a band, buying a new house, having a baby.  Taking risks doesn't always work out.  But when they do, by golly it sure is good.  skp

À bientôt! 

Summer of the Innocent


I walked today and went for miles
Cultivation that calls to be routine.  

It is early morning as we circle the sun.  
Roosters announce its rising and
Other creatures follow suit.  
Cows amble to the field.
Housewives steep their pots of tea.  
There is satisfaction in the day,
Even though it is just beginning.

Labor is plenty, pantries will soon be
Full to over flowing.  
There will be no need for scrimping.
Earth is sharing what is
Rightfully Hers,
But what She gives,
She does so with consistent pleasure.  

I greet the day with all the life and verve that
Is allowed one person.  My future waits.  

Susan Patterson
10-2011

Here is a beautiful picture of summer.  The question is in the last line.  Will the future of the person enjoying season, have to wait until she is finished with summer?  Or does her future wait because she is experiencing a wonderful summer right now?  There is a subtle difference.   Either way, it's probably good. 

Happy summertime!  skp