Post on 04-Apr-2018
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
1/28
A CORNERSTONE PRESS CHAPBOOK
Jon Trott
CORNERSTONE PRESS CHICAGO
1994, 2000 Jon Trott. All rights reserved.First web edition.
Cornerstone Press Chicago939 W. Wilson Ave.Chicago, IL 60640
ISBN 0-940895-33-1Printed in the United States of America.
97 96 95 94 4 3 2 1
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
2/28
To Carol, my beloved wife.
Your love is the most continuing, tangible clueI'm onto something.
Poetry is idolatry refined.--Kierkegaard, StagesOn Life's Way
The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing:we know this in countless ways.
--Pascal, Pensees
Contents:
A Farmer's Song
Love You, Love YouThe Gardener's ReturnLove is the Way You LiveKiddles and RiddlesHere We Are, LoveThoughts of You in Random PatternsCarol Trott's LoverMoonscapeInterlude in LovemakingA Cup of CoffeeDancer Me
A Brief Exploration of the Origins of LoveLooking at You Closely in a Horizontal PositionLife Burns ByLovers' WorldLove Has Bad DaysSolomon's FollyThe Flags of LoveCarol's LullabyAbsence of MeaningThe Cynic Observes His Sleeping ChildrenThere'll Be No Marriage in Heaven
Trees and Roots and Growing ThingsEpistemology I: Preliminary CategoriesEpistemology II: The Woman and the Half-Baked PhilosopherBlow AwayTeacher, TeacherThe Wonder, All AliveThis, and ThisWords and KissesA ToastWithout A Compass
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
3/28
Sweet Things and NeedfulSelf-IdentificationOn Experimentation with Static Electricity
A Farmer's Song
Tell me if you ever saw
A field of unripe wheatThirsting in the summer sunWithered in the tortured heat
Tell me if you ever heardThe thunder of the stormOr felt the sting of hailstonesThe wheat fields smashed and torn
Tell me if you ever watchedA fire consume the grain
And smelled the smoke-filled skyA black/blue angry stain
Tell me if you ever weptOver remnants of the springSo much planted, so little leftLove nothing left to bring
Plant the seed againPlant the seed againPlant the seed again
No way of knowing but to believe
Plant the seed again.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Love You, Love You
Across the space of who I amThe gap I fill a mote in Reality's eye
I see you standing, walking,moving, talkingAnd wonder how you feel insideWhat your thoughts are as I stand, greasy-hairedRunning my fingers absently acrossThe stubble of that absurd thin mustache
Love you!Says the voice
You turn and speak
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
4/28
And I dream of being oneYour white dressThe quiet warmth together afterwardAnd down along the inner pathsWhere a man's thoughts roam, his ownYet so easily taken captiveBy Cheap Desire's multitudes(Even Solomon's wisdom wasn't enough)
I walk now as an older childThe baubles of sin still glitterBut I know a cheap imitation when I see oneLike the cricket's chirpingMore insistent when one is most silentI hear love's whispersEchoing in the chambers of thisFlesh and blood placeAnd I watch you and wonderAt the symmetry of normalcyThe shouts of children
The shyness of your smile which saysYou wonder at love, too
Love you, love youSays the small voice
But build the fire slowlyI will I say and prayFor in the window your reflectionReminds me of His gracious pathsThe holocaust of rejection
So recently escapedThe promised land of loveJust now being entered....Let me be worthy--no, merely obedientTo the way of loveAnd no other way, high or lowLet me woo this womanAs Boaz wooed RuthAnd the lover his ShulammiteI love loveToo much to harm its slumber
Enough to praise its powerEnough to act on its behalfLove you, love youSays the still voice
I whisperLove you, too.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
5/28
The Gardener's Return
Our hearts rose and so convergedUpon their object of desireWho in turn made of them oneFilled with joy and faithful fireAnd rooted in his endless love
Our soul-seeds twined their tiny leavesRound and round each others' livesFor love alone all things believes
So we live in love's own gardenNot the flowers with their charmsSeasons see them fade and perishWhen cold wind their blossom harmsWe, two trees, will lean togetherKnowing sun and wind and rainSheltered in each others' arms
Until the Gardener comes again
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Love is the Way You Live
Dancing slowly, here she comesAcross the mem'ry of my mindSmiling shyly, winking slyly
My attention is confined
To her face and to her passionsTo her hopes and to her dreamsTo her kisses, my sweet missusThe way she is is how she seems
Tender is the way she woos meSlender is the hand I holdLove the garland round her tressesShining story Christ foretold
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Kiddles and Riddles
What does me wriggling my nostrils mean?Why do you laugh when I do it?What do you think when I'm hiding unseenAnd you scream when I jump though you knew it?
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
6/28
What do you think when I flop on the couchRight when you're losing your mindChildren are crying, and inside you're sighingAre you sure I'm the best you could find?What do you think when I burp like a pig,Then mumble 'Excuse me--please pass the bread'?Would you like to examine my stomach's insidesOr maybe examine my head?
What do you think when Christopher laughsAt tales of mine, a dark ployHe could have been such a wonderful childBut I'm busy creating a BOYThe girls are weeping, Trev made them madCan you really quite blame him?He was taught by his dad
Disgusting, revolting, pigheaded, and strangeAre these some nice words to describe me?
You insist I'm nice but it's clear as thin iceLove's stricken you hard--you can't see!
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Here We Are, Love
It is easy to loveWhen love is easy going
But harder to loveWhen love itself is tried
Trembling loveLove stuttering before painAfraid to love wellBecause wells are deep places
Blinded loveLove without insuranceFaith urging "Take the leap!"
Poor love wants to go home
Here we are, loveHere we are
In ChristIn loveIn Christ's love.
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
7/28
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Thoughts of You in Random Patterns
The darkness
Over us like a cool breath
Your shoulder bareAgainst my face
Movement
Silence
Except for your heartbeat
Words without importancefor now
You kiss me softlyI hold you fervently
Glad in a wordless way
I love you so
This moment...
for eternity
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Carol Trott's Lover
You sting my soul with longingHair, eyes, and l ipsMy rainbow's end
me?
I'm just Carol Trott's loverBlessed by grace
And the kindness of a womanWhose face always turns toward me
Why do I deserve this?There's no reason
Except the love of the Heavenly Fatherfor
Carol Trott's lover
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
8/28
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Moonscape
The craters of existenceBlurt out their citizens
In the city heat where truth liesIn the vacuum where compassion dies
HereIs where
Fear
Rules.
The arid surface of the streetsOffers footing to spacemen with guns
No life exists without oxygenNo life survives a world in sin
HereIs where
Fear
Rules.
Yet rumors of a distant rainA desert changed to green fieldsSome say there will be dreams
I hold you in love's endless streams
HereIs where
Fear
Loses.
Yes, it is trueThere is a God
Two lovers can remain in love
There is life on the moon
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Interlude in Lovemaking
Garbage/shopping/shelving/cannedgoods/brushteeth/sacklunch
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
9/28
/argueroomdecor/talktalk/spankingif youkeepdoingthat/where'smycoffee/paintthat/didyouseemyglasses/turnthatdown...
lloveyou
nowdidyouseethoseglasses...
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
A Cup of Coffee
Three men, meeting by chance on a train, discussedwomen they considered to be thefinest.
The first, young and handsome, told of the wonderful girl he'd met in Paris. She'd been
a model therefor a year, and was as good a lover as she was a looker.The secondman, solid and respectable, told of the woman who'd worked with him on an importantproject, and had come up with a solution that had eludedhim. He dated her after that,and she was as lively atparties as she was focused on the job.
The third man seemed uninterested in the discussion. After chiding from his newacquaintances, and amoment where he scrubbed at a slight stubble on hischin, hespoke at last. He told of hiswife, a completelover, a great friend, a hard worker, andmore. Whatmore, the others asked. "When I come home at night, hesaid, she'sbeenwith four children, done our wash,tidied our home... and she alwaysserves me acup ofcoffee with cream while I just sit there." He twistedshyly at the wedding band on
his thin finger.
The other two stared politely. A cup of coffee doesn't seem like a lot, one ventureddelicately. Ah, but that'swhere you're wrong, said the third man. Love in Paris isa quickaffair, no worries for you and hopefully none forher. Love at work and at play isnothing; nothing isdemanded of either of you. But how long will either ofyour womencare for you after they see you, day in andday out? Willthe model care about you ifyour looksfade? Will you care for her?Will your office friend carefor you if you aredemoted, maybe fired?Will they makeyou a cup of coffee ten years from now? Andshouldeither of you have the nerve to ask for it?
Embarrassed at his outburst, the third man satback, silent in his seat. No more wassaid for the rest ofthe evening until they neared the city. A railway employeeapproached and asked if anyone wanted anythingfrom the buffet. "Coffee," the first twomen blurted inunison. The railway man turned to the third man,expectant.
"No, I'll wait," he said.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
8 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
10/28
Dancer Me
Spin me around in your armsLet me feel your hands upon my shoulder blades
Take me against your small warm bodyDance with me until we weary
Tell me of your love for me
I'm not tired of hearing it from your inmost heartWhisper how you feel tonight
Against my shoulder, head on my chest
We are not young as some lovers count youthWe are slow to claim great things
And quick to bow when circumstance blowsBow, not break, for love endures all
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
A Brief Exploration of the Origins of Love
Where does love begin and end?is a general sort of question
Undeserving any serious answer
Debated among bachelors and lechersThe conversation revolves around
Beauty
SensualityWit(Not too much, thank you)
Social grace
Love comes by different pathsin different ways
and through different doors
Love of soulis urged upon us by King David
Who, despite other wives,desired Abigail for her humble wisdom
And what of the proverbial writer who praisesa woman of industry and moral fortitude?
Invisible attributes to the undiscerning foolbut the first requirement
for a man weary of the world's stupidityand desirous of a fully human being
Love of God
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
11/28
is urged by example in the caseof nearly every Scriptural heroine
(even when they failed)Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, even
Rahab when the chips were down
So there it isAdmire a woman for the unseen first
Because haven't we been worshipping aHeavenly Lover
Who remains unseen until the end comes?
Only then will we see face to FaceBut now we must see face to face
Heart to heart being the more difficultrequirement
For some, this conversation is besidethe point
For others, it is the pointat which love blossoms between man and woman
and between man, woman, and God
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Looking At You Closely in a Horizontal Position
Your eyes' depth deepening, a glanceWisps of gray fog swirling inTheir coffee brown insight,
Soul -caresses
Scattered out around your pillowed headYour hair's rich mahoganyAcross mocha shoulders
and the white sheet
Olive skin, salt and sweet perfumeFace hidden, my lips imbibe
A nourishment complete,So sweet it hurts
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Life Burns By
The wick blackening
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
12/28
as sooty dreams spiral ceilingwardand flame jumps high
then sputtersDies
Darkness reclaiming
The wick igniting
as the match's touch brings lightand flame's fl ickers
Shadow DanceLove
Bright overwhelming
The candle shrinkingBut always dark to light again
and you are mineAs wick to
Flame
New conflagrations
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Lovers' World
I thought of you alone at nightI dreamt of you in broad daylightI slept with you in purest youth
And kissed your lips in love's one truth
I danced with you beside the flameI walked with you and knew no shame
I crawled with you when Evil ruledAnd crowned you when Love had him fooled
I saw you in the deepest seaAnd took you home to be with meAnd in my arms I held you, bride
A lovers' world now undenied
I'll touch you once and then againI'll ask not what there might have been
I'll hold you fiercely 'til the endWhen Death himself for one will send
Then I'll say good-bye, or youAnd still our love remain, and trueChrist the final Word has spoken
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
13/28
Death the lie, our love unbroken
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Love Has Bad Days
Where do we find itThat moment of joy
Bracketed between the mundane sorrowsHeaped on ourselves, by ourselves?
We know we love
And yet, show our scarsFrom a dance we thought was love'sUntil indifference, masked as hatred,
Stole the show and rang down the curtain
You tired, tired and grouchyWondering why I'm not more attentive
I, impatient, unfull of the SpiritEmbracing unease and harshness out of habit
While Christ waits in the wingsFor us to quit ad-libbing
And if this doesn't seem like a love song...
Read it again.
Love has bad days, too.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Solomon's Folly
"See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thingto another to find the sum,which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among athousand
I have found, but a woman amongall these I have not found."
They tell me I must rule youSubjugate you
Shepherd you firmlyAnd protect you from yourself
They dare to tell me
They tell me you are inferiorWeaker, I am superior
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
14/28
My pride says, "Amen!"But alone I ponder their words
We walk before men who judgeWho lay down law as gospel
And neglect Christ's love(Am I one of them?)
I reject these foolish menThese arrogant and violent men
Mongers after powerThey have Satan in their souls
I want to lead, and be ledTo love, and be loved
To shepherd, and be shepherdedBy love's example
At last I can love and be loved
By a woman after God's own heartWhose ear inclines to my meager wisdomAs the flower bends to the sun
Oh, lover! Oh, friend!
Your light emanates from the EternalAnd your submission from freedom
I, your husband, wear a crownFashioned in your strong and willing hands
Placed there by God's favor
And your choice
Solomon . . . eat your heart out!
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
The Flags of Love
i.
When the breeze flaps the flagsOf lovers and soldiers
And the enemies meet on the field
Blood is spilled
In a game between actors with swordsLove is forfeit
Dreams speed-readBlind man's reach
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
15/28
Grasped, twisted, and left empty
Who will love the lovelessWhen the lovers don't findThe mystery they sought?
You lie crumpledA white dress wrinkled
Like a lover's handkerchief
A wound too deep for wordsStill asks
What is it I wanted?What is it I have lost?
ii.
I listen absently while reading the paperYou chatter of children, and plans for the weekend
You slow, stop, waiting for an answerThen rise and begin quietly cleaning
Who are you, gentle strangerHeart patient with love for this fool poet?
The talk I call "chatter" is of children, and us, and GodReflections of a pure inner heart
Of love
I don't quite apologizeBut take you in my arms and listen
While you tell me again....
Once, you were wounded, and I--despite myself--became your balm of healing
Your golden love God wrapped around my armA bracelet of exquisite beauty
I wear proudly before menI see you dancing in my mind
The gentle maid I married
Raises her banner of love over meAnd I surrender, taken by her love
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Carol's Lullaby
Goodnight my beloved, my woman, my selfI pray for your sleeping
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
16/28
That it will bring healthI give you this small kissAnd strange as it seems
I will be with youTo dance in your dreams
Goodnight, my fair lady, my virgin, my brideI pray for your sleeping
That none be deniedI give you all blessings
and hold all alarmsYou'll sleep here safelyInside my love's arms
Goodnight, my one woman, my mother, my childI pray for your sleeping
Pure, undefiledI give you my true love
A soft, hidden nest
Lay your head by my heartWrap warm in its rest
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Absence of Meaning
There is a voidCynics call "love"
Why do sinnersHunger and thirst?
Answer: the meaningOr lack thereof
Strong, the imageMan-beast cursed
Violence, decayWages, new chromeTruth twice deniedIn this word "love"
Will meaning stayWisdom's not home
Words beliedSacrificed dove
Self's universeMammon makes dealsLust blinds the blind
A self-mutilationCling, my darling
Christ's Word reveals
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
17/28
My need, our loveA true revelation
Of their lack of it
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
The Cynic Observes His Sleeping Children
tenderly, gently, softly creepinto the room where children sleep
what are the dreams of youth parading?what is the sound of childhood fading?
oh how the years passdoubt building bridges on dreams left undone
oh how the tears pass
the older I get the more quickly they run
easy to mock when life is your toybut teaching a child to mistrust is no joythe gods of the godless are unrealisticfaced with faith in the heart of a mystic
oh how the truths passguilt building bridges on secret dark deeds
oh how the youths passsecure in their ignorance, numb to their needs
sleep, my child, you clue from love's pageI hunger for truth yet listen to liesis there a child, Holy-Ghost-borne
to rescue a man filled with terror and sighs?
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
There'll Be No Marriage in Heaven
Oh, my love, remember.Christ said there'd be no marriage in heaven.I know the thought is shockingFor God to take back what He's givenBut think on this before you poutAllow your darling to figure it out
Romance a gift, the best our Lord gave us(Except for Himself and His Church)Between us is ravishing love for a life
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
18/28
And desire's fast-found when we search
So imagine a heaven where sex is a bore!The things God must have awaiting in store!We'll still be true lovers, but in some new wayWhere some great pleasure waits--who can say?So think on this before you cryAllow your darling to offer his why
You don't like my reasons and high-soundingtalk?You don't want to lose me to heavenly love?Oh, darling, it was heaven who made of us oneAnd who made all our pleasures of touch so much funHeaven will be for eternityMy love is from you and for you from me
This theologian's at loss to not make you crossSo... lets make sweet love! Close the door!
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Trees and Roots and Growing Things
The sudden intake of breathSeeds blown from the pale treeAnd the branches scrape and groanLike newborns or ancient dying voicesBeating against mortality and
Winter's chill, already upon me
Our voices in a crescendo of soundInarticulate, like the seed and the groundSpringing from giving and taking and lossOur pneuma outbreathed into the other's fleshWith the moan of birth and sigh of deathAnd all of this springing from merest caressThis the full depth of human tenderness
We share knowledge of mystery's need
Branching from pure ecstasy's creedAs we stand, two trees, trunks blendedEach grown on its own, yet clinging, boundWe interweave to be lost and foundStill I don't know the unknowable youThe brilliantly real and unworldly true
You, the dark trunk of my experienceThe whispering leaves of my childhoodSummed up and formed into human likenessI penetrate, penetrate, penetrate
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
19/28
Down the pale root of beingnessInto the earth's bowelsSearching for significance in the actAnd in the completion of the actSearching for heaven to fill the hurtingAnd to cope with the knowledge of deathApproaching relentlesslyWe grow, twisting together toward the sky
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Epistemology I: Preliminary Categories
Knowledge cannot be wished for.It must be read about and retained in the reader's mind.Or it must be experienced and that experience be understood.Or it must be revealed by One Who Knows.
Example:Did Adolph Hitler have a mustache?Answer:He does in all his photographs. See?
Example:Q: Is this stove really hot?Answer:OUCH! -----
Example:Q: Is God Good?Answer:Define goodness.Q: Smart-aleck. What is goodness, then?Answer:God has written it on your heart.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Epistemology II : The Woman and the Half-Baked Philosopher
She held me tightly, her breath comingsoftly. "I love you," she sighedAnd she kissed my cheek.
I know that you love me, my dear.And I am aware that your excitementis caused partially by that fact,as well as the hormonal secretions
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
20/28
being released by your body in responseto your thoughts aboutmy psycho/sexual person.
She drew back, looking at me with a troubledexpression.
"I love you," she said.
"I know that," I repeated, "and I appreciatethe fact that you have invested me with yourpassionate attentions.You are a beautiful woman,and I can't help but be honored by yourcontinual adoration."
She continued looking at me in silence. Finally,"Do you love me," she said.
"That is a question I can't really reply to,"I honestly answered."Love is a subjective term,filled with subjective meanings.I appreciate your desire to feel that you are loved by me.The fact that we havediscussed possible engagementshould indicate to you that love is my intention.Be assured that my attention is, when directedtoward women and/or sexual things,completely yours. But
love may be too strong.It denotes commitment,which I am unwilling to offerat this time.It denotes abandonment...."
She leaned forward suddenly, kissing meviolently, open-mouthed. Her white teeth closed.
I jerked back in pain.
"You bit me!" I said.
Blood was in my mouth. I couldfeel the warm trickle on my bottomlip.
"You know all about love," she said."Do you love me?"
"Yes, I love you. I'd die without you, Carol,"I whispered.
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
21/28
"There's nothing to be afraid of," she said.
I tasted the blood in my mouth.
She reached a Kleenex, dabbed at my lip, thencradled my head on her shoulder."I knew you loved me," she murmured, as iftalking to someone not there.
"But love isn't easy for those whoknow how much it hurts."
She kissed me--gently--and I kissed herback, my cheeks wet with tears.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Blow Away
Tremors
Electricity, youSend me
Shock
To my system
to the neat order
of my supposedly complete
ordered mind.
Blow me away, darling
And the breath of loveSweeps me into a pile
At your feet.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Teacher, Teacher
I jump out of my skinWhen you touch me with your existence
I cannot learn enough about youAnd the brilliant gold
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
22/28
Of you, completely real, real.
History happens,Regardless of philosophy or booksEvents progress inevitably forward
And you exist, teacherof my heart and mind
I fly off-center,unsure of things as they are
Without your presenceand your acceptance
Do I speak of you or of God?
His love is so blended with yours,I sometimes cannot tell
I miss you simply, completelyuntil your face fills my eyes
and your breath touches my neck, softly
Dearest CarolMy teacher, teacher
What will we learn together next?
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
TheWonder, All Alive
I lean into the wind of you, buffetedby the playful pressure of your unseen love
And when you're not breathing nextto me, I tremble in the coldnessof a breezeless, cheerless day
I lean into the wonder of you, all aliveNow that you are here, and
In my eyes' sight.
Like God, you endless astonish meLoving me for no apparent reasonMy strength, my woman of Godand this weak "I" your strength,
Strong in another's love
Glory in my weaknessWind-swept in the arms of Strength
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
23/28
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
This, and This
Hair in my mouth, like hay, or earth
the skin
of her shoulders,shoulder blades in my hands.
I move a finger, the hair
slides from my mouth.
I clear away the hay from thepale earth.
A pig roots,
a lover nuzzles.
Sometimeshard to tell the difference
except for your forgiveness
and
my willingness to learn.
My lips against her neckand her hands
upon my unshaven face.
We lay side by side
in a world made of this,and this.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Words and Kisses
Restless, filled with longingOh, for Carol's hair upon my face
Our limbs intertwinedIn a wordless dance
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
24/28
The gray morning greets me soloShe's gone to work
While my writer's midnight hoursLeave me filled with sleep
But now that she's goneI want her pure skin against me
Her breath against my neck
Roundness beneath my fingers
I smile at myself, my bodyMy desires out of sequence
With the way things are;Carol's gone, and I must go
I rise, laughingAlready thinking of this night
And soft light upon her shouldersOur shared words and kisses
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
A Toast
Carol, you light the interior pathsOf my mind and my spirit
The places where thoughts wanderAnd emotions lie, like wine
In the cellar of my keeping
I am not one to pour the wine,Afraid of its intoxicating ways
And yet with you my innerness isUncorked, poured
And I am eager to drink with you.
Where does this inner life go,And to what purpose, if love
is only our creation?The lights of mind and
Sparks of heart would mean nothing
Without God.
Drink, then, dear friendMy sister, whom I kiss in heat of dayA taste of grapes upon your breath
And the fiery fermentNow burning through my veins!
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
25/28
You are the key to my cellar of sorrowsAnd the doorway to my flesh
Your hair brushes against my lipsAnd your words
caress my deepest wounds
Dear lover, sweet sister,Cling to me in this darkening place
Where deeds and words cannot triumphYour existence trumpets the truth
Of His.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Without A Compass
I have no starting place.
To me, I have always been,Though will not always be.
Death and sorrowCling like shrouds to my earthly hopes.
I have no ending place.To me, a wanderer in a strange land,
A vagabond filled with restless yearnings,Each leading nowhere
Except the Final Destination.
I'm a badly written story,A fragment from ancient papyri,Written in a language
Which I cannot decipherThough my very life depends upon it.
I am lost, I admit it,Without bearings in the desert of love.
I would deny my soul, if I could,But feel the celestial
And demonic tugs upon me.
I await the morning light,Always hopeful that light will indeed come
Instead of this fog of unknowingAnd the blanketed still form
Of my innocence.
Who can rescue me?Who has a compass?
You, my darlingThe gift God gave me
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
26/28
To help me find myself
And not be afraid
To drown in Oceanic Love.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Sweet Things and Needful
We love as lovers do, hot and sweatyOr slow and thoughtfully,
Searching one another's facesFor clues as to Love's meaning
We read to one anotherOr sit, silent, perhaps immersed
in a book or magazine articlebut peering over it once and againTo watch the beloved reading
And pretending not to watch us.
We are growing older, and loveIs not easy at all times
As the children become independentAnd the work load growsAnd our walk with Christ
At times wearies us
We pray with one anotherOr talk, thoughtful, of what
this startling love-lifein Christ is about, your
Eyes of brown going softAs you look into my soul's secrets
You are the holder of the sweetest things,And needful to me,
They are more precious than my life.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
Self-Identification
I and I, you and II have a difficult time
RememberingWho is who
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
27/28
How am I identified to "I"?
Blaise and Soren saythe knower is unknown
to himselfand so, unknowing of
all else,
lost in despair or grace.
If "I" doesn't knowI's "who,"How can
"I" know "You"?
I find my I in I AM,yet even there,am not touched
as the Beloved disciple
was touchedhead pressed tothe Great Heart,
the warmth of Jesusagainst his cheek
And when you touch me,the simple,
non-sexual touchof a hard-working wife
for her absent-minded husband
I find myself
Loved by you,and Another,
And so am at peace,Self-identified at last.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
On Experimentation with Static Electricity
The day was dry,the rug thick,
and my fingers upon the brass knobEmitted a spark that stung
A grimace, a smile,As hurt led to laughter
And to memoryWhich brings its own agenda
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/
28 1/17/2010
7/29/2019 Trees and Roots and Growing Things
28/28
To any meeting
As a child, I'd experimentScuffing rugs with bare feet,
Or cheap pennyloafers,(Which offered a bigger bang?)
Reaching out to spark
My shocked brotherOr frazzled Mom,
Plastic toy (nope) orSteel-topped stove (WoW!)
Later, alone, tucked in,Huddled under blankets
Tented over my head,I rubbed the wool foldsAnd saw the electricity
Dance for me, crackling.
Emerging later,I'd feel my hair
Standing upright with stored voltage.
Wonder is a sparkAnd love the scuffling feet,
as entangled we lie, scientistsBeneath these quilts,Gathering evidence
Dancing the static alive,
An unending experiment,
Creating currentIn the face of the dark.
(c) 2000, Jon Trott, all rights reserved
["Trees and Roots and Growing Things" -- back to Contents ]
and Roots and Growing Things http://highromance.com/poetry/jbtrott/treeroot/