http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/portfolio daily 0.75 2018-12-08 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/t/5c0bfd6670a6adf3036b4983/1411324250170/ Portfolio https://static1.squarespace.com/static/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/540e4afae4b0438c2051574f/541f195ae4b0ff88564751a2/1411324250170/ Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1411345700807-3RH0ANUJ2VOSGQCF43CN/Llewellyn+Portrait.jpeg Portfolio http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/media1 daily 0.75 2014-09-22 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/news daily 0.75 2014-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413755233266-ECILQ6U2ZBWVHMLIS1PY/Screen+Shot+2014-10-19+at+5.45.44+PM.png News http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/news/2014/9/21/book-launch-heir-of-promise monthly 0.5 2014-09-22 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/about-lmj daily 0.75 2020-12-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413857559978-D6541YET1MGKTS6T3NUF/Main+Image+-+About+LMJ3.png About LMJ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413565445381-EC40TVVM7KXOUFFQ02F5/LMJ+Portrait.jpg About LMJ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1540410026378-HGKFSX0ZVGVP97MQU9NZ/DSC_0221.jpg About LMJ Visiting Brisbane, Australia, in 2015. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1545181401767-NG0DZVN4493BMGS14ZDU/IMG_1193.jpg About LMJ http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/home-1 daily 0.75 2019-01-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547398074881-E8Q0NQAJSUH1JJ2UJ39C/IMG_3048.JPG Home-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1535394848185-CGDDU4QCIRSO4U1270H3/image-asset.jpeg Home-1 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1535394867157-MTQAOAQPKWQ68DDY1HTW/tumblr_mn8b8sLRb61rkz363o1_1280.jpg Home-1 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/heir-of-promise daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413563827777-OEUIAZEDGK808GXFSQ6J/image-asset.jpeg Heir of Promise https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413564795976-7W9AK7M385B1DE8476CG/image-asset.jpeg Heir of Promise https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1a180e30-332a-4c4a-80b8-b8b0a3ab605a/BOOK+COVER+IMAGE.jpg Heir of Promise - BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS AND RESOURCES THEMES IN HEIR OF PROMISE Family dysfunction, parent-child relations, war/peace, Canada/USA, race, identity, PTSD, trust, deceit, dreams/reality, wealth, immigration, boundaries, citizenship, competition, fidelity/infidelity, and learning/education/experience are themes in this novel. Which one resonates most with you and which one least? Why? BILDUNGSROMAN – COMING OF AGE Several characters in Heir of Promise grow as people. Who grows best, worst, quickest, and slowest? CHARACTERS How are the characters in Heir of Promise like all of us? How are they dissimilar? If you could substitute yourself for one of the novel’s characters, which character would you be? How might the novel be different if you were in it? What are the consequences for decisions made by these characters? HISTORY Using the novel as the primary historical reference, what differences and similarities do you notice between this present age and the late 1960s and early 1970s? What conclusions do you make? Is this a post-modern novel? ALLUSIONS The story of Jacob and Esau in the Bible’s Book of Genesis has overt parallels in this novel. How do the two stories compare? How do they contrast? Are there metaphysical parallels? PERSONAL REACTION What upset or pleased you most about this novel? EXTENSIONS If this book becomes a movie, who would you cast in each role and why? What parts of the novel should the director and writers cut, lessen, expand, and add? SUGGESTED READING A Nation at War: Australian Politics, Society and Diplomacy during the Vietnam War 1965-1975, by Peter Edwards A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo Beauty Beneath the Banyan, by Crystal Fletcher Fortunate Son, by Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr. Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, by John Hagan Snow Job: Canada, the United States, and Vietnam (1954–1973), by Charles Taylor Unknown Warriors: Canadians in the Vietnam War, by Fred Gaffen Vietnam: A History, by Stanley Karnow What It is Like to Go to War, by Karl Marlantes The Vietnam War: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, based on the film series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick SUGGESTED VIEWING Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Rescue Dawn, The Deer Hunter, Vietnam: A Television History The Vietnam War - film series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/about daily 0.75 2012-02-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/4fb50a18e4b0f2fffeb51dda/1383533791795-SSGUHHPFYQUW1XXESD1F/puppy2.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/4fb50a18e4b0f2fffeb51dda/1344626233295-YHA4KDI4QDFDFS9LLWAX/rhyslogan.jpeg About http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/poetry daily 0.75 2026-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413854424449-2AOXKSKEROFDTW9WN8L4/Main+Image+-+Poetry.png Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/fd37218c-bbf0-4760-910c-182a9f325cb3/IMG_1209.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/f28aa988-52c8-44b6-8e4f-e5115231d942/Unknown.jpeg Poetry - TRY Try Succulent, not bland Nectareous, not vinegary Sweet, not tart Epicurean, not Spartan Fragrant, not decaying Fresh, not musty Aromatic, not stinky Thuriferous, not noxious Natural, not synthetic Warm, not tepid Caressing, not frigid Strong, not limp Buoyant, not gloomy Colourful, not dull Deep, not shallow Complex, not basic Simple, not distracting Joyful, not melancholic Sonorous, not silent Triumphant, not defeatist Harmonious, not cacophonous Sincere, not fraudulent Precious, not disposable Profound, not superficial Passionate, not apathetic Complete, not partial Sacrificial, not selfish Patient, not petulant Enduring, not fleeting Forgiving, not spiteful Edifying, not destructive Truthful, not ambiguous Hopeful, not hopeless Perfect, not flawed Love. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/78b21c7a-4d69-4d05-84b8-e72f9c9740bb/IMG_1604.jpg Poetry - THREE THINGS Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless Sounds easy. It isn’t. Love, forgive, bless Love, forgive, bless And so on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1546619733866-ZX15NS4AEMF02A171GTY/IMG_1240.jpg Poetry - Three Point Two If three point two is all you do It’s not okay, OK. Ramification? Diabetes comes before intoxication And cirrhosis is only hallucination Your regulation leads the nation In legalistic, fearful constipation. Garth Brooks rescue those in Yukon Because Czechs brew perfect pilsner, So pivo three point two won’t do. Ten commandments teach amity, But three point two is intolerant If you love your neighbours. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1740131c-1c6a-4d5d-a9ed-d690cb4cc762/IMG_1496%5B11044%5D.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/31ae81d5-b848-4731-9704-7b587008c779/IMG_1022.jpg Poetry - THE RUB Society suffers greatly From tragedy, not comedy Our lives’ types with events hypes Entertainment and amusement Kool-Aid, we think before we drink Naiveté trapped like small prey Beware facade, a soul - a fraud Not wise warnings, but short mournings Nature’s malice mars the palace Beauty bound and horror found No romance here, love disappears Death and decay, no game to play Rotting evils like boll weevils Spread corruptions, fabrications Caterpillars gulp leaf dinners Trying a tree’s mortality From the macro to the micro Affliction is transient fizz All folks must drink before all sink Into decay, but joy can stay Unfaithful one has come undone Wild vanity blunts full sanity Childhood trauma enables drama Not theatrics but vile conflicts With troubled mind no peace to find External ink clouds what to think Or grasp the harm of cunning charm, Abuse, malice, tirade callous Spiteful fury, calm injury Bystanders freeze, monkeys trapeze And invigorate abuser’s hate For the wounded, tied and hounded Yet in the storm faith with truth form Hope and healing in time sealing The abrasions, liberations See good greater than the hater https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/069e6e05-c53f-4282-a334-d92e3a8d2f05/IMG_1695.jpg Poetry - THE IMPALER Not such a surprise When madness appears In proximity with hatred. It startles sensibilities, Peaceful dreaming, And freedom to meander Through a comfortable life. Lying to innocents with little Recourse to find truth for Themselves. Bombs and spears give strength To opponents, yet the impaler Cannot fathom why. A wrecking ball incapable of Remorse, understanding, empathy, and change, believes knocking Down pins wins the game. Yet history’s lessons cannot coach The spear thrower, like unhinged, Insecure minions of malice before, Failure is inevitable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1568822899610-9WMQQZRK5YD7NN0H18BS/IMG_2021.jpg Poetry - STONED and GLASSED In my lengthy, self-imposed sentence, In my solitary prison of freedom, Living on my terms, believing my own lies, Lathered in self-loathing, I die in the bathtub, Sauced and unaware of my impending fate, a massive heart attack. I rot for weeks and leave a morbid odour. With neglect of my possessions To be inherited by a conditionally loved one, Living and perishing for myself With misery a faithful companion. I remember my accomplishments Beautiful, but anonymous And question my worth My value vanishing in the vapours And stories lost but To be repeated by someone just like me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1544293504991-SPKLWFZL1FW2LPZFWYNR/0u3ros.jpg Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1412644678470-X87AH0IOD21WV3SOUKGJ/image-asset.jpeg Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413860414547-MNU6RG1EV7QSZHZ31VLD/bat-festival-by-joo-paulo-krajewski-from-the-braziluk.jpg Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/741ff65f-b455-4886-9909-b040fcb5a6cd/essence-of-elephants--greg-du-toit-of-south-africa-won-the-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-award-for-this-shot-of-african-elephants-taken-at-a-waterhole-in-botswanas-northern-tuli-game-reserve.jpg Poetry ZIP! GOES MY TIME THROUGH DAYLIGHT Zip! Goes my time through daylight As one moment in a fog of daylights Joined eternally in random fashion Flash! I saw it And almost completely missed it On my stationary journey Into the sure unknown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/33410bcd-8bd2-4942-927d-06d5dad05ee5/IMG_1724Blossoms.jpg Poetry - MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE I can’t see Your ego is in the way Your lack of clarity Your wandering words Your limited, uninspired mind… I admit that I am fatigued Impatient and prejudiced. Your improvement is too slow And your broad focus Disconnected from form Mars my vision. Conventional, rote, orthodox cliches Are wasted for me and lost on most ears. You’re satisfied with mediocrity. People depend on you. Yet you never fail to disappoint. Yes, truth hurts when it’s not sought. Self-delusion benefits neither you Nor the people to whom you are responsible. Seek reality and make it better. Yes, love can be rough. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/eafae611-e825-4dc2-9e91-c50e5d66c3f4/IMG_1670.jpg Poetry - TRICKLE Fantasy games prey Deliver us, Lord from locked roof racks, answered by divine intervention and YouTube videos The Kingdom of God is for ones such as these escaping life’s wounding Innocence, scarred from the inside, smiles, answers as trained With minimal interaction so that scarring isn’t obvious. Moments of joy come, marked by a smile, with effort and discomfort. Competition’s victories, defeats, and antagonisms sometimes find truce, A moment of peace. Buttons are pushed in the quest for love. Freed skis thank God for white slopes. Confidence builds. Growth compounds. Slow, steady descent from Child to adult. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413860681776-XLD29X617TVWMSKEODAH/nemophilas-field-hitachi-seaside-park-1.jpg Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413860933929-JT6R2MEZSKKG92WRB52T/mothers-little-headful--udayan-rao-pawar-14-from-india-photographed-a-female-gharial-crocodile-in-the-chambal-river-while-balancing-several-hatchlings-on-her-head.jpg Poetry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1544288854263-E6CS4P1RKBUQ6YMXWWYU/IMG_1093.jpg Poetry - HONESTY Honesty is refreshing until We learn how hateful we are. And then what? Repent. Am I a better person then? No. Perfection is not possible. So what do I do next? Do good things. Love God by loving others. But I’ll never be perfect. Only grace makes you perfect. I hate your honesty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1544291897004-U00TLTXMNBCJOG09M80L/Abstract-Circles-Powerpoint-Backgrounds-800x600.jpg Poetry - ORTHODONTIST’S VISIT Curvy reception removes unsafe edges for youth Soft light and earthy shades with hot drinks to assuage alienation Where straightening teeth gives smiles uniformity Welcoming smiles soften the strain Of elastics, train tracks, retainers, and pain Cartoon features on big screens ease the wait And mask the smell of medicine And veil the scent of money Children’s works of art are bound By the borders of bulletin boards And adult art of children surfing framed elaborately Centrally behind the sprawling, curvaceous counter That shields the grown-ups from broods and parents Here time, patience, and currency align To standardize the beams of adolescents For the sake of confidence – and conformity https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/a5bec3a3-68f2-4372-9afe-bb62f36e93aa/IMG_1436.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out EMPATHY Oh, blessed curse Oh, cursed blessing To feel fully the pain of others And less so their joy How it compounds personal sorrow Sucker-punching the soul Bittersweet foul fragrance of Paradox Living and loving Beyond self With helpless heart Trapped in impotence Despondent and hollow affection Weighs mightily on spirit Separate yet syncopated One domino to another Until scars heal and then The bond deepens https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/35498b75-04a7-4f81-b17b-d9dfe4b40287/IMG_0679+Sun.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out SUN Constant sun Earth spins and hides from you daily Scatty gloomy clouds Give us light and warmth In our reflection May others see you Even in shortened days Sometimes your intensity Reveals our fragility Lasers gather your power But focus on altering Not comforting In the role of Imitation of You I see your burden Love requires And thank you for seasons Constant sun https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1544291203285-33OKK5KNIWQOQUV7EYPS/5a21e729e61a4.image.jpg Poetry - STREETLIGHTS I talk to streetlights at night, Telling them to be light to the world. Their light flickers only On command. So I tell myself: Don’t fall asleep At my own funeral. Mortality is just a day I was unlucky, But it took time to get there. The richness of today must stop And I ponder my purpose In a temporary universe, In an eternal egg That I didn’t create. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1540403268219-27CPYQ7AOOJAMV5S3UHP/IMG_0932.jpg Poetry - NOXIOUS From slippery soil sold to suckers one toxic seed Surreptitiously erupts into weed that strengthens and swells, Set to spread ruinous, endless seed in paradise. At the touch untrained gardeners risk suffering and death, So experts come at their leisure to extract the monster. By then it’s too late. Seeds have multiplied the alien’s reach and gardeners live in fear forever. —- Goodbye Garden of Eden. Hello sin and giant hogweed hell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1550851064485-XJIENNHIK5N4FOOWZDQ3/IMG_1288.jpg Poetry - MR. DONUT There’s a hole in my soul; I’m not whole I’m a droid with a void Mister Freud People try with their love to fill me But I snub them and their vain attempts Because I am in love with my space. Danger lies in disguise below smiles Rescue seems gas of dreams if you wait Sweet surface sugar coats hollowness Better not to love me please digest The hole I leave in you when I’m gone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1576613336277-MS3W3DHDF18Q6T76DY97/image.png Poetry - UTAH I saw Utah. You too?! Zion, Bryce, and Arches awe with Heights, depths, and breadth of The Creator’s artistry. My constricted, (limited geography but plentiful history) ongoing education Makes me parched for a pint but What’s the three point two point? In one hundred and two Fahrenheit! Mormon hell! Oh, save us! from Sanctimonious, omniscient superiority Even European brewmasters can’t climb the peaks of Utah past 3.2. laws with flaws that Culturally level mountains and Limit freedom for the free and home of the brave In a dry and thirsty land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1598368479447-UZ96H4XLNCJWM1TSUSLE/IMG_2792%5B2160%5D.jpg Poetry - MORALITY MORALITY Disgust is a social judgment. External Shame, the virus, attaches and invades us to dwell as disease. Yet, in the beginning the Big Bang Theory of Morality was good. Social evolution says we are improving, so the top of the food chain edifies its status. Belief in the inherent goodness of human kind (not so much kind as a genetic mutation into weakness, namely empathy) ignores innate malevolence. Are we also naturally evil? Is ethicality a metaphysical, supernatural struggle between good and evil? Consider Cain’s ability/disability with jealousy to kill his brother, Even though he knew God. Atheists have morality too, But from where does that come? Contrasted with some people of faith’s inconsistencies and applications Of their own moral constructs, they live incomplete and fractured Without guilt or love or self-examination or forgiveness. Ah, the constant metamorphosis and relativism of morality! Never secure, consistent, pancultural, or constant, practised by hypocrites With justice and injustice coexistent, We are pretty, flowered carnivorous pitcher plants in the marl And in a moral universe of freedom, perhaps The only thing we have to fear is ourselves. ALONE All my friends have died I’ve outlived them all World’s not on my side I’m ready for the pall I’m on my own, pruned Fruitless and fearful Death stalks me; I’m doomed harrowed and tearful. Who will be with me When I, eschewed, die Telling what they see To those who may cry All my friends have died Faithful I have been Strong, fighting the tide In word and deed, keen Now joy in living Is gone, purpose fled Who will tell the king He too soon is dead A prophet am I Alone against time My fate do I tie Damning the king’s crime All my friends have died An heir on the way Truth telling I’ve tried After death will stay SO POWERLESS TO STOP INERTIA So powerless to stop inertia A force of destruction and harm from Hardness of heart, damaging souls The pain of lost affection Garners numb shelter and Retreat from warmth and sunshine Hope floats in brief moments of light But cannot remain. Unclear thought escapes a foggy brain And life loses joy. Watching this from a distance Impotent in inaction Sadness overcomes me Because love has not triumphed Yet https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1598367693110-MFIIRE7PGD12EP2LX6H0/IMG_2878%5B2524%5D.jpg Poetry - SOLO FRUIT Alone in a fruit tree Makes me question my existence After blossoms, all fell but me Flower to fruit in solitude Why am I blessed? Yet no disease, parasites, or mold Tormented me. Why am I protected? Around me leaves are curled and riddled with orange spots. Birds are near, but they choose other foods. Insects neglect me. I ponder providence. I am not worthy. I consider luck. That seems unlikely. I contemplate chance, but do I have a gardener? With inevitable inertia, are changes in direction possible? Even if freewill were an option? I await ripening. Will I remain intact? What is my purpose? Why am I still here, a remnant? Why me? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1613128202162-NPQ9EXHTTQ7IBE3Q0YK6/IMG_3150.jpg Poetry - SORROWFUL PSALM Lord, why? Do you allow innocents to be nailed to a tree? Children are gatekeepers of Your kingdom, but this one is human Like the rest of us. So I propose this Because no greater love have I Than to lay down my life in substitution For your innocent Reaper One in and one out Fair trade Silence. Pause. Time. Patience. Small voice I hear. You don’t work that way. I know. I thought I’d try. Thanks for listening. Even though she struggled As did the dear ones who loved her, Your predictable, passive sovereignty And contradictory love means Paradox. Help me and the lovers cope With the mark of suffering. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/95af3d40-57b2-434a-b809-0f8a59c2f7e7/DSC_0455.jpg Poetry - SHEEP and GOATS Nations of sheep graze without fear Flocking together, sharing pasture The lost found, and the least fed Shepherded in love Rewarded for faithfulness, Placed on the right side. The goats, the greatest of all time, Butt heads for headstrong reasons Selfish, destructive by nature, Guilty for not feeding the poor Judgment says they’re left for Hell-fire barbecue and spicy stew. Some think that’s unkind, unfair. Yet, it’s just, and goats now feed the poor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1614784351864-XPYL0I98G0M02LTA221K/IMG_3506.jpg Poetry Anticipating Spring Waiting for numbing snow to go and time to Melt the ice of four years of winter so it seems Darkness with little light During short days leafless trees have long shadows Coyotes, cougars, and owls prey urgently for food Concealed powers compel human retreat into isolation Yet hope leads to longer days with dreams of green Luscious renewal, a liberation of spirit and purpose Under snow expectant buds, flowers, insects - benign and parasitic Return abundant life to this earth, and the new season Gives warmth, fragrance, balance, and panoramic beauty Spring’s suppressed joy cannot be bound It escapes detention, healing the captives With resurrection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1631907129947-BTIS83F0DX9M6Q0HOTES/IMG_0251.jpeg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/a84ba2e7-7abd-48e2-aa9e-509f243ffaef/IMG_1342.jpg Poetry - TREE VIEW I watch leaves fall from swaying trees, Jostled by breeze, and I consider a Gradual, peaceful decline to death. This Season is short, done by All Saints’ Day. There was a time when we grew, Sheltered with shade, Enriched the Earth, and Gave others vibrancy. However short and temporary This Earthly life may be, Blessings are received and Given in the rich soil of Eternity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413512271802-EK2O48GT66ZAWYXI9N6X/lucky-pounce--connor-stefanison-from-canada-photographed-this-fox-seconds-before-it-was-about-to-pounce-on-a-mouse-in-wyomings-yellowstone-national-park.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out SERMON: WEAPON OF CHOICE Support self-control Because banning guns, knives, machetes, swords, pens, cars, guillotines, bombs, hands, arrows, narcotics, calories, lies, books, troublemakers, weirdos, ideas, sex, and left-handedness Doesn’t solve basic human nature. Instead, love. That comes from the good side of humans, providing the antidote to hate. Overcome evil with good. It’s not easy to love when Damaged, abused, slandered, scapegoated, rumourmongered, persecuted, framed, impoverished, tortured, undervalued, shunned, and labeled. However, with compassion as defense, at worst, personal honour and integrity will stand in solidarity with you. Love can change hearts. And maybe, just hoping, perhaps stretching faith, justice will appear in the midst of this love fest and humans will live in peace. Or not. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/c0638578-3838-4e54-871f-4d1663889d8d/IMG_0478%5B8593%5D.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/ef034fa8-130b-48ac-b814-263fa6e3d3be/hollow+tree.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/b421ca7b-9f20-4f80-b839-18be33160a9b/IMG_1468.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/5277d0bc-0dcf-4b32-8fdf-3667ef88fb8a/IMG_1542.jpg Poetry - HONK I found Jesus on a bumper sticker I pondered how bumper stickers were made And their purpose in this world The owner of the car was used by God I realized But it forced me to consider a deeper message Why would God consider me worthy Of this drive in a traffic jam With almost all humanity on the freeway Why was I chosen at this time And place To encounter the unimaginable? Why not in a never-ending roundabout? I then in prayer realized I was in truth worthy of the way and life This trip was predestined, directed And it began before this car Travelled this road This trip stopped and started me To find an exit ramp And take a route less travelled Where the Creator placed trees And rocks and lakes and trees And rocks and lakes and trees I cried during insight, yet This journey was inexorable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/d4b971e2-4472-4b16-a17f-3da09d20a76d/DSC_0354.JPG Poetry - Make it stand out SKY DAM The sky blocked light, So darkness prevailed. Without prejudice and care Clouds poured water everywhere. Their burden lifted but transferred To those below. Those who could swim Did not drown. Mudslides sideswiped the unsuspecting Yet the fury of Mother Unnatural And all her sewers/sowers of suffering Lessened lives below. The flood of tears not Covered by insurance Makes many prisoners of destruction. Only hope will bring new green Growth, future joy, No more anger, only Prevalence of peace https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/b0150f67-3563-44da-acb3-3bd9a559384b/IMG_1555.jpg Poetry - HUMANITY GAP I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. You don’t know you, and I don’t know me. Is that the way it always will be? Will hate, fear, and doubt calcify cores? How will we now see smell taste hear feel Spirited transformations in us And bathe gladly in the sun of love And escape constraining, looping thoughts, Open and launched to boundless connections In this defined heart soul mind strength time? To taper the chasm between us? Or can mutual terrain be built, An island in the centre, midstream? Human beings can connect by bridge Crossing beck, respecting each other I hope https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/3ed55c6b-74ef-41c6-825d-150e123028e2/Dawn.jpeg Poetry - THE FATE OF HATE Don’t we hate it when people hate It’s much like a swollen prostate Or a rupturing appendix, Perhaps sepsis. That’s hard to fix. But whatever dams our being Seldom spreads beyond self-bleeding. Hate harms the hater and others Friends, family, sisters, brothers. Arrows pierce the archer’s own soul Without love we’ll never be whole Anguish is inevitable But hate is so avoidable Vain vengeance brings its own defeat When mad hate and destruction meet. Yet Wisdom calls; ears don’t hear Eyes cannot see; souls do not fear. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/d3e47386-f15f-41b2-86c0-acad1f88daa6/IMG_0666.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/ac8909e9-bb29-4623-aec0-42bb12237a6b/DSC_0136.JPG Poetry - Make it stand out TOM Oh Tom, what do you see? Less-than-perfect, naked me? Or reflection in glass? A rival you can’t surpass? What curiosities Excite you, if you please? Comforts beyond fancy? Survival less chancy? A love better than Ruth? An endless search for truth? A food source attractive? A passion reactive? If wood and bugs you seek, Peckish pleasures in beak Go home, love and live well, In nature you must dwell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/432e00e7-8b8d-461d-aaa0-7c0026c744de/thumb_DSC_0123_1024.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/e9ded4f8-5aac-4525-a496-2602b3ce4a30/IMG_1367.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/340b78d1-f406-43ea-9a2f-9a291a1de4a0/Unknown.jpeg Poetry - GUARDIANS In summer guardians affect delight They emerge during moist heat and sunlight Protecting all from stinging foes in flight Equipped with skilled wings against looming bite Gentle patrols grace air with dance and might Their colours vary, splendour subject to sight Their appearance gives some startle and fright Their name mythical, noble, plinth of height Fearless, friendly, calm resting on hand right Kind allies in summer’s bloodthirsty fight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/a703d7ce-cb12-4ff8-9287-269be492eff0/IMG_1579+Huron.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/c7807d99-f199-4a56-87f1-c333e26725e1/IMG_1746dressage.jpg Poetry ART IN STABLES No room in an inn, hall, or arena Art hides in stables, competing With trophy horses for space and Attention Even groomed fine art is shabbier than Dressage Midst mud, traffic, food trucks and Dreck Fine art eats crumbs from wealthy Caballeros. Art patrons, drawn to their own tastes With less resources barter, further Devaluing the artist’s work And perhaps also the artist Hung and mounted Seventeen hands prance, dance delicately Around without noting beauty elsewhere https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/10b92055-4552-4068-a487-1fc0f87dae19/IMG_1798.jpg Poetry THE HAWK AND THE MOUSE Beside our house a hawk and mouse Engage in a battle of wits. Beneath partial cover it shrouds Where ravenous hawk hardly fits. Yet with resolve, tenacity Patience and speed it could capture Its nimble prey with no pity, Holding this scared mouse in rapture. That standstill could not last in time. Living compelled the mouse to flee. Wildlife's laws saw this not a crime. Twice it tried to escape with speed To forest cover proximate Where hawk would lose predominance. But spry hawk ran to tighten fate, Seeing stalemate return by dance, With vaster verve cut short its break. Retreat seemed best, respite from risk, But third attempt its final to make Proved fatal, hawk’s talons did whisk, Its agility greater than A scurrying, exposed gnawer. Flight revealed in grasp the mouse wan, In dying proved higher power. Perhaps if patient and quite still The mouse might have survived. Though unlikely – focused to kill Hawk’s eyrie would not be deprived. Inside this window of our house We see nature’s course also ours. Sometimes the hawk, sometimes the mouse, We live and die in precious hours. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/8df996dd-d7a4-4881-a068-398f786ff3fd/IMG_1770Cadillac.jpg Poetry - CADILLAC In post-Covid days, unprecedented decisions to make. Inflation, supply-chain mismanagement, near-empty car lots Factor into strange circumstances. Trading straight across with a suspect, three-year-old pickup Just beyond warranty for a new Cadillac Seems theft. Never desiring a status symbol But the no-choice only car in the showroom That for this. Embarrassment and guilt linger. Possible divine intervention/blessing considered (But NO prosperity gospel$). History foretells with certainty Someday it too will join A Route 66 heavenly Cadillac Ranch, Maybe even that one in Texas, If it’s worthy. Neither electric nor hybrid, But a premium gas guzzler, Dying with humanity, Choking all on that. Let not your heart be troubled. Art created, conveyed, convoyed, carried, Displayed, decayed, recycled. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/dd8fbce4-4550-498f-8c8c-b0eecd93bfa5/IMG_1845plane+clouds.JPG Poetry - CLOUDS Peaceful turbulence Celestial sponges Shaped like ice cream swirls Or pancakes With chinook brush strokes over Eastern slopes of Alberta Rocky Mountains. Cumulonimbus compilation of curse And blessing over parched or wet land Protector or punisher from sun Sustainer of lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans. Angry executioner of stored energy Light glories through their holes and rainbows follow them And in them puppies, cotton candy, Jesus, and heaven appear. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/c2151100-72ae-45d1-881e-4bac31ee8bcb/IMG_1823.jpg Poetry - NAME Lion-like lightning son of Jon (But really Bill) Ruler Welsh princes win in defeat And the title goes English Cymru am byth and all that hip hip Yippee Lyanshall Named after a debt-ridden, never-on-time For success and patents, Great (next generation great great) Uncle never met But with sullied reputation in the family Because Bill, too common with Son of Jon, Crowns Prince Llewellyn with English spelling. And in recent times neighbouring country Flags and fingerprints in airports For having a similar birthdate And name as a dangerous dude. Nexus step to stop the confusion Or in conspiratorial thought Do nothing so authority Has purposeful employment. This unique name is too common. Individuality and identity as concepts Cannot vary from cultural constructs. Now answering to Ishmael or Margaret Atwood or Late For Dinner. What is in a name? Nothing. Llewellyn with four l’s and a female sheep yn it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/f2712d3e-276d-4030-9696-522530325443/IMG_1860BumperSticker.jpg Poetry - MERCY Harmed by lies the Innocent suffer from Their own truth The guilty breathe anger, Oxygen for their lies That harm the innocent. Slurs they tell about others Are truths of their own characters Which they cannot see. The guilty cannot break free From hate because they Do not love (themselves and others). They claim morality, convincing Unthinking sheep of their Righteous cause. They hide in darkness Because their deeds are evil. Light will expose them. Their superiority founded On insecurity is sand Washed away in waves under them. Yet the innocent live And let live the remorseless Who harm them. Humble are they, Overcoming evil with Patience, grace, love And hope Full of mercy, Obtaining mercy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/9ed306d4-deb9-4d6e-bb47-d57ff1c3379a/IMG_1873.jpg Poetry - MYSTERIES Enjoying mysteries not fully resolved Deeper study illuminates but Does not fully reveal Its ending. Truth or God - incomprehensible, Finiteness of a human, Deeper faith and understanding Result yet increasingly They demand action Which intimidates. Inaction brings inescapable reaction Because that’s human. How to bless/love others Such a fearful challenge, A demanding enigma, Imperfect journey to perfection. Death will be the bullseye, Mystery completely known. Let not your heart be troubled. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/08789acb-c887-494f-b02b-c47f5addc150/Freedo.jpg Poetry - LAMENT Love never fails Yet it does A chorus of Howling dogs Imitating wolves, a Sad sound of sorrow A life so young Marred by embedded Flaw, future tumour Radiating hot pain From wounds that Will not be fully understood By anyone Including her Deeper damage potentially halted Healing happenstance Happiness not an object But a process https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/fbf93336-bfc4-4b58-a3b5-b1f9f9a8fb02/IMG_1996.jpg Poetry - HURRICANE Anger builds with centrical force Around a self-centred eye, Fed by heat and bent on a path Of nescient destruction. Hurricane by whatever name Inflicts pain on those in its path, A force of nature not capable Of self-reflection or repentance. Continual in a season of Never-ending fever It starts the same path each time, But also varies in secondary victims, Buckshot in approach, Yet after the storm, peace returns And rebuilding begins. Hurricane cannot win, only damage. The spirit of survival and serenity endure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/c4215510-39b6-46e0-8b13-cdf67c100654/IMG_2265.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out CUDDLES The heat you seek you know I’ve got. Your cold skin shocks the warmer And diminishes radiation At start, but furnace fires cannot Be extinguished, and you gain glow in peace and comfort Reciprocal is the gift, growing into caloric abundance, With warmth for as long as souls and bodies are joined, As short as eternity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/15114772-6928-4c87-99eb-f31cc91acef7/front+yard.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/399d0818-a82a-4ae2-b845-b2900e57710c/IMG_2455.jpg Poetry WHAT IS ART That it can be sold And vary in its appeal, media, And expression A wide spectrum of visions And a broad continuum of tastes That it can be bought And owned Displayed in public or private To captivate or revolt or Ignore From one soul to another A connection felt Sometimes understood If time permits If eyes are truly Windows to the soul To see beyond limits And comprehend the Universal and personal? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/8060adbf-698e-44f1-9110-859a7b62829b/IMG_2452.jpg Poetry - ESCAPE Now is the time to return To a fetal position And hide from evil To not listen or see Then to imagine An alternative Of peace, love, compassion Harmony, tolerance Grace Then perhaps if and when The world Wants attention It must learn the dreams Lived in And desired by many Will coax unfurling Standing, contributing Overcoming Following hope https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/9bc17152-3522-4a88-b353-b8a23da8b7ec/IMG_2547.jpg Poetry - NEW YEAR’S DAY Yesterday’s problems have not gone Away with today’s hopeful dawn Clear skies fade to gloomy, dark clouds, Sunlight’s hopes for peace the sky shrouds Evil does not rest, nor hate too Death, disease, wars – rumours untrue Merchants of suffering sell lies Their clients they use and despise Yet victorious love surmounts Damage done and joy bursts in founts When occasion for buoyant fete Gives moments for folks to forget https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/afc5cd88-e398-45f7-ab4d-9592a28e86b6/IMG_2462.jpg Poetry - LOVE IS Love is a discipline of self That mimics the divine, Approaching perfection, The bond with others Given and received Revealing power and weakness That gives existence meaning, Joy, heartache, and serenity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/34ca515d-cbe5-4b00-9045-9adb3a97992f/Two+trilliums+IMG_2895.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out HEALING Suffering is inevitable and therapy possible If the sick are capable Of desiring it Or first seeing it. “Merely a flesh wound” In a defensive position Weakness exposed but never Acknowledged, never admitted, Never repaired. Scars, the tattoos of time, Are remnants of previous Injuries that point to pride, That without correction Harm others. Yet for those who Touch the garment There is healing, Daily seeking to live fully while preparing to die, Waiting for ultimate, Eternal restoration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/a932a0ca-8549-4010-a818-8ab70e2c8469/IMG_2973.JPG Poetry - BRAIN DAMAGE Not alcohol Not marijuana Not an auto accident Not a fall Not drugs Not Alzheimer’s or dementia Not an aneurysm Not boxing, football, hockey, or soccer Not lightning Not a birth defect Not war Not asphyxiation Not stroke Not encephalitis Not calcification Not tumour Not surgery Not MS or cerebral palsy Not a contusion Not carbon monoxide poisoning Not blunt force It’s abuse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/b41fae0f-0504-4795-bff3-bd93b609907f/IMG_3086tree.jpg Poetry - ADVICE FROM A TREE I look to the top of this very tall tree And ask if I will be as tall as can be. What does the future know about future me? Will it or can it tell me what time will see? “Surprise!” The tree replies, opening my eyes And ears to what will be my own lows and highs “You won’t grow as tall as a tree, not this size But if you read, listen, and share you’ll be wise.” “Stay still, be content, let life give what you need. Be kind, endure hurt, love deeply, spread shade, seed. Be firm, flexible, patient, and with good deeds lead Others to live in sunshine; make it your creed.” “You’re in a forest of trees; support each other. Give rest to nature, shelter all from weather; Secure the ground near you, firm for another. Bend but don’t break; stand tall, courage to gather.” “Look up, aim for the heavens, seek challenges. Growth will come; it’s certain, with some bandages.” Blessed by this tree’s counsel on life’s passages, I shall live with faith, hope, love as messages. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/340c1d4e-3b2a-42c3-8f55-e1be6b9fb04e/IMG_3254LET%27STALK.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/b2fb07e2-ee92-499b-b9d5-30f1b1d2e423/IMG_0889.jpg Poetry - CIRCUS The barker leads us to a house of horrors And snake oil salesmen sell nightmares to those who relish being frightened. Clowns’ comedy scares some Who have empathy. Their smiles horrify. The bearded lady hides behind her facial hair in a cage to prevent human touch, And the sword swallower sharpens his illusion and breathes fire Like a dragon. Flying monkeys ride donkeys and elephants The Strong Man cries for mommy, And especially Daddy. Oh, to be loved. Magician’s fingers distract the audience from what’s up sleeves. Kewpie dolls smile as prizes at a shooting gallery. Candy floss and candy apples fill us. Under the tent the distracted MC scratches his ear to shoo a fly Trainers hug bears and tigers But claws shred clothes on their backs Please fool us again Entertain us Help us escape reality There’s something for everyone Pardon us And don’t let us consider They’re just like us. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/fca98c46-d39f-416a-86ef-df6ae992e96c/IMG_3393+metamorphosis.jpg Poetry - METAMORPHOSIS Can you be nice Just once or twice Thrice for the spice Four would suffice Five would be good Six if you could Seven you should Eight if you would Nine for others Ten for brothers Twelve for fathers Fifteen mothers Twenty for when Love rules again With joy, no pain Maybe by then Nice will be norm A habit to form Rather than storm Kindness perform https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/84520f3f-d711-47bc-8ab6-17cca7f4c59b/Unknown.jpeg Poetry - BEING A TREE IN THIS FOREST Today I ponder W.O. Mitchell And Jesus. On some days a breeze leads Tall trees into gentle, slow dance, A ballet of small sway In a lovely, graceful, exquisite Embrace with all nature Before tender music ends. On other days stillness prevails, and There’s no dancing below high skies Full, quiet peace for a time. Today, wind plays rock and roll, Loud, gusty, high-tempo music On this part of Earth’s Arboreous surface, so Gyrations are forceful, dangerous, And pruning. Who has seen the wind? No one. We see what it does. We cannot tell where it comes from, Or where it goes. So is everyone born of the Spirit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/96309fd4-cdab-4190-b546-916c185216af/Toronto+sunrise+IMG_2663.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out LORD OF THE LIES The host with the most boast, A superlative liar, the best of the least, Fully a bully, a barker, a con, Despiser of quality, having wealth But no class, friend to enemies and Enemy to friends in this topsy turvy world, A polluter of hearts and minds Who dominates with deafening cacophony, Needing prayer from others, but never knowing truth, Not ever wrong, so no apologies, no remorse. Few heroes to challenge this tyrant; Fear overwhelms courage. A destroyer of decency, custom, light. Creator of chaos, suffering, An all-encompassing black hole That conceals insecurities. Base instinct over intelligence, Incapable of empathy Destroyer, obfuscator, beast. Yet the future of children is secure; Rescue rises like the omnipotent sun. Those cruel people will dine on Their own flesh and get drunk from Drinking their own blood, then Salvation and victory will be celebrated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/4bcf0c0d-4f85-466b-b580-b07f445fa1f4/IMG_3039.jpg Poetry - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/cad98c22-aca8-4e36-9310-43a3b4642d8c/IMG_3522.jpg Poetry - I WONDER I wonder why We have to cry I try to not Tear up a lot Maybe it’s good Letting go should Free inside hurt With sobs that blurt And let grief leak Over my cheek I wonder why We have to sigh A breath let out Is a quiet shout A calm belief A stress relief A letting go Of things below The surface seen No more to glean I wonder why A laugh we try It squeezes out Without much doubt Erupts with boom That shakes the room My insides shake And sometimes ache But I feel fine A healthy sign I wonder why Anger comes by Beyond just stares Sometimes it scares We have it or It has us more We want to know What sparks it so To have control Should be our goal I wonder why We feel alive With happiness And our success We like to love And to be loved There’s sadness too Much work to do Joy in living Peace we’re giving. That’s in my brain Today again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/68049691-d0c3-430a-a2d4-75d8734cd0e0/_DSC0207.JPG Poetry - MISTY MORNING Unlike creative weaving Of certainty with fiction The line between truth and lie Is narrow and also wide Shading obscures that border But with time light declares truth And darkness absorbs deceit As margins boost distinctions A strong slash marks the clear choice As light overwhelms darkness With verity enduring https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/76a591e1-152e-49ea-b6cb-b78b490031cd/IMG_3608.jpg Poetry - LONELY FLOWER I am unique I stand out in the crowd I grow where I’m planted But was it planned or An accident An advance A deviation A joke? Yet I am lovely Like those around me And with light I too radiate colour And attract pollinators. In capricious creation I seem out of place In a planned garden, but What we all have in common Is a brief moment of beauty That gives living Joy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/d6b79e85-02b4-4bdc-92fd-dc2ac1eb5f03/IMG_3653.jpg Poetry - I SEE YOUR SUFFERING I see your suffering Before you die. Comfort comes in visits from angels Horror hails from hallucinations Cancer conquers defences And enduring pain is A keepsake of its intrusion Flesh, a victim of corruption Separates your spirit From your corpse To free it from mortality And into eternity. This you know, so Let this rotten ending go There’s no need for Medals of earthly bravery Your everlasting crown nears. Go to your reward, A mansion awaits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/7a23ee4f-00ff-4d00-a79c-0e7cc127e8d3/IMG_3669.jpg Poetry - UNHEALING Wounds grow when left to rot Untouched since time forgot The smell is horrific And damage specific Those around suffer too Making others hurt blue Default actions evil Cannot switch its devil Charm fades with endless rage The wrong choice, not to heal The cost of curse all feel The ill one needing care Snubs bandages to wear Maggots clean dead tissue With each tort to issue Aging is unkind to Those with dark blindness who Can’t see the illness in One’s own heart, soul, strength, mind So, to others unkind With truth never to find Remains in angry mire, Quicksand of lies and fire. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/a026aac5-a6e0-40a1-ae54-6187dedf9fa1/IMG_3787.jpg Poetry - PASSAGE Thanksgiving Leaves fall in a spinning spiral A drone memorializes today’s beauty A passing grade of graduation The shell of summer remains But its spirit is gone From this world to the next A fall from bed to the dead So quickly that a short spiritual struggle Sent doctor doctor to reward To judgement to grace to peak Let not the heart be troubled During a fall sunset The sun sets but returns Tomorrow Wind ruffles water’s surface The forest floor’s coloured Leafy blanket warms the Earth Red maple leaves announce Their death and beauty A dry summer lowers lake levels But nature adjusts and soon Newborn life fulfills creation’s Ongoing ascent to glory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/ac80da1b-51c8-4087-8c05-11f800013ae5/IMG_3950.jpeg Poetry - WHERE? The truth is The truth is… … the truth is The … truth is The truth… is The truth Is The Truth Is … https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/df33d8e6-3dac-47ba-834b-48b5e191d478/Church+of+the+Good+Thief.jpeg Poetry - TREASURY So sad for trust betrayed and bent Because we’re not omniscient A holy blindness, I couldn’t see Smiling Judas was fleecing me. That false beam with saintly words conned Some kind friends who for him were fond, Bestowed from his pledge to repay, Tied to one future, given day. Yet his ’yes’ was not ‘yes’ So that lie made more mess Of tight funds, adding stress, For payment we did press. The shame of being duped With all income he scooped. Saint Dismas penance done By students of the Son And lovers of creatures, Satan laughed from bleachers. On to his next town to Do it o'er to groups new Set recurred, lessons learned For good folks their means earned. Giving replaced lending With no return pending And where the treasure is The heart is also his. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/45fd4248-4f2e-44d3-9df7-d9ed3bfee83b/IMG_4035snowshadows.jpeg Poetry - SNOW SHADOWS The roving sun creates a flow Of snow shadows as it shall go Slight darkness pours into shallow Valleys from uneven heights of snow Giving mystery to subtle Contrasts that give light to little Insight that fades in peace ending With sunset’s steady darkening Juxtaposition so narrow With dusk’s advance so to harrow Shadow’s existence into white Darkness its plight buried in night Until resurrection by moon Full in flight shall delight yet soon A dawn that repeats snow spirits And ends when light no more visits https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/0c539fe7-6d1f-4364-a854-ca13c26d0448/IMG_1580+gravesite.jpeg Poetry - TRUTH HURTS Stating disappointment As gentle and beneficial As that may be Can be inferred As hurtful, menacing, To those uncomfortable with criticism. But calm candour never anticipates that, Even with good meaning. Yet broken promises defended By cavalier response Without empathy In a place that claims Permanent peace Seems contradictory. So stated intimidation Is really conviction That causes anger, sleeplessness, And pondered resignation To throw that back to the truth giver With gaslighting A calcifying heart becomes a tombstone, An unresolved conflict Marking a gravesite. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/0990bab1-2b85-4bee-94bf-9a635ffd3806/IMG_3979Northern+Lights.jpeg Poetry - SOFT GREY MATTER I see things that My mind knows Cannot be true And so, I look again A review, those Deceitful floaters My mind is right The fault was my Perception, and it was Momentarily pretending to Be truth, an amusing Diversion an Illusion of possibility. With time eyes fail, But even my mind has to Change its pathways, To reroute from established Understanding, ways of Thinking to see more broadly To aim for omniscience, A soulful search for Peaceful puzzle making For assembly later But there are always Pieces missing in amorphous Reformation http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/books daily 0.75 2014-09-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390928870858-4D9B6T9WGP8017NSS9W3/topography.jpg Books http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/home daily 1.0 2026-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413516144454-T9D25NDFQQ73BZ66JBNG/Banner+2.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547398977773-79AY62S4HB3D1DQB7R4F/IMG_3048.JPG Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547398963875-O57NLT6Q66PJO3V4L7GJ/IMG_0193+%282%29.JPG Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547399007974-AZOLLVO7GS19D9CS0ESI/DSC_4572.jpg Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547399412502-N9D88HUQX8P9Z5TRJEKV/DSC_2360.jpg Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547399416678-7Q5NFK6ED13I5OELOCWD/20170318_151437.jpg Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1547399449640-0ZC6HO8JBR0BZ5HPTCWM/IMG_3091.JPG Home Author Llewellyn Mark Jones Learn More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413491555625-79HP6ITU6OJQN65W78RW/image-asset.jpeg Home http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/new-page-1 daily 0.75 2018-10-05 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/company-of-nations daily 0.75 2018-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413563827777-OEUIAZEDGK808GXFSQ6J/image-asset.jpeg Company of Nations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1413564795976-7W9AK7M385B1DE8476CG/image-asset.jpeg Company of Nations http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/streetlights daily 0.75 2018-10-18 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/morepoetry daily 0.75 2023-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1679760188557-9NWL6LMRR44HAD3C0IUV/Dawn.jpeg More Poetry http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/company-of-nations-1 daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/1542834691140-65H9S3Q5Z5N7902NOUUI/Screen+Shot+2018-11-06+at+4.27.37+PM.png Company of Nations https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/f89e9404-546b-490f-b6ea-eb997566ecae/Company-Of-Nations-MC-636770913636800559.jpg Company of Nations - COMPANY OF NATIONS BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS THEMES Freedom, power, refugees, race, family dynamics, redemption, infidelity, responsibility, world order, war, peace, Study Questions In our personal derailments and hostage situations, how do we respond as individuals? Are there secrets that can be kept and should be kept? What damage or protection happens in secrets we keep? How can distant disasters, politics, wars, disease, and other external events affect us personally? How can we grow in dysfunctional environments and not repeat mistakes from history and patterned behaviour? Do you have a Yao in your life? Is there a character with whom you identify most? http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/company-of-nations-2 daily 0.75 2018-10-24 http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/short-stories daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/e1802873-03d1-45ed-b0a7-fd75f25cd26b/814680HiRes%5B5956%5DTales+from+Eutopia.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - TALES FROM EUTOPIA BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS Staring Truth Comparing this story to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, does Herbert’s integrity differ from the fable? Are there events that usually have conspiracy theories attached, that could have been prevented like the premise of this story? Have you felt compelled to mentally prevented them, to go against destiny? Is there a hero/heroine in this story? The Deacon The Deacon and the storyteller both state that they do not understand evil. From this story, what evils do you see, and what evils and good do you see in your life? What prevents us from remaining in touch with old friends? Gifted Fortune knows how to bless and curse the people around her. Do you know individuals who have disabilities who also have this capability? How are the disabled the prophets of the future? Inclusion What’s your understanding of Judy Carriott’s ethos? Who has been included and excluded in this story? The Lonely Beat on Simcoe Street Other than him generically being called “Buddy,” why is the main character’s name not mentioned? What do you imagine the disconnection between him and his family might be? Is he heroic? Dramatic Irony Rocky and Marcia have an odd friendship. What might they appreciate about each other? Have you ever had something happen to you where you did not know what was going on and what the motives of others in the situation with you were not what they appeared? What’s dramatic irony and how is it true to this story? Kingdoms Is competence threatening? Is the concept of reaping what is sown/karma real? Malcolm and Lewis appear in other stories. What seems to be the basis of their friendship? Is Malcolm jaded or realistic? What’s a Foot? If you were Sparrow, how might the range of emotions be as you tell this story to others? Joe is inspirational to Sparrow. Does he have superhuman qualities? What contributed to his victories? Breaking Bull Brown What breaks Bull Brown? How does idealism interact with reality? Do Bull, Christine, Janine, and Ryan have an unusual friendship? Why or why not? Indulgence There are at least two indulgences in this story. What are they and what significance do they have? How does the setting at the beginning parallel Carla’s status in the coffee shop? How would you parent differently from Gilda? Reunion How is this tale romantic or unromantic? How has high school experiences affected your lives? Are reunions meaningful? The New Girl Why doesn’t New Girl have a name? The teacher, Patel Mehra, in part identifies with the New Girl. Why? In telling the story to his girlfriend, Nira, does she fully understand what has happened? Can all children be taught? Group Work Do you believe that these people have truly become friends? Compare what each character reveals about themselves. Who is most open, and who is most closed? How is this tale a metaphor for our societal interactions? Overall Questions What is Eutopia? Where is it? How close is it to us? All the stories touch on education. What importance has learning had on your lives? When does learning stop? A number of characters appear in several stories (Marcia Johnson, Malcolm Reid, Lewis Featherstone). What does each tale reveal about them? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/ac23cd79-1ddd-4cc9-936a-c5b329dd7e93/tempImageLh1Dgw.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/20f249f7-439a-484c-85bd-6241358f2ada/tempImage1gC8Sn.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/3cc940f2-88d6-4390-a48d-4e3c5df97610/IMG_2631.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/bdfe1696-0cb9-483f-afc4-c82786d6e510/IMG_1523.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - Make it stand out Poem by Jon Jonsson DULL Committed as a sharp blade ultimately Destined to pierce flesh Will. Inevitable. Dullness sharpens its sting. Perfectioned like a dog to its Master Will mire with a twisted glass’ reflection Cracked, but reflective. Sharp and jaded Where is He? Scrambling among the bloody mess Mismatched pieces on the floor Make new mosaic and reflection Start to finish or Finish to start again Committed I stand now From start to finish https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/74b1e006-66b5-476a-8f7b-1313f2da28fd/MAP+IMG_2759.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries Two young tourists from Mexico are placing pins on their hometown to indicate from where in the world they are coming to Wheelers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/e1e5658f-6312-491b-8654-8f3c72464eda/Picture1.png Short Stories and Commentaries - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/9e213c1b-757e-491f-a8eb-c8316066575b/IMG_3706.jpg Short Stories and Commentaries - MESSAGE FROM FRIENDS OF LANARK HIGHLANDS The time when the case against licensing the proposed Highland Line Pit will be heard at an Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) is likely less than 2 years away. Although we are not yet guaranteed the right to be participants at the Tribunal it seems quite probable, and we have taken two important steps to ensure that our opposition will be heard. First, we have become clients of Donnelly Law. We retained this firm after learning that those who appear at these hearings without a lawyer always "get slaughtered". David Donnelly is the most experienced environmental lawyer in Ontario. He has appeared before the OLT many times, winning some very important cases for citizens groups like ours. He also has contacts with planners, ecologists, hydrogeologists and other experts who can help us by critically assessing the studies supporting Cavanagh's proposal. We feel that having Donnelly Law on our side is a crucial step in being heard when the OLT schedules our case. Secondly, we are excited to announce our new partnership with the Small Change Fund (SCF) as part of our joint effort to protect Lanark Highlands from irresponsible aggregate development. Thanks to this collaboration, donors who contribute to our efforts and would like a tax receipt will now be able to receive one from SCF. This collaboration offers more than just financial benefits; SCF supports many grassroots groups like ours. They work together to improve the environment, reduce poverty and promote reconciliation efforts across Canada. SCF has already proven to be a valuable ally in our work. They've provided support on topics such as fundraising strategies, media relations and publicity, and have paired us with their expert volunteer advisers to help improve our strategies going forward. There is more to come - both for us and you, so stay tuned for more updates! AS WELL … HIGHLAND LINE PIT PUBLIC MEETING Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. McDonalds Corners AG Hall http://www.llewellynmarkjones.com/the-balm daily 0.75 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/540e4a7be4b0daae9995166b/2e4e01c7-8634-4e73-b369-dd8b1651c2d7/IMG_9924.jpeg The Balm - THE BALM by LLEWELLYN MARK JONES