love is a place
by e e cummings
love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds
Child and Hawk Dream by Judy Tart
Please read my post on Love of Place: “Land Blesses and Embraces Sisters Ashes” by clicking here.
A foot of snow atop our bluff: Evergreen Heights, Jersey Township, SW Illinois.
Mother, that which you filled and then emptied,
we fill again as best we can.
Your chair hold us at the wheelhouse hub,
yet a glance windowward unfolds and holds worlds beyond.
This morning’s world insulated in a snowy rug.
Cardinal families flit-flash at the new-fangled feeders
Daddy fills […]
“Going the second mile” was a catch-phrase in our family, and comes from the Bible, Matthew 5:4 41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” [A Roman official could require any subject of the Roman empire to bear a burden, or carry a load for one mile.] “Going the second mile” […]
Janet Grace Riehl and Erwin A. Thompson, father-daughter writing team
TREASURE CHEST
by Janet Grace Riehl
from “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary”
He labors in the grove of service.
Remembers flat tires, repaired.
Loans proffered for crises.
Then his somber face glows
with the light of a thousand-watt angel.
Memories of good turns returned
is a treasure he counts with care.
His treasure chest
of good deed […]
To read my father’s poem “Night Patrol” click here to access the Riehlife March 18th 2007 entry.
To see Erwin A. Thompson tellling this story of bravery in action…matter of factly and with gentle humor…go to www.thetelegraph.com. Tip: To avoid problems in streaming this video, you may wish to press the pause button on the screen […]
“Even with his body ravaged by shrapnel, Erwin Thompson managed to drag one of his men back to safety. He didn’t know it, but th man was about to return the favor.
“Thompson, now 92 and living in Jersey County, remembers a time during World War II when he was put in charge of a night […]
My father loves womankind, and he is kindness itself to women. At 92 his current hobby is shepherding a family of adopted daughters through their tearful life moments…in extremely practical and tangible ways at times…in poetic ways at other times as in the poem we share with you today. This adopted daughter is my father’s […]
In 1936, when my father was 21, he wrote a song for Sherman Bowen’s younger sister, Lucille, that came to be titled “The Girl in the Little Blue Hat.” Lucille was sixteen when he composed the song, but had been perhaps eight-years-old when my father started dancing square dances with her at Ben Hill’s dances […]
If you like blog carnivals, you’ll love visiting Isabella Mori’s “Change Therapy” site where she’s serving the appetizers for a progressive dinnerparty-style Soup to Nuts blog carnival.
One of my blog postings on my father’s longevity and youthful outlook secrets is one of the appetizer dishes she is serving up. I think you’ll find this […]
My father Erwin A. Thompson, grandson of E. A. Riehl, writes fondly of Lee Maupin, his boyhood neighbor…and how Pop changed the course of Lee’s life…with a big boost from my Great Aunt Mim (Amelia Riehl). Lee is gone now. And the farm is completely changed. Pop and I still visit Kay Maupin up in […]
