To the Feet of Jesus

Jeffrey Baldwin 1997-2002

Friends, you’ve got many, they’ve got your back now.

Unimaginable support friend, your

Cause, a just eruption of memory.

Karma. Rather, God-making-good, your life

One like no other. God let there be no other.

Freed finally from the bonds of abject cruelty;

Flying high now, within the Bliss of the Eternal.

Superman, a bronze statue in your honor.

Abusers, yours are locked away, forgotten.

The conscience begs to save its soul,

Annihilation is not an option. For 

Neither neglector nor unrepentant sinner escapes the burning fires of hell.

Gary Edward Geraci

The Perfect Pen

the guys in my regular 

Catholic men’s group 

agree that its OK 

to have nice things,

things of high quality, 

things that last. it’s true, you 

don’t need dozens of the 

same thing: a good writing 

pen for instance, I have 

just one, and I’ve had it 

for years; a costly pen,

a pen that was given to me

by a woman who took

off her clothes for a living.

I tried to make that last

but only the pen survived.

Gary Edward Geraci

“Who is the man who will reflect on his weakness, and yet dare to credit his chastity and innocence to his own powers, so that he loves Thee the less, as if he had little need for that mercy by which Thou forgivest sins to those who turn to Thee.” St. Augustine, Confessions, 2, 7

Beyond the End Bell

Strange that the refrigerator doors would be padlocked.

Mother’s paranoia worsening, dementia’s grabbing grip, 

Dad’s palsy clearly confining, curtailing a kind, quality of life.

Tried, married an entire life; this the crush of age and circumstance,

Now resolved to keep them from taking him away.

Determined, downright determined to save him from this, his sentence,

A new two man lift, ordered online, one frail and aged woman to use.

Tired - a barrage of cackling criticizers; problem solvers in their own estimation,

Gruiform sentinels guarding, waiting for a fish, a flash of misstep.

You think they’d really fly in and take him away?

Resolved to serve him in her own way - just let her be.

Below this dull reality that no longer tantalizes,

Under this bleary bondage, beauty is buried.

You’d fight the same way for yours; yes, way beyond the end bell too.

Gary Edward Geraci

Chalk Ridge Falls Park

Disdain for this, a place in shambles, strewn

With litter: colored papers, cans, and glass.

The rustic, wooden, two-beam fences hewn

From wood not treated: toppled, nails harass.

A lane of bulldozed trees, debris; morass

Of rogue, rough pathways, roughshod over rouge

Crushed cedar, split with stringy fibers; crass

And cluttered carnage. changing times will gauge

This deluge: drunken freewill license; sinful gouge.

Gary Edward Geraci

goodly Godly Gifts

Kept from keeping passion,

Untied by tried and true

Ways to truth, not fashion;

Clear sighted: Lady in blue.

Press through vines and vice action,

Free at last for compassion,

Fed on Food fit to feed creation.

Gary Edward Geraci

“science can’t answer certain questions concerning the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of it”

i don’t blame science.

but the questions need answers.

WHOM shall i turn to?

Gary Edward Geraci