So Be It Thanksgiving

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gary Snyder wrote the poem So Be It with help from an old Native American (Mohawk) prayer. The poem’s message keeps walking through my mind like an unleased dog looking for the right tree.

The words in the poem fill me with a unique awareness. And a connection to another aspect of my physical and non-physical presence.

So Be It opens a door to a new reality, and I feel that reality surround me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day-

And to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet.

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf

And fine root hairs, standing still through wind

And rain, their dance is in the flowing spiral grain

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent

Owl at dawn.

Breathe our song

Clear spirit breeze

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,

Freedoms and ways; who share with us their milk;

Self-complete, brave and aware

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;

Holding or releasing; streaming through all

Our bodies salty seas.

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through

Trunks of trees,

through mists, warming caves where

Bears and snakes sleep- he who wakes us-

In our minds so be it!

Gratitude to the Great Sky

Who holds billions of stars- and goes yet and beyond that-

Beyond all powers, and thoughts

And yet it is within us-

Grandfather Space

The Mind is his Wife.

So be it

Thanksgiving

H.T. Manogue

www.shortsleves.net

Ageless Drug

Wash And Wear

Forget Them Cares.

Trust─ Not Fuss─

Swallows Foggy Air

With Smiling Stares.

Yeah,

All Is Good

Under That

Inner Hood.

Drop The Fears.

And Lonely Years.

Cause Life Is Born

In Cellular Form.

Grease

Your Inner Wheel

It’s Time To Peel

That Camo Rug

From That

Painful Mug.

Sit In Love.

And Be Your

Ageless Drug.

Wrecking Ball Ride

Write All Over The Sky.

Jerk-Off And Fly.

Like An Vulture

On His Way

To A Fish Fry.

Room To Cheat.

Laws Have Cold Feet.

Is That? ─

Having A Blast? Or Just Gas?

Cause It’s

Plenty Of Range

To Act Insane.

Hit A Note.

Fix A Vote

While The World Drifts By

On A Wrecking Ball Ride.

H.T. Manogue

shortsleeves.net

Crooked Signs

Toss It Out Sour Mouth. Spit It Up.

Take A Gulp.

You Can’t Choke On Diet Coke

In A Fit Of Fear

Surrounded By Hat-Wearing Peers.

Suggestive Crowds Act Really Weird

In A Casket Filled With Lawless Cheers.

Anger Talks Loud And Dresses Dirt Proud

In The Middle Of Democracy’s Shutdown.

What’s Hell And Counts In Time?

A Hate-Filled Suggestion Plane

Fit To Fly

Thanks To Our Ignorant Eyes ─

Yeah,

The Holy Scriptures Have Some Twisted Sisters.

They Trap Minds In A Cult-Like Bind

That Squeezes Thoughts

Into A Psyche Line

That Bends The Sublime

With Crooked Signs.

H.T. Manogue

www.shortsleeves.net

Takes to Bed

Eagle's In A Knot

Right Wing’s Caught

In A Class-Less Pot.

Hey—It’s Like ─

Spiders’ Instant Art.

Home’s A Silky Fart

From The Inside

Where It Begins.

Mixing Finesse

With Gracious Sin.

Cause

Colored Bugs

Have Their Own Kind

Of Mental Tugs

They Fly─

But Not Too High

Like─

Red Ants On The Hill

Swimming In A Tariff Spill.

They Cough Their Way Through

Using A Confusion Pill

To Push The Spread

That Makes The Dread

Anxious Freedom

Takes To Bed.

H.T. Manogue

Crustaceans’ Life

It’s A Crab Crawl History Ball.

Pincher’s Out. Belly’s Stout

From The Worms That Yearn

For A Seat In The Grand Repeat.

Nothing’s Unsaid, So Pass The Bread.

Crumbs Of Life Filled With Spice

Make Crustaceans’ Life Pretty Nice.

H.T. Manogue

www.shortsleeves.net

Dog Shag Race

Red White And Blue

Lives in A Cloudy-Ass Shoe

Socks Filled With Plenty.

Spiritual Hands Rather Empty.

Guilty Thoughts

Act Like Sores On Religion’s

Confessional Door.

One Choice Forward

Two Leaps Back

Sin Likes To Brew

When Lies Screw

A Time Or Two.

Flag’s Dispose. Hearts Decompose

When Minds Look For A Throne.

With A Shiny Sword

In The Name Of The Lord.

So Break A Little Bread

Say Something Not Said.

Words Like To Wed.

Like Pounding Paws

And Drooling Claws

In A Dog Shag Race.

“Dog Shag Race”

H.T. Manogue www.shortsleeves.net