Category: American Affairs

ONE COUNTER GIRL TO THE OTHER

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

“here’s the guy
you called a moron
the other day”

“that’s Mormon,
not moron!”

vital differences
in the distinctives
add up, I trust

~*~

came home the other day and found
my apartment door unlocked, apparently from when
the maintenance crew came in to leave a form saying
my rent’s going up next month

so much for living an hour from Boston

at least nobody tried the door in the meantime

~*~

in the circling, a return, or maybe
everybody’s coming down with colds or the flu

a repressed desire for children
driving from one town to another

interrupted by an “emergency” message from the operator
even when it wasn’t an emergency

(just informed I have
with two “personal days” that must be taken before
the year ends)
my bank balance says otherwise

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Copyright 2015

KARMA LAW OFFICE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

she was pregnant
but which of the three
brothers was the father

she was all heartbreak
and sorrow

~*~

an acid-tripping Lutheran seminarian
argued “religion is for today”
as he walked in on his roommate
still atop Pia

~*~

the long-haired blonde with the deep voice
had already been had twice

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Copyright 2015

SINGLE ENCOUNTERS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

I picked up the receiver

“is your wife around?” pause

“what number did you want”
pause

“I’m sorry . I must have the wrong number”

she sounded so married
I wished there was a wife to answer

~*~

“God-damn idiots, afraid to dirty their hands”
the old woman reiterated
“real work would kill ’em”

~*~

“I want to stop smoking
but I’m a very negative person”

so just recast the proposition
if you really want to stop puffing

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Copyright 2015

OH, BOY, WHAT A MESS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

from the heart of the building in the night

“I hate your ass!”
countered by
“do I look like somebody who’d put you away”

and then she just screamed

~*~

behind the scenes at the fancy restaurant

a cook got shot
the maitre d’ was in the hospital with food poisoning
and the chief dishwasher overdosed on something

how many knives went missing

~*~

with all the Freudian potential

“Daddy, I LOVE you!”
drawing the twisted
“I want you out of here”

oh, boy, what a mess

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Copyright 2015

WITH PRAYERS TO OUR LADY OF THE ASPHALT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In the congregation of pleasure:

Some are fat; some, skinny.
Some cute; a few, beautiful.
They smile, frown, dimple, blink.
Hair short, curled, long and free.
They come from anywhere.

~*~

“Roger was in my room again till five
telling me he didn’t want to sleep alone again,”
she said, glancing at her lover

while he simply smiled, facing away.

~*~

One votive burns
twice as fast
as the other.

Both, invoking
departed honeybees.

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Copyright 2015

FARM GIRLS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

“Those aren’t bulls, they’re steers”
she corrected from the passenger seat.

Now a waitress at the country club.
“I bet you get some pretty far-out passes.”

“More than that!” She giggled.

Here she was living with a man
in a hotel in town. He was a Mohawk

who raised horses and died
two days after landing a paying job.

“I guess I’ll never go back”
– to the farm, to the city –
it didn’t matter.

~*~

Sometimes it’s the Baptist upbringing.

~*~

She couldn’t understand why her parents
were still together. Thought her mother

once had a lover. She’d hear kissing
after being sent to bed, after her father’s

best friend had come over. Now
he couldn’t stand him.

There was a big waterfall on their farm
which they had to sell.

And she told me
she had laryngitis the previous week,

making me wonder
if I should have kissed her good-night

so much.

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Copyright 2015

ECHOES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

“Jim’s one of our young flashes,”
a production chief told his wife
when all three paths crossed in the grocery.

To which, you might add, “in the pan.”

~*~

“I wish I could have gone to college.
I wanted to be an engineer.”
said the unshaved man in a Salvation Army pullover.

There are a lot of older people in college classes,
his nephew tried coaxing.

“I have no money,” came closing in like a curtain.

~*~

An elderly mother and middle-aged daughter
argument escalated in the sedan
in the doughnut shop parking lot.

They’d no doubt discussed this before.
At last, opening her door, the daughter repeated:
“Let’s go in and drop the subject.”

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Copyright 2015

WHAT’S GOING ON THESE DAYS IN PREPARING FOR WAR?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Reflecting on the set of queries read to our Quaker Meeting during worship one Sunday morning, I was struck by a fresh interpretation. That set opens

“Do you ‘live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion for all wars’? Do you faithfully maintain Friends’ testimony against military preparations and all participation in war, as inconsistent with the teaching and spirit of Christ?”

Initially, my mind considered ongoing conflicts around the world and the underlying conditions that fuel them. But to my surprise, as my thoughts turned to home, it was not the Pentagon that held my attention but the rising sales of guns sold for no other purpose but to maim or kill people – something quite different than hunting wildlife. Is this not “military preparations” of a more stealthy sort than we’d observe in the political arena? And what are the underlying conditions here? Hatred and racism, for sure, along with greed, lust, untruth, injustice, ignorance, fear, and much more, for certain. Turning these requires repentance, compassion, forgiveness, mutual respect, equality. Guns have no place in this equation.

New England Yearly Meeting’s queries on peace and reconciliation continue by urging an alternative action:

“Do you strive to increase understanding and use of nonviolent methods of resolving conflicts? Do you take your part in the ministry of reconciliation between individuals, groups, and nations? When discouraged, do you remember what Jesus said, ‘Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the world cannot give. Set your troubled hearts at rest, and banish your fears.’ John 14:27 NEB”