PRPG Ellis Island

Priorities

I don’t remember much about Ellis Island

or even the Statue of Liberty.

I remember being on the ferry

and my little niece looking into the bay

saying, “Goodbye, water,

we have to pick up Lori Peters at the airport.”

My thirteen-year-old daughter

had been in Jordan all summer

and I wasn’t thinking much about history,

just the immediate future

when I’d see her get off that plane

with a duffle bag

about as big as she was. 

PRPG Las Vegas

Many places await

On my bucket list

Las Vegas isn’t one

7 27 15 PRPG Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Way up high you can see Paris

All white

Like dead man’s bones

PRPG Hall of Fame

Cowboy Hall of Fame

Medora, North Dakota

Faces chiseled by age and sun

Gift shop

Painting of cowboys on the prairie

with Native American ghosts on horses

galloping across the bluffs.

Though it was expensive,

I regret not buying it. 

PRPG Disney World

Epcot Center at Christmas

The giant golf ball

Gathering of around-the-world buildings

Sculpted Disney Character hedges

A tall scantily decorated Christmas tree

Nineteenth century Christmas carolers

A thin Father Christmas

dressed in red velvet with white fur trim

saying a bunch of forgettable words.

PRPG Notre Dame Cathedral

What If?

I’ve been alone

in large church buildings

at night

and I know

how creepy it can be.

What would it be like

to be locked up

in Notre Dame Cathedral

on a quiet

moonlit night?

The creaks, the statues,

the stained-glass shadows.

Would one

start believing

in ghosts? 

PRPG Auschwitz

Auschwitz

A ll my heart can do is grieve when I think of Auschwitz. It’s hard to

U nderstand how people can do such horrible things to other people.

S ometimes, I wonder about the things that are going on today.

C hildren beheaded, bodies torn in two between vehicles, mass shootings.

H eaven help us humans become more humane and stand against the horror.

W hen we have a chance to do anything to make things better, urge us on.

I ntervene, Lord. Rise up against the evil that’s taking place in this world.

T urn this around, Lord, and let Your name be glorified. Give us

Z eal for loving You and loving others. Even so, come Lord Jesus, come.

PRPG San Francisco

Rice-A-Roni

The sixties Rice-A-Roni commercial

Emblazoned on my mind

The hills

The bell

The cable car

The cheery jingle

Rice-A-Roni a San Francisco Treat!

Better than potatoes!

I’ve never been to San Francisco.

I’ve never tasted Rice-A-Roni.

How did such a memorable commercial

not entice me to buy Rice-A-Roni?

PRPG Greece

Aristophanes the original Don Rickles

A poet proving insult tickles

His poems and plays he did pander

Loved and hated for slander

PRPG paintings in RIJKS Museum

The Little Girl in a Blue Dress

Her face looks old

Her eyes stained by the things she’d seen

Her hair thin and receding.

Her dress, once grand,

but handed down several times.

Her essence wishing for another century.

7 18 PRPG The Great Wall of China

Walls

Keeping people in

Keeping people out

Imposing, strong

Longing for a time

When there’s no need for

walls. 

PRPG Africa

Elephants lumber

Hyenas slumber

Lions slink in search of prey

Chimpanzees hang out

Meerkats look about

Giraffes amble with a sway 

PRPG The Alamo , Poetic Asides pie

Fresh-baked apple pie

Sweet and tart, delicious

Remember the a la mode!

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Like a family of whales

poking their heads

out of the water,

but the singing’s beyond

the song of whales. 

PRPG Colosseum

Within the crumbling walls

of the Roman Colosseum,

voices of emperors,

spectators and blood

of gladiators, Christians,

and Jews cry out. 

PRPG The Great Pyramid

If it wasn’t for the pyramids

and Sphinx with its flat nose,

the dry and arid land would be

a place where no one goes.

PRPG The Grand Canyon

Something More Grand than the Canyon

The sun

lit up the canyon walls

in rich browns and sepia.

I had been to the Grand Canyon before

with my husband and kids.

We just walked along the paths,

looking, not hiking or exploring

that I would have preferred.

This time wasn’t much different.

Except, we had Vanessa with us.

She can’t walk or talk,

but she can communicate.

What she communicated,

when we wheeled her up

to the lookout spot,

with her wide eyes,

huge smile, her oohs and ahs,

I’ll never forget.

For the honor

of taking her to the canyon,

I felt privileged.

PRPG Niagara Falls

Slowly I Turned

S ilvery waters roar

T umbling down in

E normous amouts

P ounding out its presence

B old and energetic

Y elling out loud, “I am here!”

S lowly I

T urned gazing at all

E ncompassing beauty

P erfected in Niagara Falls!

Based on Slowly I Turned, an Abbott and Costello skit.

PRPG Taj Mahal

Remember

Did the emperor

who commissioned

the building of the Taj Mahal

to entomb and memorialize

 his wife Mumtaz Mahal

give her nice things

while she was alive?

Why do we wait

until one’s dead

to say nice things

and send flowers?

I ask the Lord this favor,

May I attend

my own funeral?

PRPG The Louvre

If one had painted

the Mona Lisa today,

would people like her?

Phoenix Rising Arc De Triomphe

Arc De Triomphe

An archway

Stands in Paris France

For soldiers

Remember

I can see them marching through

Here to There

July 6 Phoenix Rising Rodeo

Rodeo

Noisy crowd

Smell of dusty air

Gallant horse

Scrambling hooves

Showing what it is made of

Proud rider

PRPG Times Square

Instincts 

My daughter

didn’t catch a show,

do much shopping,

or even get her picture taken

with her group

at Times Square.

She was too busy

standing in front of the webcam

waving at me

at my kitchen table

in Colorado.

Reminds me of that nursery rhyme

when the cat visited the queen

only to frighten the little mouse

under the chair. 

PRPG PAD Washington Zoo

Smithsonian’s National Zoo

That day, we held hands watching pandas play

You who were just a blip on my life’s screen

We walked and talked and kissed at each display  

That day, we held hands watching pandas play

We knew that soon we’d each go our own way

In my life’s play, just one romantic scene

That day, we held hands watching pandas play

You who were just a blip on my life’s screen 

PRPG PAD Tower of London

Ghosts

For the Motherland,

he parachuted down.

They sat him in a chair,

aimed and fired.

The chair remains.

Perhaps he sits in it today

and chats with the ghosts of

Henry VI, Lady Catherine,

Dame Sybil and the grizzly bear.

PRPG PAD Hiking

Hiking up to Bear Falls

Start in Telluride, Colorado,

vacation spot of rich and famous.

As you pick your way up the dirt road,

maybe stars pass you by in the daylight.

Take photo of city of cairns,

or stop and build one yourself.

Spot elk, deer, rabbits, squirrel.

Stand on the embankment looking down,

way down to the river.

Murmur polite greetings on narrow path.

Gaze in wonder at the falls,

though they’re not that big.

The wonder is more about

if you’ll make it all the way back down.