Three Poems by Gregg Norman

 

SEEING GOD

 

I’ve seen the representations –

cloud-throned with flowing

white hair and long beard

framing all-knowing eyes.

But that’s not how I see Him

(or Her if I had my way).

On bad days

when They are AWOL

and the world is entirely

at odds with itself,

I see a rheumy-eyed drunk

sequestered in a dark corner

of a seedy, backstreet bar.

On a good day,

when I think They’re

paying attention,

taking care of business,

I see a Border Collie,

everywhere at once,

a black-and-white flash

moving things along

in the right direction,

having the times

of our lives.

PELICANS

 

usually more than four

but just four this day

gliding down low and slow

this wide-winged troop

of fantastical fliers

skidding flat-footed

landing on a broad back bay

beyond the cattails

bright tight-bagged bills

lending an odd nobility

to these grandest of birds

who belong on faraway seas

but who find a summer

home here with us.

JOGGING WITH MY TURTLE

 

If I don’t outrun myself

I can take experience to the bank.

I can be that fine wine,

that vintage Stradivarius,

that humidor-stored Cuban.

Time will slow down

if I leave it less than full,

if I see it for what it is,

life’s greatest luxury.

Hindsight should be 20/20

in my rearview mirror.

Scars should be

value-added gifts.

With hands full of time

and a better ear

for the ring of truth

I can spend my last years

searching for words

to describe the joy

of speeding up

while slowing down.

I can fill the hours

between my ears,

feeling busy.

but being sedentary,

jogging with my turtle.

Gregg Norman is a Canadian poet living and writing in a lakeside cottage with his wife and a small dog who runs the place. His work has been placed with many international poetry journals and literary magazines. He has been nominated for Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize.