Category Archives: poetry

Too Far Back in the Poem to Count

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I awake at three in the morning
the magic hour
and go downstairs to find
some way to use this gift of extra time
Ten Things I Hate About You is free
on Roku
that’s cool
so that becomes my background movie
while I scroll through Eff Bee
and write a poem – this poem
and now Heath Ledger is singing
“I love you, baby!” as he dances his way
across the bleachers – up and down –
and I try to imagine who he’d be now
if he was still with us here
and you’d think there’d be something
somewhere in here that rhymes
time rhymes with rhyme, but it’s too
far back in the poem to count
sometimes free verse is what it’s all about
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Facing Wild Pigs in the Black Forest and Assembling a Side Table

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Two years ago the son
landed in Vienna and called to ask me to pray –
he’d picked up some weird virus along the way.
Two years minus a month ago he wrote to say
he’d just faced wild pigs in the Black Forest,
on a most epic day.
Two years minus two months ago
borders were closing behind him
as he traveled from where they spoke German
to where they spoke Dutch,
and I wished I could touch
him again and worried a mama’s worries.
And now he sits on the floor of our family home,
quietly assembling a side table for the family room.

It’s amazing how much joy I get from watching
my son assemble a side table for the family room.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

For Eugene Goodman

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I can’t know exactly what went through your mind that day –
you’ve been reluctant to step into the limelight and say –
you’ve been humble, wanting to fade quietly into the background.
But the impulse that led you to step to the front on January sixth –
the impulse that made you run towards hell –
when our government was on the verge of being felled
by its own people – continues to give me hope for our nation.
Maybe for you the choice was no choice –
you could no more have run away from the terror of that day
than the sun can stop shining. You simply did what heroes do
without question or thought.
You are a miracle. You represent the best in us.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

The Snow Crunches Under My Boots

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The snow crunches under my boots 
as I walk alone under the stars
shining above clouds in a navy blue sky.
It’s twenty degrees Fahrenheit and my breath
turns into steam as it leaves my mouth.
I keep my eyes on one star and let it pull me
into space with it. Feeling at one with infinity.
=Karen Molenaar Terrell

(Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Blue Cosmos (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Snow Falling on My Face

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I lie on my back in the snow
and wave my arms to make angels.
It’s quiet and still, and I’m alone
except for the snowflakes that blow
and drift and dance gently towards me.
Peace.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Here’s a video of snow falling on my face.

(Photo below by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Snow Reflection

Ode to Boxing Day

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It’s a humble holiday, tucked in between
Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s really keen.
Things look a little bedraggled, it’s true.
The tree’s a little droopy and no longer new.

The movies and music of the Christmas season
are getting on our nerves now, and we’re seeing no reason
to eat even one more sugary oversweet sweet.
It’s time for broccoli and carrots (maybe hold on the beets).

The pressure for perfection comes off on this day,
the toys have been opened, and it’s come time to play.
And if before we were wearing faux holiday cheer
to blend in with the others and not Scroogey appear –

it’s time now to be genuine, and honest and real –
the food banks are empty, people still need a warm meal.
The homeless and hungry and jobless and alone
still need love and caring, still need a home.

So maybe we can celebrate the day after Christmas
by keeping the spirit of hope alive,
we might make that our business.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book

Deflated Santa

May the Christmas Spirit…

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May the spirit of Christmas awaken in me
dormant hope; dormant joy; dormant kindness.
May the spirit of Christmas help me see –
open my eyes from their eyes-closed blindness
to behold the ties of love that bind us.
Amen.

  • Karen Molenaar Terrell

Waiting for the Christmas Spirit

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The kitsch and spangles
and baubles and bangles,
And department store Santa,
just really can’ta
Seem to bring me
the spirit of Christmas.

And I’ve been waiting to feel it –
the real Christmas spirit
Hoping it’d come by now.
The stockings are stuffed,
the tree is all buffed,
The cookies are baked
and frosted and fluffed
But there’s still something missing –
a feeling, a tingling
that’s supposed to come every Christmas.

Except…
Maybe that Christmas feeling,
that energy and tingling
Is something I can have every day –
It doesn’t depend on spangles,
or jingly-bell jangles
Or jolly men dressed all in red.
It comes in the sharing
of laughter and caring
And the comfort in words with love said:
To all – Peace! Joy! Hope!
Every moment of every day.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book

T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas

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T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas

T’was two weeks afore Christmas and all through Eff Bee
not a creature was stirring – not a they, she, or he.
We were prostrate and spent from the holiday bustle
not a twitch could be seen from the teeniest muscle.

We lay all unblinking in our respective beds
while visions of gift-wrapping swirled through our heads.
And clad in our jammies and our way cool madcaps
we had the vague hopeful hope our bodies would take naps.

Holiday jangles and jingles pinged through our brains –
Presley, Crosby, and Mathis taking us down memory lanes –
and would we remember every member to be gifted?
We mentally went through our lists, hoping none were omitted.

There were homes to be decorated and cards to be sent;
parties, caroling, and cookie-making, and we hadn’t made a dent.
But with a collective sigh we remembered there and then
that it’s really about good will to all creatures, women, and men.

And so our thoughts finally settled and our bodies relaxed
as we thought of those we love and a world festooned in pax.
With our hearts wrapped in kindness and the world as our ‘hood
We’re all brethren and sistren – and verily, It’s all good!
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book and A Poem Lives on My Windowsill.

via T’was Two Weeks Afore Christmas 

Christmas Peace

Infinity!

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But what have I got
if I move past my history?
Infinity!

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Blue Cosmos (photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)