pictured words

The Heart of Golgotha

“And heaven’s peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world with love.” ~ Dyma gariad fel y moroedd

The Heart of Golgotha

Before He stepped foot,
He knew the path: Golgotha,
“the place of a skull.”

He knew it, for He
had formed it. Created it
with God His Father.

Before carrying
the crossbeam on this long path,
He created it

before man became;
before woman, born of man,
bore The Son of Man;

before the first sin
had ever been committed,
or life led to death,

and before you were
formed in your own mother’s womb,
He knew you, and He

chose you, and He chose
the horrific path He’d walk
and death He’d conquer.

It was a matter
of turning your face to Him;
of loving you first.

It was a matter
of bonding your heart to His,
for eternity.

© Marie Elena Good, 2025

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” ~ John 15:13

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April 13, 2025

As I Stop at the Light

As I Stop at the Light

She, with little to her name, fumbles a moment in her purse, rolls down her window, and hands money to the man with the sign she can’t read. He thanks her, and says, “God bless you.” All she understands is his smile, which she returns with a nod of her head. She rolls up her window. I place my hand on her shoulder. She smiles at me, and I at her.

And how could I have
immediately known her,
if not for the light.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

1 Comment

April 12, 2025

Untitled angst

If not for nations
coming to my own doorstep,
I’d never know them.

I’d never have seen
they’re here to feed me the food
that comforts their souls.

I’d never have seen
they’re here to make my home both
strong and welcoming.

They’re here to make us
kinder. Gentler. Here to make
their own lives better,

but also the lives
of all those who welcomed them,
and those who didn’t.

I want to save them
from the strangling hands of this
administration.

If not for Donald,
would Vance, Rubio, Musk, Noem,
and all the others

be so emboldened
to heartless vindictiveness
and mercilessness?

If not for clear signs
from history (you know which),
one might never know.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

April 6, 2025

Untitled haibun-like firehose

this not a trickle but a wide-open firehose that is not meant to douse flames but to disorient the American people leaving us reeling feeling discounted disregarded overlooked overwhelmed overpowered and overthrown (overthrown?) unquestionably and categorically overthrown and now so unrecognizable my country looks far more distorted than even what I see through my wrinkled retina and make no mistake this firehose is intentional gish gallop in its inundation and devastation and

How can one stall a
strategic tsunami with
a spoon and a sponge?

2 Comments

April 3, 2025

Term Two

Albatross

Photo by Johann Van der Linde on Pexels.com

Term Two (a Tricube)

It feels like
quicksand, but
it isn’t.

We may be
in too deep
to get out,

but we can
still stand up
for what’s right.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

Robert Lee Brewer’s April 2025 PAD

This form is a Tricube: 3 stanzas of 3 lines of 3 syllables

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April 2, 2025

Life’s View from My Recliner

Life’s View from My Recliner

The chair Mom rocked me in when I was a baby,
and when I wasn’t ready for her to stop.

The chair from which Grandma would flash that playful grin at me,
holding out the adorable ceramic kitten she would let me hold,
as long as I was in her lap. (That kitten is now mine.)

Decorative pillows Deanna brought home from Nepal for me
that now enjoy both my mom’s and my grandma’s touch.

The Tiffany-style lamp Dad turned from gas to electric,
and that now throws rainbows across my floor and onto my walls

and that sits atop the chess table he made
and the box that holds the wooden chess pieces.

The African violets started by my father-in-law.
They received the best upbringing, as he stroked and spoke to them.

Large windows that let in sun’s cheer, even as the scenes change
outside them. Visitors that grace those scenes …

colorful, talkative birds; various kinds of squirrels; chipmunks; deer;
delivery trucks that had halted during the pandemic;

moms and dads and grandparents pushing strollers or walking dogs;
children riding bikes;
the love of my life cleaning the gutters before tonight’s expected storm.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

Robert Lee Brewer’s April 2025 PAD
Day 2 prompt: From where I sit

1 Comment

April 2, 2025

In these times (no poem, and no picture)

Dear all:

The first time I was eligible to vote, I registered as a democrat. I proudly/excitedly/confidently voted for Jimmy Carter. In the very next election, I registered republican to vote (shaking in my shoes) for Ronald Reagan. For much of my life, I’ve considered myself a conservative republican. After my party went too far right for me, and the democrats too far left, I haven’t known how to politically label myself. I have always voted my conscious – I have never been a party-line voter. I am, and always will be, a follower of Jesus Christ.

But in this time we are in, I am democrat. Not because I agree with everything they think and do. Not because I have seen them accomplish all they say they are about (because I haven’t, because they haven’t). But because I see them as the only path to restoring our checks and balances in this America I already no longer recognize.

In this time we are in, I am American. I am Ukrainian, Syrian, Lebanese, Haitian, Afghani, Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Somalian, Canadian, Burundian, Mexican, Peruvian, Cuban, Brazilian, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan … you get the picture.

In this time we are in, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto …

In this time we are in, I am female. I am male. I am straight. I am lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, she, he, they …

In this time we are in, I am a citizen of the United States of America. I am a refugee, a parolee, an asylee. I am legal, illegal, undocumented …

In this time we are in, I am innocent. I am guilty, convicted, chained, and imprisoned.

Why do I say I am all these, when clearly I am not?

When Jesus’s feet were on this earth, He showed love and compassion for all. Yes, He stood for righteousness. He didn’t waiver from purity and holiness, and He encourages us to do the same (though it is impossible for us). He was sinless in His thought life. He was sinless in His behavior. He was all-loving, all-just, wholly compassionate, wholly empathetic, and (please hear this), He was sinless in His compassion and empathy. It is in large part why He came.

As a follower of Jesus, it is my duty and my privilege to honor with dignity and compassion every person ever created. We are all created in the image of God. It is His way. It is what He flawlessly demonstrated, and will do so eternally.

May He help me … help my country … be more like Him.

With all sincerity,
Marie Elena

4 Comments

April 1, 2025

Remember when

Remember When

you were a child, afraid
of trying something new
balking at the color
texture
odor

untrusting of where it came from
afraid it might hurt you
even though some you know
and even trust
happily partook regularly
and encouraged you
just try it.

Remember when
you thought about a sample
just a tiny one
and thought perhaps it might not be
as risky as you feared
and in fact maybe
it might be tolerable.

Remember when
you matured enough
to actually test those waters
and found them to be okay
and maybe even appealing
and maybe even begged
another try
and then you discovered
you loved it
and that you even felt better
when you had it as a regular
maybe even daily
part of your sustenance
and did everything you could
to make sure it was right here
where it could fill you up.

And maybe I’m not talking about food.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

#welcomethestranger

4 Comments

March 23, 2025

I am

“I am”

It is a small book –
just seventy-five pages
cover to cover.

As the pages turn,
the voices of brave women
speak in harmony

using a language
they did not grow up speaking;
now trying to learn.

Here, they’ve been given
the opportunity to
escape grave danger.

Their stories speak of
the safety afforded them
here in the U.S.

They came here via
invitation. Legally.
and “through the front door.”

And though they miss home,
they “know” they are safe. Some for
the very first time

in their entire life.
They enrich our lives with their
smiles and love.

They pay their taxes.
They obey our laws. They are
happy to be here.

But there is a “but.”
The safety they felt sure of
when they wrote, “I am”

swiftly disappeared.
From one semester of school
to the next, it’s gone.

The front door has slammed.
Families are being shoved
out through the back door.

Insecurity
is gripping them once again.
We’ve become lawless.

They’ve become victims
of we who invited them,
then pointed fingers

shouted “criminal!”
and decided they are a
danger to our lives.

We have no reason.
They have no recourse.

March 18, 2025

Beauty

Beauty

It isn’t my thing,
the glaring sun against sand
‘neath cloudless blue sky.

Sand beneath my feet
and waves washing shells ashore
hold little appeal.

Give me falling snow;
leaves crunching beneath bike tires;
charitable eyes.

There is no beauty
in the pearly white smile that
gleams self-interest.

Now this is beauty:
Jesus, gentle and lowly,
showing us His way.

Let me see Jesus
in your face; hear Him in the
song your kindness sings.

May He teach me how
to sing tender notes, and may
you hear Him in me.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

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4 Comments