Connection | pictured words

Toledo Main

This grand dame has stood tall since 1937, all while stooping to serve our region “of makers, dreamers, and doers.” She seems the heartbeat of downtown, freely welcoming all who want to peruse the volumes of knowledge and wonder she houses. I believe anything you want to learn about our own region, and branching out into the far reaches of the known universe, may be found within her walls. You may ask what would make us want to look through her books, what with the world at our fingertips in such a literal sense via the phone in our hand. It’s hard to imagine that some may have never fingered through paper pages filled with words that others over generations have fingered and read as well. In a library, history is not found in the pages of history books alone, but in the pages of every book on every shelf .. each page silently chronicling the very fingerprints of those who have been there before us. How many lives have touched the book we now hold in our hand? How many have absorbed and come to an understanding quite like our own? Or perhaps nothing like our own? How many people like us, or immeasurably different, have we made eye contact with as we skim the world-wide web? How many have we smiled at, and potentially rescued their day … or they, ours?

Gather the volumes
and let volumes speak of you.
Be read. Read others.

© Marie Elena Good, 2023

March 15, 2020

RELATIONSHIP

This is an age of unbroken connection.
Our fingertips tap into instant links.
We’ve little tolerance for imperfection,
And as our ego grows, our goodwill shrinks.

And in this age of unbroken connection,
Our face-to-face relationships have waned.
Resulting loss of physical affection
May render us emotionally maimed.

Now suddenly a time of social distance
Is thrust upon us necessarily.
Most look for ways to be of some assistance,
And find these ways, extraordinarily.

I’m thankful in this time of social distance
For God, who binds my drifting heart to His.
Our Father God pursues us with persistence.
Be still, and let Him show you who He is.

Quick note: My last three lines include words and truths from scripture, and from a long-loved hymn, as follows:

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Robert Robinson includes the phrase of prayer, “Bind my wandering heart to thee.”

The Bible overflows with God’s pursuit of us, including Psalm 139.

Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

February 13, 2019

UNSPOKEN

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PHOTO BY KEITH R. GOOD

She fights to connect.
Even her thoughts are wordless,
she says. And I nod

as if I can grasp
telepathically , and
put music to it –

noting nuances
in tune with fluent fretting –
non-verbal vetting

of elusive words
she only needs for we who
don’t speak her spirit.

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April 13, 2017

ANDREA

12381964

A people-person and poet,
she learned to write
in a language not her own.

Alone, and on a small Danish island,
she yearned to connect.
To greet poetic kin.

In time, she braved the barriers
of language and space,
embraced globe and all therein.

Within her lay a yearning.
A burning desire to know You.
To believe in Your existence.

But the distance seemed too far,
and far-flung stars, more personal
than the God who hung them.

How often did she ask to unmask
the key to faith in a God who hears.
Loves. Draws. Speaks.

Yet I believe. I believe You
who knew her heart from the start
ran to greet her.

“Mit barn! My child!”
I believe she recognized You at once,
whispered tenderly, “Min far. My Father.”

Never again will language be labored,
and never again faith
a far-flung star.

Sadly, our Poetic Asides family lost our Danish friend, Andrea Heiberg. She died of cancer Monday. Andrea never let language get in the way of relationship, clear across the globe. Her presence will be missed by so very many.

Next Stop: Sejer Island.
By Andrea Heiberg

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12381964-next-stop

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