The River of Life

By Patrick J. Leach

To Utter Words of Thanks
My lies to myself
Left stains on the walls here
Where I have my roots deep in my mother earth
Where I plant my words
And harvest them in poetry
As the years pass into decades
In this place I call home
The harvests surprise even me
Wisdom leaves its signs
Like stretch marks on a mother’s girth
Ring the wind chimes and ceremonial bells out back
Attract other life
Hear my calls to Great Mystery
The wailing-wall inside
Now becomes the place
To utter words of thanks

Mars
I
Mars seen through clear greenish blue eyes
A hot reddish white dot in the sky
On a planet circling the sun, earth’s sister in space
II
We were swimming in a river at flood stage
Heading downstream for a bridge and huge terrifying
Rapids were in the way
Somehow got over to the tip of an island and hung on
Saw other people swimming
Asking “How do we get to land safely?”
Afraid we would die
And then I woke up, realized I’d been dreaming
A sigh of relief
III
It was a good vacation
Relaxing as vacations should be
Good weather, pounding ocean waves, good company
And now we’re home
Catching up to where we should be
IV
Someday there will be air tight settlements on Mars
Wondering how many more cycles
Before walking on the green, green grass of Earth

Everything
I
Solitary miners dredging and digging, panning
for gold, afraid someone will steal their secret place
Their wives and husbands reticent, hiding other
secrets in ugly places off rivers of blood
Who to believe in a world of liars and thieves?
Yellow teeth and smoke filled lungs, implants and
crystallized drugs
There are times to trust and times to disagree,
there are still good honest people near me
So many of us will sell our souls at the right price,
sometimes too cheap, if offered right
II
Who am I to judge anything?
If I could live my life like a monk, one foot in this
corruption stained world, the other outside of it
spiritually clean, my anchor to God
If I could trust God in all things, no matter what,
I would be free, even if He pulled out all my teeth, took
all my money, left me to write poetry, live in a house
full of beautiful art, gave me enough food to eat, a good
woman to love, loyalty, peace, why would I fear anything
knowing in the end both feet would be spiritually clean
Then all is well, I need not worry, my life
stands like a tree raising its many arms to the sun,
meditating on the meaning of its life catching every
bit of light it can, accepting everything that happens
equally, unable to change anything outside itself
being part of everything

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick J. Leach
• Release date: Mar 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310855757

Patrick J. Leach

Patrick J. Leach lives in Portland, Oregon. An artist and a writer, Leach has written professionally for companies and universities. He is co-author with Frances Price Cook of a biography, The life and Art of C.S. Price.In 1995 he abandoned the corporate life, focusing on painting and poetry while earning money caring for neighborhood yards and homes.Leach has published over 16 books of poetry and art, available in print and eBook formats. Watch for more of his books combining his unique blend of poetry and art.Leach studied creative writing (poetry) at Cornell University (B.S. General Studies, 1972), and holds two Masters degrees from Washington State University (Sociology, Education). "I've always considered myself a writer. I've taken many paths, tried a variety of occupations, always returning to writing and art."

Book preview

∞

Poetry and Art

by Patrick J. Leach

Copyright © 2013 – Patrick J. Leach

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form whatsoever.

Images and text may be used in other publications only with written permission from the author, Patrick J. Leach.

Properly attributed brief quotations may be used listing the author’s name, title of poem, and publication.

ISBN: 9781310855757

Publisher: Smashwords, Inc.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Linda Anglin for her editing and suggestions; Hilary Doran and Charlie Blackmore for graphic design.

Please email me to inquire about purchasing paintings and books, and to offer venues to show my art at galleries, museums and private showings. Poetry readings are possible. I welcome your participation in helping me to share my art and poetry with the world. Your support is most welcome and appreciated. [e-mail]

Other books by Pat include:

The Tangle of Meanings,

Meditations on the Mysteries of Life,

Bare Trees, A Book of Poetry

Meditations on the Mysteries of Life

The Tangle of Meanings

Paintings of Patrick J. Leach, Volume One

Patrick J. Leach, Paintings Volume Two

Patrick J. Leach, Paintings Volume Three

In This Vast Sea of Stars

Blue

The Weight of the World

The Symphony of Being

Whirlpools of Silence

Dreamer

Morning Stillness

Snowflakes Gently Falling

The Life and Art of C. S. Price (with Frances Price Cook)

This book is dedicated to all the rivers of earth and the living beings they support. May we keep them healthy and free ...

Author and artist Patrick Leach standing at Barview Jetty, Oregon

with the Pacific Ocean in the background.

Preface

It seems in life I have very little control over anything, except what I write in little poems like these, and how I present them. This book, The River of Life, is exactly like I want it to be. My other books thus far have given in to various editors, designers, friends, what I think other people want, and other outside in influences. But this one I claim as mostly mine, and my partner God, who stands at the center of everything I create.

Hilary Doran helped with the computer design work and selecting some of the visual images that are matched with poetry. My partner Linda Anglin helped with editing the raw poems straight out of my computer, and the selection process of what is worthy of publication.

But the choice of poems, the longer book length