Observations: A Collection of Short Poems

By Colleen Adele Kelly

It is only when we step back to observe life objectively that we finally learn that each moment experienced comes with its own challenges and joys. In her third poetry collection, Colleen Adele Kelly draws upon her personal experiences to share lyrical observations that examine a wide variety of issues from Zen to Mandela, and the Middle East to Sandy Hook.

Kelly touches on divergent topics that not only expose others to her wry sense of humor as she reflects on why she dislikes eating squid and the agony of tax time, but also provide insight into her softer side as she contemplates the beauty in the change of seasons and the power of God’s love. While intertwining both traditional and contemporary elements, Kelly does not shy away from tackling such controversial topics as the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Sandy Hook school shooting, and the tragic events of September11, 2001.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483414843

Colleen Adele Kelly

Colleen Adele Kelly, Ph.D. is a retired teacher of Asian, International Studies and Comparative Education, who taught in Fairfield, Connecticut. She was also an adjunct professor at Central Connecticut State University. Dr. Kelly received two Fulbright grants to India and was a Pier Fellow at Yale University in both Asian and International Studies. She also worked on several projects with the Asia Society. Colleen has lectured widely on India. China, Russia, and the Middle East. She is an active member of Sacred Heart Church in Southbury, Connecticut. Since childhood she has indulged her inclination to memorialize special events with poems. Dr. Kelly is the author of an intellectual biography of Welthy Honsinger Fisher, and with M. Foster Farley Indian Summer. Since retiring she has published seven volumes of poetry; As I Was Saying, I’ve Been Thinking, Observations, Dancing for Joy and Sing a New Song. Her last collection of poems was Becoming, Poems of Pandemic, Protest, Prayer and More. This latest volume, Rejoice, is a celebration of endings and beginnings, seasons, political events, beliefs, and humanity. She lives in in Southbury, Connecticut and is an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Gamma Alpha, NYSO.

Book preview

Observations

A COLLECTION OF SHORT POEMS

COLLEEN ADELE KELLY

Copyright © 2014 Colleen Adele Kelly.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1483-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1485-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1484-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912451

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 7/16/2014

Contents

Observations at Large

Genuine Fake Watches

A Capital Fourth

Annual Agony

Vanishing Bookstores

A Birthday Prayer

Coney Island Frank Fest

Malpractice

Squid

Ant

Gratitude

Face It: Discourse with Myself

E-mail

Wireless?

Stephen Hawking

Busy

Spare

Mind-Warp

Panic

Continuity

Quiet Time

Sit a Spell

Two Short Hours

Consider the Alternative

Eee Yow!

Metric Challenge

Olympic Dreams

Listen

Cherished China

A Golden Age?

Sunday Afternoon

Islamic Exhibit

Poetry Surrounds You

Treasure Troves

Minor Notes

Woman? Man?

Cottage by the Sea

Time for Equanimity

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

Silence Savored

A Fine Day

Tock-Tock

Parched

Bar Harbor

I Look About

Maya, Life’s Illusion

Other Planets

Observing Nature

‘Twas the Night Before

Snow—Well, No

Happy New Year

January

Hibernate

After Blizzard

Winter Sunrise

The Months

Winter’s Last Kiss

Leap Day

The Day Has Barely Broken

First Day of Spring

Jokester

Spring Snow

Spring Perplexed

April’s Fool

Easter Hallelujahs

Thunder

Equinox

Heat Wave

Summer’s Last Full Day

Tree

Storm Scenes

Not There No More

Rushing River

Late November Light

Grace Observed

I Believe

Glued to the Tube

Ocean of Divinity

Unwitting Heresies

A Zen Tale

Once upon a Time

Holiness/Wholeness

David

Compassion

Reflections on the Gospel’s Joy

Contemplation

Holy Humanity

God’s Name

Christ’s Avatar

Mary, Mother, Moon

Silence

How Long, Oh Lord?

Be Brave, Be Bold

Francis

Three Thoughts on Church:

Church Transfigured

Turn a New Page

Christ Jesus in Me

Triduum:

Maundy Thursday

This Friday Was Good

Easter Vigil

A World Changed

Road to Emmaus

Mea Culpa

Are You Sleeping, Lord?

Blessed Are They

We’re Family

Return

Martha and Mary

Teresa

What Gifts We Are Given

Resolute Reformer

Political Observations

Democracy Destroyed

Christmas Contrasts

Mother

Which Ideology?

One Hundred Eighty

Twin Towers Gone

Apocalypse

Maelstrom

Hoi Polloi

Four Letters

Representative?

Strange Emotions

Odd Creatures

Everyone and His Brother

Tenth Anniversary

Snow’s Cocoon

Carry Our Words

War Erupts

Refugee, Me?

Revolutionary Retrospect

Anniversary, June 4

Wealth’s Folly

Rabin

Liberation Square

Epilogue

Memoriam

Mandela

Ancestral Transition

A Public Mask

Faces Observed

Comfort

Eternal Music

Gone Home

Uprooted

Wholly Innocence

Beautiful Butterfly

Bells Toll

Hearts Heavy

Somewhere Else

Boston Spring

Courage

Solutions Are Scarce

Ward Morehouse, 1929–2012

A Man of His Word

Sharing a Birthday

Floyd Homestead

Remembering P. Lal

Observations in Place

Pacific Worlds

Perfect Hindsight

Hawaii Haiku

The Rooster Crowed

Random Thoughts in Flight

Sky Above

By Jordan’s Muddy Waters

Travelers

Great American Pastime

Voices of the Dead

In Flight

The Golden Horn

Minotaur

Fatima

Corinth

Were You Lonely?

Following Paul

In the Footsteps of Paul

Acknowledgements

Author Notes

For all those loved and lost who shaped my life

and modeled my values.

Observations at Large

Genuine Fake Watches, Ephesus, Turkey

WatchesBW.jpg

Genuine Fake Watches

Shop in Ephesus, Turkey

Honesty to a fault,

The sign proclaims

In letters bold and yellow.

Don’t be confused;

The watch you see

Is genuinely fake.

Take it as a given.

The price should be a clue.

No matter what is written,

Rolex or Omega,

If you are smitten by this watch,

It is not as stated—

Real deal,

But a genuine fake.

Take that statement at face value,

But apply in place.

Fill in the blanks.

Thanks to an honest cheat,

One knows the receipt

Is worth less than the paper

Indicating its worth

Is just what the faker

Set forth.

Still, the truth of the statement

In the flagrant declaration

Is an inspiration.

In all acts, the merchant was honest

(Even when not)!

A Capital Fourth

Most unusual to celebrate

Our nation’s birth (for me at least)

As a wedding feast—a first.

Stand we all

To toast the modest bride

Arrayed in red.

Embrace her handsome spouse;

Mingle ’midst the guests from everyplace.

Create a joyful din within the festive space.

Speech seems like sparklers; Roman candles

Light the sky as conversation soars.

Joyful, joined, each one present

Brings bride and groom their memories

And love. Son, brother has claimed

At last his wife