All posts by Lesley Buse

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About Lesley Buse

Less is more in almost everything.

Litany

parent catagory, ,

Eat your vegetables, you won’t grow big and strong
(Mary Mother of God keep him healthy)
Wear a coat and a hat, you’ll get pneumonia
(Mary Mother of God keep him healthy)
Brush those teeth, you’ll thank me someday
(Mary Mother of God keep him healthy)
Wash your hands, you don’t know how many people touched that
(Mary Mother of God keep him healthy)
Chew your food, you’re gonna choke
(Mary Mother of God keep him healthy)

Hold onto the railing, you’ll fall down the stairs
(Mary Mother of God keep him safe)
Don’t run in the house, you’ll knock your teeth out
(Mary Mother of God keep him safe)
Wear a helmet, you’ll crack your head open
(Mary Mother of God keep him safe)
Look both ways and don’t play in the street, you’ll get hit by a car
(Mary Mother of God keep him safe)
Wear your seatbelt, you’ll fly through the windshield
(Mary Mother of God keep him safe)

Tell the bully to stop, you’ll never feel good about yourself
(Mary Mother of God protect him)
Don’t play that video game, you’ll become violent
(Mary Mother of God protect him)
Say no if a friend offers you drugs, you’ll become a drug addict
(Mary Mother of God protect him)
Don’t talk to strangers, you’ll get taken from me and who knows what
(Mary Mother of God protect him)
If a gunman comes into your classroom?
Mary Mother of God where are you?

Then and Now

Uncategorized

It’s not necessary, my missing you
moving through my days there
are moments when you do not cross
my path of conscious thought

It’s when I stop, receding into a
calmness, body still, heart on fire
lending fuel to imagination of ifs,
whys, and should have beens

It’s there in the tiny spaces of time
where attempts to make sense of
the us we had created mystifies
me in a cloud of lovely deception

It’s here when woman and girl
become transposed, confused
I am one, sometimes the other
within me the girl, your view

It’s how everyone else sees me
though, a woman only with duties,
responsibilities, things to do
that is the person they know

It’s now, as catching a glance
in the mirror of my hallway
I look for her, his girl, your girl
that when lingering, she appears

Amrit

Uncategorized, ,

Smile, he says his white teeth flashing
You get too frustrated and forget
His father was a policeman in Nepal
He brought his work home with him
Phone calls, not the norm in his country

My mom brought her work home
In sullen regularity of unspoken frustration
She spent thousands on my teeth
An investment in my future happiness
My mom did not invest in what was not visible

My teeth, he says, should make you smile
I feign ignorance of his crooked teeth
They don’t make a bit of difference
On a face lit by golden happiness
Your teeth are so white I respond

The whole time he speaks, he smiles
Genuinely sweet, touched by loveliness
I’m thinking the policeman invested well
That heart was created with no money spent
I am grateful his father was a wise man

A Catholic Woman Died

Family, motherhood, Poetry, , , , ,

Her eulogy stated
her faith was a gift
A gift from whom
I ask myself silently
While the adult baby Jesus
Held in Joseph’s arms
Looks at me with gentle inquiry
His delicate white hand held
In a closed peace sign

Faith constructed from
Years of repetitive memorization
Words with no meaning, amen
Knees begging forgiveness
Doubt’s persistent nagging
Duty to sin’s guilt
Invisibly eating away
Faith hope and love
The greatest is love

Faith in the unbelievable
How does that do any good
Mary looks tired, the hovering
Metal halo over her head
Reminding us virginity is rewarded
Her lonely road begun with a
Visit from an angel then
A journey on a mule
Did her faith make her weary

Stumbling in my rote litany
They’ve changed the words
Since my last genuflection
In unmotivated obedience
To all that is seen and unseen
Always doing right for others
Strength in loss and love
It couldn’t have been easy
Her grace was the gift