Moves Like Potter

They saw our lights on...
"How come yours are...and ours aren't?"
"I've got moves like Ron."


- Kevin Waring

As Is

Yesterday I caught the garter,

Is it really true, what it signifies?
Will it only be a matter of time before I’m standing at the altar,
Peering into a pair of hopeful eyes?
Will I be able to provide adequately? -
I think maybe I should become a developer,
Get a stake in a tech company,
And, in a few years, retire a millionaire;
We’ll have a summer home in the Hamptons,
A phalanx of yachts to moor -
Vistas from impromptu excursions,
Will ensure life won’t ever be a bore...
But what if none of these things entices,
And, simply, life with me suffices?
What if I’m enough, as is?

- Kevin Waring

She Is Ambitious

From Sunday to Saturday,
Sunrise to sunset,
The most exemplary work ethic is displayed,
And I don’t know how she does it,
Work, school, work, school -
Always one or the other,
Leaving no void in her schedule,
And hardly any time for leisure;
Though downtime is elusive,
Rarely does she complain;
She gives all a person, of themselves, can possibly give,
Even if she gets nothing in exchange,
Because she is selfless,
She is ambitious...she is ambitious.

- Kevin B. Waring

Power

The power came and went,

Like a candle flickers before it’s spent,
And I knew at some point later that day,
Irene was going to take our power away.

Where I live, power outages are the norm,
Even without the presence of a storm;
But this here storm was a behemoth,
Having lashed us when her potency was at its zenith.

Around noonday the electricity was gone -
And by day’s end, so, too, was my religion,
I blasphemed God, doubted His power -
Especially when hours passed without response to my prayer.

God, are you even there? was the sentiment I expressed.

The next day was the Sabbath,
And I ventured out to witness the aftermath:
In the lot was debris, and a fallen branch I drug aside,
It was like a beach littered with flotsam brought in by ocean tides.

Noon marked one day without electricity,
And my cell phone had long run out of battery;
My mother’s - whose had passed us through the previous night -
Was on the verge of having read to it its last rites.

Later that day, however, we were fortunate,
To visit houses flowing with electrical current;
We got to charge our phones, eat a hot meal,
For awhile escaping a situation that seemed unreal.

But it wasn’t long before gravity rended us from our delight,
Back to reality - we couldn’t decline the invite,
At night, the darkness and silence encapsulated us -
It was like having been buried alive inside a sarcophogus...

Monday morning came. No power.

Afternoon came. Still, no power.

I told a neighbor:  I’ll gather my boys, you gather your girls,
And we’ll storm city hall like it’s the Bastille;
She laughed affectedly -
But I think she was high anyway...

I doubt I would’ve stormed city hall;
But the situation made it hard to remain civil,
Earlier that day we’d thrown our spoiled food away,
And the crews restoring power
Seemed to be doing so with delay.

Yet - a little after 3 o’clock - something remarkable happened,
And it caused me to cast aside all my suppositions:
Through the blinking clock radio and hum of the refrigerator,
I knew then that our power had been restored!

I went outside to spread the news,
Like a pastor descending the pulpit to the pews;
However, everyone was already made aware -
In an instant, THE CRISIS WAS OVER.




- Kevin B. Waring

L.A. Story

I read about your state in the newspaper;
The article read that it wasn't safe,
And, immediately, I thought of you...
I wondered how close you were to danger -
If it was staring you directly in the face,
If you were in need of rescue...


I can see the streets soused in crimson,
Carrying the slain in its current,
This is the fate of the men and women,
Whose drug dealer doesn't receive their payment -
Many a life is taken,
And many times, unfortunately...
It's the lives of the innocent.


You said you can't leave home unaccompanied -
It's just that dangerous,
And for this reason alone, to God on high I plead,
To be your armor, your aegis;
As you traverse a city by violence besieged,
I pray that He bestows you with providence,
That, from the grip of vice, Alagoas is someday freed...
And the forces that affright, like floodwaters, recede.


Together we'll turn the tide...
Through perseverance and prayer,
One day...you'll be able to step foot outside,
And not fear being caught in someone's crosshairs;
No longer will you need a guide -
A second shadow that follows you everywhere;
But until these dreams become realized,
In the meantime, know that there will be an answer...


Let it be, let it be.




- Kevin B. Waring