Above Ground Testing

Issue #6

Your December issue is here. The theme is Christmas. Let me wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Hope that it is a time of family, friends, feasting and faith. Enjoy it all. If snow hasn't arrived in your location, it may still come.

With the theme Christmas, I have decided to look at one of the chief images of this time of year; angels. You will find a number of my works dealing with angels. Including and not limited to the angels of Christmas.
The angels I have in mind are not the Hollywood angels that look like Brad Pitt or John Travolta. I'm not even thinking about those 'New Age' angels; I mean real angels. The angels of Renaissance art and culture. The angels of the Christmas tree and story. I hope you will think about your angels and remind yourself of their importance to this time of year.

If you noticed a great deal of errors in the last issue, I'm not surprised. I did write to a few people to apologize. This is what happens when one goes away for a week to Florida- everything gets rushed. Usually I print out a copy of the zine to proof. Of course, I didn't and the result- errors and more errors. Never again.

If I can say a few words about the season. Is Christmas my favourite time of the year? I suppose if I said 'no', I would be classified as a Scrooge or the Grinch. It is one of my favourite times. Its also the busiest for me, but I find in the rush of work, the joy of the season. Its probably because what I do at this time of year helps people, so it gives me a purpose for getting up in the morning, and going to bed at night.

I like the tinsel, and putting up the tree, and opening the presents, especially the ones marked for me (grin). I like to watch kids open up all the well wrapped gifts- what took hours to wrap is demolished in just minutes.

Christmas, its hours of running around, fighting traffic, the crowds and its sitting back on Christmas Day to enjoy it all. What I like is to turn on cbc stereo, now radio 2 "Classics and beyond", to listen to all that great traditional christmas music. Call me a grump, but I don't like all that modern stuff. After a few minutes of listening, I always feel I have to brush my teeth- the music is so overly sweet and gooey. Give me the classics, that's what I say. I want to hear the mass choirs, and the organ music.

Angels watching

Are angels watching over me
with each step I take?
will they give me a nudge
when I begin to stray off path?
and help me
with the decisions I must make?

Will they protect me from harm
pulling me from the brink of disaster
can I know their guidance
as I try to make it through each day

Angel of the Lord

I met an angel of the Lord
as I walked past the drugstore
I almost didn't recognize him
for he wore a blanket over his wings
he didn't look like any angel
sitting there with a dirty styrofoam cup
no Christmas card would display him
as their cherub of the month.
it wasn't until I heard his voice
that I thought I recognized the voice of God
he gave no revelation
just ask for some change
yet in the request
was the sound of the divine
I stopped, we talked
and I gave him some coins
as I left
he wished me "God bless"
and when I turned to wish him well
I thought I detected
his halo

My Prayer

Angels of God
speed my prayer above
let me know
there's an answer
coming
on this cold wintry night

Bells of Heaven

I hear the bells of heaven
peeling out their message
of love.
I see the face of love
when I look in your eyes
on Christmas morn

I was glad to hear that the president of cj2000 went through the surgery with great success. I have this poem from her to share with you:

The Sandalwood Scent of Our New Home

Smoke from a smoldering stick of sandalwood incense weaves string
ribbons of sand washed silk. The thick filaments,
gray blue with brown edges, slip
subtle from the yellowish ash.

Borne in a fire red core, the sharp
smoke scent of the heartwood makes our apartment home.
Slowly twisting, spiraling, the gray and brown separates. Free
from each other for only a second, they return
and converge again as one.

We place our hands over the rayonsoft smoke. Clasped together, our fingers
make a living loom. Light and new, the incense graces
our skin until it escapes through our touch, no longer
defined as ribbons but mingled into a soft sheer
mantle that blankets our room.
Crackerjack2000 -- A Variety Magazine
http://www.users.fast.net/~cj2000/index.html

I received this interesting link from Zandria just the other day. Here is her description of it.
"Check out this lovely site, another facet of LA power poet Larry Jaffe. At the bottom of home page, you can go to Poetry Room, and enjoy especially Connection (this knocks me out !) and larry's impactful Mommy I Can't."
http://members.tripod.com/rachelsroom
Check out this page about Zandria.
http://members.tripod.com/poetiklicense/zandria.htm

Hmmmmm anything else? Oh yes.

Music for this ezine was:
Sergei Prokofiev "Symphony #1" & "Symphony #5"
Enya "The Celts"
Holly Cole Trio "Don't Smoke in Bed"
You may be asking, "what, no Christmas music?" I'll put the Christmas tree up soon, and then I'll listen to the music.

As always:
All poems copyrighted by their respective authors. Any reproduction of these poems, without the express written permission of the authors, is prohibited.
Above Ground Testing is published monthly ( so far so good) by Paul.
Correspondence to: pabear_7@yahoo.com
Submissions always welcomed.
Š1998
Visit my Home Page

Merry Christmas

pabear_7@yahoo.com