{"id":138230,"date":"2024-04-04T12:33:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=138230"},"modified":"2024-04-04T12:33:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:33:12","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-poems-from-the-pen-of-the-sundown-cowboy-poet-lariat-of-the-balcony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-poems-from-the-pen-of-the-sundown-cowboy-poet-lariat-of-the-balcony\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From The Balcony: “Poems from the Pen of the Sundown Cowboy, Poet Lariat of The Balcony”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Delusions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I needn\u2019t ever let myself
slip into the delusion
that I know you.
Every time I slide down that slippery slope
you throw a fork in the road\u2014gently, but decisively.
A subtle curve ball,
a pulling back of the curtain
with a spritely \u201cTa-Da\u201d,
reminding me that the more I think
I know you,
the more I realize
there is so much more to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Shall Be Love<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I set my intentions on you today.
All my thoughts will be love.
All my words will speak love.
All my actions will do love.
I shall decrease;
you shall increase.
From me you shall receive love, light, support,
care, understanding, openness, encouragement,
laughter, and tears of joy.
I set my intentions on you today.
All shall be love.
All shall be love.
Holy Ground
Holy ground\u2014
Not holy granite
or hardwood
or carpet
or tile, rather
ground. Earth. Dirt.
\u201cTake off your shoes, Moses!
You\u2019re on holy ground.\u201d
Yes! Take off your shoes.
Curl your feet in the dirt.
Root them there.
Let yourself be resolutely planted
to Terra Firma\u2014the ground of all being.
From the dust of the Earth we were formed.
To the dust of the Earth we shall return.
Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.
From the sands on the beaches
to the deserts of the Middle East
to Louisiana gumbo sludge
to Mississippi mud.
All ground is holy.
To kneel and kiss the ground
is to humble ourselves
in the sentience of our own mortality
and receive an immortal fathoming
of all that was,
all that is,
and all that shall ever be.
Take off your shoes.
You\u2019re on holy ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow.
What do I want to say about tomorrow
When it has become yesterday?
That I spoke truth,
that I laughed,
that I took it all in,
that I gave more that I took,
that I supported,
that I helped,
that I brought joy,
that I mattered.
And most of all,
that I loved well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask for What You Want<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ask for what you want.
Ask for what you need.
But one can ask
and never receive.
One can rail to the high heavens
and never receive.
One can weep throughout the night
and never receive.
How many trips to the well?
How long does it take
for one to know
the well is dry
or too stubbornly stingy today
to open up its wealth
to one who asks
out of desire,
out of need?
Ask for what you want.
Ask for what you need.
But never ever ask out of greed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Bojangles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I listened to Mr. Bojangles\u2014
every version I could find.
I realized I didn\u2019t care
whether I woke the next morning
or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grief<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Above the pain,
beneath the hurt,
I languish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the view from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, and an actor. The Sundown Cowboy is his alter ego. Randy may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delusions I needn\u2019t ever let myselfslip into the delusionthat I know you.Every time I slide down that slippery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":39753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11902],"tags":[28338,4782,10286,19004,28337,10878],"class_list":["post-138230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-randy-weeks","tag-poet-lariat-of-the-balcony","tag-poetry","tag-randy-weeks","tag-sundown-cowboy","tag-the-sundown-cowboy","tag-the-view-from-the-balcony"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2017-5-11-View-from-the-Balcony.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138232,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138230\/revisions\/138232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}