Vincent’s Comments (group member since Nov 22, 2011)

Vincent’s comments from the Q&A with Vincent Lowry group.

All Yours

You came to this world long after my first breath,
unexpected but not unwanted,
and before I could see your eyes,
hear your laugh,
feel your touch,
witness the unfolding of your youth,
you returned home.

I wonder what I can offer you this summer night,
what thoughts I can paint with words,
what love I can transfer into your perfect presence?

Stepping outside, I see the love is already there.
It's in the wind, as gentle as a child's breath,
rustling the leaves of silhouetted sycamores.
It's in the warmth of the air,
an invisible blanket,
wrapping my body in comfort.
It's in the three points of flickering light
at the edge of my gaze,
shining, without doubt, for you.

That limitless,
that eternity,
that beautiful sky...

All yours, angel.

(c) 2016 Vincent Lowry

Greater Good

If you can read these words
on a screen ignited from within
by a modern day marvel of light
summoned by code...

If you can react to it by using
your finger to speak,
or pass to the next room,
or exit the door to the digital hotel
we've collectively created
in a connected yet emotionally
removed world we shall never
fully inhabit...

If you can place yourself in shoes
atop a mountain a thousand miles distant,
a shore an ocean removed,
a field aglow by a new or retired sun...

If you have the basics,
essentials,
that which keeps the heart and mind
in a clear and steady state,
and still have something to give,
to teach or donate..

Follow the higher path,
the greater good,
elevating two spirits with one act,
finding the core of living,
the center of purpose,
the pulse of humanity.

(c) 2016 by Vincent Lowry

Tiny Flame


How that flicker
captures my gaze
in such a delicate hold.

I've seen your gentle dance near the alter,
in hidden corners brightened by your glow,
with angels peering down
upon my unworthy head.

And I've witnessed it on TV,
in the cupped hands of those who stand
in solidarity,
in defiance,
in eternal memory.

And there you are now,
so tiny on my desk,
pure,
casting your warm luminescence
upon my fingers as I finish this poem.

Are my words worthy of your graceful presence?
I think not.
I know not.

A flame is like a perfect circle.
Or a rainbow after an afternoon shower.
Its form is flawless.
Limitless.
Divine.

Light showcased in its greatest glory.


(c) 2016 by Vincent Lowry

Quantum Tearing


Where will our voyages take us
along the horizons of the subatomic,
the quanta of life,
when I witness the power
of the infinitely small strip
away your innate gifts?

It's just a glass, I know.
It always starts with that math,
so simple a concept
that it clouds your mind
every time we put it to practice,
revealing the perfect symmetry of
a chemical equation that overrides
your self-imposed laws.

You cannot outthink this formula.
You cannot outwill what firmly has control
on your mind.
I see the quantum tearing within you,
glass by glass,
line by line,
the beautiful particles thrown into disarray.

You need help, my friend.
This will extinguish your light.


(c) 2016 by Vincent Lowry

Let my actions do the telling,
and let your heart be open
the eternal gift of what you desire.

I promise to be that man.
Always.

Thank you, Andrea!

You do need to visit New Orleans! You'd love it :)

Cafe Orleans

Maybe it was the taste
of a Mint Julep
that washed ashore
on the distant coast of a forgotten memory.

Maybe it was the strumming
of a bass guitar,
fast on the heels of a clarinet
that refreshed faces
not seen in seasons.

Two cities became one.

Somehow St. Charles isn't far
from the Mark Twain,
and the smell of hotdogs,
on this autumn afternoon,
fits Cafe Orleans as much
as does for a street named Bourbon.

Painting today:
a wary mother waits with her son,
teenage girls pose for
a series of selfies and then stop smiling,
a father reads a menu aloud
to an adopted son in his arms,
a restaurant manager passes a hand
through the fading remains of his hair,
an elderly couple study store signs,
and a father writes a poem while waiting
for a child who came into the world
9 years to the date.

No need to paint yesterday.
Not anymore.
The ink on that canvas is baked dry.
This is all that matters.

The Mint Julep,
the bass guitar,
the clarinet of now.


(C) 2015 by Vincent Lowry

Golden State Café

We shared a mutual amazement
at the line that clogged the entrance
to our café,
the bodies pressed together like
a vibrant snake.

The sun, directly overhead,
made its presence known
as noon rays baked tables, chairs,
and umbrellas in a manner
more befitting of summer than fall.

Like most patrons,
we sought the comfort of cover,
of any shadow that would shield
us from our living star,
a refuge from the heart
of the day.

I had a water with ice.
You passed on tea and coffee.
And there we sat at the back, in shade,
as an ordinary Sunday day in 2015
left another crack in thirsty California.

(c) 2015 by Vincent Lowry

For Bob



Wife and two kids.
A quote that he knew
the difference between
a life of importance
and a life of significance.

Some old photos of college days.
New Orleans before Katrina.
Drinks with friends
who remained in touch
or drifted away on life's tide.

Fill me up with love.
I hear the music
and I cannot help but wonder
about the meaning of the loss.

Am I supposed to learn a lesson,
or is the lesson for others?
Sometimes I think I'm reading a book
that's written in a different language,
and I really don't know the story at all.

Wife and two kids.
That's what brings it into focus.
That's what makes me consider the reason
of a life denied its rightful length.

And it forces my mind to corners of the Earth
where pain is ever-present,
where struggle for survival
is far beyond what I can imagine,
and sadly beyond my daily recognition of it.

We lost you this month, friend.
We lost others, too.

Godspeed to those who remain
on this blue miracle in space,
seeking lives of significance.


(c) 2015 by Vincent Lowry

Vessel of Love

The tide of tomorrow rolls hidden,
and the current of seasons past
cannot mirror the wind
feeding our sail.

Our charted waters flow in the moment,
and so too must the vessel of our love,
holding unwavering faith in the Northern Star
upon every test of a fickle sea.

Let each rippled sunrise breathe appreciation
for our days made anew,
and let our hearts remain forever tethered together,
navigating as one in the embrace of a moon's glow.


(c) 2015 by Vincent Lowry

Stardust



We are flesh sculpted to cosmic bones,
restless eyes hunting answers in constellations long since vanished.

We are energy immortal,
atom time capsules sailing the winds of gravity,
tossed in waves of space-time.

We are aged white dwarfs,
giant hypernova,
newborn suns upon a dewy morning vine.

We are the destined few,
genes that out-raced, out-thought, out-willed, out-lived.

We are captains of consciousness,
trustees of life evolved,
key holders to a billion year fund.

We are light made physical,
angels long before death,
the triumph of a universe born blind.

Our time is short to see and shine.

(c) 2015 by Vincent Lowry

Thank you, Andrea and Ocean :)

Glad you joined, Ocean!

Finite

It doesn't last,
though we often think otherwise.
So cast our line in the lake of today,
reel in what the universe provides,
and be thankful for boat we've been lent.
Feel the steady breeze of good memories,
see the golden rays of those within our marrow,
and silence the Sirens' luring hymn.
Finite is the soul's temple.
The trees echo this wisdom--
a million leaves rippling in a symphony
before drifting to the earth,
where they lay in display to the church of stars
and a moon's lonely gaze.

Thank you, Andrea!
It was fun to write it, so I'm pleased reading it had the same effect.
:)

Winged Beauty



I could say it’s the oily feathers that mesmerized me as a child,
and continues to hold my attention as an adult.
It’s the deepest black I’ve ever known or seen,
the seed of midnight,
and how it exists naturally on an animal
is a product of perfect genetic magic.

To call it evil is absurd.
Those sorts of teachings are first drilled into our heads
at vulnerable heights,
when knowledge clings to us easily,
leaving the dirty work of reassessing
facts and truths at ages far beyond
the walls of blackboards and hollows of cubbies.

It is, and will forever be, a winged beauty,
soaring over fields of wind-bent grass,
peppering an afternoon sky
as a part of the married flock in which it flies.

I sometimes picture the reflection
of the passing land in its noble eyes,
flowing top to bottom like credits in a movie
as autumn trees join harvested vineyards
in the lengthening tail of its flight.

We name it raven,
but “muse” seems more befitting
as it fades with the day,
its existence immortalized
on canvas, paper, and pixels.

Thank you!

All You Do



I know I didn’t say it yesterday
when the words tumbled away
like leaves over a root-cracked sidewalk,
the shedding memory
of a Maple tossed into autumn.

And tomorrow’s distractions
will hold a firm grip on the reins of my mind,
yet again,
trotting without care
toward a new trough of responsibilities,
of unending worries.

So I shall speak in this seed of the moment,
this grain upon this shifting dune of time,
pouring the thoughts of my heart
into a soul of rare beauty.

You are my foundation,
my core of being,
my second sun when rising,
my moonlight bliss when slipping contentedly into another dream.

Your presence has no substitute,
no replacement for the breath that floats my spirit,
anchors my pride,
restores my hope.

The love you have built inside me
stretches far into the heavens of the unseen,
a tower of unparalleled beauty,
a beacon of goodness and meaning.

You are the stars that guide my soul,
the billion arrows of light that pierce life's black dome,
mapping the path to home's eternal embrace.

May this seed of the moment take root,
flourishing to a bloom all that needs to be said,
revealing a flower of undying appreciation,
for all you do.

Draw Near



Where are you
Soul of my life
Beating of my core
Find me evermore

Sweep the noise
Dividing our desire
Become whole in passion
A love without ration

(Chorus)
Draw near
Draw now
Draw me
Draw forever

I give all
For this feeling without equal
For this embrace of great heights
Floating among our city lights

In your presence
Faces fade as if unreal
Leaving one true pair
The eyes that draw me near

(Chorus)
Draw near
Draw now
Draw me
Draw forever

(Repeat Chorus)

(c) 2014 by Vincent Lowry

Thank you, Andrea and Karen! This poem will appear in a book that's for a charitable cause (along with many other poems by different authors).

I hope other readers enjoy it as well. :)

-Vincent