When will our fascination with the King of Pop stop?

Michael Jackson (dead) still speaks.
New lyrics were released this week.
In Christ’s own words he dares to claim
“I’m the light of the world.”

It’s blasphemy. He was no light.
This black who tried to become white
was but a shooting star at best
who fell at last to earth.

This is it! Good God, let’s stop
this worship of the King of Pop.
This endless praise of Michael J
reveals our culture’s depth.

Such shallowness is nothing new.
A glance at history gives a clue
how truth is often traded for
the mush the masses want.

“Here I stand!” Mart Luther said
attempting to retain his head.
But he was ruled a heretic
defending faith not works.
 
“A Mighty Fortress is Our God”
was criticized as lame and odd.
Poor Luther died not knowing
he would one day be affirmed.

The populace in every age
applauds whoever’s on the stage
and in the process fails to see
the truth that’s in the wings.

So there he lies without his crown.
The King of Pop is six feet down
while Christ the King is feeling grand
no longer in a grave.

* This past week lyrics were released to a song entitled THIS IS IT! written by Michael Jackson and Paul Anka back in 1980. The song was released to help promote the movie on Jackson by the same title that will soon be released. The above poem was written based on the lyrics to the song.

This is it, here I stand.
I’m the light of the world, I feel grand.
Got this love I can feel.
And I know yes for sure it is real.

Will it help him weather the late night chill?

A letterman’s jacket?
Of course. You know Dave.
It hangs in a closet
that’s labeled depraved.

But, in what did he letter?
What sport did he play?
I’m guessing mixed-wrestling
at the end of the day.

This crass Late-Show comic
whose lines make you laugh
is as rogue as a rabbit.
He sleeps with his staff.

And while that’s immoral,
the law says “no crime.”
The one caught blackmailing’s
the one who’ll do time.

Where is Mother Justice?
Why won’t she weigh in?
It seems each is guilty.
Aren’t both acts a sin.

Extortion is heinous.
The guilty must pay.
But so should wife-cheaters
who roll in the hay.

But he won’t be charged with arson!
The Pull of Hope

Ken Burns’ America
But he won’t be charged with arson!

It seems that Ken burns constantly,
ablaze with creativity.
Our nation’s parks now seem aglow
because of what he’s done.

The treasures he’s unearthed for us
are viewed by auto, train or bus.
Our priceless parks provide us with
a sense of our net worth.

Yosemite and Yellowstone,
(those sanctuaries we have known)
are sacred spaces where we hear
Creation’s choir sing.

Denali and Death Valley, too,
remain untouched ’cause John Muir knew
that Mother Nature’s holy ground.
This is our Father’s world!

Grand Canyon vistas, Crater Lake’s,
are works of art for Heaven’s sake.
The Badlands even aren’t that bad.
Good Lord, they’re picturesque.

Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier
and The Great Smokies make it clear
that God has blessed America
with beauty rare indeed.

The Pull of Hope
Life lessons from a college tug-of-war

Hope boasts a rope to which you cling
although tenacity can sting
when you resist temptation’s pull
to give up and give in.

Hope teaches you to hold on to
the dreams you claim God gave to you.
Hope calls your name and cheers you on
and helps you to believe.

Hope fuels your faith until you win.
It gives you cause to reel it in.
Hope celebrates ahead of time
before the outcome’s known.

• The Pull is a 112-year-old tradition at Hope College in Holland, Michigan in which the freshman class challenges the sophomore class to a three hour tug-of-war across the Black River. My oldest daughter was both a “moraler” and a coach for The Pull competition while a student at Hope.

Why the former President misspoke;
Those Rainy Nights in Georgia

Jimmy’s Crack Scorned
Why the former President misspoke

Jimmy’s crack scorned and white folks care
that a President would dare
to say Obama’s health care woes
are just because he’s black.

That which Carter claimed as true
insults the likes of me and you.
It fails to own how far we’ve come
since Martin shared his dream.

I believe our reticence
comes from bold “facts” that don’t make sense
and from our fears that we’ll become
like those in Canda.

Jimmy’s crack scorned both black and white.
And such wisecracking isn’t right.
The man from Plains is nuts to think
we’re racist to object.

Those Rainy Nights in Georgia
Giving Mother Nature the respect she demands

Just a rainy night in Georgia?
How they wish it was just one.
Countless days of nonstop downpours
have Atlantans on the run.

Widespread flooding has proved tragic.
Children have been swept away.
Tears of sorrow fall like raindrops
as it was in Noah’s day.

Now as then we are beholden
to the force of nature’s whim.
Even those quite wise and wealthy
quickly bow to floods and winds.

Remembering Patrick Swayze and Annie Le;
The Guiding Light is Gone

Requiem
Remembering Patrick Swayze and Annie Le

In Ghost we watched him and we cried.
This week that dirty dancer died,
but Patrick Swayze showed us all
just how to waltz with death.

With courage he embraced his foe
and tango-ed with him toe to toe.
I’m hoping Patrick also knew
four steps to peace with God.

And don’t forget young Annie Le
discovered on her wedding day
within a wall, inside a lab.
A plot for CSI.

I grieve for her Annie’s fiance
whose greatest fears proved true Sunday.
A day for which he dreamed became
a nightmare that won’t end.

There’s so much sadness in the news.
We weep inside, our psyche’s bruised
when those quite famous or unknown
are taken much too soon.

Another Soap is Down the Drain
The Guiding Light is gone

The Guiding Light has shined its last.
The seven-decades beam it cast
on radio (and then TV)
has been unplugged for good.

It’s gone the way of other soaps
like Edge of Night and Ryan’s Hope
for all my children never watched.
Did yours? Most likely not.

Our daytime viewing habits changed.
What we once watched, we now think strange.
Those steamy plots have given way
to talk shows and the news.

And with the fact more women work,
their rating dropped into the dirt.
No longer do young housewives while away
days of their lives.

But lest we think we’re so mature,
our night time shows aren’t all that pure.
Both Bones and Grey’s Anatomy
are rated R for sex.

Soap operas aired at night or day,
will leave our souls a dingy gray.
What we allow to fill our minds
eventually leaks out.

* check out http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/1445851.html