Zoom

 Zoom Zoom Zoom… running on the technology highway 

Email and text may soon be outdated 

To computers and iPhones we are now mated 

Snapchat and facetime may be fast, facebook will be a thing of the past 

Zoom Zoom Zoom…running on the technology highway 

To know what’s new just google this, google that

Find old friends and write notes in the chat

No more books; just read on-line; worry not, your eyes will be fine

Zoom Zoom Zoom… running on the technology highway 

Meetings in isolation, but you’re not alone 

Connect with co-workers, working from home 

Learn about COVID, get all the stats and know all the facts 

Zoom Zoom Zoom… running on the technology highway 

Order all your groceries and other supplies 

Fix your virtual background to “travel” world-wide 

Get a spot while they last; view a webinar, take a class

Zoom Zoom Zoom…running on the technology highway 

Attend a church service with music complete 

File your taxes and keep things neat 

Share ideas in a break-out group, please remember to unmute

Zoom Zoom Zoom… running on the technology highway 

Oh the wonders of what we now can do 

And for the children this is normal too 

Sign up for a test, sign up for a shot 

LIFE NOW ON ZOOM 

Like it or NOT

Zoooom………

© Anne Cressin, 2021

Below: Ruben Gallego on Zoom meeting with

constituents from Glendale AZ

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Again and Never Again

Again 

Another senseless violent school shooting 

Again multiple lives changed forever 

Again I do not understand – how such a disturbed young man 

Can have had such easy access to a gun 

Bent on mass destruction—of the lives of others 

And of the life that perhaps long ago was once his own 

Reading the accounts, I am saddened by the tremendous loss 

I grieve for the families and with them and thousands of others in my heart 

The question WHY never to be answered 

Why the warning signs weren’t enough…..

As I read through the paper, I see 

Again, horrid atrocities

Men bound and kneeling before being shot and dumped in a shallow grave 

A young girl gang raped in front of her father 

An internationally known runner tortured for his beliefs 

Women sexually assaulted and this being culturally acceptable

The list goes on and I can read no more 

My optimism and my hope are dimmed 

No gun control 

No genocide stopped 

No protection for those desperate to flee 

Nowhere to turn 

I seek God 

Breathe, needing hope, optimism, peace

Determined to not just be silent 

For in my silence I am complicit in having nothing change

And yet 

I wonder 

What can I do? 

Give me a specific….  There are so many from which to choose

What can I do? 

I do not understand how people, each one once an innocent child, 

Can be so cruel—filled with such hatred, anger and fear 

As to be so violent against one another 

What can I do?

What steps can I take that will bring about actions that say 

NEVER AGAIN 

© Anne Cressin, 2018

Virginia Tech students hiding in Holden Hall during massacre
Photo April 16, 2007, by William Chase Damiano
from Wikimedia Commons  

March for Change Rally following Sandy Hook school killings
Photo February 14, 2013
from Wikimedia Commons

Memorial for Pulse nightclub mass shooting
Photo July 8, 2016
from Wikimedia Commons

Student lie-in at the White House to protest gun laws
after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS
Photo February 19, 2018
by Lorie Shaull
from Wikimedia Commons

For Sandy Hook

Tears fall like flower petals.

Nothing left but a dry stalk of pain in the heart,

And once that is tossed aside, as it must be,

The heart is still an empty vessel,

Holding only the question WHY.

Tears fall like flower petals,

Washing up memories, washing away the immediate ache.

Once dried, petals pressed remain

A pretty picture, a sweet cache of fragrance.

Time beside the tears, healing the hurt slowly.

Tears fall like flower petals,

A remembrance of a presence

Once alive, now gone forever.

Yet the sweetness remains,

Tenderly growing peace in the heart.

© Anne Cressin, 2017

Rose memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Photo by Alexisrael
from Wikimedia Commons 

Inspired

Inspired by two young women 

who at less than half my age 

already understand and articulate 

twice as much wisdom and knowledge

of the heart, 

and how we are all connected – 

or not —

to our own pain 

and the pain of others, 

to our goodness 

and the goodness of others, 

to the spirit within 

and to and from and back 

to us. 

Inspired by two young women 

whose words of poetry 

flow like song, 

assuring me, 

and starting somehow 

the continuing process 

of my own healing.

Even at more than twice their age. 

I take still small steps 

and gently peek beyond 

the curtain of my soul, 

once again daring

to look deep 

and connect — with 

God, 

self, 

and others;

allowing my pain to be expressed, 

knowing the peace that comes

with letting go and opening up

to be 

inspired by God.

© Anne Cressin, 2014

Jona Noelle and Flora Lark
"The Fire Tigers"

Paradelle for the Rio Grande

I walk down to the river each visit home. 

I walk down to the river each visit home. 

Always thinking of the flow of life.

Always thinking of the flow of life. 

I visit each flow home thinking always of 

Of life to the river walk down the 

Following the path of the Rio Grande. 

Following the path of the Rio Grande. 

Where we once played amongst the cattails. 

Where we once played amongst the cattails. 

Cattails of the Rio Grande played once. 

Where we, following the path amongst the 

I remember once swimming there.

I remember once swimming there.

The current strong, the mud rich water. 

The current strong, the mud rich water. 

Remember I the water mud current. 

Once rich swimming there strong the. 

I visit swimming the life current. 

Cattails of the Rio Grande of home I remember. 

Where we played, always thinking of following. 

The water once amongst the rich. 

Each flow there strong. 

The mud walk down the river path the to. 

© Anne Cressin, 2013 

Santa Elena Canyon rises above the Rio Grande
Photo by Blair Pittman, EPA
from the National Archives and Records Administration

Poems for Reyn

Oh fair maiden, 

holding secrets unknown,

tucking away the hurts

that caused the flaming outbursts 

that put you in this prison tower,

taking  your sense of self 

and any power 

you might have known 

if left alone, 

holding secrets unknown. 

Oh fair maiden, 

where have you gone?

With wings clipped 

you are not allowed 

to express fully

who you are. 

In your moments of passion, 

on the outer edge

of free spirited, 

THEY decide 

you need reining in, 

without even beginning 

to hear your side 

of the story. 

And so, 

locked down, 

you comply-- 

at least for a time 

of “oh well,”

and let it go. 

I sit 

on the outside 

and wonder how 

an opportunity 

for connectedness 

and creativity 

and goodness 

got lost, 

and wonder where 

the anger went. 

© Anne Cressin, 2011

Tower of London; photo from Wikipedia Commons, by CherryX

silent communication

non-talkers 

only text 

email that no one answers 

voice mail message 

messages left in cyberspace 

silent non-communication

negative messages 

phone to the ear 

but does anyone hear

the frustration coming 

from the non-talkers 

the emptiness of 

not connecting 

the wondering and wandering left 

from the messages lost 

and not answered 

in cyberspace

waiting 

for the 

silent communication

© Anne Cressin, 2011

Frustrated flower; photo by Tony Russell