August 8, 2020

JUST  LIKE  GOD

Who me? Like God?  How so?

Woooooooh! That’s a big one.

I hope it’s when I love.

I hope too, it’s when I create.

Not when I hate, I assume.

Not when I fake it.

Not when I have no clue.

I would think, it’s when

I'm really aware of others.

It's when I'm really human.

You're kidding?

Christ, no!  Christ, yes!

It's when I get crucified

for what is right. Woooooh!

It's when I rise. Wow.

And it's especially when I’m outside

of time: past, present and to come.

In fact, it’s right now. Hi God!

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August 8, 2020

Thought  for  Today  

“Vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory.” 

Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, 1900

August 7, 2020

A  SONG  REMEMBERED

Does everyone have a song –

a song remembered – played

in the back of their brain – in

the shower – in a storm – in pain –

that gets them to the other side

of a ache – or  the echo of a joy?

Ooops! There’s the genesis of

a new song: “The Echo or the

Ache”  - life in the inside of

everyone – in the need of song.

What's your song - like the one

at the beginning of a wedding?

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August   7,   2020

Thought  for  Today

“Ugliness is a point of view: an ulcer is wonderful to a pathologist.”

Austin O’Malley

August  6,  2020

TRANSFIGURATION

Go figure.
You want me to be different
than I am -  but you don't really
know who I am -  so tell me who
you want me to be - or as I suspect:
as you would want me to be.

Go figure.
That's what I did and that's how
I figured out what you really want
of me. Come up with a proposal.
Present me with a before and after
description and I might say, "I'm trying."

© Andy Costello, Reflections,  2020

August  6, 2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “You never get a second chance  to make a first impression.”  

Will Rogers

August 5,  2020

YELLOW:

BANANA OR BUTTER

Yellow:  a good  choice for a favorite color.

If one needs to place two volunteers to win

that contest: it would be wise to place  a banana

or a rectangle of cold butter before the judges.

Or how about butter on a baked potato or on six spears

of roasted asparagus or on a slice or rye bread toast?

I think those two could beat red as in strawberries

or purple as in plums or blue as in blue birds.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August  5,  2020 

Thought  for  Today

“Poetry  is  the impish attempt to paint the color of the wind.” 

Maxwell Bodenheim, poet, 

quoted in Ben Hecht’s play, 

Winkelberg, produced in 

New York, January 1958

August   4,   2020

SWISS  CHEESE

One chair backwards, 

one hat backwards, 

three people talking 

at a kitchen table, late 

at night, swiss cheese, 

rye bread, some thin, 

really thin, sliced ham, 

pickles, 13 grapes, I 
counted them, the right food, 

the right time, the right 

three people, good cold 

beer, a conversation 

that changed everything – 

finally.  It was about time. 
It was about longtime friends. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August  4,  2020 

Thought  for  Today 

 “August  is a wicked month.”

Edna  O’Brien [1932-  ] 

Title  of  a  novel l [1965] 

Irish  Novelist  and short-story writer
What is that about? 

August  3,   2020

FETCH

He expected his wife 

to be an airlines attendant. 

It was as simple as that, 

but it took her a while 

to figure that out – maybe 

because that’s what she 

wanted to be as a young girl. 

Getting him this 

and getting him that: 

a pillow, a magazine, a snack. 

He: never to give, 

always sitting there 

ready to receive. 

She: never to sit, 

always ready to serve. 

He: watching her walk 

down the aisle. 

She: smiling, the last one 

to fasten her seat belt 

in any turbulence 

in the space of their life. 

That is till one day she said 

to herself,  “It’s time for me to 

quit my job and take another flight.” 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August   3,   2020

Thought   for  Today

“You're gonna need a  bigger boat.” 

Jaws” 1975.

CERTAIN   CHAIRS

Sometimes certain chairs end up 

as sacred chairs – a chair that 

everyone wants when mom or dad 

dies or has to move to a smaller place. 

We have ours. It’s wooden. It’s red. 

It’s old.  It would be passed by if left 

at the curb when people are getting 

rid of stuff – but this one has stories. 

My father sat in this chair, In fact he 

made this chair in the 1940’s from wood 

he picked up on the beach  at the Narrows –  

the water  leading  into the New York Harbor. 

It was down our basement in Brooklyn 

for years  My mother sat in this chair.
My brother sat in this chair. 

My 2 sisters sat in this chair.  

My nephew Michael sat in this chair 

playing the role of King of the World 

in games with kids – that is,  till he died 

suddenly at the age of 15 of cancer. 

It’s now outside – on my sister’s porch 

in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Not too 

many chairs last this long – but I hope and 

pray there is fight to see who gets it next. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020

August   2,  2020

Thought  for  Today

“Never let yesterday  take  up too much of today.”

Texas  E. Schramm