"From Here to Eternity" photo by Michael Shoemaker
Where I Belong
Latitudes north
draw me
where my destination
will be
a place
where I can
lean back in a camp chair
and breathe in the harmonious
smell of deciduousness
red maple, white pine, and sweet birch
and know from the heavens’
vaults and spires
down to the center of my core
in this late lazy afternoon daydream
that I belong
in Thine enraptured arms
sheltered, courageous, warm,
bold and free
for today and tomorrow
until time’s last
dangling moment of eternity
*
"A Resting Place" photo by Michael Shoemaker
*
"Morning Meditation at Blue Lake" photo by Michael Shoemaker
____________________________
Michael Shoemaker is a husband, father, and Christian
who depends on Jesus’s grace every day. He is a poet, photographer, and writer from Magna, Utah. Michael
is the author of poetry/photography collections Rocky Mountain Reflections (Poets’ Choice, 2023) and Grasshoppers in the Field (New Harbor Press, August 2024). His written works have appeared in The Penwood Review, Valiant Scribe, The Christian Courier, Today’s Living Christian Magazine, Spirit Fire Review, and Pure in Heart Stories. His published photography has appeared in Writers on the Range, The Denver Post, Sea to Sky Review, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Seraphic Review,
The Front Porch Literary Review, Solid Food Press,
The Denver Gazette, and elsewhere. Michael has been awarded a Writer-in-Residence at the Wollf Cottage in Fairhope, Alabama and at the Tilikum Christian Writer’s Cabin in Newburg, Oregon. His online photography portfolio is at: https://michaelshoemaker.crevado.com/.
November 2024 issue
Love "red maple, white pine, and sweet birch."