Writing The Child

Free Range

Doh-Re-You
And
Doh-Re-Me,
All God's creatures
Want to be free!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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I Am Confused

You don't
Have to know
What everything means.
Even when you're old
And you like green beans.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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Ozone Man

Oh no!
Bob forgot
to put on his sunscreen!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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Happy

Happy is joy
And joy is love.
They all come
From heaven above.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

On the night before your birthday, a little after midnight when you are asleep:

The Roving Birthday Beast will secretly come to your house and bring you good luck for the next year. How do you know if the Roving Birthday Beast has been to your house? He will leave some banana peels in your trash can!

So when you wake up on your birthday morning, look in the trash, and if you find some banana peels then you know he's been there and you'll have really good luck for the next year!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

The Mighty Sow Bug

God bless the mighty sow bug,

God bless his mighty roar.

He wakes me from my winter sleep,

Pounding on my door.

He doesn’t like the cold,

He hates it when it snows.

But when warm summer comes at last

He packs his bags and goes.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar

~ Click on image to enlarge
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Big Or Small?

Big
Or small?

It all
Depends
On the size
Of your friends.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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I Wish For A Fish

I threw a penny
Into the sea
And wished a wish,
A secret for me.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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The Monsters I Make

The monsters I make can be scary,
Scary and hairy all day.
I give them great big bags of candy
So they’ll scare all my bad dreams away.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Believing In Santa

When I first told my children about Santa Claus, of course I knew there was no actual human being I was talking about. But I told my children he was real and would reward them for being good.I didn’t care how they envisioned Santa, for there are so many variations of his image, all so innocent in spirit, lighthearted and loving. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care how they imagined he spent his time at the North Pole with Mrs. Claus, the elves and reindeer. It didn’t matter.

We all understood that Santa was real in a different way than our friends and neighbors were real. He was real in spirit, and so we could imagine all sorts of things about Santa and even read conflicting ideas about his life and accept them all without difficulty. After all, nobody really knew for sure.

The specific details of Santa’s existence were not important. It was the underlying truth, that there are larger reasons for good behavior, reasons that could last for a year or even longer. Santa was a power for goodness in the world who would bless you for your honest heart and punish those who were cruel and deceptive.

As a grownup, I replaced the idea of Santa with knowledge. I knew that honesty, no matter how unrecognized it may be among friends and family, fills your life with joy, the kind of joy that is free from shame and guilt. I also knew that those who are dishonest and mean, no matter how long their actions may go undetected, are immediately punished for their sins because of who they become. They have lost the heart of an innocent child.

Heaven and hell are here, and those who are evil live in a hell of their own making, the hell of their own existence, no matter how long they avoid punishment from others.

In this dangerous and unpredictable world there are so many good people who are so unjustly punished by life, by disease, natural disaster, political oppression or just everyday happenstance. Earth is a place where all things are possible, both good and bad. It has something to do with free will. But if we struggle against adversity with an honest heart, we will find higher ground.

So my children grew up believing in Santa, even though they did not keep him firmly in mind throughout the year. But they grew up believing that striving to be honest and good was the right way to live. And even though some of the children they knew did not believe in Santa, they did not fight with them. Some believed, some didn’t. It didn’t matter.

Most of the children who believed in Santa needed no proof. They accepted Santa as a matter of faith, buttressed by the occasional Christmas morning miracle of the missing cookies and nearly empty glass of milk. When my children began to seriously question the existence of Santa, I took them to an old stone church and we sat in a beautiful, vine-encrusted alcove and I explained that Santa was more than just one single person.

I told them Santa was the spirit of giving that lives in all of us who find joy in bringing happiness to others. I told them every department store Santa who gave joy to little children was filled with the spirit of Santa. I told them every parent who wrapped up a special gift with a card that said, “Love to you, from Santa!” was inspired by the spirit of Santa. I told them Santa was more magic than they imagined, that instead of being just one person, Santa was the spirit of kindness and love that filled the hearts of millions, especially at Christmas, and that we should keep his spirit alive every day of the year.

I told them that as we grow up, many of us replace the idea of Santa with the idea of God.

I told them the best parts of all religions were filled with this spirit, and that this is what so many people mean by the word God, that God is a force for honesty, kindness and love in the world. I told them it does not matter how we picture God or how we define God. As long as we fill our hearts with love and charity, then we are doing the work of God here on Earth.

I told them words and pictures are what we use to help us understand the spirit of Santa, the spirit of God, but the words and pictures are not what’s important. It is the meaning behind the words and pictures, the inspiration that fills each heart.

We are all imperfect, we all make mistakes and we all have times in our lives when we are so certain about things that we become blind to our errors. To fight each other over ideas about God is like trying to prove whose idea of Santa is the real idea. To fight each other over ideas of God is to be so certain that we have become blind to our own imperfection and capacity for error.

I told them some people forget that these stories are about meanings, not details. They are intended to open our hearts and help direct the course of our lives. It’s the message that's important, and what it says to each of us.

I told them to respect the religions of all cultures, that whatever ideas of God people believe in, if these ideas open their hearts and lead them toward honesty, compassion and love, then they are on the right path – all of them.

The details are not what’s important. We all speak different languages and have different ways of describing and understanding things. It’s the essence from which all explanations come that is important. That’s what faith is for, to keep the connection strong between ourselves and God because words are not enough.

We all have to start somewhere. Some of us start with Santa. The important thing is to realize that spiritual growth is like any other kind of growth – it requires change. The lessons we learn as children are for children. The lessons we learn at the beginning of our spiritual journeys are for beginnings. To grow a larger soul, we must not get stuck. We must not stop. We must keep going.

~~~

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11

~ by Russ Allison Loar
~ Photo by Russ Allison Loar: Christopher & Joshua Loar with Santa
© All Rights Reserved

Kite Flyer

I cannot see the man in the moon
Though I've tried with all my might
So I made my own man in the moon
And put him on my kite!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Modern Art Fish

This is a modern art fish,
A line and a shape or two.
If it looked more like a fish
Would it be modern to you?

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Apprehensive

Apprehensive is a big word to say
My brain does not want me to go this way.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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Too Fast!

If you go too fast, everything gets blurry!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

The Elephant

Front or back,
Right or left,
Up or down,
Happy or sad,
Smart or stupid,
Young or old,
Nobody sees the same elephant.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Time Keeper

I am the one who turns back time

This chilly gray morning

While wife and children slumber

In the hibernation of Sunday.

I sneak like a tooth fairy

From room to room,

Setting back clocks,

Slipping another hour of sleep

Silently under their pillows,

Hastening the darkening of a season

Already too dark for my timeless soul.

~ Poem and artwork by Russ Allison Loar

~ Click on image to enlarge

Chester

Chester is a happy dog.
He likes to eat submarine sandwiches.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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Bearly

My teddy bear
Is barely there,
That’s cause
He tiptoes
Everywhere.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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Evolution

~ by Russ Allison Loar
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Higher Learning

~ A painting on Pitzer College wall

~ Photo by Russ Allison Loar
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Spuding

How can you tell how fast your potato is going?

Check the Spudometer!

~ Cut and paste by Russ Allison Loar
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Trunked!

Ye Gads! I've got a trunk!

Sometimes we don't know
what we really look like
until we look in the mirror.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

My Heart Is Blue

When I am sad
My heart is blue.
Does this ever
Happen to you?

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Kitty Up A Tree

Kitty up a tree,
Glad it isn’t me,
‘Cause if it were
I’d have no fur,
And speak English.

~ Poem by Russ Allison Loar
~ Artwork by Cheryl McQueen Loar

& Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

All Day Long

A little brown bird
Sang this song:
"I’ve been a little bird
All day long."

~ Poem and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

The Book Of Life

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Waiting For The Sun

Sometimes it seems like a little rain cloud is following me around no matter where I go.

But I know the rain will stop and the sun will shine.
All I have to do is wait!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Life On The Moon

My grandfather, Herman Allison,
born in 1885, in Texas, once told me that when he was a schoolboy, a topic for debate was:

"Is the moon inhabited?"

He lived long enough to see Neil Armstrong stand on the moon.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Home

Home is a place in the heart.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Beautiful

Everything is beautiful!

~ By Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
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My Cat

O the quiet life of my cat
Who dreams of simple things,
Like chasing birds,
Eating words
And wearing diamond rings.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Before I Barely Knew Anything

Before I barely knew anything
I awakened each summer morning
To the cawing of crows
And thought,
How very tall these trees
In which they gather to ruffle their feathers
In the morning breeze,
How tall these trees
And how much these crows must see.

I climbed an orange tree,
So frightened by the height,
So amazed at the sight of neighboring houses
And city streets
And thought about what the crows must see
From the tops of the sycamore trees
And from higher still
As they rise into the sky,
Knowing I would never know
What they know,
Before I barely knew anything.

~ Poem and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

~ Photograph by Russ Allison Loar

Click on photo to enlarge

Fishing

All The King’s Horses

Where are those children
Who wanted to play?
Where are their toys,
Have they put them away?

Where is my son,
Has he grown up and gone?
My little daughter,
A child of her own?

All the king’s horses
And all the king’s men
Cannot put childhood
Together again.

~ By Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

My Kitty Has A Dishrag

My kitty has a dishrag,
It’s pink and rough and wet,
She scrubs herself all over
When she comes home from the vet.

~ Poem and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Sheeps

The hills are alive
With the sound of sheep,
They sleep all day long
But at night they creep,
Into the houses
Of young girls and boys
And put on their clothes
And play with their toys.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Heaven

What Is Art?

Cheese from a rat is like soap for a hog,
You can’t write your mother by using a log.
A nose is indifferent to all that is art,
The opera’s a good place to rip loose a fart.

~ Words and rat by Russ Allison Loar
~ Painting by Sam Francis at the Huntington Library & Gardens
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Terrible Teapot Song

I'm a little teapot
Short and stout,
Kick me in the rear
And step on my snout.

I'm a little teapot
Fat and wide,
Take me to the slaughterhouse
And cut off my hide!

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

What A Little Bird Told Me

Under The Sea

Children Have A Chance

Children have a chance
To change what their parents have done,
To set aside the old ways,
To walk in the light of the sun.

~ Poem and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Imagine

Home On The Range

No Surprises

What Is this?

This is a mother whale,
Swimming in the ocean
With her baby,
Coming up for air.

She is an abstract whale,
Swimming in an abstract ocean
With her abstract baby,
Coming up for some abstract air.

The abstract sun is shining
And the abstract water is warm.

The mother and her baby are happy.
They don't mind being abstract
Because they are really alive somewhere.

~ Words and artwork by Russ Allison Loar
~ Click on image to enlarge
© All Rights Reserved

Stoopid

Dirt Devil

He's smelly and mean,

You can't get him clean,

He hides in secret places

That you've never seen.