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II Corinthians 10:5. May the fame of God be spread
09 December 2014
14 May 2014
Senior Poem 2014: Present Tense
When they
are old,
you hold
their hands—the shaking leather glove hands
of wisdom—
and you hear
the things you spent a childhood knowing,
the things
too obvious to say.
The things
you want your children to hold,
but can’t
tell them now
because kids
can’t reach them.
Yet.
When they
are old,
the common
place is precious,
and the
thunder
fades to a
pale tinkling of glass.
The eyes are
small Bethesda pools
of hope.
When they
are old,
they home
school you
on lessons
like
“the
shortest distance between two points”
is the
heart,
and “love is
an action verb”
that also
links.
That “time
is relative,”
but we give
it least to relatives.
When they
are old,
you
understand yesterday
more than
today.
But there are
no words that fit
but “show
grace to me.”
Because when
they are old,
you realize
that we never
learn. None of us.
Ever.
But now you
are young
with embers
of dreams
that can be
fanned
or
extinguished.
Now you look
both
ways before
crossing from one stage
of life to
another.
Now you
wonder who you are behind the
awkward
smile of the selfie.
But when
they are old,
you find
yourself poised between parent earth and child sky,
and you hear
them say,
“Take what
you can from
Me as
fertile soil.
Toughen to
be hard,
but not so
much to not be tender.”
26 March 2014
I Kneel to Pray on a Tuesday Night
the hand with a wooden rod.
The lungs are sponges for baptismal water
pressing across the chest.
The rumblings of understanding are slight taps
on the shoulder of a stranger.
The voice of thunder barely rustles
the re-sewn veil.
The fragrances of meaning
are absorbed in the fabric of speech.
Grace is a gift lying broken,
rocking back and forth,
on the floor
after the party.
How can I be real to you
when every word is digitized?
How can I climb into your heart
when my legs are scabbed and atrophied?
How can I be what you need
when all I worship are words?
24 October 2013
13 May 2013
Senior Poem 2013: 17
Standing on a hill, an arm’s length from the moon,
a small teary boy with a one-eyed bear in hand,
holds a balloon tethered to him by the thinnest string
while his face is pressed against the glass of stars.
A train coos a lullaby in the distance while
questions of truth and diligence babysit him.
Why is there hate? When is there pain?
What is a love? Where is hope?
How is alone?
In an empty room where teaching grew,
the desks face forward,
the lead desk abandoned.
Notes on conspiracies folded in corners of books of
Van Gogh. Starry Nights became dark when the stars fell from
canvas leaving melancholy swirls.
And I at 17
wander to places
too empty to share with company,
too lonely for invitation,
wondering if he or she this young
has such desolate places,
impoverished nightscapes
where cold winds of youth
rattle deserted cans of doubt,
the grime of lust and betrayal smeared on every building,
the scratches of rats’ feet across broken glass,
cat’s fighting in the
dark.
Cloudy, cloudy nights block
all light so that the neon sight of the gaudy motel
sign is the only guide for me.
There is a cloud which demands following,
a fire burning in the night
across forty year fields,
through emptiness where no IPhone rings or Starbucks grows,
over sandy thirsty hills where the ignorant rule and the
foolish gain power.
Lakes of tears and winds of cries
are stilled.
And there is meaning when there are no answers.
Standing on a hill, a ways from the moon,
a small teary boy, a one-eyed bear in hand,
holds a balloon tethered to him by the thinnest string.
Fingers loosen in release
to allow the prized to
join the stars.
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