Author Archives: Benjamin White

Today should be a holiday for Christians to encourage us to do things that don’t compute. Let us not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Giacomo BallaItalian, 1871–1958″Spiritual Scene”, 1925Oil on canvas Fools for Christ DayApril 1st The message of the cross is foolishnessTo those who setContinueContinue reading “Fools for Christ Day”

The Proving Drawer: A Lenten Reflection Prepared like a proving doughI am eager to rise.Shut in the perfect drawerDesigned for just this purpose.I will trust the leavenAlready worked well through me.I will trust the handsThat kneaded me to know. You can listen to me read it here https://on.soundcloud.com/AKDmwB7BpTXHupWv9

If God can use the stars to beckon three,Then who can say our lives are what they seem?If one, I might decide to shade the gleam;If two, then tough to say I didn’t see;But three undoes my will to disagree;And I must now learn how to trust my dreams,To open eyes unscaled by mote andContinueContinue reading “If Epiphany Then”

This is a brand new one. Winter’s Turn The dawn is not so distant when this ballOf blue begins the turn from out to in.It’s been so long since day and night were twinsThat night can seem to overtake it all;Providing more than leaves to call the fall.And to a point, the darkness seems toContinueContinue reading “A Fourth Petrarchan Sonnet for Advent with the Shepherds”

I’m sharing my Advent sonnets, which follow the traditional characters for each week. This week it’s John the Baptist. Week Two: Relic radiation is the cosmic background radiation, which is a remnant from the big bang according to scientific theory. In the 2000s, scientists actually measured the postulated frequencies. The data we measured are calledContinueContinue reading “Another Advent Sonnet for Week Two”

On the eve of the second Sunday of Advent, I decided to share my Advent onnet again with you. Week One I like to be like more than I like to be liked. Discovering my theological bedfellows in the ancient and recent past gives me so much hope. When my inspiration matches someone from yearsContinueContinue reading “A Petrarchan Sonnet for the Prophets”

The sounds of children come Across the waterway as waftsOf whiskey brightness fromA taster’s glass; as traffic, drumHead brushing, beats a softAnd windy rhythmic undertone.The light is amber in Same said glass, lovely coating too,Paint on trees and on my skin.See river and her lofty twin?The latter’s losing blue;The former’s soon to swim alone.Moving and moving allThroughContinueContinue reading “A Sip of Cooper River Rye”

It’s raining in her dreams,The rocks up on the hill are set to roll,Potential energy and brimstone.When at last they come down,Her brother appearsEvery time. He gathers her and everyone she lovesInto a place where they survive.He’s always wearing blue,He’s always just in time,The rain does not wet him.It’s like he isn’t there.And soon she isn’tContinueContinue reading “Her Favorite Color Was Blue”

Pacific waves of childhood memoryAre broken over me and made more slightSince I have sought them as a man and seeThat they are smaller in my full-grown sight.The water is yet cold and shares a stingWith salted thoughts that haven’t changed too much–A certain kind of salty, differingNamelessly from Atlantic such and such–But thunderous andContinueContinue reading “Wave Quest”

Why I Don’t Live in CaliforniaA watershed threnody I grew from zygote in the dry brown hillsOf California where all green can claimIt’s parentage as engineering skill.From far across the desert miles there cameThe Colorado Aqueduct, which floatsFrom Arizona’s Parker Dam where firstI learned to water ski. My grandpa’s boatWas wet with water draining forContinueContinue reading “Why I Don’t Live in California”

SolareLate June evening, heatwave reprieving, just.I’m driving through the park with windows down,Full feeling every drop of this day’s dusk.The dearest freshness of the trees aroundMe sinking into smiles that whisper love;Returning that which breathing trees can makeAnd only skin can tell. When they’re aboveI’m plunging into depths of mountain lakes.When they’re around I’m swirlingContinueContinue reading “Solare: A Midsummer Sonnet”