What I Know: A sonnet with the Marquis of Lossie

If you know me, you know I love George MacDonald. I write down quotes as I read through his works. I haven’t read them all yet, but I’m getting closer! This quote felt like it was close to a found poem all by itself, but it evolved into a sonnet below. “Does he not demandContinue reading “What I Know: A sonnet with the Marquis of Lossie”

Bust of Pilate

A concave darkness, deep in eyes of stoneSees true and false in one uneasy breath;A bust and not the rest, no flesh and bone.The heartless head of one who dealt out deathIs, unsurprisingly, colorless, naught.His eyes are hollowed out by sculptor’s skill,The iris is a void, the pupil wroughtBy tender scraping, scratching, smoothing ‘tilTwo delicateContinue reading “Bust of Pilate”

Walking on the Beach

Thinking about feet and Matthew 7:24-27 on Maundy Thursday Walking on the Beach Desiccation ready here,Crumbling sand crunches,Despite the wet sea breeze. Lumpy waves of wind-made moundsTo plod throughAs I seek the ocean’s prize;Not quite dunesBut dune-likeOn a smaller scale. Here, Near my home,The Jersey ShoreIs streaked with darker sand,Stirred throughWith bits of shells; ThisContinue reading “Walking on the Beach”

A Prayer to the Unflinching East

I’m letting Thomas Keating lead me through Lent this year with a collection of his meditations called Journey to the Center. Each day’s reading includes a prayer. “Deliriously Happy Light” began one of the prayers. “Deliriously” is an interestingly two iambed word, so, naturally, it began a sonnet. Keating’s work as a writer and communityContinue reading “A Prayer to the Unflinching East”

Deuteronomic: A Christian Poet’s Manifesto

after Deuteronomy 4:9 Take care to watch yourself closely so as Not to forget the things your eyes have seen, Your ears have heard, the things your heart’s heart has Received and interwoven in your being.  You must remember daily, or you run The risk of losing more than what you’ve known.  Unknowing runs to eyes and ears undone; AndContinue reading “Deuteronomic: A Christian Poet’s Manifesto”

Acoustic Body

Delicate hairsof my ear lobesQuiver gladlywith bulb whispersBreaking blindlyfrom beneath the ground. EyelidsClosing ‘roundMourning dove’s minor thirdbring blood’s brightness to the harmonious humof all eyes see. KneecapsShivering with water’sRipple trill, thoseDazzled bonesEmbraced and embracingWhat peaks must tell. SternumSyncing with eachBore hole beat;the flickers are makingTheir signatureand singing this feast. Rough skinof my elbowsShushing sotto voceBelowContinue reading “Acoustic Body”

False Spring Birds

in Lancaster County, PA These birds woke up as rain lay down to sleepTo scatter dreams upon this false-spring field;February alive from somewhere deep, Reviving early with a hope to yieldThe harvest sooner than it has before.A warm wind seeping from beyond my prayersTo fill the feathers for these birds to soarFrom stubble into windbreakContinue reading “False Spring Birds”

How Long Love Holds 

Only to grow so old in love as these Beloveds in the rest stop parking here! For love that lasts much longer than my knees, For tenderness exceeding vision clear, The chance to prove that I could go so far! A husband who so carefully prepared The chair his wife would wheel in from the car. I watched him get it from the trunkContinue reading “How Long Love Holds “

Of Water and of Wind

After John 3  A long-legged spider  Just descended from the trees  Suspended by her thread,  She dipped her head in water  And rose up  As quickly as she came  Gathering hungrily  With forelegs, the thread  And her body,  Deftly ascending back into the branches,  Cradling between her head and thorax  A single drop of water Continue reading “Of Water and of Wind”

Making Room for the Promise

Expanding Promises Advent is the season of promises — those that have been fulfilled in Jesus and those He gave us himself. Advent means “arrival.” The word comes to us from the Latin, “Adventus”, which is a translation of the Greek, “Parousia.” The fancy words don’t matter to me as much as their difference. HowContinue reading “Making Room for the Promise”

Between Some Birds and Me

Between Some Birds and Me Upon driving past a heron at sixty miles per hour on November 29, 2022  There was a time when herons would arrest Me on my path. For more than moment’s I Would stop to swallow all this beauty’s best Before it loped away. My widened eyes, Too greedy for a goodly view, approached In heart andContinue reading “Between Some Birds and Me”

Remembered Forgetting

Remembered Forgetting for Briggs How many ghosts live mostly lost in livesLike ours? Some long and lasting, others brief,These friendships, journeys that do not arrive. Ways can divide by pride and bitter grief;Ambition, chance, desire; joy and neglect;And someone who was-is someone is not,Well, not to me.……………………………….So I did not expectTo see him dead, forContinue reading “Remembered Forgetting”

Glassy Beams: A Corona of Sonnets

Remembering a childhood punishment and dreaming of the pure in heart who shall see God, I wrote this corona of sonnets which hopes to offer a continuous path through the passion of my brokenness, the hope of my human capacity for singleness of will, and the vision of my very self through the loving eyesContinue reading “Glassy Beams: A Corona of Sonnets”

Earth and Sky Making Love Between My Head and Heart

Aggrilacious odor (Greek and Latin concur) Of earth-goddess veins; “Petrichor” numbered and named by Joy (Isabel, “pledged to Yah”), With Homer riding high (Homer, also “pledge”), Receiving tribute From Richard’s study wall (rīk-hardu, “king strong”).   The lengths we have gone To know and name all we know; To reign like so many Richards OverContinue reading “Earth and Sky Making Love Between My Head and Heart”