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 delicateContinueContinue reading “Bust of Pilate”
Category Archives: poetry
This Strange Gardener
I wrote an Easter Poem, but it wasn’t ready yet last week. Luckily, it is still very much Easter Season. Ekphrastic is a fun word, but it is only the beginning of why I wrote this poem. The pastor was reading John 20 on Easter, and I was tapping out a reflection on Mary’s mistakingContinueContinue reading “This Strange Gardener”
Walking on the Beach
Thinking about feet and Matthew 7:24-27 on Maundy ThursdayWalking on the BeachDesiccation 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;This is a placeContinueContinue 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 communityContinueContinue reading “A Prayer to the Unflinching East”
Reorientation
More than a score of years ago I learnedBig Dipper spills her cup into the North,Merak and Dubhe have forever burnedAn arrow aimed at North Star’s clear “Go forth!”It seemed like magic to know the way,No matter where I wandered, she was found,A trust in heaven that could keep at bayThe doubts of lefts andContinueContinue reading “Reorientation”
Deuteronomic: A Christian Poet’s Manifesto
after Deuteronomy 4:9Take 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; And hearts will shineContinueContinue 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 voceBelowContinueContinue 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 windbreakContinueContinue reading “False Spring Birds”
Kainos Ktisis: Second Draft
I went to a conference last week where I met a bunch of poets. I got to read a previous version of this poem for a group and got some feedback. Usually not the result of an editing session, but this poem has been expanded. Kainos Ktisis for Francis Quarles A fourth dimension that’s muchContinueContinue reading “Kainos Ktisis: Second Draft”
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 trunkContinueContinue 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 ContinueContinue 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. HowContinueContinue 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 andContinueContinue reading “Between Some Birds and Me”
No Need to Be Jacob Marley
No Need to Be Jacob Marley for Joel There is no need for me to be Jacob Marley, no shaking of chains in the night, No cold wandering moon to partake of, No threats to spit nor fatal portent cite. Because the ghost they have made is much worse Than I could be in my outpour of wrath. No, IContinueContinue reading “No Need to Be Jacob Marley”
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, forContinueContinue 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 eyesContinueContinue 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 Over everyContinueContinue reading “Earth and Sky Making Love Between My Head and Heart”
Early Dark — A Friday Sonnet
In secret woods, tucked between business parks,The fireflies wake early for their eveningDance, which today begins at noon. The sparksOf yellow-green presaging the lightningWhich gathers above my deepening shade.And I contemplate the early leaving Which severe weather on my way has made–Storms of words which would make clocks deceiving,Calendars fly forward years in a score;ErasingContinueContinue reading “Early Dark — A Friday Sonnet”
A Poem from Galatians Chapter 2 on Peter and Paul’s Feast Day
Today is the feast day of Peter and Paul on the Christian Calendar. I was thinking about their dialogue in Galatians 2 (as Paul tells it), and praying about how my own heart and mind has changed, and hasn’t. This Way of Jesus is a daily discipline. May we be so diligent as Peter andContinueContinue reading “A Poem from Galatians Chapter 2 on Peter and Paul’s Feast Day”
Ambition With No Desire
Ambition With No DesireFor Sir Gibbie“Ambition is but the evil shadow of aspiration.” George MacDonald Ambition with no desire,Striving but never wanting,Getting without any receiving—Houses built on sand. And the sky is full with threatOf rain—of trembling sheets of rain.Master Mason, give meBetter materials for this home:Aspiration’s holy fire,Worthy work for worthy hands,My self asContinueContinue reading “Ambition With No Desire”
Today, if you hear his voice 