Poem: The Journey

Back in the spring, I attended the first Annual Poet and Writer's workshops in Manchester, VT. One of the sessions I attended had us making collages out of clippings from magazines, them writing poetry to that collage. It was a study of how to take images first, then write our heart to those images, a way of "seeing" poetry in the flow of image around us. Above is my collage, and below is the resulting poem.

The Journey

The journey is not bliss or battle,
not found in books or memory
or work or dreams.

The journey is not meant to be traveled
alone, or apart,
or across empty seas.

It is mean to be traveled with...
and never ends, and
is never quite, seen.

It's a good exercise, I think, whether you are new to poetry, or long established, and I find myself turning to it often here, taking a photograph or something I have seen, and writing to it. Even in my latest round of "biblical" poetry, having a concrete image seems to help the reader link to it and makes it more accessible.

You can click on the collage for a larger view.

Tom

The Christian Vision Project

The Christian Vision Project is asking a select group of creative Christian thinkers—pastors, scholars, artists, and activists—one big question: Is our Gospel too small?

Not the real, actual gospel, of course, but what we have made of it. The answers, a series of essays and articles, makes for fascinating, erudite, and accessible reading.

Quote of the week

"Most of us are more comfortable appeasing this Darth Vader image we have of God because we read the bible as a religious rulebook rather than as an amazing love story." - Lisa Hartman, a Sunday School Teacher as quoted in Today's Christian Woman magazine.

Since 1991, I have put a "quote of the week" at the end of my e-mails. Often people ask me if I can pull up this quote or another and generally, I can't. So I decide to begin posting my quote of the week here on my blog. If you want to see a list of them, just hit the "quotes" tag to the right and they should all come up for you to view.

The picture was taken near Nace, Virginia. You can click on it for a larger view.

Tom

Poem: Turn Back

Turn Back
(from Deuteronomy 30)

Turn back,
back to the simplicity of open windows,
with the early morning wind wafting
room to room, uniting
with world outside with the world within;

back to eyes open
more to hope than fear,
to the possibility that God no longer points
at you, but towards your horizon, a place
far from your own imagining;

back to a place of open arms that allow
the embrace of promise,
from those who have loved you too long
alone.

=============

The photograph was taken this spring, outside a house in Vermont, part of the first blooming of the season. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Poetry.

I do love this quote. From my "Poetry Speaks" calendar.....

Good Poetry seems too simple and natural, a thing that when we meet it, we wonder that all men are not poets. Poetry is nothing but healthy speech. - Henry David Thoreau.

The picture is from Jefferson's Poplar Forest. You can click on it for a larger version.

Poem: A Moment of Selfishness

A Moment of Selfishness

Birds sing outside your window,
a riot of song and chatter
and you pause to listen,
smiling at their joy in the morning air.

It will make you late, this waiting,
this frivolous moment as you stand,
eyes closed
and give yourself to their joy.

Life can wait.
Responsibility can wait
for it never recedes,
always lurks

while this moment of joy
will pass in a moment
as winds carry the birds to new trees far away
and if you do not give yourself to is,
God's gift will be squandered.

So stop, dear heart.
Listen,
and carry this blessing with you.

Let it color your day.
Let your heart dance to it's music
and know

this moment of selfishness
is a gift,
not to be taken,
but accepted.

============

The picture was taken at Roaring Run, in Botetourt Country, Va. You can click on it for a larger version.

Don't Blame Oprah

The Pew Forum has just released a report on religious life in America. Likely you will see a flurry of articles over the next day or two in the papers and then won't hear of it again.
Which is a shame, because this is a major study. It involved 35,000 people from all walks, and there are some major trends that can't be ignored.

We forget sometimes how much of a role religion has played in our nation. Separation of church and state has not meant that faith has not been a shaper of culture and life and even policy. It has been a huge factor, and still is today.

The fact that faith is an influencer has not changed. What has changed is the nature of that faith, and with the change in nature, how it plays out in people's lives, in a changing culture, and in government policies. A move to less formal religious affiliations, to a more inwardly focused faith, and to something akin to "designer religion" has profound implications for life going forward.

Reading articles in papers this morning, the Christian church is up in arms over the results of the report, worried that faith is becoming as one of them called it - "Oprah-ized".

Don't blame Oprah. She's being true to her faith, and is doing what the church has always done - co-opting the language and symbols of culture (including Christianity) to spread her message and spiritual belief of a more open spirituality with verve, conviction and creativity.

I believe that on the whole we in the church have lost that verve, conviction and creativity. We have not lost the message, which we preserve. But somewhere along the way we have lost our ability in the church to adapt and build on the culture.

So to most of the world around us, we look reactionary. Instead of verve, we have programs. Instead of conviction, we have rules. Instead of creativity.... well we don't really have much creativity.

Verve, conviction and creativity are cornerstones of what draws people, and if the church wants to make a difference, we had best reclaim them, or continue our decline in modern culture. This does not mean watering down the message, but it does change HOW we spread the message. There are pockets of creativity and positive energy in the church, and where they are applied, the church is flourishing. Where they are not, the church has plateaued, or languished.

Pardon my rant here. It' the type of thing I used to rant about in my writing for the Faithful Democrats site (before they became more politics than faith) as one of their token conservatives. Now that I no longer write for them, I have few places to say what I believe.

I am NOT wringing my hands over the Pew report. I think it's good news because it tells us what the changes are, and what's working. Show me what works and I can change. The church, both individual churches, as well the universal church, should see this report as an opportunity to strategically look at faith and religion, and then begin to recreate some of the verve, conviction and creativity that was the hallmark of the church in it's times of great growth and relevance in the past.

Tom

PS - the picture is of Buchanan Baptist Church in Buchanan, Va. You can click on it to view a larger version.

Poem: Hosea 7:8

Hosea 7:8

You wake, and begin to move,
stopping briefly at the mirror
that reveals the truth,

a body tired by fifty two years of life,
energetic still, but worn,
wrinkled, a tiredness that shows

and goes beneath the surface,
to your heart, to your soul;
a wearyness

that wreaks of the past,
but is not the whole story,
for the cake is only half done,

ready to be turned,
the heat of God's spirit ready
to complete you,

fill you with an energy
the mirror cannot show,
and age and events cannot dim,

sure somehow that the wrinkles you see,
are not scars of the past,
but roadways to the future.

==============

Hosea 7:8 reads "Ephraim is a cake not turned." and according to the commentary I read this morning, A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. - Not unlike us humans.

The picture is from a home in Williams County, NY. You can click on it for a larger view.

Tom

Poem: Genesis 1

Genesis 1

You wake at the dawn of dawn,
the moment before light breaks
the monotonous horizon, when the sky is still dark
and yet you feel the promise of light,
and even before the first robin breaks into song,
you are sure of the day.

The moment reminds you of creation,
of that fairy tale you could never quite grasp,
of something, everything,
being formed by God's will and imagination,
out of nothing.

It was not the creation you could not fanthom,
but the nothing,
an emptiness vast as the unformed universe,
an unimaginable emptiness.

Unimagined that is,
until your own life disintegrated,
and you lost heart, soul, your very self
and you suddenly understood the horror
of the eternity before creation,
the nothing that existed

before God,
who sees life where they is no life,
touched you,
not ressurecting you,
but creating anew,
something out of nothing,
and you understand the truth
of that first chapter,
that creation is true, and never, ever,
ceases.

=============

The picture was taken in the gardens at Winterthur, one of the Dupont Mansions in Delaware that we visited on our vacation this past week. You may click on it for a larger version. The poem was written a couple of weeks ago, on a work trip to Atlanta.

Tom

Poem: The Meaning of Moonlight

The Meaning of Moonlight

Two children, perhaps ten years old
are in the back yard, peering
down a black telescope, staring
at the moon, discovering craters and mountains
that appear like magic from the ancient orb
that sits just over the horizon.

Like miniature scientists,
the two children trade facts
and truth about Diana's lantern:
a precise number of miles away,
the nature of light,
and the makeup of it's rock strewn face,

Even the temperature,
cold on the dark face,
and immeasurably hot here,
where you can see it's bright face.
But you see a different moon than they,
an object beyond science,
a thing seen, far over the ocean

by the one you love,
a connection of hearts separated,
yet linked, where distance
is temporary and fleeting,
and love travels faster
than the speed of light.

=================

Monday night, while visiting my sister in the DC area, my son and my niece were out in their back yard, looking at the moon through a telescope, playing scientists like two little grownups. All the while I was looking at the moon differently, and out of that, came this poem. The picture is of the moon that very night. Perhaps some of you noticed it too, where ever you live.

Tom

Poem: There is No Forever

There is No Forever

There is no forever.
Flowers bloom and die.
Leaves fall and bud anew.
Tides rise and fall and rise again.

There is no forever.
Lovers fail.
Friends leave.
The dearest die.

There is no forever,
only the moment,
the reaching, the hope
for what only God gives us,

one moment at a time,
like manna, a fleeting eternal gift,
all we need, for as long as we accept it
as the gift it truly is.

==============
The picture is of a thistle flower taken last summer. Thistles are so beautiful, yet bloom for only a short while, a good illustration of the poem's point. You can click on it for a larger view.

Tom

Sacred Space

The following comes from Sacred Space, an interactive prayer site I visit almost daily. It's Irish Catholic and I am an American Baptist who attends a Presbyterian church , but there is something about this site and the sacredness of it's thoughts that makes me look at things differently and often sends me to my own bible to read and think on those things. There is a pureness, a mysticalness to it, that attracts me. Here is a sample:

Jesus said, ‘Take up your cross.' (Mark 8:34-35) It is not something you go looking for in faraway places. Sooner or later the Lord hands us a cross, and our job is to recognize it. For each of us there are events that made a difference. Our sorrowful mysteries will be different for each reader. Maybe it was a meeting with a friend, a lover or an enemy. Maybe it was a sickness, or a triumph. We try to see our life through the eyes of faith, with a confidence that God in his Providence can draw good out of the most awful and unwelcome happenings.

This is true wisdom, to find a faith that can carry us through darkness, doubt, and suffering. They call it the mystical phase of religious development, and many of you who form the Sacred Space community are there.

We all need prayer, and starting from statements such as this, the site leads you through a prayer time that has you looking inwardly at ourselves, and upwardly to God. If you are looking for a new way to start a prayer discipline, you might consider Sacred Space.

Tom

PS - the picture is of a church in Pawlet, VT, taken early in the morning.

Poem: 1st Corinthians 13

1st Corinthians 13

How is it that Paul
who had no wife to embrace him
on cold desert nights,

who had no children to call his own
and fill his heart with songs and laughter,
and no mistress to inflame his passion......

How is it that this wanderer
with a heart more legal than warm,
who never knew the gentle sureness
of family and home....

How is it that he could write
this love letter of eternal perfection?

Do not tell me that God cannot transform us
and make us more than we are.
Paul's love poem is reason enough
to believe.

==============

I have been writing a fair number of poems recently based on bible verses I have been reading. Over the next week or two, I will be posting some of them here.

The photograph is of Jennings Creek Baptist Church in Jennings Creek, Virginia, not far from Natural Bridge. You can click on it for a larger view.

Tom

Wordzzles

You know me and my love of writer's prompts. Some people see writer's prompts as a way to break through writer's block, and certainly they are good for that. But they are also a way to stretch your writing muscles and try something different, to break out of your rut. Via Akelamalu, a visitor here, I heard about something called "Wordzzles".

Wordzzles seem to be a cross between a word puzzle and a writer's prompt. Basically you are given a list of words or phrases, and it's up to you to write a coherent paragraph or story using those words. There is at least one site out there that gives you the prompts, called Raven's Nest. After you've tried your hand, you can post your paragraph on Raven's site to share with the world, as well as see how others have written to the same idea. Great fun!

Tom

PS - the picture is from the Haunted House at Natural Bridge, Virginia. It's the way I feel when I haven't written anything for a long time! You can click on it for a larger view.

Poem: Sap Dance

Sap Dance

Steam swirls around you,
sweet with sap from a thousand trees,
tapped, drained and boiled over the hardwood fire,
slowly condensed, purified.

The season is short,
those few perfect days of warmth
with icy nights,
neither winter nor spring,
but something in between,

an imperfect balance
that brings the perfect mix
for sweet syrup.

================

The picture is from this past winter, taken in Durkeetown, NY. (In light of the heat wave hitting us here in the east this week, the image of snow had a certain appeal.) You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

A picture is worth .....

I've been traveling way too much for work lately, so very little poetry. But here are some pictures from gardens I visited not too long ago. God's handiwork outstrips my words any day! You can click on them to get a larger version.

Tom

Poem: Psalm 23

Psalm 23

David was right.
As he sat at his table
surrounded by enemies
in the midst of dark death
and utter hopelessness,

he did not despair
but wrote poetry,
verses of grace and love
and God's own presence
and in the process

renewed generations of hearts
even as he saved his own.

======================

There are a lot of things that got me through the past few years of troubles, and one of the biggest was poetry - always an outlet for the heart. When reading Psalm 23, I came to understand that while David was probably writing to get his heart out, he was also helping others in their own paths to healing and hope, and so... this poem.

The picture is of a sunrise outside my front door. You can click on it to see a larger version.

Tom

Blog Blast for Peace

South Wind

The rain has fallen all the week and the creek is high,
nearly out of it's banks, swirling with anger
and irrational power, tearing trees from the banks
and hurling them downstream in riot of currents gone amok.

You stand in the rain, watching the water creep higher each hour.
Wet and cold with the incessant downpour, you wonder
how much longer before the water rips the very earth
and tears aside the foundation of the house you built so long ago.

Each pelting drop of rain is torture. Each dancing whirl of water
threatens the place you have called home,
threatens to sweep away the tiny garden by your door.
You shiver in fear, and stay in wonder,

as if, by your presence, the flood would abate.
As if, by the power of your prayer the rain would stop.
With each passing moment of downpour, your sense of smallness
rises like the water itself, when it happens - the south wind

rises and as mysteriously as they came, so many nights ago,
the clouds part and the sun drenches the land
with bright, warming light, almost blinding
after so many days of dark.

Suddenly, the flowers that remain seem brighter,
the grass greener, and you can almost see the waters
subside inch by inch.

And still you stand,
amazed. Grateful.
Overwhelmed,
for in this singly moment

you have experienced the nearness of death
and the peace of life
returned.


===================
Started by Mimi Lenox a writer and blogger from North Carolina (I think), Blog Blast for Peace has become an annual event, with bloggers around the world writing on the subject of peace. The range of approaches is phenomenal and if you are interested in seeing the range of then, visit Mimi's blog and visit some of the many, many bloggers who take part in this event each year.

For me, all peace comes from God, and from a place inside ourselves first. Only when we live in a place without internal conflict, can we shed the external conflict that is part and parcel of life, and so I chose a poem that, I hope, reflects that.

Tom

There is justice

One of the poetry news stories of 2007 was the December break-in and vandalism of the Robert Frost farm in Ripton, Vt. A large group of young people broke into the New England home, vandalized it, and held a keg party, doing over $10,000.00 damage to the historic house and grounds. There was a flurry of articles on the story, then it seems to have died down.

Today's USA Today reports that the vandalizing students have been caught, and part of their punishment, they are being required to take a course on Robert Frost. According to the prosecutor, the idea is to that if these teens had a clear understanding of who Frost was and his place in history and our society, they would have a different kind of respect for people's property.

What a shame that learning about one of America's great poets is considered punishment. But at the same time, it seems a good thing to give these teens a taste of poetry, and some of the best at that. If one or two come out touched by it, even the vandalism will have had meaning.

And it might have some effect. I am constantly surprised at how teens respond to poetry, and poets. I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that many teens have emotions running around in their heads and hearts that they can't get out in a good way, and most recognize poetry as a legit way to get it out. I'd love to read a follow up story on the impact, if any, that this "punishment" has on the teens.

Want to know more? There is a good article on Yahoo about it that shows some of the youth's recations, and you can read it here.

Tom

Quote of the Week: June 1

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." ~Thornton Wilder

Since 1991, I have put a "quote of the week" at the end of my e-mails. Often people ask me if I can pull up this quote or another and generally, I can't. So I decide to begin posting my quote of the week here on my blog. If you want to see a list of them, just hit the "quotes" tag to the right and they should all come up for you to view.

The photograph is one my treasures, of my grandfather, my father and I (I'm the little boy), taken 45+ years ago, and it reminds me of my grandfather in particular, who was dear to me. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

Poem: Nightwhawks

Nighthawks
(inspired by the Edward Hopper painting)

It is late at night and the couple sits
next to each other,
coffee cups on opposite sides,
together, yet worlds apart,

not unlike the world you once lived in,
where proximity had nothing
to do with closeness,
where time was not the investment
you imagined, and where,

like the couple in the painting,
your legs could touch
in the dark lateness of night,
and no spark fly between you.

It is a painting, nothing more, yet
you see it's truth, and you know
that each person there is thinking,
their minds and hearts somewhere else,
with someone else,

someone far away,
yet closer than the person next to them,
and that for the heart,
distance is not a measurement of inches and miles,
but something else,
something soulful.

You know this because your heart
is not here where you write, but far away,
not in the southern state of your birth
with it's Dixie propaganda
and lush June honeysuckle,
but instead lives in the sparse air of New England,
where people do not eat in diners,
but at home, near the warmth of fires
that burn from within.

=============

A while back I took part in a poet's conference, the first annual Manchester and the Mountains Poetry and Writer's conference. One of the workshops I took was a collage workshop, where first each of us made a collage, and then took those images and wrote a poem, the idea being to start focusing on images as sources to write from. Since then, I've been more conscious of the images around me.

This poem came from a book of poems I bought in PA, where several poets wrote poems based on the art of Edward Hopper, and I decided to do the same thing, taking one of his most famous paintings, Nighthawks, and writing a poem to it. You can click on the painting to get a larger view. In fact, I'd suggest it, since you can't really get the poem as fully without seeing the picture.

Tom