Journey of Words

God’s joy moves from unmarked box to unmarked box,
from cell to cell. As rainwater, down into flowerbed.
As roses up from the ground.
Now it looks like a plate of rice and fish,
now a cliff covered with vines,
now a horse being saddled.
It hides within these,
till one day it cracks them open.

-Rumi

It is hidden behind
the bright green eyes,
under unmanageable blond hair,
of one who the world says
is odd,
is different,
is slow.

But it is this boy
who lives his life
broken open each
day
with the joy
that we search for
but rarely see from
amid the busyness
of the world.

Where do you find the hidden joy of God?

This is the life you’ve been given.
Well…it fits too tight
Like those jeans of yours
You know

The ones in the
Back of the closet

The ones you last wore
When you were seventeen
going on thirty.

The ones you tried on
Last week
When you felt that desire to
Make an exchange,
To return what you have
To relive those high school and
College days
That weren’t so good
To begin with.

Life has moved you on,
Has given to you
Its no returns,
No exchange policy
In the form of

A spouse,
A child
(Maybe two),
A home,
A faith
more mature
Than what you once had

Even so
You look during
Dark, quiet evenings
At the
“What could have beens”
And the
“If onlys”
And you tell the shadows
Of the past that you would like
To make an exchange

But not really.

This post is part of L.L. Barkat’s (Seedlings in Stone) Giving Away A Beginning. Go a visit to see the many other great posts on beginnings this New Years Day!

It Is Good

begin: to come into existence; to bring into being¹

it started with nothingness
it was neither light nor dark,
it was neither hot nor cold,
it didn’t exist
except in the mind of the maker.

the maker thought,
considered,
and then spoke.
a word.

it began with a word,
it heard the word,
it became light,
it became warm,
it came into being.

and it was good.
yes, it was good.

but in time
it changed.
it listened to
the other,
it stopped hearing
the word.

it became a bit darker,
it became a bit cooler,
it began to listen to itself.

it was still good,
not perfect but still
good

the maker thought,
considered,
the word became
it
to restore,
to redeem,
to return.

and it is good,
yes, it is good.

1. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [↩]

Form of a Poem

the supple softness and
gentle curve of the breast.
the river of flowing hair
tossed
over a small curve
of shoulder following
the spine’s curvature
leading in directions
unknown

the mirror

the mirror stands as a testament to
imperfectly reflect that which is real,
the surface reflects what we need to do
we see dimly, looking hard for his seal
behind the veil which separates the worlds
of here and now and of eternity
which, in part, we are shown by his heralds,
glimpses brief ’til called to see completely,
our journey is not a means to an end
rather it is the end within itself
remember what is reflected will lend
chance to see reality of oneself
               hidden behind the veil for all to see
               what the reflection offers us to be

Ok then…I’ve been sitting on these few lines for several weeks now wondering where they might lead. I need to throw it out there for some feedback, good or bad. Does this look like it will go anywhere? What feelings are evoked when you read this bit?

Maybe it just needs to percolate a bit longer…

Thoughts? Comments?

In the Image of God,
In the Image of Man

…God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them…

icons
images of the saints
in orderly lines
of godliness grace,
pale, gray plaster
lining the walls,
with pious eyes
offering ancient solace
and silence

Update: Thanks L.L. for the highlight on this weeks RAP at HCB! For more RAP goodness take a look at these blogs:

A Simple Country Girl’s Raspberries
Monica’s Dinner Table
Joelle’s The Beginning of the Path to There
Claire’s Wind-Tossed Paper
Laura’s Tumor
Yvette’s A Daily Prayer
Sara’s Night
LL’s Sweep
Deb’s Orange Glow

Faith is not linear. It is, indeed, a widening of the imagination, a leap into the transcendent, a taste of the numinous, a vision of the extraordinary in the ordinary. And our coach for the leap, the glue in the link, is our Muse, the Spirit of God.¹

1. Luci Shaw “The Partnership of Art and Spirituality” [↩]

Twitterer @KMWeiland of Wordplay fame tweeted this quote recently. Being that it is from one of my favorite authors I thought it worth posting.

When the artist is truly the servant of the work, the work is better than the artist. – Madeleine L’Engle

I enjoyed watching the spectators enjoyment as much as the actual performance. It begs the question: what have you done in four minutes (or three or five) to bring joy to another human being today?

Found this on TED this morning and thought it worth passing along. Poets.org has more on C.K. Williams as well.