Category Archives: poetry

He descended to hell

In my resurrection icons Jesus does not rise alone, but hanging on his winding cloths, his wounded feet, holding on his holy hands, a conspiracy of new creation spills from an empty tomb. Image via Monastery Icons

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Tenebrae

Scarlet shadows seeping backward from the cross; cruel fascination draws us to the flame like moths, extinguished one by one; love like an earthquake sends us trembling toward the tomb

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Kind conspiracy

Sun low, river high, Nature’s un-kind conspiring to blind Narcissus.

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Attempting faith

I crossed the creek on the old tree trunk, letting its broad back bridge the gap between my fear and its fall. I trod in the lake, letting its icy wash awaken the dream of walking on water.

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The stones would shout

If these walls could speak, they would sing of the sun’s light seeping into sandstone, warming the night when Love comes calling … Continue reading

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Anointing

They say that scent is the closest sense to memory; I wouldn’t know, but Jesus, enveloped in the memory of myrrh – his mother Mary eked it out, birth by birth – his mortality laid out end to end, Jesus … Continue reading

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A prayer for the anxious preacher

Faint stigmata of fingernails in palm-flesh, the careful unclenching of the jaw do not show, but You know, Anointed with anxiety in the Garden. If I lay end to end the moments I have spent, keys in hand, chanting, “okay, … Continue reading

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A prayer for the weary preacher

Abundant Word, your economy of language makes wine out of water, a feast of fish and bread, breaking nets out of sleepless nights I come with crumbs, with unslept eyes, high on the fumes of the day, my shredded garment … Continue reading

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A prayer for the woman preaching

You remember us as the woman who anointed Your anointed one … Continue reading

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Thaw

Create in me a new heart, O God (Psalm 51:11a) Wind trills taughtly-anchored telegraph wires. A stave of birds compose an arpeggio, ready for flight. Hedges shrug off the gusts and hold the line, but Something is trying to stir … Continue reading

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