The blog genre is typically confined to being journalistic, an online diary which the entire world can read. Although keeping such a diary has not kept me interested enough to post frequently, the idea of the blog as public domain intensely interests me. Blogs are changing what it means to be published - anyone can do it and it's cheap. While we don't all carry the same readership the potential is at least present and that is part of what makes it so exciting. This is one reason for the change.
The other is this: I like the idea of writing good poetry for an online community. While the web is full of misinformation, melo-drama, and chainmail there is also the opportunity for legitimate and worthwhile art to find a captive audience. To me, the blending of such a "low" medium with beauty is incarnational and a task worth pursuing.
And so, without further ado, I present my first poem. I wrote this prayer/poem for Stephen Johnson who used it as a part of the liturgy in St. Paul this last Sunday night. The liturgy centered on John 12:20-33 (it would be helpful to read that text before reading the prayer in order to catch all of the allusions and borrowed imagery).
Our prayers give us away:
Beneath our petitions for healthy bodies are
Troubled souls
Beneath our requests for a lighter load are
Heavy hearts
Beneath our pleas for security are
Lives in love with themselves
We would have you know that
Our hour has come, Lord
And we are ripe with need
But You have no desire
For amber waves of grain
You move
beyond sustenance
From life
To death
To life
Towards magnificence
And you invite us to follow
so that: life
ends
in life
and our prayers
end
in giving ourselves away
for the sake of others
It is for this reason that we have come to this hour,
Father, Glorify your name.
Amen
1 comment:
I like the new look and I think the new dirrection suits you very well.
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