Monday, September 28, 2015

He Shall Baptize You with the Holy Ghost and with Fire

Wham! Bam! The I Am slammed
Jacob at the Jabbok's fork,
for baptism is a contact sport:
like Jonah swallowed by the sea
or Peter sunk in Galilee.

Tag the new man in; tag out the old--
heart circumcised by submission hold.
For we limp by faith and not by sight
and hobble off alive despite
our hobbling by baptismal might.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

I Consider Thy Heavens; or, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

What is man? 
You have a mind full of him--
fulsome, foul, some filled with folly--
reminding You of their requests
and questioning when You have
a mind fueled by majestic ways.

You made him higher than the beasts
and lower than the angels, blessed,
yet for his angelic angling
he at best in beastly anger
besets You by his best behests.

What is man--
that You don't mind him
blaming all the spoils of his
apple-spoiled appetite for justice
on Your wantonness
or wanted-ness?

Sunday, September 20, 2015

The Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen Thereof; or, All Will Went Well

My God! we held her here so long
by many misled loving hands--
her suff'ring body bound by chains
of raising pulse and blood pressure.

My God! we tried to promise
Your eternal life, deferring promised
dignity and pulling plugs.

My God! You know of promises
so hard to keep:
Your self-son sacrificed,
forsaken, for our sins.

My God! why break a promise breaking sin?
For broken bodies rise again.

My God! I break in face of death--
making rhymes instead on broken breath.

Monday, September 14, 2015

The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, Are These

God All-Moldy, Soily-Father,
male and female You created
out of dirt and Holy-Spittle:
bone of bone and dust of dust--
God's image borne in ground so good.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Lord God Formed Man of the Dust of the Ground; or, in the Image of God He Created Him

God All-Moldy, Soily-Father,
male and female You created
out of dirt and Holy-Spittle:
bone of bone and dust of dust--
God's image borne in ground so good.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Therefore I Say unto You, Take No Thought for Your Life

Seek ye first the heav'nly kingdom
     like Solomon before the ark
     and be clothed as a lilied park--
a grass-blade in heav'nly floral print.

Though thrown tomorrow into flame
     like grass into the fireplace,
     chaff-child, from ashes you'll be raised
a lily when Christ comes again.