What I do

Sort of at least...Here are a couple of poems/prayers I've written in conjunction with my life in the Church. This first one was written for use as a community gathered to worship. It is untitled.

Come Holy Spirit,
quieten our minds,
still our hearts,
strengthen our spirits.
Come among us
help us to recognize and
celebrate the Risen Christ. AMEN.
written spring 2007

This next one was written last summer while I was in the midst of some pretty intensive training/education that largely involved working with people. (How's that for saying a lot and nothing at all.)

I go, I talk, I listen
I love

My heart, my soul move to greet theirs
And what is between us becomes even more
Holy Communion

I leave,
though a bit of me stays
Still I am not less, but more
written summer 2006

Summer Haircut

So yesterday I got a new haircut, impelled in part because of summer. I go to this little place that does good haircuts for a reasonable price and they don't talk too much, so I had time to have this idea.

An hour of odd mediation
Time for me, about me,
Well, almost me
One person’s focus, entirely
This stranger and I brought together
Through the medium of my hair
The warm water
Circling fingers
Sudsy Shampoo and creamy conditioner
Chairs that rise and fall
And spin round and round
Sharp sections of my hair, held up in clips
The wet shck of the scissors
Old memories gone,
Fallen away,
New edges to learn
New tricks to develop
Ideal for the slightly new me
New image,
New ideas
A little time with a blow dryer
I’m all set to go
written 6/8/07

Trying Something New

So I was just goofing around on the 'net and I found this http://gottabook.blogspot.com/2006/04/fib.html. (You'll notice that I also link to this blog.) Okay I found something that lead me here, but still. It seemed like fun, so I decided to try one. For those of you who don't follow the link, they are called Fibs after the Fibonacci sequence because that's how you count the syllables out. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. Here's the one I wrote. It's not my favorite thing I've ever written, but it was fun.

Ink
Pen
Paper
Boredom Gone
Think and Feel in Ink
Such easy entertainment now

written June 2007

Out of the Sacristy

This is as close as I plan on coming to "outing" myself because there are other people who have seen this. This is also the post where we all learn that I'm deeply religious, something that you will read more about. I'm losing some of the formating here, but I'll figure it out later. Unless someone is willing to tell me....

I lift my praises, Mighty God, for work already done.
For support dedicated, leaders raised,
lives transforming.
I lift my thanks, Holy God, for work beginning.
For the stretch and pull of hearts opening
and minds thinking.
I lift my hopes, Awesome God, for that which is to come.
For promises treasures, for dreams dreamt,
for chances not yet taken.
In the name of the Everlasting God of change,
Amen
Written March 2006

More about me, I guess

Two posts in two days! It's partially that this is oddly addictive and partially that just one poem doesn't seem to really represent my life. So here's another one. About me, even.

The I I want to be
Would you understand
If I ever said,
“those childish moments you laugh and ridicule,
Those instances of glee,
The glimpses where I seem not quite me
Those are what I fight for,
That to which I cling.”

Would you ever listen
while I went on,
“I know life’s horrors, dark hours,
Weeks of tears and mourn
Don’t think I haven’t lived there too
Know me rather as a frequent visitor,
One with favored paths and common trips.”

Would you then see,
The moments of glee,
The delight and wonder:
That I revel in these not to forget,
Not to negate
But as a runner, struggling to breathe,
They the images of the goal towards which I strive

Those glimpses where I seem not quite me,
Not denial, But pursuit
For I have decided
The darkness may not be
All that I know, not
The theme of my life, not
The reality I cannot escape.

Would you understand then
That these are my choice and treasure
That each smile
Is one more statement
A declaration of who I mean to be
Victory over who I will not become
I laugh, I giggle, and I go on:

Ever more the I I want to be.

Written 2/27/06

A Good Place to Start

This is probably the poem that started to convince me to do this whole blog thing, so it seemed like a good first post.

On Writing
I Write
and in this act of putting pen to paper,
of spreading ink across a void
I do that which is irreversible
My words, once written
cannot be unwritten, undone
They are from me but no longer of me
In making them into ink
I give them fleeting permanence--
bound as they are to physicality
and eternal difference.
Once written
I too must enter into dialogue with them
changing, not remaking
Once done
They stand
for my eyes and those of others
forever speaking from the moment of their separation
To the millions of moments that follow
They were mine to make--
a natural mating of my thoughts and my ink
mine to alter
mine to destroy
But their unmaking is beyond me
They become written and separate
I can not write
But I cannot unwrite

written 4/21/07

Hello

Never done this before. But I want a space to keep my writing and to let you (whoever you may be) read some of what I've written. I've been writing for years and this will be a space for me to share newer and older things. Look for my first post in the next few days.