poems
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In the beginning…there was a blank page. Sitting down to prepare Friday’s devotion for the speech and debate league our family has been involved with for nearly a decade, my first thoughts drifted back to those beautiful words in Genesis 1:1 – “בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים” (In the beginning, God created). In verse two, we read,…
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Today, as I was sharing about my week while sitting in the Observatory with good friends, one of them leaned over to her husband and whispered something to him while looking out the windows behind me. I figured one of the squirrels caught her attention, hanging upside down (as they often do) on the side…
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Usually, I put a hard stop on the day around lunchtime to just read or pray. It’s become a regular part of my deepening. This Thursday, I shut the door to my room and turned to face the windows overlooking the courtyard. The snow lazily fell from the sky until stirred to life again by…
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If I recall correctly, this poem sprouted from five word-seeds, including immutably, ineluctable, and ostensibly. I love the sound and weight of these words. On one hand, we’re told by writing “experts” to avoid overusing adverbs, but used fittingly (cough, cough), they add flavor, like any good seasoning, to the main course of the poem…
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January 1st has historically been a time for reevaluating one’s life and planning for the future with greater purpose and resolution. It’s that bridge suspended between years (although it begins the new year), linking the past and the future in a fleeting present. For me, it has become a reminder of loss and the fragility…
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Last week I willingly missed a moment. I neglected the divine intrusion for a bowl of gruel (not literally – just a bowl of Panda Puffs cereal) before heading up to my bedroom to teach English all day. I slept in, forgetting that I would have to dig out from the snow – most importantly,…
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“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make…
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Psalm 100 A psalm of thanksgiving. 1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him…
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“This life’s dim windows of the soul / Distorts the heavens from pole to pole / And leads you to believe a lie / When you see with, not through, the eye.” William Blake, from The Everlasting Gospel Before we put a hard stop on life to celebrate Thanksgiving with our loved ones, perhaps we…
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A poem jumped me today in the busy thoroughfares of my daily routine. Unawares, it crept up in my soul in three exclamations: “O darkness! O deception! O death!” The antidotes followed immediately on my assailant’s heels: “Light! Truth! Life!” And the following sonnet was conceived. Like many of the Old Testament psalms, this sonnet…
the deepening ground 