Poems

This load of guilt that weighs upon my mind
and chills the natural movements of the heart,
these cares that burn, and memories that bind,
that grip my soul and make me stand apart [...]

As wise servants invest their time and gold,
So good things come to those who work and pray;
Faithfulness is the fruit that yields tenfold [...]

Though we prefer Him in a sky
Of Technicolor blue with clouds
All cottony, all downy soft,
With angels hovering nearby [...]

A crown of thorns is forced upon his brow,
His scalp is sliced and both his temples torn;
The skin gives way like dirt beneath a plow,
A crown of thorns. […]

I’ll meet you at the bottom of the lake.
We’ll watch our friends and enemies ripple
the effervescent sky—then perforate […]

At time’s first dawn, the Godhead shone
in glory deep and splendor great.
Enwrapt with beauty, mankind owned
the praise of God inviolate. […]

I took and handled holy bread
And hoped that it would be my food
At evening bell they found me dead. […]

“Watchman! Watchman! What of the night?
Watchman! What of the night?”
The morning comes, always comes
But comes through the darkest night! […]

The warm, still air, gently lulls my senses
As I amble beneath the pale blue sky.
The cattle roam the hills, free of fences
And a distant low sounds like a gentle sigh. […]

We squatted among the cattails
on five-gallon buckets flipped and
flecked with cement older than me. […]

The night’s the glory of the dawn
As dawn’s the glory of the night.
As woman is a man’s fair crown,
So fair-crowned man is woman’s wreath. […]

Waiting at Gate 3 with my boarding pass
and Birkenstocks, I noticed on the wall
a matte moonrise over a zag of Badlands […]

See, resting softly, in Bethlehem’s manger
There is a Savior, as God had long-sworn.
Mighty Messiah, to keep us from danger,
Now, come in weakness, is finally born. […]

The foreground tree battles
To survive against the sea,
Encroaching on the town you see […]