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Your Poetry by Todd Jenkins
“From whence does
your poetry originate?”
she asked, as if it were
an innocent inquiry.
My gut responded,
“It comes from a place deep within;
a place where
grammatically structured sentences
and logic have run their course,
and have been found lacking
in painfully significant ways;
a place that recognizes,
if only subliminally,
that we all need blank space
and breathing room,
so that the marrow-deep reality
of who we’re meant to be
can stretch its wings and flap,
giving flight to a hope
deeply anchored in truth,
a reality that breathes us
into a community of possibility.”
Now, you have been warned.
Prepare yourself,
or suffer the consequences.
A POEM THAT RESONATES WITH OUR CORE VALUES OF INCLUSION HERE AT PUCC:
A Blessing for the Front Lines by Anna Geoffroy
Oh you
You rebel
You queer and wayward child
You abandoned and listless
You angry and forgotten
You brown and black and indigenous
You homeless and impoverished
You dreamer
You warrior
You are not alone here
You have never been alone
Not in this place, not in this time
Not in the whole of history
There have always been ones like you
There will always be ones like you
We have always fought
In the papers, in the streets
With paint cans and with pens
Through teargas and water cannons
In your armor inadequate
In your fear and your rage
You have never been alone
Plant your feet like the thousand year oak
Scream like the ghosts of your ancestors
Light your hearts on fire
With the ashes of all the dead suns
Dottie Dwyer:
Barter by Sara Teasdale
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Try To Remember by Tom Jones (lyrics); Harvey Schmidt (music)
from The Fantasticks
Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow
Follow, follow, follow, follow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.
Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow
Follow, follow, follow, follow.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
Without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it’s nice to remember
The fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember
And follow.
Philippians 4:8 (KJV – King James Version)
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
* Dottie talked about a trip and time spent in a used bookstores and putting her clothes in paper bags because her suitcase was filled with books.
She talked about the importance of beauty and love – the positive things you might have to search for instead of just reading the news which can be devastatingly sad.
Evelyn Buretta:
When Death Comes by Mary Oliver
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.
When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world
* Prefaced with Evelyn’s thoughts about life and death as she just reached age 80, the beginning of the final chapter, with perhaps a few phases in the final chapter.
Coree Mix:
Deeply Scarred
Oh it must be nice
To be alone with your thoughts at night
There’s something there
A quiet noise
Beyond a point in the distance
Of knowing
Of condition
Mocking my existence
Can’t put a face to it
It worries me
I’ve tried quite a few things
I’m just far enough away that I can’t reach it
Deeply scarred and broken into empty parts
Sometimes I need a good cry
Too tired and afraid to feel otherwise
It will kill them if I die
Good heavens I mustn’t be late
My father’s wrath
Is all too great for comfort
I’ve brought it onto myself
I need not pity
For I will sink deeper into it
And feel even more alone
No complaints
And no peace I break down
Much is to be forgotten
And most left to regret
The head needeth a compress
Fallen leaves gather at my feet
A grasshopper in the meadow
Becoming one with the green
Abandoned hope
Oh, the madness
The madness
Lost to fantasies
Then it all comes crashing down
And deeper I sink into the hole
A reminder that the highs
Reduce me to no more than a circus animal
I’d rather have it quiet
But I get tense in the midst of it
I prayed them not to leave me
But they did every time
I’ve got the mind of a child
I owe it to God to get it right
I’ve got a case of nerves
Only ecstasy can distract
Sleepless nights – energized
An overly inflated balloon Sure to pop
A numbing silence bestowed upon me
And away with my tongue it went
Racing thoughts
A chatterbox I didn’t know who I was
Or what I’d become I spoke of folly and of most certainty
I long to find my place under the sun
* Coree mentioned how important it is for us to talk openly about mental health
John Russell:
No Man Is an Island by John Donne
No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
* John talked about a conversation he and Carol had with their grandson about what they were reading now and what they read when they were his age.... and how we are all connected.
Angie Downing:
Make Believe Ballroom Time by Mark Strand, former poet laureate of the US
Judging from his suit which was excessively drab but expensive, and his speech which was uninflected and precise, I guessed he was a banker, perhaps a lawyer, even a professor in one of the larger, better universities. It never occurred to me that he might be something else until, during a lull in our conversation, he suddenly got up and began dancing. The others at the party, plainly disturbed by this, affected a more intense involvement than was necessary. They spoke loudly, rapidly. But the man continued dancing. And because I recognized what calling, what distant music he obeyed, I envied him.
* I first read Make Believe Ballroom Time back in the 90s, and I remember wanting so badly to be like the dancing man. (He can be seen as someone with unchallenged faith. Maybe someone who isn't held back by societal expectations. Definitely a free-spirited hero.) Thirty years have passed since I first read the poem, and I'm still striving to be more like the dancing man, but it's getting more difficult because my faith is constantly challenged and I often hesitate before pushing boats that need to be rocked.
Kevin Cameron:
May We Raise Children Who Love the Unloved Things Nicolette Sowder
May we raise children
who love the unloved
things – the dandelion, the
worms and spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn
& run into rainswept days
the same way they
turn towards sun…
And when they’re grown &
someone has to speak for those
who have no voice
may they draw upon that
wilder bond, those days of
tending tender things
and be the ones.
Carol Cobb:
* A young Mattie J. T. Stepanek who wrote this poem about hope, among other poems for his book, Hope Through Heartsongs. He was born July 17, 1990 with a rare neuromuscular disease and died June 22, 2004 when he was 13. He wanted to be remembered as “a poet, a peacemaker, and a philosopher who published seven best-selling books of poetry and peace essays.
I used this book to help my 6th grade students understand feelings and learn how to express them for hope.
For Our World by Mattie J. T. Stepanek
We need to stop
Just stop
Stop for a moment…
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment…
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment…
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility
Stop. Be silent, and notice…
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures,
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment…
Kind and gentle, innocent and
trusting.
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful
And now, let us pray.
Differently, yet together.
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.
(September 2001)
Barb Harris:
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking by Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.
* The pain and trouble in the world are so profound and pervasive that they quickly become overwhelming, yet when Dickinson says that keeping one heart from despair is enough, I find hope.
As Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” I know, for example, that I was able to bring moments of happiness to the men I worked with at the jail. They weren’t allowed to listen to music, so they would ask me to print the lyrics of favorite songs for them. I could cheer up a member of the class up by sharing words that would help him “play” the song in his mind. I encouraged the men to think about hopeful futures by having them write plot summaries for biopics of their lives after incarceration. When I found out that they liked Langston Hughes, I brought in several of his poems and recordings of him reading a few of them. We moved on to Gwendolyn Brooks and Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou. Inundated with drills to prepare for multiple choice tests, the men really responded to moments rich with beauty and feeling. Just before Christmas I printed a small photo of my face smiling warmly and printed “From Miss Barb to her friend . . .,” inserting each man’s name on his copy, as a holiday memento. One recipient grinned and said, “I’m going to put this in my cubby.” A few weeks later he was ill and died due to lack of timely medical care. His loss grieves me profoundly, but it means even more now to remember how his face would light up when I read poetry to the class.
I have been blessed with love and support while many endure loneliness and isolation. And I have been blessed with a vocation and avocations that allow me to share some of that love with others. My friend Anne likes to start the day by saying, “Jesus, show me who I can love for you today.” Sharing love is a holy opportunity. When I recognize God’s invitation to share grace and act, those opportunities become new blessings that enrich my life. Yes, the key is to act.
WE ALSO SHARED SOME POETRY FOR KIDS ...
One Day When I Went Out to Play by Traci Keith
One day
when I went out to play
I had a little fall
When I tripped over the soccer ball
I went home cause me knee was bleeding
Even though my team was leading
When I got to my house, my knee really did hurt
So my mom put on a bandaid after she washed out the blood and dirt
Mom said in a couple days the cut would be gone
And I wouldn’t need the bandaid on
Even though mom fixed my knee
It still hurt like I just got stung by a bee
Mom said I could no longer play
Oh, I wish I just fell on some hay
The next day my cut didn’t hurst so bad
So I went out and played with my dad
My mom took off the bandaid the next day
And the cut seemed like it just faded away
Why God Made Hugs by Jill Wolf
Everyone
was meant to share
God’s all-abiding
loving care
God saw that we
would need to know
A way to let
these feelings show.
So God made hugs
a special sign
and symbol of God’s
love divine
A circle of
our open arms
To hold in love
and keep out harm.
One simple hug
can do its part
To warm and cheer
another’s heart.
A hug’s a bit
of heaven above
That shows forth
God’s amazing love.
A Seed is Such a Miraculous Thing by Philosopher in “BC” comic by Johnny Hart
A seed is such a miraculous thing, it can sit on a shelf forever.
But how it knows what to do when it's stuck in the ground, is what makes it so clever.
It draws nutrients from the soil through its roots, and draws its force from the sun.
It puts forth a whole lot of blossoms and fruit, then reseeds itself when it is done.
Who programmed the seed to know just what to do?
And who put the sun in the sky?
And who put the food in the dirt for the roots?
And who makes the water fall from above, to refresh and make everything pure?
Perhaps all of this is a product of love.
And perhaps it happened by choice.
Yeah, sure.
No Difference by Shel Silverstein
Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light
Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're all worth the same
When we turn off the light.
Red, black or orange,
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.
So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!
OTHER POEMS USED IN WORSHIP on JANUARY 29:
Hope by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
See how the winds
have shaped her hands to
hold hope?
So tenuous, it trembles
like a hummingbird’s heart.
She gently carries hope
to a nest in the midst
of the maelstrom and tilts it
into the bowl of tiny feathers and mosses
Hope is so hard to cup.
She might need your help
when it seeps through the cracks
of her fingers. Place your hands
like this around hers. Together
it can be done.
When it hatches, when the nest
is no more, watch the wind pick up hope
and lay it softly into the welcome
of upraised palms.
A Prayer Among Friends by John Daniel
Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive
with one another, we live here
in the light of this unlikely world
that isn’t ours for long.
May we spend generously
the time we are given.
May we enact our responsibilities
as thoroughly as we enjoy our pleasures.
May we see with clarity,
may we seek a vision
that serves all beings, may we honor
the mystery surpassing our sight,
and may we hold in our hands
the gift of good work
and bear it forth whole, as we
were borne forth by a power we praise
to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.
I Am Thankful For by Nancy J Carmody
I am thankful for
…the mess to clean up after a party
because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
...the taxes that I pay
because it means that I’m employed.
…the clothes that fit a little too snug
because it means I have enough to eat.
...my shadow who watches me work
because it means I am out in the sunshine.
...the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot
because it means I am capable of walking.
...all the complaining I hear about our Government
because it means we have freedom of speech.
...that lady behind me in church who sings offkey
because it means that I can hear.
...lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing
because it means I have a home.
…my huge heating bill
because it means that I am warm.
...weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day
because it means that I have been productive.
…the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours
because it means that I am alive.
Beyond Borders by Rick Hoyt
Go forth, because we are always going forth from somewhere
Going from our homes, our childhoods
Going from our cities and countries
Going from innocence to experience to enlightenment
Going into mystery and questions
Going into the desert, getting to the other side.
Go forth, leave behind the comfort and community of one place
Head into the anxiety and loneliness of another.
Carry with you the love and laughter of this place
and let it light your way
Carry with you the wisdom you learned
and the good memories
May they give you strength for your journey
And when you have been away long enough, far enough,
Done what you’d set off to do
Been there so long, that place too, starts to feel like home
Come back, Come back to the one, universal
Everywhere and every when and everyone inclusive home,
This beloved community of all creation
That you can never ¬really leave.
AND SOME POETRY FROM SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 43:1-7
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savio r.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’
Micah 6
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before God with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV—New Revised Standard Version)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Psalm 8 (NRSV – New Revised Standard Version)
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (New Revised Standard Version)
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
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