A poem-psalm

Help me eat my daily portion.
Let it taste good upon my lips.
Let me savor its sweet flavor.
Help me know it’s just enough.

Your grace is made perfect
in my every weakness.
But this weakness lasts beyond today.
And I fear I will not be strong enough
to chew the portion You have assigned.

But You said
I can do all things—
even let my hands drop
and stop striving,
even be still and know You’re God,
even depend on this day’s grace,
even keep from worrying about tomorrow,
even find the strength that is Your joy—
through Christ who strengthens me.

So I will rejoice in this day
that the Lord has made.
So I will sing and praise His name…
for He has never forsaken me,
never left me lost in shame.

I will say that He is great,
that His ways are always right,
that He knows the way I take,
And when I come out on the other side,
this face will shine with radiance.
I will be like refined silver,
reflecting His holy light.

~~ 11.1.05 ~~

Before building an eben ezer

Looking up from the pit
dug by guilty hands,
the tired prisoner sees
a ladder extend down
and then rest on the muddy bottom.
Does he dare
to climb out
of this hole
into a sky-blue-covered world
of unknown?
Should the days become hazy,
will the once-imprisoned
wish himself back
down here?
Are there dangers worse
than this stifling air
that steals
every hopeful breath?
El-Shaddai, You wait,
silently cheering him on
to put one foot
on that first rung,
just to start
going
somewhere.
El-Roi, You want him
to choose
the light.
Too long he's choked on
imagined disappointments.
It's time to climb to the future,
to get on with moving on.

written 12.1.03;
revised 8.29.05

Jehovah-Nissi

Already the story unfurls itself
like a banner proclaiming victory
before the war is over,
before the last battle is engaged.
Already the counting of the healed
is sung as heroes' ballads,
before the shots have fired,
before the blood starts flowing.
Time is of no matter;
matter bends to eternity's will.
In the heavens the battle rages ever,
and the enemy's defeat is ever close.
Here in this shell, this burned-out shelter,
a candle glows, a promise flickers.
Already the rebuilding begins
like a people's returning joy,
before all is destroyed in firestorm,
before the walls are crumbled by Love.

written 12.1.03;
revised 8.29.05

The beginning of a Love story

From across miles
of dry dusty desert
I came to find Your power,
expecting You to return with me;
but You spoke a word
and at that hour
healing arrived...
When I ask for food,
You give me Bread,
more hearty than any I could bake.
You lay a feast at a stop in the road.


Again, another poem in progress. Thoughts? Recommendations for how to continue and finish it?

Muy cansada hoy

a stack of pancakes sopped
soggy with maple syrup and a dollop
of butter that melts a well,
a gooshy pancake center...

too much sugary thinking...
deliciousness that isn't so nutritious.
too much fatty thinking...
too much of an excess,
too much coating...
though the wheels of grey matter
needed some greasing.
some oil, some is just enough...



Author's note: I've given myself permission to put poetry drafts here, especially in the hopes that comments will help spur me forward or in another direction. My writing is often a response to things others say or to what is happening around me. It's my interior monologue of sorts, sometimes with a "soundtrack." I don't purport to be Homer or Shakespeare. This stuff is what it is...and is what it becomes.

Whenever I have Harvest Grain 'n' Nut pancakes at IHOP, the stack arrives with a huge dollop of butter in the middle that creates this soggy well. (I love the mushy part of not-quite-cooked bread products, so this sogginess is delightful to me!) Put maple syrup on top...and augh! augh! That's some good stuff! But I know that as tasty as this dish is, it's not good for me, for anyone for that matter. And that's what I think my thinking has been lately.....not as "healthily" productive as it could be. It's hard to explain---that's why I like to use the metaphor.

Thoughts on how to get this poem closer to what I'm trying to say?