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5.09.2005

Robert Penn Warren

A Way To Love God

Here is the shadow of truth, for only the shadow is true.
And the line where the incoming swell from the sunset Pacific
First leans and staggers to break will tell all you need to know
About submarine geography, and your father's death rattle
Provides all biographical data required for the Who's Who of the dead.

I cannot recall what I started to tell you, but at least
I can say how night-long I have lain under the stars and
Heard mountains moan in their sleep. By daylight,
They remember nothing, and go about their lawful occasions
Of not going anywhere except in slow disintegration. At night
They remember, however, that there is something they cannot remember.
So moan. Theirs is the perfected pain of conscience that
Of forgetting the crime, and I hope you have not suffered it. I have.

I do not recall what had burdened my tongue, but urge you
To think on the slug's white belly, how sick-slick and soft,
On the hairiness of stars, silver, silver, while the silence
Blows like wind by, and on the sea's virgin bosom unveiled
To give suck to the wavering serpent of the moon; and,
In the distance, in plaza, piazza, place, platz, and square,
Boot heels, like history being born, on cobbles bang.

Everything seems an echo of something else.

And when, by the hair, the headsman held up the head
Of Mary of Scots, the lips kept on moving,
But without sound. The lips,
They were trying to say something very important.

But I had forgotten to mention an upland
Of wind-tortured stone white in darkness, and tall, but when
No wind, mist gathers, and once on the Sarré at midnight,
I watched the sheep huddling. Their eyes
Stared into nothingness. In that mist-diffused light their eyes
Were stupid and round like the eyes of fat fish in muddy water,
Or of a scholar who has lost faith in his calling.

Their jaws did not move. Shreds
Of dry grass, gray in the gray mist-light, hung
From the side of a jaw, unmoving.

You would think that nothing would ever again happen.

That may be a way to love God.

5.07.2005

heart truths....

All this is rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love--a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.
--C.S. Lewis


The problem is not out there; the problem is the needy beast of a thing that lives within my chest.

--Donald Miller
'Blue Like Jazz'

To The River - Edgar Allan Poe

Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow
Of crystal, wandering water,
Thou art an emblem of the glow
Of beauty- the unhidden heart-
The playful maziness of art
In old Alberto's daughter;

But when within thy wave she looks-
Which glistens then, and trembles-
Why, then, the prettiest of brooks
Her worshipper resembles;
For in his heart, as in thy stream,
Her image deeply lies-
His heart which trembles at the beam
Of her soul-searching eyes.

4.13.2005

Sting and Jesus

Now I’m suspended between my darkest fears and dearest hope
Yes I’ve been walking, now I’m hanging from a dead man's rope
With hell below me, and heaven in the sky above
I’ve been walking, I’ve been walking away from Jesus' love

Walk away in emptiness, walk away in sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday, walk away tomorrow,
Walk away in anger, walk away in pain
Walk away from life itself, walk into the rain

All this wandering has led me to this place
Inside the well of my memory, sweet rain of forgiveness
I’m just hanging here in space

re:Cory's post

and Jamie's prayer

4.11.2005

William Lloyd Garrison

"I have need to be all on fire, for I have mountains
of ice about me to melt."

Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now --
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
I also kneel -- but with far other vow
Do hail thee and thy hord of hirelings base: --
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalising sway -- till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land, --
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod:
Such is the vow I take --
SO HELP ME GOD!



William Lloyd Garrison

3.29.2005

Recycled Quotes

"Was there no safety? No learning by heart of the ways of the world? No guide, no shelter, but all was miracle and leaping from the pinnacle of a tower into the air? "
-Viginia Woolf
-To The Lighthouse



"If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you'll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you've already been in. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut." --Anne Lamott

Church is to God as zoos are to nature.
--Margaret Atwood

"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace--only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." --ANNE LAMOTT

I am something of a recluse by nature. I am that cordless screwdriver that has to charge for twenty hours to earn ten minutes use. --Donald Miller Blue Like Jazz

3.19.2005

The Peace of Wild Things --Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life
and my children's lives may be
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives
with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence
of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.

For a time
I rest in the grace of the world,
and am free.


The Bait

The Bait
by John Donne

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the 'enamour'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait:
That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,
Alas, is wiser far than I.

bUSTED sTUFF --dAVE MATTHEWS

The world is blowing up
The world is caving in
The world has lost her way again
But you are here with me
But you are here with me
Makes it ok

I hear you still talk to me
As if you're sitting in that dusty chair
Makes the hours easier to bare
I know despite the years alone
I'll always listen to you sing your sweet song
And if it's all the same to you

I love you oh so well
Like a kid loves candy and fresh snow
I love you oh so well
Enough to fill up heaven overflow and fill hell
Love you oh so well

And it's cold and darkness falls
It's as if you're in the next room so alive
I could swear I hear you singing to me

I love you oh so well
Like a kid loves candy and fresh snow
I love you oh so well
Enough to fill up heaven overflow and fill hell
Love you oh so well

The world is blowing up
The world is caving in
The world has lost her way again
But you are here with me
But you are here with me
Makes it ok
Oh girl you are singing to me still
I love you oh so well
Like a kid loves candy and fresh snow
I love you oh so well
Enough to fill up heaven overflow and fill hell
Love you oh so well

for Renee

Long ago, I was wounded.
I lived to revenge myself
against my father.

Not for what he was—
for what I was:
from the beginning of time.

In childhood, I thought
that pain meant
I was not loved.

It meant I loved.



First Memory
--Louise Glück

Sarah Teasdale

Spray
by Sarah Teasdale

I knew you thought of me all night,
I knew, though you were far away;
I felt your love blow over me
As if a dark wind-riven sea
Drenched me with quivering spray.

There are so many ways to love
And each way has its own delight --
Then be content to come to me
Only as spray the beating sea
Drives inland through the night.

Spring Rain

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

I remembered a darkened doorway
Where we stood while the storm swept by,
Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky.

The passing motor busses swayed,
For the street was a river of rain,
Lashed into little golden waves
In the lamp light's stain.

With the wild spring rain and thunder
My heart was wild and gay;
Your eyes said more to me that night
Than your lips would ever say. . . .

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

poetry by jamie marie barker

There Is A Question


There is a question

in my mind and it is this

is it possible even feasible

even wise at all

to trust them


We look deep into their eyes

and our heads tip to the side

as we stare into the windows

from the outside of the blinds

and we strain

to see safety there


It must be there

we want it there

we have moved all our things

in there but the floor has fallen

and we’ve dropped

down to our knees


Shall we keep our things up close

and never carry them in outstretched arms

through someone else’s door

and place them next to trembling walls

that still

manage to confine


But oh our backs get weary

and our arms have aches built in so

our feet do find their way onto that path

where the door at first swings open

and good smells

drift out to pull us in


So is it wise at all to trust them

lay back and let our arms fall to the side

or shall we crouch

upon the floor

and wrap our arms

around our things

and keep watch



T
he Fruit of Her Choices

'God does not punish you'
is what the man said
with his arms reaching out to us
'He gives you over to the fruit of your choices'
And I took it into my heart
and knew it was true

'You were not there for me'
is what she said
and her soft silky hair was the same
as it always has been
and her pretty full lips were swollen
from speaking the hard truth
and her eyes dripping with pain
from all she has seen

'You don’t know how I feel'
and she is right I only know how I feel
heavy with guilt for the damage done
and torn in sorrow for knowing
how she hurts and that I cannot make it stop

Her head on my lap by the warm fire
just like when she was little
and it was all before us and I thought
it would somehow be okay
but it wasn’t

And now she looks up at me
and I see that she is still my little girl
and she still needs me
and I know that I cannot do it over
do it right
but we can love one another
and we can hold each other
and we need to.


He has given me over to the fruit of my choices
I know this is true
I have seen it in my daughter’s eyes
I also know there is hope
He has promised me there is hope
and I believe Him because
He gave His life for my choices


My Love Has Boarded A Ship


My love has boarded a ship
and he is sailing away from me
he stands at the bow and his mouth smiles
but his eyes do not

My heart wants to reach out
and pull him back in
to me
to my breast
but my arms are so tired
so very tired

The ship slowly glides away
taking my love
from me
it is built out of
self-doubt and confusion
and held together with
fear and loss


These very things that make his vessel so strong
have made my limbs weak
so I stand at the shore helpless
and wave to my smiling love
and long for him


There Must Be Words

There must be words
written by other women perhaps
who crave and stew and ponder
but do not know where they come from
these curious churnings that rise and fall
becoming more unsettling with each eruption

Words of men rarely ease or stir
they simply report unknown things
like the stock exchange news on the radio
like the weather report or traffic warnings
they do not still my restive woman’s heart

Perhaps the words suffice for others and it is me
it is I who cannot read their meaning
or perceive the depth of their cry
and make it balm to soothe my rumblings

And in truth long for an utterance
from my own deep where the questions
ooze and bubble like sticky mud
they fester and thicken as they boil

There are those times
those walks on cool mornings
or moments on my porch when the lavender scent
drifts up from the clay pots
when there are no questions but a washing
of peace and calm and knowledge

Yet still my eyes stray and my heart seeks
for the words that will hold my wanderings
in framed and precise prose
there must be words like these but perhaps

They simmer in me and shall burble up
and burst forth in earnest clarity
an offering to the bewildered hearts of others
and in that emission be a sweet release

Before issues of body or doubts of suitability
and stooping to gratify
begging to prevent fists
hardening to endure pain
before becoming sly to scramble out

There were homemade raviolis
and watered wine for lunch
rubber boots sucked up in glorious mud
Grams cutting Grampo’s sparse hair
and hearing him say,
“I had a full head of hair till she snatched me bald”
and every time she said, “Oh Daddy”
and every time we laughed

White gloves on small hands folded in my lap
holding the missal,
breathing the perfume of smoke
making my sisters laugh into the cushioned railing
tapping my flat chest in time with the bells
full of hope
full of dreams