September 25, 2005
A fool (and a prideful one),
"Prays from his heart," and never prays from the Psalms
"Charts his own course," and is never asks for a mentor,
"Just messes around" on the guitar, never learns a single chord progression,
"Dabbles in poetry" and knows not the themes of Homer, Dante, Eliot, Whitman;
But,
To defer to the priest ("Oh, he speaks Latin,")
To follow always the advice of the teacher,
To listen only to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart,
To ingest and ingest the most glorious beauty of ages past,
Is the trap of the slyly-blinded beggar,
who, in refusing to be pretend to be a glorious king,
refuses to actually be a so-so father.
Even if your devotion,
your critical analysis,
your musical stylings,
your poetic diction
sucks,
Pray.
Think.
Play.
Write.
Glory to God alone.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
To Move and Be Moved
September 7, 2005
My sister told me that bosses like it when you are already working and then you ask them, "Do you have anything specific you'd like me to do? Otherwise, I will keep working on this." Rather than coming to them and saying, "I'm sitting still until you say what you want me to do."
Tim Hansel strained his powers of articulation and said "we must have graceful discipline, and disciplined grace."
I think he meant something like: Grace is responding smoothly and willingly with the things happening in our vicinity that we cannot change; and discipline is acting as a first cause and making things in our vicinity a certain way by our choices and efforts.
Again, the Serenity prayer runs:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
If you want to be a gardener, You have to listen to the plants,
but speak to the tools,
to make the one grow, the other come into being.
Persuade the one, force the other.
To move and be moved,
in the right way,
at the right time, ah.
To move and be moved,
this is the secret of humour,
of dancing, salsa or swing or whatever,
of marriage,
of being a good therapist,
being a good teacher,
being a good parent,
I could go on.
And I shall.
It is the secret of
of gardening,
Of being a good friend,
of keeping a dog,
of being a Christian
of being an employee...
What else is there to accomplish? Nothing.
Then better say: It is the secret.
What is between the things I can change and the things I can't? Wisdom. Sophia. The logos of God. Where can it be found? If you seek, then you will find. It calls out from the street corners. But why can't I hear it?
Now that's a good question.
Glory to God alone
My sister told me that bosses like it when you are already working and then you ask them, "Do you have anything specific you'd like me to do? Otherwise, I will keep working on this." Rather than coming to them and saying, "I'm sitting still until you say what you want me to do."
Tim Hansel strained his powers of articulation and said "we must have graceful discipline, and disciplined grace."
I think he meant something like: Grace is responding smoothly and willingly with the things happening in our vicinity that we cannot change; and discipline is acting as a first cause and making things in our vicinity a certain way by our choices and efforts.
Again, the Serenity prayer runs:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
If you want to be a gardener, You have to listen to the plants,
but speak to the tools,
to make the one grow, the other come into being.
Persuade the one, force the other.
To move and be moved,
in the right way,
at the right time, ah.
To move and be moved,
this is the secret of humour,
of dancing, salsa or swing or whatever,
of marriage,
of being a good therapist,
being a good teacher,
being a good parent,
I could go on.
And I shall.
It is the secret of
of gardening,
Of being a good friend,
of keeping a dog,
of being a Christian
of being an employee...
What else is there to accomplish? Nothing.
Then better say: It is the secret.
What is between the things I can change and the things I can't? Wisdom. Sophia. The logos of God. Where can it be found? If you seek, then you will find. It calls out from the street corners. But why can't I hear it?
Now that's a good question.
Glory to God alone
Some Time to Collect Myself
A poem about the role of silence in sanctification
June 3, 2005
I took some time to collect myself into myself.
I took the time to eat a meal of silence,
Carefully prepared for me...
each ingredient silence, lack...
I partook of a full banquet of stillness and nothingness.
In the void, in nothingness,
I came to be.
I came to be more,
I came to be more myself,
In the silence,
more solid,
more permanent,
more internally connected.
I am tired now.
I'm full.
I must stop ceasing,
I must go work, I must rest from resting,
must scatter myself around
to various tasks and speeches,
In hopes that soon I will be hungry again, hungry enough to eat from an empty plate again, or to listen to the impossibly faint suggestions of harmony, the far off promise of beautiful noise, noise which is too massive, too real for me to hear; I… am too scattered.
I am now too tired to return and sit in the void in which I come to be,
Too tired to meet the incredible challenge of sitting still,
The monumental achievement that is... not doing anything…
Perhaps in the evening again I'll have the strength to be alone, quiet,
To be with myself and another in the formless void, darkness over the surface of the deep; I can feel the spirit moving.
I can’t hear but whispers… whispers… I can tell I'm being made.
Since I was starving, I sat awhile.
I sat while parts of me returned to me, coalescing while I waited.
It burned like a hug from a flaming eagle, but
it took me up a notch, thank God (and the saints)
and I am more myself.
Glory to God alone.
June 3, 2005
I took some time to collect myself into myself.
I took the time to eat a meal of silence,
Carefully prepared for me...
each ingredient silence, lack...
I partook of a full banquet of stillness and nothingness.
In the void, in nothingness,
I came to be.
I came to be more,
I came to be more myself,
In the silence,
more solid,
more permanent,
more internally connected.
I am tired now.
I'm full.
I must stop ceasing,
I must go work, I must rest from resting,
must scatter myself around
to various tasks and speeches,
In hopes that soon I will be hungry again, hungry enough to eat from an empty plate again, or to listen to the impossibly faint suggestions of harmony, the far off promise of beautiful noise, noise which is too massive, too real for me to hear; I… am too scattered.
I am now too tired to return and sit in the void in which I come to be,
Too tired to meet the incredible challenge of sitting still,
The monumental achievement that is... not doing anything…
Perhaps in the evening again I'll have the strength to be alone, quiet,
To be with myself and another in the formless void, darkness over the surface of the deep; I can feel the spirit moving.
I can’t hear but whispers… whispers… I can tell I'm being made.
Since I was starving, I sat awhile.
I sat while parts of me returned to me, coalescing while I waited.
It burned like a hug from a flaming eagle, but
it took me up a notch, thank God (and the saints)
and I am more myself.
Glory to God alone.
An Exercise in Exploration of Wine
June 24, 2005
Wine – What is wine?
Wine is a beverage. A beverage for the refined, or drunk,
Rotten grapes (OK, “fermented”), grown in vineyards, stored in barrels,
Red and white (as well as several that are sort of in between).
Wine is not liquor, is not beer, not from barley, wheat, or sugar
It can’t be frozen, can’t be put in tubes and sucked on,
It doesn’t grow in colder climates (like Alaska, Tennessee).
Wine is like the blood of Christ, spilled or drunk or flowing,
Through the mouths and veins of children, churches, members of the bride.
It is like a serum, sent to make us speak the truth; it’s like syrup
Used for cooking, or for making young men glad.
Wine – What is it?
Wine is a drink for golden gods and children,
grown from earth, and drawn to heaven.
Glory to God alone
Wine – What is wine?
Wine is a beverage. A beverage for the refined, or drunk,
Rotten grapes (OK, “fermented”), grown in vineyards, stored in barrels,
Red and white (as well as several that are sort of in between).
Wine is not liquor, is not beer, not from barley, wheat, or sugar
It can’t be frozen, can’t be put in tubes and sucked on,
It doesn’t grow in colder climates (like Alaska, Tennessee).
Wine is like the blood of Christ, spilled or drunk or flowing,
Through the mouths and veins of children, churches, members of the bride.
It is like a serum, sent to make us speak the truth; it’s like syrup
Used for cooking, or for making young men glad.
Wine – What is it?
Wine is a drink for golden gods and children,
grown from earth, and drawn to heaven.
Glory to God alone
And End in Mind
May 4, 2005
What do I want to do?
I want to write a poem as a collection and association of thoughts
in order to solidify this collection and association in my mind.
I also want to offer this collection and association to readers for their consideration,
in order to stimulate their thoughts,
that when they read and examine it, it gives them what they want to learn.
How do I want to do it? (Though I have already begun, the answer is:) by saying the following:
Silence
Speech
Silence;
Planning,
Doing,
Reviewing.
Foresight before,
Awareness during,
Reflection after;
Listening,
Speaking,
Listening.
“Begin with the end in mind.”
“Decide what I want to do, decide how I want to do it, then do it.”
“The Lord opposes the proud, but give grace to the humble.”
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the workman works in vain.”
“Man plans his ways but the Lord guides his steps.”
“I do not do my own will but the will of my father who sent me.”
“They that wait on the Lord, he will renew their strength.”
and, “Decide what I want to do, decide how I want to do it, then do it.”
When I have finished,
reflect, review, listen …
Ask, “Have I accomplished what I wanted to do?”
And wait in silence ...
Have I accomplished what I wanted to do?
Glory to God alone
What do I want to do?
I want to write a poem as a collection and association of thoughts
in order to solidify this collection and association in my mind.
I also want to offer this collection and association to readers for their consideration,
in order to stimulate their thoughts,
that when they read and examine it, it gives them what they want to learn.
How do I want to do it? (Though I have already begun, the answer is:) by saying the following:
Silence
Speech
Silence;
Planning,
Doing,
Reviewing.
Foresight before,
Awareness during,
Reflection after;
Listening,
Speaking,
Listening.
“Begin with the end in mind.”
“Decide what I want to do, decide how I want to do it, then do it.”
“The Lord opposes the proud, but give grace to the humble.”
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the workman works in vain.”
“Man plans his ways but the Lord guides his steps.”
“I do not do my own will but the will of my father who sent me.”
“They that wait on the Lord, he will renew their strength.”
and, “Decide what I want to do, decide how I want to do it, then do it.”
When I have finished,
reflect, review, listen …
Ask, “Have I accomplished what I wanted to do?”
And wait in silence ...
Have I accomplished what I wanted to do?
Glory to God alone
A Graduation Poem
January 1, 2004
Graduation is upon us, like death.
Every wheel shares one proportion,
Though they differ in their girth.
And every cycle has things in common.
So every waking is a small new birth.
A whole life is like a night-time, or a breath.
Glory to God alone
Graduation is upon us, like death.
Every wheel shares one proportion,
Though they differ in their girth.
And every cycle has things in common.
So every waking is a small new birth.
A whole life is like a night-time, or a breath.
Glory to God alone
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