I am posting a week later than I had hoped. And this poetic piece is not what I wanted to share last week. That article will have to wait for now. I will upload it soon, Lord willing. Until then, here is a little more poetry. God bless.
The voices trapped inside my head
would deeply fill my soul with dread
were not my Savior to be found,
His angel camping all around
So, with my Lord dispelling fear
to Him alone will I draw near
As sleep approaches in the night
He sets the evil one to flight
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Secular Haiku, Part 2
Here is the second part of the secular Haiku I wrote that were first published through a now-closed writers' network. "Freshly Raked" and "The Childhood Comforter" were originally published in December 2011. "September" was originally published in February 2014. I wrote it about two and a half years after my dog Mulder died. It's the second Haiku I wrote about him.
In the future I may post other pieces that I wrote as a member of the former network. But next week I hope to post something that has not been published before. God bless.
Freshly Raked
Grinning ear to ear,
a little girl falls backwards,
scattering brown leaves.
The Childhood Comforter
As a blizzard roars,
the quilt my grandma made me
warms from head to toe.
September
Tropical Storm Lee
brushed our city with its winds,
left here with your soul.
In the future I may post other pieces that I wrote as a member of the former network. But next week I hope to post something that has not been published before. God bless.
Freshly Raked
Grinning ear to ear,
a little girl falls backwards,
scattering brown leaves.
The Childhood Comforter
As a blizzard roars,
the quilt my grandma made me
warms from head to toe.
September
Tropical Storm Lee
brushed our city with its winds,
left here with your soul.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Secular Haiku, Part 1
I wrote the following Haiku through the writers' network that recently closed. The first two were originally published in November 2011. The last one was originally published in December 2011. All three follow the 5-7-5 syllable pattern.
I wrote "Lone Star November" after a steep temperature drop. "Chew Toy Joy" is about Mulder, my late German Shepherd mix. And "Open Air, Springtime" was inspired by a scene in a Kurosawa film.
I hope to publish another set of poems next Tuesday. God bless. Have a beautiful week.
Lone Star November
The drought continues.
Are the pipes insulated?
A cold front arrived.
Chew Toy Joy
Elderly canine,
energetic as a pup
in his last summer.
Open Air, Springtime
In the glass tea cup
cherry blossom reflections
dance on the water.
I wrote "Lone Star November" after a steep temperature drop. "Chew Toy Joy" is about Mulder, my late German Shepherd mix. And "Open Air, Springtime" was inspired by a scene in a Kurosawa film.
I hope to publish another set of poems next Tuesday. God bless. Have a beautiful week.
Lone Star November
The drought continues.
Are the pipes insulated?
A cold front arrived.
Chew Toy Joy
Elderly canine,
energetic as a pup
in his last summer.
Open Air, Springtime
In the glass tea cup
cherry blossom reflections
dance on the water.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
"Repast," the flash fiction article in this post, was originally published on January 6, 2012 on the now-defunct writing network to which I once belonged. If you're in the San Antonio, TX area on September 13, 2014, please be sure to check out the next Hosanna Praise Poetry Reading at the Igo Branch Library. Bring some of your own poems, flash fiction, or testimonies to share with the audience. Or just come to listen to other people share their poems, testimonies, and other pieces. You can find the details at https://www.facebook.com/HosannaPraisePoetryReading?ref=stream. God bless.
Kirsta brought the bible to Tyler's funeral that morning. Less than an hour after burying him, Kirsta was back at their home, being greeted by friends, family, and people she barely knew who had come to pay their respects. She took her copy of the funeral program off the coffee table and placed it inside the front cover of the bible.
"Put some mac and cheese on Kirsta's plate when it's done. And, don't forget the collards. She needs to keep up her energy." Kirsta was sitting close enough to the kitchen to hear everything that the ladies from her parents' church were saying. "Poor baby," said another, "To lose her husband so young...." A third piped in, "Shh! She's sitting right there!"
Jonathan stood against a wall on the other side of the room beside Kaylee. He and Kirsta didn't have long conversations once she got saved. After she married Tyler, contact with her brother was virtually non-existent. Phone calls often ended with him hanging up after accusing them of "bible thumping". He seldom acknowledged the letters and cards they sent him. Kaylee, on the other hand, brushed off Kirsta and Tyler's witnessing, preferring to tease them instead of avoiding them.
Kirsta glanced around the room packed with friends, family, and people she barely knew. Things had been different each time that Tyler was released from the hospital. As the disease progressed, fewer people dropped by to visit. A core group of friends from church and Bible Study along with her parents and Kaylee were the faithful visitors. Even a few of the church group stopped coming around near the end. Kirsta couldn't tell if they were busy or uncomfortable. She'd felt speechless a couple of times herself, wanting to say the perfect thing to Tyler. At those times, she would pick up Aunt Joyce's bible and read him some of the highlighted passages that Aunt Joyce had read to her siblings and her when they were children.
Pastor David sat down across from Kirsta. He was the one who led Tyler to Christ shortly before Tyler and Kirsta met in college. He was the one who gave Tyler's eulogy. And, when Tyler was alive, after his illness had moved from stage 4 to stage 5, Pastor David was the one who intervened when a couple of Tyler's friends--members of different denominations--had a disagreement in the hospital cafeteria about the meaning of the Scripture, "with his stripes we are healed." One friend insisted that the words referred to physical healing while the other insisted that they referred to salvation. When the first friend asked Pastor David what he thought the interpretation was, the pastor replied, "I've seen believers healed, and I've seen believers die." He somehow managed to intensify the doctrinal dispute between the two over God's will regarding illness.
That dispute took place a month and a half before Tyler died, one week prior to the last time that Pastor David visited Tyler and Kirsta at home. As he sat in the same chair he'd sat in during that last visit, friends and people he barely knew murmuring around him, Pastor David leaned forward to speak to Kirsta. One of the ladies from her parents' church burst out of the kitchen and handed Kirsta her plate, interrupting him. "Here you go, Sweetie," she said. Before Kirsta finished saying, "Thank you," the lady from her parents' church addressed the other people around her with "Can I get anybody else anything? Reverend, can I get you anything?" Pastor David told her, "No, thank you." He waited a minute and then, after catching Kirsta's attention, asked her, "You doing okay?" He didn't expect an answer greater than, "I'm hanging in there." So, he was surprised when she told him, "I'm doing fine." Pastor David said, "Praise the Lord." He sat back in his chair and repeated, "Praise the Lord." He was puzzled, though, wondering how she could be fine given the circumstances.
Several of the friends, family, and people that she barely knew walked up to Kirsta to say "goodbye" after finishing off some food and gathering their things. A few of them leaned down to hug her and promised to keep her in their prayers. Closer friends and acquaintances quoted Scripture before making their promises. Kirsta thanked them. She knew that they wanted to comfort her. And, Kirsta was grateful for their encouragement. Still, she figured that she had her time to grieve while Tyler was alive.
Kaylee and Jonathan, seeing open spots on either side of their sister, joined her on the couch. While Kaylee put an arm around Kirsta's shoulder, Jonathan gently took their Aunt Joyce's bible from Kirsta and flipped to a well-highlighted page. He read the highlighted verses to himself and, as he closed the bible, Tyler's funeral program slipped out and fell to the floor. Kirsta picked it up and read the birth and death dates on the front page. The dates testified to the fact that her husband was twenty-eight years old when he died. Kirsta began crying. The crying deepened into sobbing and the sobbing into weeping. As Kaylee drew Kirsta closer, Jonathan put his arms around both of them. Tears flowed from all three. They wept without speaking. They mourned as family.
Repast
Kirsta held her late great-aunt Joyce's old bible as she sat on the
couch that her husband, Tyler, bought a year earlier. "Aunt Joyce" used
to read passages from her bible to Kirsta and her siblings when they
were younger. She had given Kirsta the bible after her profession of
faith in Jesus Christ at age seventeen. Kirsta's brother Jonathan, an
agnostic, and sister Kaylee, who--as she put it--believed in God but
didn't believe in God, each wanted the bible. Aunt Joyce had documented the family tree in the bible, making it a family heirloom.
Kirsta brought the bible to Tyler's funeral that morning. Less than an hour after burying him, Kirsta was back at their home, being greeted by friends, family, and people she barely knew who had come to pay their respects. She took her copy of the funeral program off the coffee table and placed it inside the front cover of the bible.
"Put some mac and cheese on Kirsta's plate when it's done. And, don't forget the collards. She needs to keep up her energy." Kirsta was sitting close enough to the kitchen to hear everything that the ladies from her parents' church were saying. "Poor baby," said another, "To lose her husband so young...." A third piped in, "Shh! She's sitting right there!"
Jonathan stood against a wall on the other side of the room beside Kaylee. He and Kirsta didn't have long conversations once she got saved. After she married Tyler, contact with her brother was virtually non-existent. Phone calls often ended with him hanging up after accusing them of "bible thumping". He seldom acknowledged the letters and cards they sent him. Kaylee, on the other hand, brushed off Kirsta and Tyler's witnessing, preferring to tease them instead of avoiding them.
Kirsta glanced around the room packed with friends, family, and people she barely knew. Things had been different each time that Tyler was released from the hospital. As the disease progressed, fewer people dropped by to visit. A core group of friends from church and Bible Study along with her parents and Kaylee were the faithful visitors. Even a few of the church group stopped coming around near the end. Kirsta couldn't tell if they were busy or uncomfortable. She'd felt speechless a couple of times herself, wanting to say the perfect thing to Tyler. At those times, she would pick up Aunt Joyce's bible and read him some of the highlighted passages that Aunt Joyce had read to her siblings and her when they were children.
Pastor David sat down across from Kirsta. He was the one who led Tyler to Christ shortly before Tyler and Kirsta met in college. He was the one who gave Tyler's eulogy. And, when Tyler was alive, after his illness had moved from stage 4 to stage 5, Pastor David was the one who intervened when a couple of Tyler's friends--members of different denominations--had a disagreement in the hospital cafeteria about the meaning of the Scripture, "with his stripes we are healed." One friend insisted that the words referred to physical healing while the other insisted that they referred to salvation. When the first friend asked Pastor David what he thought the interpretation was, the pastor replied, "I've seen believers healed, and I've seen believers die." He somehow managed to intensify the doctrinal dispute between the two over God's will regarding illness.
That dispute took place a month and a half before Tyler died, one week prior to the last time that Pastor David visited Tyler and Kirsta at home. As he sat in the same chair he'd sat in during that last visit, friends and people he barely knew murmuring around him, Pastor David leaned forward to speak to Kirsta. One of the ladies from her parents' church burst out of the kitchen and handed Kirsta her plate, interrupting him. "Here you go, Sweetie," she said. Before Kirsta finished saying, "Thank you," the lady from her parents' church addressed the other people around her with "Can I get anybody else anything? Reverend, can I get you anything?" Pastor David told her, "No, thank you." He waited a minute and then, after catching Kirsta's attention, asked her, "You doing okay?" He didn't expect an answer greater than, "I'm hanging in there." So, he was surprised when she told him, "I'm doing fine." Pastor David said, "Praise the Lord." He sat back in his chair and repeated, "Praise the Lord." He was puzzled, though, wondering how she could be fine given the circumstances.
Several of the friends, family, and people that she barely knew walked up to Kirsta to say "goodbye" after finishing off some food and gathering their things. A few of them leaned down to hug her and promised to keep her in their prayers. Closer friends and acquaintances quoted Scripture before making their promises. Kirsta thanked them. She knew that they wanted to comfort her. And, Kirsta was grateful for their encouragement. Still, she figured that she had her time to grieve while Tyler was alive.
Kaylee and Jonathan, seeing open spots on either side of their sister, joined her on the couch. While Kaylee put an arm around Kirsta's shoulder, Jonathan gently took their Aunt Joyce's bible from Kirsta and flipped to a well-highlighted page. He read the highlighted verses to himself and, as he closed the bible, Tyler's funeral program slipped out and fell to the floor. Kirsta picked it up and read the birth and death dates on the front page. The dates testified to the fact that her husband was twenty-eight years old when he died. Kirsta began crying. The crying deepened into sobbing and the sobbing into weeping. As Kaylee drew Kirsta closer, Jonathan put his arms around both of them. Tears flowed from all three. They wept without speaking. They mourned as family.
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