7 Loaves

 

Emma’s one good pair of school shoes

Sat in the garage

imbued with coal colored sticky dust

from a recent outing

 

She needed shoes for gym

And a few long sleeved shirts

As the leaves are already turning

and the cool air in the morning leaves

the children at the bus stop

stomping their feet and rubbing their arms for warmth

 

But the shoes were the priority, needed for tomorrow.

 

And today, her best friend’s mother

Inspired by the changing weather, cleaned out closets

And called to ask if she could drop off a few things

 

She brought in 7 bags of clothes and shoes.

More than enough, with some to share

 

I thought about how Jesus was able to feed the multitude

With only 7 loaves and fishes

And how today he clothed a little girl (and several of her cousins)

With a similar plentitude

 

It’s astonishing

How often He blesses us with 7 bags

When all we really need is

One pair of shoes. 



Dedicated with love to the Macken family:)  We miss you!

Names

 

Stupid

is no more

an appropriate moniker

for her

than

Flying Squirrel

 

she has nothing to do with

Stupid

 

but

in the telling

and repeating

and berating

somehow

reality slips

 

and suddenly

she finds herself

questioning,

wondering if she knows

her own mind.

 

it’s not a light thing –

this re-naming

 

but an ancient practice

paired with whispered,

reverent tones

and sacred promises.

Abram becomes Abraham

Sarai becomes Sarah

Jacob becomes Israel

 

and that other sort of name

can have no part

in this process. 

The Tempest

The angry noise, the howling wind,

The fearful, growing dissonance -

As thund’ring waves meet thund’ring sky,

A full-fledged storm is coming on.

 

Against the gale my pleas are lost-

Blown, scattered.  Is there none to save?

No quieting?  Thou carest not

If I fall prey to roiling wave?

 

But by the Father set apart,

My echoed cries He hears, He wakes;

And graciously with patience starts

To still the tempest in my heart.

Dissonant Chords

Dissonant Chords

Some musical gifts

Relate to picking the perfect pitch,

Or vibrato virtuosity.

 

What about the gift of

Hearing the dissonant chord?

Riding out the discomfort of it

While the tension builds-

Sitting with the pain.

 

What is it about us that

Rushes resolution

When the score may call for far more interesting harmonies? 

 

Flexibility and growth (musical & physical)

Seem to take a strange combination of

Discipline & submission

 

It takes effort to disbelieve

The stories you tell yourself under duress-

(“I can’t”, and “It’s too hard”)-

And to hold your note against the beats

 

Breathing & visualizing

Lengthening muscles

Progressive cadences -

 

and reveling in

Gloriously sticky chords.

about this blog

This is not a music blog, it's really a poetry blog - at least, that's my intention right now.  But there's some reasoning behind the musical reference.  When I think of dissonant chords, I think of musical experiences of tension or discomfort that sometimes leave one longing for resolution (but that certainly make things more interesting)!  So that is the general theme for the poetry I'll post (at least right now, I will probably change things up as time goes on.)  I realize poetry is a pretty subjective experience, so if you don't like what I post, that's fine with me.  Feel free to leave comments as you like.  I do have to warn you that many of my posts may be spiritual or religious in nature, so if that isn't a topic you are comfortable reading about, you may want to make a virtual U-turn.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), but the views expressed here are mine alone.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the posts!