At the end of 2022, a friend asked if I would like to read a book with him: Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton. I had read it about 20 years ago and loved it so I readily agreed. Orthodoxy chronicles Chesterton’s return to the Catholic Church after wandering the wastes of intellectual modernism. Chesterton is aContinueContinue reading “A Clergyman Is as Useless as a Cat”
Category Archives: Spiritual / religious poetry
Requiem
Mozart’s Requiem is a deeply profound piece of music written for orchestra, choir, and vocal soloists. I have loved it since high school. A requiem is a Catholic funeral mass with different sections that help worshipers meditate on realities of the Christian faith related to death. Themes include eternal rest, God’s wrath, final judgment, andContinueContinue reading “Requiem”
New Song
On Easter, Christians often greet each other with the exchange, “He is risen!” “He is risen, indeed!” This expresses our belief that Christ’s resurrection is a fact—a fact assuring us death is not the end of our story, individually or as a community. “New Song” is a poem in my third book, Shadow and Memory,ContinueContinue reading “New Song”
Artless
Today marks the beginning of Passion Week, the time when Christians remember the days leading up to the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection after three days. “Passion” comes from a Greek word conveying the idea that one’s senses are pushed to their max—and even past. “Passion” can express any extreme experience—pleasureContinueContinue reading “Artless”
The State of Mercury Now Available!
Last week, I said my first chapbook would be out in a week or so. I’m happy to announce that The State of Mercury is now available on Amazon! This chapbook has a nice sampling of poems from both my books and explores the many moods or states of mind people move through. In addition,ContinueContinue reading “The State of Mercury Now Available!”
Down from Heaven
One of the central beliefs of Christianity is that people couldn’t reach high enough (so to speak) to touch God so God became human in the person of Jesus. Christmas is a time when we especially remember God becoming human in Jesus as the focus is Jesus’s birth. Below is a sonnet I wrote aContinueContinue reading “Down from Heaven”
Christmas Tree
Tonight, we decorated our Christmas tree as a family. Carols played from another room as we talked, laughed, and enjoyed adorning branches. But Christmas trees remind me of another tree, and the deeper meaning of Christmas: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we mightContinueContinue reading “Christmas Tree”
2047 Grace Street—Christian Wiman
I don’t remember how she heard about him, but my wife introduced me to Christian Wiman, and played a recording of him reading his poem, “All My Friends are Finding New Beliefs.” Wiman is a Christian, but I doubt he would fit in anyone’s theological box. His seems a very searching faith whose hunger forContinueContinue reading “2047 Grace Street—Christian Wiman”
The In-Beyond-Within
Spiritual things are among the most difficult for me to write about. There is not really a point of reference for spiritual realities in the world we know by sense experience. At best, sense experiences can provide analogies or imagery for spiritual things. Jesus Himself acknowledged this when He said, “If I have told youContinueContinue reading “The In-Beyond-Within”
Dream Land—Christina Rossetti
I became acquainted with Christina Rossetti’s poetry while reading The Oxford Book of Christian Verse earlier this year. While her poems were written before the age of free verse, I was struck by how natural her language is—she avoids awkward word order to fit a poem’s meter or rhyme scheme. Some of her imagery isContinueContinue reading “Dream Land—Christina Rossetti”
A Wandering Minstrel 