Today is Easter Sunday, the end of Holy Week, when Christians remember Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. Today’s poem, “Imago”, is from my fifth book, Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. Writing always involves a bit of mystery. Sometimes I get intuitions and pursue ideas without realizing their full depth. Much of that IContinueContinue reading “Imago”
Tag Archives: Jesus
A Christmas Carol—Christina Rossetti
Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst Christina Rossetti is a poet I became acquainted with in 2022…or so I thought. While reading her poems for the first time, I realized I had heard her poem “A Christmas Carol” set to music years before. “A Christmas Carol” is a meditation on how much ChristContinueContinue reading “A Christmas Carol—Christina Rossetti”
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
With Christmas just around the corner, I have carols on my mind. In my latest book, Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, I poetically interact with sacred texts, and some of those are traditional hymns. Knowing my love of Christmas music, I knew some of those hymns would be Christmas carols, and I didContinueContinue reading “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
Digital Painting by Patrick Murphy My upcoming book, Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, is getting closer to being finished. Next step is to get a proof-copy of the paperback. I also need to set up the e-book version. One section of Voiceless Choirs contains poems based on traditional Christian hymns. Rather than justContinueContinue reading “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”
A Crown for Abba Moses
Often, one thing leads to another. I was reading the draft of a friend’s book, which contained a quote by 4th century monk, Abba Moses: “‘Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” I was really struck by this quote, so I looked on Amazon to see if I could findContinueContinue reading “A Crown for Abba Moses”
A Poetry Handbook—Mary Oliver
Last year, my wife gave me a volume of poems by Mary Oliver, who quickly became a favorite poet. While looking through her books on Amazon, I discovered she wrote a couple books about reading and writing poetry. I picked up A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. This book isContinueContinue reading “A Poetry Handbook—Mary Oliver”
Fatherhood
Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there! This year, I received the gift of poetry. My wife has been known to write a poem when the mood takes her, and she wrote me a lovely haiku for Father’s Day ❤️ Haiku is a favorite form of mine, and in this sparse space, myContinueContinue reading “Fatherhood”
Once More
April brings up a host of feelings for me. Warmer weather begins, which I love. Easter is often in April, infusing this month with the hope of Christ’s resurrection and the destruction of death. For now, death is still a reality we face, and April 2009 is when my dad died. Dad’s death has twoContinueContinue reading “Once More”
Easter Sun
Today marks the beginning of Passion Week, when Christians remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Last year, I wrote a poem called “Easter Sun,” which is made up of three haiku. “Easter Sun” will be part of a book coming out this year called Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. Easter SunRays outstretched inContinueContinue reading “Easter Sun”
Softly and Tenderly
Last week, I mentioned I’m working on poems based on Christian hymns that will be included in an upcoming book, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. My goal has been to write modern poems in which I poetically interact with a hymn rather than just rehashing it. Synthesizing and distilling the text of a hymn into new imageryContinueContinue reading “Softly and Tenderly”
A Wandering Minstrel 