Picking God's pocket

you saw us on the news
but we're already dead
those medical supplies
are next to your bed

your cash didn't reach us
your tears dried too fast
your wallet was uninjured
by the momentary contrast

so go sell your soul to Cable
store those treasures in your closet
start your Heaven in Hawaii
with your 10% deposit

two thousand unreached voices
can you hear their faintest whisper
a million Christian choices
won't you choose to help us Sister?

I foolishly thought

I was in control

Which only stands to reason

I planted my garden,

watched it grow and harvested in season

Of course the rain would always come

of course the sun would shine

and when it grew and gave it's due

the glory was all mine.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Let heaven and nature sing

while foolish creatures here below

won't bow and bless their King.
- j.m.

I'm trying to teach the kids that

"every good and perfect gift comes from above

On the road again ...

On the road again ...

When you're gone
I always sleep right down the middle of our bed
and wake with all the blankets
tucked 'round my feet.

and when you're gone I
drink your orange juice
and I sometimes wear your shirt
and I never keep our bedroom very neat.

But when you're here
I use your toothbrush
and forget to pack your lunch
and I grumble at the socks
spread on the floor.

And when you're here I interrupt you,
disappoint you and mistrust you
and I don't know what I'm doing all that for.

Maybe it's because I've missed you
and it's high time I just kissed you
will you stay so I can fall for you once more?
Maybe then I'll grow to find
that patiently we can rewind
and learn to be the lovers
we were before.

J.M.

This is my version of a country song ... complete with cheese

Lechem Ha-chaim

The Man from "Bread Town"

5,000 full
but did the soul
know what he just said?

A hunger hole
inside their soul
could they fill it up with bread?

Eyes on the loaf
or eyes on it's Baker?

Come on your knees
to Jesus, the bread maker.

I've been quite discontent lately. Today's sermon really showed me how much I'm missing the point. It also got me thinking about the Jewish toast "L 'Chaim". Most cultures toast "To Love", "Cheers", "Salud" or something of that nature. Jews toast "To Life" because life itself is a gift. (Bethlehem means "house of bread")

Armies in the Fire

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The lamps now glitter down the street;
Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.

Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.

Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;--
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.

Then once again the glow returns;
Again the phantom city burns;
And down the red-hot valley, lo!
The phantom armies marching go!

Blinking embers, tell me true
Where are those armies marching to,
And what the burning city is
That crumbles in your furnaces!

Robert Louis Stevenson

midnight

a light peeked past a door half cracked
a hunchbacked foorboard whispered down the hall
my eyes tight shut my face relaxed
my ears reach towards his tardy call

the inside of my eyelids play their tricks
the inside of my ears invent that sound
"He isn't coming home" the Clock ticks
but Patience folds her arms and holds her ground

A key-struck lock ignite my soul
while sock clad steps allay my fear
the opened bedroom door provokes the coal
that lays simmering in darkness till he's here.

Happy poetry month pt 2

Juke Box Love Song
by Langston Hughes
from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes


I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day--
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

Happy poetry month

In honor of poetry month (now that it is half over) I'm going to try and share some short poems that I think are great.

Forebearance
by Ralph Waldo Emerson


Hast thou named all the birds without a gun;
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk;
At rich men's tables eaten bread and pulse;
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust;
And loved so well a high behavior
In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?
O be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

It's good for the soul

yuck, I hate this job.


1 John 1:8-10
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.


James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.


apologies with heaving sob
brine washed cheeks
- unpleasant job

friendship rended
now mended
overdue task now tended

joy to come?
renewal started?
softening of the once hard hearted?

at peace with God
at peace with you
confessing sins - so hard to do!

Scene from a second story window

shop away the sadness
that eats away your soul
gorge yourself on madness
- still you will not be full

your body is a ghost
that pleasures cannot heal
you died at birth
to live a life that's striving hard to feel

you're never more than happy
your delight will never "max"
the goodwill that' you've earned
is subjected to tax

but chin up child
heaven awaits
and wholeness
and Holiness
inside its gates

firefly christian

Firefly Christian
won't you shine your little light?
won't you twinkle in the darkness
won't you brighten up our night?

it's so hard to see your signals
flashing on and flashing off
I'm attracted to your light
like a candle and a moth

but the darkness is more lonely
when the dying light is lost
when you hide a way your glowstick
and forget to count the cost

then the darkness overwhelms me
though you flicker as before
I'll cling tighter to my twilight
I don't need you anymore.

are you midnight? are you shadow?
are you friend or are you foe?
chose your master choose your light source
and then let your candle glow.

Camping

Wrote this last year while camping ... just found it in a drawer

cricket screaming
fire dreaming

log poking
camfire smoking

burger boasting
'mellow roasting

dirt drinking
"DEET" reaking

sunstained cheeks
camping geeks

old guitar
hymnal vamping

nothing beats
church camp-out camping!

on my mind

loose thoughts
loose teeth
once removed
reveal beneath
fleshy wounds
like a wreath
flash of pain
- and relief

loose thoughts
a pocket full
jingle brightly
never dull
cling and ring
against my soul
- j.m.

bethlehem in babylon
tinsle in the manger
a snow man placed on my front lawn
rooftop full of reindeer
"Santa baby" on the ipod
gluttony at the table
have we forgotten all that happened
in that dirty stable

celebrate with lavish gifts
the charities get pennies
(that's if you have any)
"the more you buy the more you save"
I'm forgetting what HE gave
getting caught in a Christmas craze
in a land of plenty



This year in Bible Study we have been studying Babylon and the culture of excess that Daniel faced with integrity, hence the first line ...

Happy Anniversary!

we share a life
we share a bed
"we'll share everything" we said

we've shared our struggles
and our laughs
we've shared t-shirts
we've shared baths

we shared colds
we've shared pain
we've shared fear
we've shared blame

we've shared most everything
but the best part?
you taught me how to share my heart.

Untitled

I've been so busy lately I haven' written much. Which is no excuse for the mangled little thing I came up with today. (I recommend reading Robert Burns' classic instead of the following)


My love is like a dandelion
it grows most anywhere
it scatters fluffy, puffy seeds
that dance upon the air

those fluffy, puffy seeds reach far
those cotton seeds reach wide
those cotton seeds have grown like weeds
upon my heart's hillside

don't try to pull them out my dear
that taproot grows down deep
those bitter leaves have stretched out wide
to catch the tears you weep

my love is common place my dear
your love is just like mine
our love shall last a good long bit
and grow a long long time.

Emily Dickinson

I don't much like Emily Dickenson (have you ever made it through the whole "Song of Myself"?). But I came across this one and since it has been rainy lately I thought it worthwhile to share

XXXVII

THE WIND begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,—
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees 5
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow; 10
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain, 15
And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father’s house,
Just quartering a tree. 20



This week's rainstorm (or was it last week?) sounded to me like a truck engine with a sticky lifter. It went through all the gears in about 10 min and then slowed to nice purring idle. I normally like the sound of the rain but having the ghost of a "78 ford ranger chugging outside my bedroom window? Less than poetic.

"One Step Backward Taken" by Robert Frost

Not only sands and gravels
Were once more on their travels,
But gulping muddy gallons
Great boulders off their balance
Bumped heads together dully
And started down the gully.
Whole capes caked off in slices.
I felt my standpoint shaken
In the universal crisis.
But with one step backward taken
I saved myself from going.
A world torn loose went by me.
Then the rain stopped and the blowing
And the sun came out to dry me.
- Robert Frost

I don't know where to start! This is such an amazing poem I can almost see the mudslide and feel his sigh of relief. What a picture of life choices. I think that this poem should always be read alongside his more famous "The road not taken". I feel like I am on the brink of some sort of change right now but I don't think I will have a choice as to which path to take. I feel as if something is going to happen that I can either embrace and rush into headlong or take one simple step back to avoid the chaos. It is frustrating because I can't see what's up ahead but I can know that God will answer my prayers to be stretched and challenged since He has promised to

Little Boy Blue

Baby sneezes
midnight snacks
3 steps forward
and you never looked back.

First word, second word
can't stop talking
endless running replaced your walking


Those trips to the park
catching my "slide rocket"
going home with daisies
overflowing each pocket

I sang you to sleep
when you were little
held your hand as you grew
I taught you to speak
taught you dress
taught you to tie your shoe

You stand before me a little man
looking as big as a kindergardner can
so brave, so afraid, so excited and yet

You reach for my hand as we take the next step

Candlelight quiet time

roller coaster flickering flame
rides the wind
in a multicoloured dance
does it have a chance?

the drafts get colder
(as I get older)
black sputtering stub
spits out smoke signals
of a torpedoed quiet time

I send out grand intentions that
puddle round my feet
melted into waxy nothings
just another rut

I want so much more ...

Matthew 12:18
18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope."