#61

When I can only
Hear those like me, around me,
I lose the story.

#60

Before you try to tell me your position, stop and listen/
You're so busy using your voice that "Pro-choice is bad"/
You miss the lives impacted, ignoring children women had/
"Pro-life?" Great! Welcome a foster child into the home you own/
"Pro-life?" Yes! Shelter the alien seeking a home/
"Pro-life?" Preach it! Bless the families craving resources/
"Pro-life?" Feed and clothe, the homeless shooting drugs alone/

No woman chooses surgery just for the hell of it/
Don't make abortion illegal, make it irrelevant/
Listen to the women who are asking, no, telling/
Until equality is polity, the paucity's atrocity/
You're not really pro-life, but pro-control, pro-property/
The sanctity of life in utero is beautiful/
But loving the least is equally as dutiful/

I pray that my own babies would not have died in vain/
So hear me, evangelicals, our nation is in pain/
When you ignore the raped, the beaten, the escaped/
You reveal that sanctity is reserved for the saints/
When you chastise the teen, the illegal, the whore/
You value just the baby, nothing more/
Just try it on for size, see life through her eyes/
Is there hope within the Church or just bloody fetuses on signs?/

And when November calls, and you flood the polling stalls/
Think of her in the bathroom asking God what to do?/
If she has your number, maybe she'll ask you/
But if your daughter can't talk to you about sex/
I can tell you, Planned Parenthood is where she looks next/
And when that option is unlawful/
Oh sister, the outcomes are awful/

#59

In the beginning- WORD
Incarnation- WORD
Resurrection- WORD
Written to us- WORD
Returning glory- WORD
More than a slogan or a motto or a promise;
Not a prescription, regulation or practice.
Living.

Breathing.

Walked the world among us.

LIVING.

ACTIVE.

Transcending understanding. Upending oppression and possession
with confession leading to repentance for eternal satisfaction.

Bread.

Water.

Flesh at the table.
Come,
Feast,
all who are able
or be carried and healed.
Be married.
Be sealed.
There's wonder-working POWER every minute, every hour
from the start for your heart.
Listen now or listen later,
all will bow before the Savior
and its not about behavior.
Read the narrative, the arc
the WORD is light into the dark.
Hope and healing for the nations
an incarnate population.
There's timeless TRUTH and Glory
that's the WORD, the holy STORY.
Jesus Christ in every bar.


Creation. Redemption. Restoration.
Take it as a whole, the Gospel calls for transformation,
every tribe, every tongue,
every creed, every nation.
There is a better word:

Jesus Christ is Lord.

#58

the pink sky
reflecting in the water
is the kind of perfect
you have to admire in the moment

even if I had captured
a picture
the beauty was in the moment itself

#57

Confession is a lost art
in our churches and our lives.
We hide behind our filters
on our screens and with our lies.
The struggle for authenticity
infects our bodies, souls and minds.
Until we have fooled our very selves
by blurry, ragged lines.

#56

*a Christmas poem*

I'm from blue tarps and duct tape
I'm from secret mountain views, for those who knew to see through the clouds
I'm from filling the bath tub, bracing for the power to go out
I'm from plotting a secret escape to unwrap presents early
I'm from waxy Advent chocolate and colored pencil ornaments
I'm from real wax candlelight at the Silverdale on the Bay hotel
I'm from late night Ramen gifting and letters in the stockings
I'm from both sides of the family and so much, so much talking

I'm from glowstick parties with fake snow falling down
Boldly, I'm from Heaven now,
Wrapped, no swaddled, in love

#55

Stuck in trauma
came the verdict.
Reliving
moments trying to steal life
or life stolen.
Unable
to breathe
to calm
to escape
or move on.
Reacting
to compensate for
the moments I couldn't react.