Monday, July 19, 2010

Select Poems #1

"Reflecting on a Tattooed Man"

When we color outside the lines of our accepted lives,
Who knows what might appear.
Picasso was crazy and Warhol was nuts, some say –
Unless they saw what had always been.

“There be dragons there!” mappers drew sitting in safe ports,
As Columbus sailed off the map.
When staying within lines fails to keep faith alive, why linger?
That would be the true insanity.

Draw on, Tattooed Man! Sketch your life for all to see.
Show your spirit in your flesh.
One day the Father will take your art and mine,
And tack it on His great refrigerator.


"On the Edge of the Dark"

It’s dark where he sits.
A black hole sucks the life from him.
It’s an emptiness that looks familiar.

He invites me to sit with him, but I squat near the door instead.
I must be ready to move if the gravity well shifts,
As my heart balances on the abyss’s edge.

We swirl like specks of dust on the event horizon, our fates inevitable.
Perhaps we should connect to find a way through,
Hoping that God will be there where nothing else can.


"This Little Light"

The surrounding darkness swells so large.
My eye turns away from the devouring lust
That creeps over sills and through keyholes
Like a mindless virus that will die with its host.

The Son shines in His irrepressible way,
But my eye cannot bear His full glory.
So lesser lights must shine out of the opposing shadow
Like stars whose beams bless as they fall.

The ebony gloom does not grasp that its power is annulled.
Like a quenched dragon it rages its futility
While life's sailors and lovers use steady pinpoints,
Finding their way to the inevitable day.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing! "Reflecting on a Tattooed Man" really hits home with me. Those who embrace their life/potential/gifting and live the life they know is out there... Some say those people are nuts, but time will tell. The "tack it on His great refrigerator" line is perfect.

    Love the imagery in the second two poems. I can really see and feel the battle between dark and light. :)

    Looking forward to reading more of your work!

    ReplyDelete