The Old & The New

A pair of poems I wrote for the old and the new year. Happy 2013! Grace and Peace to you in the coming year.

11:59



Sixty seconds of darkness.

Hold it tight,

feel time pulse

like a tiny heartbeat.



It smells of new mown grass,

electric-singed wires,

the smoke of fireworks,

the air of concert halls.



If it were the last

sixty seconds before

I followed the old year

into the dark



how would I let it go?



*** 


Midnight



The newness of a year

screams, explodes

into our world

in firework flash.



Like some alabaster jar

cracked open, poured over

to wash the old away,

perfume the new with promise.


Also, super excited to say my little poem "Suadade" was featured in Every Day Poems newsletter today! Read it here. Consider subscribing. It brings much daily joy to my inbox.

And for those who may be visiting via there, welcome! :)

Christmas Day: Give Us Christ

Father, give us Christ.
Star Igniter,
Crack our darkness.
Send the rain to heal our deadness.
Only you make dry bones rise,
Dim the blinding lights that hide
Our fear, until we're still enough
To feel the thaw of icy hearts.
In stable and by starlight
Overthrow our every expectation.
Our world inverts
Your kingdom comes.

***


Merry Christmas! May your day be bright and beautiful and hope light your way in 2013.

For the rest of the Advent poems.... Hope * Preparation * Joy * Love

Advent IV: Show Us Love

Father, show us love.
This violent world tears
Hearts apart and
Leaves us trembling in our shame.
Like winter leaves afraid to fall
We cling and sting in bitter wind.
May you slip into our world,
Swift and slight as drifting snow,
Too fragile and helpless not to love.
In heaven’s most audacious act
Our cold suspicion
Melts in spring.

***

Photography by Tina Cornett. Part 4 of a month long series of Advent poetry

Catching up?
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Advent III: Teach Us Joy

Father, teach us joy.
The Christmas feeling
Lost its meaning
In flashing lights, electric dreaming.
We race and chase and check a list
Until the days are gone amiss.
May you call us in our carols
In our traffic, in our deadness
And give our harried hearts the chance
To feel the wonder once again
Like waiting children
With nothing to dread.

***

Art by Tina Cornett. Part 3 of a month-long series of Advent poetry.

Catching up?
Part 1
Part 2

Advent II: Make Us Ready

Photo by Tina Cornett

Father, make us ready.
This ground is fallow
We have followed
Crooked paths to vales of shadow
The cracked and drought-laced dust of earth
Thirsts and groans beneath our feet.
May we know both thirst and longing
So when the rains come
To wash us clean
We will not run for shelter's awning
But welcome the storm
Arms wide, hearts alive.

***

Photography by Tina Cornett. This is Part 2 of a month-long series of Advent poetry. 
Catch up on Part 1 here.

Advent I: Grant Us Hope

Artwork by Tina Cornett

Father, grant us hope.
The veil of darkness
Thick around us
Is within us, and without us.
Our secret sins and sicknesses
So mingled in our blood.
May the smallest flicker of
Your holiness come spark and light
To keep us warm and
One day burn our
Hollow kingdoms all away.

***

Advent is a special time of year to me, a remedy for missing the real beauty of Christmas in the middle of chaos. Longing, expectation, the promise of hope and joy are all wrapped up in the celebration, and with every new year I've come to appreciate this waiting even more.

Every Sunday from now until Christmas, I'll be posting a verse from an Advent poem that was a good lesson in waiting itself. I wrote the first draft for the verse above two years ago, and multiple false starts and lots of drafts later, it's finally come to life. I'm grateful to finally share it with you and hope in some small way it will help us remember and ready our hearts together.

(Many, many thanks to my dear friends Tina Cornett for providing the lovely artwork and Chris Yokel for helping me pull this poem out of the land of writer's block and bring it to life. They're awesome people.