There’s nothing quite as empty As a funeral Where no one laughs. It’s as if we all know Or see for the first time The cold end That waits for us As we hurtle Toward the final unknowable With the full impact Of the last lap Of the speed of life. There are no passengers On this journey.

Just another dream Receding in the distance. I thought by now I’d have more to show For this many years Of being way too busy – But doing what? I ask myself this On my way to a funeral Of someone about half my age As if I should be asking him “Did you finish?” “Did you fill in The empty spaces?” “Or...

  I believe in one God who’s been known to show up when and where I’d much rather not see him. I believe in the maker of heaven and earth who blew air into lungs used to scream at the sky and I wonder if he ever regrets it. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the begotten son, who is said to...

Time drives toil. Toil hastens time. Life’s syncopated rhythm Is hard to dance to. Work determines worth. Position yields power. So we Keep up to get by, Chase fleeting passions, Give a grand performance, Desperate for the inner critic’s acclaim. Sleep is fitful. Night is short, The day, long. Must...

    Being a Christian is easy – Just abandon all pretense, Remember that “the least of these” Is your benchmark For what matters in God’s economy. Could any of us imagine a world Where each one of us Loved our neighbor as ourselves Who gladly shared And called nothing our own? Or could...

I misplaced myself In a metro whoosh And taxi’s yellow   So I made a poster Just one, and carried it Folded up inside a book Under my arm It reads:   Missing Persons Alert: Have you seen A not white male Not 50 years old Without a receding hairline His eyes aren’t blue He’s not 5 foot...

  Indeed this is grace: Your Heavens touching down Like fabric upon your worn earth. (A loose bedsheet strung with compassion’s weight)   A needle pushed through the fibers Patently hems Your character As you embrace the shivering earth Like a blanket.   What response is needed But...

Early on, there was no need Or perhaps, rather, there was an abundance Leaving the impression of no need Every thing was so very easy So very black and white pre-decided Without shades of grey And the ambiguity that pollutes Every thought and action of today   What we think of or call The...

Feast I   Self-forgetfully, the defenseless orifice widens Awaiting the hand, the nourishment it will give. The ivory and yellowed teeth are exposed for all to see as Sauces drip, moans and smiles unleash animal laughter, Filling this hall with the hilarity of that original trust.   At this...

  Sanballat steadies the ladder without complaint While I pry at the rotted eaves and soffits framing my bungalow. This deserved my attention much earlier, like other matters I’ve neglected: My character and who I am becoming. Sanballat steadies the ladder and salutes procrastination’s potency.   I...