Advent is not simply Christmas extended: Calendar flaps decked with chocolate each day; Shops tinsel-lined as though God intended The season to dazzle our wallets away. Advent is not for the first-fruits of commerce, Nor is it for month-long pre-parties and drinks, And not for fluoro-lit reindeers dispersed In gardens, despite what the suburbs mayContinue reading “First Candle: Advent is Waiting”
Category Archives: Advent
Too Much Light 2: Prepare Your Eyes
Highways have no beauty in heat of summer: the road flattens and grass lies thirsty by the way. Nothing to see (the asphalt carpet rolls through nowhere fast), we dream of nothing but our pedestrian destinations. Should someone tell the day that new light might dawn across a languid, surprised hill, it would chuckle. And so the road stays nonchalant,Continue reading “Too Much Light 2: Prepare Your Eyes”
Too Much Light 1: Prepare the Way
Delays are bad today; nothing moves. Contained at interchange, a stencil house smiles, as though to make this place feel more like home. Small comfort: we go nowhere fast. The morning yawns through Western traffic haze; the day’s light’s too bright. We squint in glare. Lane changes ache; all is standstill until a way canContinue reading “Too Much Light 1: Prepare the Way”
Earth’s Carol (After Luci Shaw’s “Some Christmas Stars”)
One final poem for Advent, this one inspired by Luci Shaw’s “Some Christmas Stars“. Merry Christmas everyone. May it be a blessed time remembering the wonder of God made flesh. Earth’s Carol The stars make songs in silent sway, The roosters wait for newborn day, And I in brokenness make way To sing the songsContinue reading “Earth’s Carol (After Luci Shaw’s “Some Christmas Stars”)”
Descend, Ascend (After Luci Shaw’s “Made Flesh”)
As Advent draws frighteningly close to its festive conclusion, it’s time to catch up on the December poems for my 12 Poets Project. Today we enter another of Luci Shaw’s reflections on the Christmas story, the beautiful “Made Flesh” which was the inspiration for my next poem. Descend, Ascend (After Luci Shaw’s “Made Flesh”) Now,Continue reading “Descend, Ascend (After Luci Shaw’s “Made Flesh”)”
Pageant Part 9
Excited though everyone was about the pageant – the first that would not consist of a mawkishly sentimental song which they would all have to pretend to enjoy – the real feature on which everyone’s anticipation was focused was the fact that Grant and Sue would be there together. “I bet she thinks he’s changed.”Continue reading “Pageant Part 9”
Pageant Part 8
There were two more rehearsals before the day of the pageant. The children whose parts had been changed and who had new lines to learn were willing to go along with the secrecy demanded of them by Kim because they felt sufficiently special now that they had been promoted from entirely superfluous extras to speakingContinue reading “Pageant Part 8”
Pageant Part 7
“They drive me up the wall,” said Kim, when they were back at her house. “Tell me about it,” said Craig. “They’re worse than the kids.” This was not the first time that town friction had almost ruined something Kim had tried to do. The Book Week parade earlier in the year had very nearlyContinue reading “Pageant Part 7”
Pageant Part 6
Perhaps a word needs to be said here to clarify the past. Difficult though it always is to untangle the truth from everything that everyone else has said, it needs to be recorded that, though Grant had seemed to all intents and purposes to become what is commonly called a nut, he and Sue hadContinue reading “Pageant Part 6”
Pageant Part 5
While Braydon and Kassie debated the merits of his drinking Coke, Braydon’s teacher was in a debate of her own. The town grapevine was more efficient than any telecommunications network could manage and the news had already reached her that Braydon’s father was in town. Kim was relatively new to the town. Moving to VictoriaContinue reading “Pageant Part 5”
The Consolations of Writing 