God, my love is vapour, my heart’s dust. I pass and fade like dew, like day; I tremble like the dawn. God, my all is empty, I have no grace to give my neighbour or give You. SoContinue reading “Theology Part 4: Psalm”
Category Archives: Poetry
Theology Part 3: Pursuance
Go and do likewise; what you have seen, now do, and do with joy, and what you have heard once whispered in your ear, proclaim it from the rooftops; now shout the truth that rings in your ears; proclaim in word and deed and in the beat of your changed, now Continue reading “Theology Part 3: Pursuance”
Theology Part 2: Resolution
…love to one’s neighbour is not to be sung about – it is to be fulfilled in reality. Even if there were nothing else to hinder the poet from artistically celebrating love to one’s neighbour in song, it is quite enough that with invisible letters behind every word in Holy Scripture a disturbing notice confrontsContinue reading “Theology Part 2: Resolution”
Lines of Flight
No root, no trunk, no stem, only these weeds; No path to travel, only lines of flight. No start, no finish, unity or seed, Only these thoughts that twist and turn, alight. And when the course is twisted and the root Cannot be simplified, then who are we? We are creators and Creation’s fruit, WeContinue reading “Lines of Flight”
Theology Part 1: Acknowledgement
First of all, acknowledge Him; know that all good comes from Him. The sun, the moon are His lamp-shades, the sea His pool, the skies His chair. Health and growth and happiness: these are from Him; He made them. Relationships, prosperity: all good comes from Him. Rain to make the soil soft, sunlight so thatContinue reading “Theology Part 1: Acknowledgement”
You shall love
not to win the dash and charm the crowd nor gain a victor’s kiss, not that you may save yourself from lonely night on lonely night: not for all of this. Nor that passers-by may give you love Continue reading “You shall love”
Instinct (After Marianne Moore’s “Melanchthon”)
Today’s poem was a difficult one to write. Enchanted as I am by Marianne Moore’s work, she is a tough poet to imitate, tougher still to understand. But I have given it my best shot! Fascinated by animals, human nature and the poetic contrasts and parallels between the two, many of Moore’s poems deal withContinue reading “Instinct (After Marianne Moore’s “Melanchthon”)”
Creation
What does it mean for humans to create? This is a question that has always been important to me, as a creative person. But as I have delved further into my Masters degree, much of which is concerned with the role of creativity in education, it has become something I have pondered more and more.Continue reading “Creation”
Rudd and Bonhoeffer: A Verse Comparison
A conversation with my girlfriend after the recent Australian election prompted her to suggest that I might write a poem about my disappointment with Kevin Rudd, a man who in the past has professed a Christian approach to politics that I have identified with. It isn’t exactly nuanced political commentary, but it was therapeutic toContinue reading “Rudd and Bonhoeffer: A Verse Comparison”
“For he taught them as one who had authority”
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. (Archilochus) The authority of the fox runs in many directions; centrifugal, it leaves the burrow with cunning, while the hedgehog burrows centripetally, knowing one thing and knowing it deep. And the scribes and the Pharisees, burrowing law, are amazed to see one whoContinue reading ““For he taught them as one who had authority””
The Consolations of Writing 