A Positively Poetic Priest

The only realms of existence Even open to the idea of unconditional Are love and fake physics We all remember those days In senseless High School Where some ageless science teacher Had you skating around on frictionless surfaces So that the equations were "easy" And completely unconditional  Remember there's no wind friction in the void These days you wonder what happens To the length of years Totally reconditioning your mind Into a jaded maze Where was innocence lost On the sidelines of growing up In the learning of lessons unfit for respect And the shaking off of the idea That all love is unconditional Left behind as dried old rattlesnake skin Waiting for its resurrection day

There are so many struggles man against man, man against God man against himself - a total of three but oh the variations on the theme we are so very good at imitating and we learn from the best our ancestors our society parroting the us versus them the subconscious subliminal messages that we don't even realize exist the conversation around privilege around race, poverty, hunger shows the deeper disconnection of fear look at the parents all huddled in groups finding like minded definitions of yore as the children unbiased and unformed skip about with everyone with joy

February 28th Luke 13:1-9 Heavenly Father, who tends us as a gardener tending his flowers, help us to recognize the time and tending that you have given us to heal, repent, and grow into the fullness of who you are calling us to be, through your Word, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The Greek Philosopher Epictetus said, “No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.” In the first part of the gospel passage today, the people listening to Jesus, including us are given a charge: Repent. It's an unsurprising charge for us, there is precedent after all, years of prophets, John the Baptist calling out, the tradition of repentance and penance of Lent. We are called over and over again to repentance, but it seems that we keep needing the reminder. Perhaps we just aren...

Nature or nurture is a question Only worth asking given its fallacy Dichotomies are lies in a gradient of colors Nature and nurture work together A melody that makes good use of dissonance Within its intricate staves are parts Unheard by human ears at decibels Not understood by time's conniving fingers Let us soak in nature's nurturing The salt, herbs, bacterias, aculturing weathers That bind us to our place as generations Make their home in the grasp of befriending land

The lazy lidded moon staring At Malala the Riveter Attempting to tell the world Far beyond the blank minds Of broken long-houred workers That power lies in the imagination In intuition and equilibrium  Integrity and identity Can you answer truthfully When they call your name Do you claim the inherent authority For the light of day can be as dark As the street of hell God walks down Wishing to comfort the sufferers Where you hear Him whispering Don't stop imagining something better My gift will be beyond all measure  Hope like despair could eat you up But the day that you do Is truly the day that you die 

Sometimes it is in the rigid boundaries set for us that we find the most freedom. I am not unaware of the irony of the set of haiku I wrote tonight about the word creative: What scares the public Threatens the communal mind Creativity Conformity is Not the answer to our ease It is undefined Labels do not make  Happy and healthy home lives Daring greatly does Haiku are rigid Creativity within Blooming green lilacs