Tree trunk gnarled and burled/might swing up like the elephant trunk/our kinship of all that lives/always sings below our surface

Words of love embroider well/don’t need saying/live on in the free gift/its best to find the beauty useful/wrapped around/the words to be discovered/like a happy surprise

The unthinkable/is the burning of a beloved church/deliberate arson/unleashed hatred/ structural eradication of the hush harbor/of the sanctuary/of the cry room/of the joy factory/only too often the people of faith come back stronger/only too often too many turn a blind eye to hate in social guise/only too often we forget that/Gods awful power will tabernacle/ in the midst of hate/breathe free and easy now/despite despicable dastardly destruction/reminded/released/revived/

Forgiveness/especially when it seems impossible/has to be grasped/gripped for dear life/not because of demonstration from the cross/not because of seven times seventy/ nor because of our debts being forgiven as we forgive others/not because of heaping coals/ nor because of the servant forgiven a vast amount/ could never repay/who turned on another with unforgivingness/no not just these/not for form or fashion/not to let anybody off the hook/forgive because it is the truest gift/the gift we are given/we are created in Image and likeness/created to forgive/to allow ourselves to be forgiven/finally the only gift that paves the future towards hope

Leaning/leaning on the everlasting/fountain/I remember water fountains in the park/you could get water for free/and your family would pick you up and hold you/if you couldn’t reach/when did we stop making provision/for all to receive water/ when did we stop caring for those who need a boost/to be held above the sweet waters/

Old school banana pudding/required an old tool/the egg beater’s cogs turned/ with a well crafted whir/the clever handle set to angle/for ease of turning/as my arms ached/stirring the jury rigged double boiler/so pleased with myself/for remembering cream of Tatar/I never exactly/ knew what it was/but just a pinch/ makes the whites froth and set/soft peaks/sugar/spin and whir/my arms strain and reposition/ like my heart/ my sinews remember Aunts and Mum/the egg beater was Aunt Edith’s own/it comforts my eyes and my heart/as I insist on custard from real flour sugar eggs milk/and real merengue/my comfort food will be hard peaks piled high/will cost the effort of movement/will authentically call their names

And so she set a dragon/on the red brick ledge/guarding an oddly placed/bathroom window/staring onto the balcony/in the long nights/he stood for protection/the long painful sleepless nights/were surrounded and claimed in all four directions/her life was sealed long ago/and the small fierce dragon/someone gave her/for company/she forgot he was there/until the accident/from her place on the floor/through many suffering hours/ little fierce guardian/whispered like this/like this we are brave/and she knew/and she smiled/patiently endured/until morning

The heart is full/of every love/nascent/ready to adore/until we teach the pale fences/the invisible walls/of hate

Sometimes/all we can do/is weep/and sometimes that manna quail/enough/Jesus wept/sifting through our tears to the heart of faith/peace and joy inside our tears/in no way precludes unspeakable agony/in no way precludes straining every sinew for justice to flood the barren twisted divided land

I am grateful for a father who came and got me/rescued me from gangs of bullies/ waited at the bus stop/ if I was more than thirty minutes late/served as griot to the family/I am grateful for the caution and the care he brought to his mission of fatherhood/for the stories and the reality of the life he built/especially how to be angry/how to grieve/how to laugh/play and dance/for teaching us through quiz and riddles: do you know what is the shortest verse in the Bible/ Jesus Wept/