More Unseen Hope

across

burgeoning

waves

suffering

tides

invisible

wind woven

bridges

parting greening

gray seas

address the waters

of creation

sea spume

where is hope

now

disembodied voices

murmuring

relentless

shrill

recalculating

to the distant

siren riddled

shore

you have to cast

on and off

for hope

on and off

cast far and wide

imagine casting

vast

impossibilities

grace tendrils

devolving

through your grasp

in the end

we are all

thrashing

air

dancing God’s

holy

line

reeled in

gloriously

or thrown back

to swim

and swim

drift

and dive

cast

and cast

wind woven

true

night steering

star clutching

flicker shreds

of hope

Romans 8:24 Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? (NRSV)

today

hope is the unseen

manna

ambrosia

you come upon

in the storm

wreckage

the hollows

you walk past

blindly

oblivion

beckoning

until

unseen hope

slips

between

your numbered

breaths

finest laser blades

carving out

despair

new sightings

behind gauze ribbons

patterns kaleidoscope

blooming

your

sweet

dark

shade

some

steadfast love

your clean

new

margins

your

holy

creatured

calm

Poem for Selah’s first Advent from Gigi:

Where
Will
Jesus
Be born
This year?
Not on a pretty hill
Far away
Not in a gleaming
Sanctuary
Barricaded
Against
Our neighbors
Not in
Lessons and carols
By rote
In a baby’s exploring
Fingers
Caressing a star
In a father’s voice:
The star
Represents
Jesus
A lower room
A cold water flat
The open air
Warmed by animal
Flesh in the hospitality
Of the
Poorest
The dying
Playing music
The violin
To comfort caregivers

In the human heart

Get your heart ready
It has to break
To
Receive
Him
Again
For the first
Time
In a baby’s
Curious
Wonder
In the dawning question
In her
New and
Love-Gifted
Eyes