Identity

Freedom covered me in bubble wrap To protect me from life Because that stuff would surely kill me. It took a while before it was safe to feel again. To look at my face in the mirror and count the bruises. It took a while before I believed That smiles were not a disguise To hide evil.   Freedom didn’t come with a map To help me find my way back home, Or to navigate...

All of this is for you   Every star in the sky That you followed out of your own personal Egypt All of this is for you   Every stone you laid your head upon To watch the angels ascend and descend All of this is for you   This stable outside of Jerusalem This feeding trough This bed of hay The smell of the blemished beasts That sustain the lives of your people The...

Breath that sounds like God’s name in my lungs The joy of connection Every rebellious moment of solidarity In a world determined to isolate Fellowship with those who think they follow Christ Fellowship with those who think they don’t Fellowship with every living thing Existence I like it here And I’m glad I was invited To this awkward party 50 years ago Many have left and gone home But other guests just keep arriving And...

It’s always there It’s the air that we breathe in It’s the water that we swim in It’s the current that takes us Down to the altar and makes us Drown   This water, it used to be wine Until we tried to trade our shame For thirty silver coins salvaged from a shipwreck that We bought off the docks with a hand written check that… Bounced   And now Shame is the currency we...

On my beach Is a maternity room Where poems are born. As both mother and midwife I exist in the middle space; The balance Between gestating ideas And the arrival of Living words.   I don’t create truth. I painfully push it out, Cut it from my body, Wipe the blood from it, Measure its length and weight, Count its toes, Swaddle it in a blanket of words, Then lay it carefully in your arms....

Who doesn’t want to go To another world A world, worlds and half a world Worlds away from this one?   I was ten years old When the whole world sang to me “We are the world” I thought it was a stupid song Because all I wanted from this world Was a spaceship That would take me to another world Just one badass spaceship Was that too much to ask? But still, A part...

Sitting inside a dark room, Lighting home-made candles for light. Igniting up a roaring fireplace, Using old papers and wood we found last night. Not for smores or happiness, But for solely warmth alone. Blankets piled on top of blankets, Simply to quiet stifling cold stone. Reading by the fire, Or by using the moonlight. Darkness and the frigid cold, Were my only friends at night. We got the big food stamp box, It’s like...

The surf gently laps the white sand The sound a soft melody The sailboats in the distance move lazily I am home The very air whispers: Remember me? Remember my touch and my fragrance? As my soul connects with the world around me I breathe in peace like nowhere else I belong.

I was six years old that Pentecost day My hair was curled My dress was new I saw pride in my mother’s eyes The aunts and uncles came with gifts and smiles It was the day of my first communion   The church was full with people seeking but I did not find God in there It was outside in a field of white that I met my Maker His gift to me; Identity on...

I know no sweeter sound than the song of birds in the morning As they sing of endless, carefree days a door in my heart is opened and I am again a child in my father’s house free to step into the day with abandon As my soul joins the music, I soar and I hear my Father whisper “Consider the birds”