Canaan
By Richard Stoltzfoos
Unknown, I walk along the brown dirt way
To a near-vacant town of well-known name.
Most folks who find this town will never stay,
For its inhabitants are hard to tame.
Marlene Brubacher: Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Marlene Brubacher
We thought we knew You, Elohim—
burnt sacrifice;
the law supreme;
the temple, veiled; Continue reading . . . “Marlene Brubacher: Christmas Eve”
Bethlehem Dawn
by Rebecca Weber
For centuries you look upon this town—
O distant moon—where generations keep
The covenant of Abraham; men weep
For sins that bulls’ and goats’ blood cannot drown. Continue reading . . . “Rebecca Weber: Bethlehem Dawn”
Marlene Brubacher: Tidings of Great Joy
Tidings of Great Joy
Marlene Brubacher
Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us,
for we have sinned, we and our fathers before us.
No grace is ours, for Continue reading . . . “Marlene Brubacher: Tidings of Great Joy”
Rebecca Weber: Love Reawakened
Love Reawakened
by Rebecca Weber
You cannot move my heart again, I said:
Those days are past, when guidance from Your tongue
Awakened—as a love song slowly sung—
A rich devotion in my heart and head. Continue reading . . . “Rebecca Weber: Love Reawakened”
Sherri Steiner: On a Winter Dawn
On a Winter Dawn
By Sherri Steiner
A lone pigeon perched on the peak of the world
Watching the new day dawn.
For the former days had been gray and gloom
And he cooed all the golden on. Continue reading . . . “Sherri Steiner: On a Winter Dawn”
Michelle King: After the Poetry Reading
After the Poetry Reading
by Michelle King
I.
We wove through the pines and our patches of pavement,
Till we found each other and 2 PM,
Arms loaded with ripened letters.
Then drops of grey slid down our shoulders. We clambered into the house. Continue reading . . . “Michelle King: After the Poetry Reading”
echo and song
by Renea McKenzie
winter’s border wind
lilts through smoke-
weathered
attics, across façades Continue reading . . . “Renea McKenzie: echo and song”
Interlude
by Lori Hershberger
And all that has passed before us: this day, this rain,
The sunshine and the green, green meadow,
Each flashing smile, each look of light
Is swallowed in this night of between; Continue reading . . . “Lori Hershberger: Interlude”
For Julia
by Sheila Petre
Poets have been silent
On the salty theme of cheese.
They prefer to bend the rhymes
Of mysteries such as these: Continue reading . . . “Sheila Petre: For Julia”
Pentecost
by Richard Stoltzfoos
What if – when Christ ascended through the clouded sky
His frame was sown as particles of dust – Continue reading . . . “Richard Stoltzfoos: Pentecost”
The Tree
by Michelle King
Upon a summer fleece of woodland’s best,
I lay beneath a spiderweb,
Myriads of atoms all tumbling one on top of another
Reaching for the blue dawn’s spectrum and a midnight moon. Continue reading . . . “Michelle King: The Tree”
Sheila Petre: Upon Encountering God
Upon Encountering God
by Sheila Petre
The key to comprehension is reduction.
If a thought has got beyond you, tug it back
Lest its gist be lost in vastness
Or your spirit swung from fastness, Continue reading . . . “Sheila Petre: Upon Encountering God”
Lynn Michael Martin: And So We Sleep
And So We Sleep
by Lynn Michael Martin
And so we sleep, forgetting all that harms;
our sleep itself a praise to him who stands
a promise in the night, whose ageless hands
caress the children cradled in his arms. Continue reading . . . “Lynn Michael Martin: And So We Sleep”
Christopher Good: Eulogy for a Poet
Eulogy for a Poet
by Christopher Good
These words will end in dust, as all things die.
Their paltry lines will crumble all apart—
Pray thee preserve them, artless though they lie. Continue reading . . . “Christopher Good: Eulogy for a Poet”
Leonard Nolt: The End of the Day
The End of the Day
by Leonard Nolt
Let the day end
Let the shadows lengthen
Let the birds sing their last songs
As the wind slows Continue reading . . . “Leonard Nolt: The End of the Day”
Against Hope
by Sheila Petre
I reach through the dark for the door,
Unsure
If it stands ajar, the edge too near my nose, Continue reading . . . “Sheila Petre: Against Hope”
Kenneth Godoy: Like a Brick Upon Everything
Like a Brick Upon Everything
by Kenneth Godoy
perhaps in the wither of the mother’s hand
now that she had taken cancer again,
or the silent scream of three birds Continue reading . . . “Kenneth Godoy: Like a Brick Upon Everything”
Lynn Michael Martin: I Saw the Daughters of Joy
I Saw the Daughters of Joy
by Lynn Michael Martin
I saw the daughters of joy today,
Dancing in the dew.
They shout and they tumble as they play Continue reading . . . “Lynn Michael Martin: I Saw the Daughters of Joy”
Unforsaken
by Lori Hershberger
Light bleeds from the evening sky, and I know
Somewhere the morning dawns. The wind rises
Rustling the skirts of the brittle drought. Continue reading . . . “Lori Hershberger: Unforsaken”