Month: September 2020

From the beginning, my wife has been a helpful voice (confirmed by others) advising me not to over-explain my poems, but let them hit people how they will and provide interest according to their curiosity/liking. This is not easy for me haha.

But! In that spirit–I wrote this two mornings ago, if you have questions or thoughts, let me know, and (to quote the esteemed Mr. Gump), that’s all I have to say about that.

THE WAY OUT
The sirens sounded
And as the highways hummed like rush hour
You said pull over
Hands in the air
The alarm went off
You said ignore it
         endure it
         it’s one and the same
The cars sped up
The horns got loud
Keep your hands in the air son
The sirens whizzed by
With a piercing sideways glance
And in time the traffic slowed
And I turned uneasily onto the dusty road
That led to home

When I was praying one morning for a sorority house with some Ichthus girls in it where God has been and is clearly at work, I got a picture of the actual house encased in light–like that really strong rubber liner people get sprayed in/on their truck beds, but made of light instead. (The light then drove out the darkness within the house, and zooming up like a Google Maps view I saw that part of town and even onto campus being illuminated by the light coming from the house.) You’re welcome to pray that vision for the house as well if you’d be willing; it’s the Gamma Phi Beta house to be specific!

So the first stanza of this poem was drawn from that vision, but the poem itself isn’t about that house specifically, but is as broad as life itself and as narrow as each one of our lives.

The word HaShem is Hebrew for “the Name” and is itself a name for God. (For the most basic and a most amazing biblical revelation on God’s Name, check out Exodus 33:14-34:7. So foundational. And so powerful, ESPECIALLY when one considers the very name of Jesus.)

HASHEM
Your name is a coating of thick bright light
With effortless grace
It drives out the night

Your name is a balm from acres of jars
That heals and restores as
It murmurs of stars

Your name is a ranger uncloaking his glory
With drawn sword in hand
Embracing the story

Your name is a club with seven-inch spikes
A triune monster-slayer
That drops all the mikes

Your name’s a crescendo of salvation fire
An inferno of bliss
Rising higher and higher

Your name is ecstatic a wild dance of glee
A frenzied surrender
A life-dealing spree

Your name is a stream once pent up now loosed
That strips out the stains and
Unravels the noose

Your name is a word that once spoken runs free
And leads stormy hearts
To the most ancient tree

Your name is a Lion sitting over his court
The magnificent center
My magnificent fort