Fish are good 
As a first audience 
For a poem, 
Says Billy Collins. 

Before sending it out 
Into the World, 
Dip it into a tank, 
Get its feet wet 

In a waterworld. 
Let it rise, 
Not reduced
But rinsed— 

Ready…

Inspired by the Arabic rendering of Luke 8:27 in the Kitaab Al-Hayaa translation and by Genesis 1:1-3.

       When Jesus had stepped out on land, 
       There met him a man. 

              —Luke 8:27 ESV 
 

       And they heard the sound of the Lord…

     For Muhammad Ali

[Listen to a performance by the poet below]
 

American Apartheid kept the greatest   
Boxer who ever lived from eating downtown in our hometown  
Cause he was colored,    
Despite his being   
Endowed with…

Inspired by Luke 4:14-44 and current/historical reality

       Medice, cura te ipsum.

Everybody wants the prophet to stay, 
Except his own household— 
They despise the company, 
Envy what the outsiders have gained, 

Appoint an aristocrat to make 
Their nabbed nation great…

Inspired by Luke 4:14-30 and current/historical events

       There was a lot of fights 
       Between the black and white 
       There was nothing you could do … 

       "Son, take a good look around 
        This is your hometown" 

           —  Bruce Springsteen

I. 

The…

Inspired by Luke 4:1-13

     Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

            — Deuteronomy 8:3 CSB

Water may flow from the stone, 
But it was never meant to become…

    ———————— 

 June 13, 2020

Inspired by Luke 24:13-35 and current events 

       It's confusing, American generals get statues 
       Even for the battles that they lose 

            —Propaganda, “Crooked”

These days are unprecedented, novel. 
Been waiting 400 years for this. 
And more. 

The past is…

Inspired by Luke 23:13-25 and current events

       Will the truth it set you free? 
       Depends on who you read 
       While we qualify our blame, 
       We're spewing partiality 

       And we'll never leave the past 
       If we keep leaving out the facts …

Inspired by Luke 23:1-12 and current events

Ping-pong politics 
Is what did our Savior in. 
Still, we trust in them?

______________        

June 4, 2020

Inspired by Luke 22:47-54; 19:45-48; & Revelation 1:12-16 and current events

     Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal? Every day while I was with you in the temple, you never 
     laid a hand…

Inspired by Luke 20:9-19 

Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’ 
But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said,…