Sunday, August 8, 2021

Tonsured for Christ

 


In the midst of the congregation the praise of Christ is hymned because of you, O Reader Joseph. Through your life at the kliros, the humble path to exaltation is made manifest, illumined with the transcendent beauty of angelic melodies. By your constancy and loyalty, standing in praise and prayer, the way of salvation is guided and guarded for us. In keeping vigils, you brightened the path leading to our unending joy. Therefore we celebrate your light-giving and holy memory, and we cry aloud in one accord: Intercede with Christ our God that our feet would be made to stand dutifully in all divine allotments of service, with our hearts stationed on Him within the Great Congregation of ineffable praises, so that we, too, would be kept from straying onto evil paths and all attain the unity of faith and the knowledge of God’s unapproachable glory. 
















Friday, July 23, 2021

Proselyte

 





I collect data which simpletons call facts 

I make observations blinded by traditions

I pose questions about questions that deflect

I develop arguments uncomfortable to mine

I offer suggestions others call speculations 

I have no evangelistic spirit


No mission below

No great commission from above

To advise others

To believe or not

Or even what to believe

As long as one believes 

That belief is faith in trust that’s loyal

To the faith entrusted to those who believe

My humor is dry 


I’m also not an enthusiastic tribalist

Geeked-out in defense of absolute truth

Nor am I a belligerent book burner

Or full-fledged misanthrope

I’m just heterodoxically dull

I neither assail Temple Mounts

Nor man apologetical barricades

I’m content 

As an embedded intelligencer

Offering provisional judgments 

Of guilded dogmas

Hoping to raise issues 

Others might find worthwhile pursuing 

You have been forewarned

You, with materialistic epistocracy 

You, with dogmatic goggles of ideology

You, with your reductionistic bag 

Of tricks, anomalies and absurdities

Explanations for every thing and why

All you who begin to listen to alternatives 

Will conclude with the same 

Commitments held before 

Multiple limitations will become excuses


Emotions will rule in moments of disagreement

Your adversary must be aloof 

To religious sensitivities

Historical complexities

Philosophical densities

Or theological tectonicities

Because you don’t actually long for the truth 

In the way a drowning man struggles 

For a breath of continued being


You’ll remain like those on powdered sugar

Beaches of sunny panhandles 

What you really want is a way to escape 

Yet remain comfortable and safe

Synonyms for justification

Of what you already trust














Saturday, July 17, 2021

Oh, Rapunzel




have you ever wondered

about how predictable you are

you, over there with hoary mane


yes, you

The one all about grace, love, and mercy

grace like the carrot of a loving noose

dangling mercifully 

before the countenance of Rapunzel

showing willingness 

to forgive in order to love someone

gracious and merciful who loves someone

you hate


hate is such a strong word

         I suppose

despise is much more humble

and honest


instead of humble honesty

you prefer tender and winsome confabulation

like a box of disposable word masks

willing and ready to protect the mealy mouthed 

from what you think God frowns upon

but wills anyway, mysteriously 

like this glorious buffet of word soup

garnishing dislikes and disappointments

instead of humble honesty


that reminds me

I forgot to apologize

for your misunderstandings

slanders, idiotic assumptions, emotional abuse

and crisis of faith caused allegedly by yours truly


please accept this apology 

in its classical sense

pretty please with fluffy niceties 

and a gumdrop on top

your acceptance of my defense would be sweet









Monday, July 12, 2021

American Psychosis

 














You missed again. This time

It wasn’t just the sting

Of shrapnel or the chips of stone

Ricocheting off the ground

Of intentional, merciful 

Misfire. Or even the striking burst

That shocks others into fright

And flight. This time it was an organ

Pierced because he stands behind her 

Still while you apologize and gush

Of your beloved’s love for you

And your unconditional love 

For your beloved who loves another












Monday, July 5, 2021

Fill in the blanks

 



This generation

doomed to destruction

without resurrection

for all the blood

on their hands

worships blank


Each cannot fathom

what it means

to not let one eat

if one does not work

and so they uber

to blank


They chug all the blessings

cancel all the curses

Recline on factory sofas

in air conditioned spaces

while dogs eat the crumbs

of blank


Let's all dream 

of colonizing planets

injecting cures for cancers

surviving on impossible burgers

while dropping off kids at daycare

so we can celebrate blank


Our creed is simple

there is only adaption or escape

we evolved from something inhuman

pathogens are always trying to infect us

Science is real, from the big bang to your DNA

Worship blank or this generation is doomed







Saturday, May 15, 2021

Planet Earth

 



‘There is literally no evidence of that’

Says the random troll with an opinion

Weighing as much as a fish in the ocean 

And as oblivious as a newborn seal


All the crazies are in the wild

And they have no interest in subscribing

They only think they are healthy and safe

Because of all the freedoms and privilege they’ve had


The trolls only know all four seasons of planet earth

Framed through a lens; encapsulated by glass

Guarded with steel; shaped in concrete

Its keepers are there to make sure each season is a success


All the crystalloid, chlorinated pools 

And buckets of delectable fish

Are crafted to make endangered life safe and healthy

To the senses of visitors who never enter the wild


Each generation is being sold a new series

Scripted, strategized, and produced

To keep our eyes on the prize of life

The wild is really not our natural habitat 


How will we survive without buckets of care?

We need them to help rehabilitate planet earth

All we have, the world and everything therein, is theirs

And they know better than us in how to care for it


Also, do you see this button?

If it gets pushed, the guardians and keepers will come

And show you where you can squat and what food you can chew

And the glass you can see through because the planet is their zoo


But the choice is entirely yours

Learn to live by their rules and be a good pup

Playing freely and feeding from their hands

Or else die by their rules and their servants will clean up







That Phone Call


I know a man who plays with his children

The games they like to play

Just to enjoy them and be enjoyed by them

But he’s not you

He made that choice

While his kids were young, too

It’s too late for you now

Only the law is left to comfort you

Honor thy father has remained your excuse

The Most High commands and imposes this duty on us

Do this no matter what

Do this little children and you will be blessed

You, whose children are now parents themselves

Do this so that senile and cynical fathers are cared for

Do this because your father is honorable

Don’t bother if he’s a narcissist

Threaten him if he’s a cult leader

And maybe

Just maybe, at best

He’ll read what you wrote for him to enjoy with you years ago