At this time of intense mourning for the tens of
thousands of lives lost in Asia, South African liturgist Wilma Jakobsen
offers a prayer for God's people to help relieve the suffering. [posted
1/7/05]
First the angel song/ caroling the Word made flesh/
then the murderous fire of Herod's fear/ slaying the Innocents.” In a
poem, Scottish bishop Michael Hare Duke asks if violence and conflict
are an inherent part of the Christmas story. [posted 1/3/04]
“Birth, Family, Shepherd King, Message from God/
the bitter Myrrh. There is no other play.” A Christmas poem by Nayan McNeill
recalls the church pageants of childhood and offers a lifelong theme.
[posted 12/23/04]
“Every warm manger/ Yields a cold grave/ And every
death/ yields to fire.” Written under the specter of war, a poem by Mark
Harris casts long shadows over the light of Christ's birthday. [posted
12/22/04]
The imprisonment and eventual murder of British aid
worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq pained people across the world. Christine
Rodgers pays testimony to Hassan with two haunting poems, one written
during her captivity and one following her death. [posted 12/3/04]
“A sacrificial lamb, a frightened child/ Chosen by
the rich to be an instrument of war. . .” With no end in sight to war
in the Middle East, a poem by Doug Soderstrom pays tribute to the nameless
family members who die each day. [posted 9/30/04]
“Their private word/ is queer/ their public euphemism,
'Acts against/ nature'. . .” A poem by Louie Crew speaks to “summer's
secret joy.” [posted 8/12/04]
Iraqi poet Fadhil Al-Azzawi is a hope-giver, having
survived torture in prison and years of exile. Jonathan Callard discusses
Al-Azzawi's life and reviews his latest book, Miracle Maker .
[posted 6/29/04]
“What/ I would like to see/ is a day of mourning/
for what we are doing/ to this planet.” Poet Christine Rodgers reflects
on the national day of observance of Ronald Reagan's death. [posted 6/11/04]
Human rights abuses in Iraq and elsewhere motivate
Mitsuye Yamada to revise a poem she wrote years ago for U.S. political
prisoners. “To drown out the silence/ I fill my inner ear with robinsongs/
human screeches and scrapes. . .” [posted 5/19/04]
Torture at Abu Ghraib; white police shooting black
civilians: tragic headlines deaden poet Rima Vesely's soul. Yet she cannot
be silent: “A refusal to become stone, a commitment to become more/ true
to the self, in order to fight the revolutionary/ wars, to stand and speak.
. .” [posted 5/14/04]
Today's sad headlines of human rights abuses overseas
form the context for poet Jonathan Callard's worship experience at home.
“We are hungry Lord/ In the paper/ A U.S. soldier points/ Grins/ At a
naked blindfolded man. . .” [posted 5/7/04]
“The vulnerable exposed child; the outcast/ Who doesn't
fit the current trends, taunted, teased/ We all lose.” In the wake of
the fifth anniversary of the Columbine school killings, poet Gloria Hoglund
despairs of a society where losing our youth has become the norm. [posted
4/29/04]
In the wake of Easter, poet Mendy Knott has hard
questions for Christ and those who follow him. In the midst of all the
world's suffering, she writes: “There are a thousand ways to hang someone
on a cross/ and we've explored them all./ What's hard, what's really tough
is lifting up the fallen. . .” [posted 4/16/04]
“The agony will always be there/ But the love inside
the sacrifice seems the wiser focus.” Poet Christine Rodgers offers an
Easter testimony. [posted 4/9/04]
Spring is coming, and with it comes flowers, love,
and new ideas. Yet in Harlem, worlds collide for poet Rima Vesely: “words
scattering/ exploding in my mind/ white/ supremacy/ a society hemorrhaging
in the wake of apartheid.” [posted 3/18/04]
“The Korean War: police action they said/ Did that
cause young men to be less dead?” Poet Gloria Hoglund writes about wars
from the past half-century and the death of a brother unable to escape
the demonic memories of his military service. [posted 3/11/04]
"I want to/ place my hand/ under your heart/
and lift/ some of the weight.” Poet Christine Rodgers responds to the
powerful new documentary film, “The Fog of War.” [posted 3/4/04]
“In early morning darkness/ gunboat enters the harbor/
heavy arms, new guns.” A poem by Carolyn Scarr responds to the horrifying
stories of bloodshed and death that are once again emerging from violence-torn
Haiti. [posted 2/27/04]
The longest word in the dictionary is defined, in
the Oxford English version, as “ Properly, opposition to the disestablishment
of the Church of England.” Norman Ball offers a humorous poem with this
background in mind. [posted 2/27/04]
"Face it/ birthing is a messy business."
Poet Mark Unbehagen reflects on themes of "birthing" peace,
hope, joy and love in the season when Christians celebrate the birth of
a savior. [posted 12/22/03]
There is a battle for our world, writes Joseph Sala
in an Advent poem, and all may seem lost. It is not: "But the Spirit
is here/ It's ours for the taking." [posted 12/22/03]
"What are you writing? he said./ What
do you love?" Ralph Pitman offers a poem in tribute to Bishop Robert
DeWitt, a prophetic advocate for social justice whose recent death has
touched people throughout the church. [posted 12/17/03]
"The Second Coming is pale/ companion to the first."
With Christmas on the horizon, a poem from Mark Harris speaks to the justice
and mercy that are needed in this time. [posted 12/17/03]
"We are all ticking/ it would seem/ and we
will/ either deactivate/ ourselves or explode." Poet Christine Rodgers
holds out hope for peace despite a world engulfed in violence. [posted
12/4/03]
When the World Goes Right -- With the
U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon, poet David James offers a vision
of a life for which one could be truly thankful. [posted 11/25/03]
This Is Jesus -- "When I visited
Rwanda/ (Or was it Golgotha?)" -- a haunting poem by Glenn Hawke seeks
an Easter message in the death and misery of Rwanda's genocidal legacy.
[posted 11/12/03]
This Marathon of Hope
-- We have been "threatened with Resurrection," muses Susi Moser
in her poem on Christ's death. Rather than despairing it as representing
the "futility of our deeds," she finds hope that it may yet "fertilize
our struggle." [posted 11/12/03]
Out on the Desert
-- "Deep in the city's shadows a sparrow/ darts trustingly to receive
the bread/ crumbs offered it by a crying vagrant girl." A poem by Louie
Crew. [posted 9/17/03]
implosions
by Michael Datcher [May 2003]
Loss -- "A razor
between the ribs/ separates the sacred chamber/ like lips in prayer."
During the war in Iraq, a poem by Ralph Pitman reflects on the theme of
the loss of life and "collateral damage." [posted 4/23/03]
Review: "The Edge of
Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde" -- A new film,
"The Edge of Each Other's Battles," provides a glimpse at the
legacy of legendary poet and feminist Audre Lorde. Reviewer Rima Vesely
says the documentary reveals the resistance of women of color to the middle-class
mainstream women's movement. [posted 4/3/03]
If Fury Is Red, What
Color Is Wisdom? -- "The world, it seems/ has become nothing more/
than a brightly hung/ pi–ata." With increasing violence around the globe,
and a sense of imminent war in Iraq, poet Christine Rodgers offers her
voice. [posted 1/17/03]
Living in the Bullseye
-- "I write from today's Auschwitzian oven/ These gases are radioactive
and economic." Cliff Kindy sends a poem from Iraq to his daughter Miriam.
In a land that some scholars identify as the beginning of biblical creation,
Kindy reports that "the rivers of life have become the rivers of hell."
[posted 12/18/02]
Triage: Dedicated to the
Nurses of the Vietnam War -- "Who would believe that God would
have/ handed me such a chore"? As her nation contemplates going to war
in Iraq, in stark, haunting words, poet Laurie Kash pays homage to those
who died in Vietnam a generation ago, and to those who were their caregivers.
[posted 12/6/02]
Duty: A Mirrorwise Reflection
between Matthew 2:16 and John 16:2 -- "You don't build a kingdom
being soft/ He cuts a broad swath, our King." A poem by Tobias Stanislas
Haller prods at the themes of nationalism and loyalty that emerge at the
center of a world at war. [December 2002]
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/hallerpoem.html
Here's a Christmas
Child for You by Blaine Paxton Hall [December 2002]
For a Friend in
Travail by Adrienne Rich (November 2002]
Intifada Incantation:
Poem 38 for b.b.L. by June Jordan [October 2002]
Beneath the Listening
Sky by Jonathan Reiber [posted 9/27/02]
Pentecost Psalm
by John Paul Davis [May 2002]
Hadeel's Song
by Hanan Ashrawi [April 2002]
From the Republic
of Conscience by Seamus Heaney [March 2002]
May Christmas Come
-- "This year things could be different." In the shadow of a world grappling
with war, Alan Jones reflects on the birth of a baby and how that birth
symbolizes peace. [posted 12/19/01]
Come Into My Heart
Lord by anonymous [December 2001]
Manifesto: A Mad
Farmer's Liberation Front by Wendell Berry [November 2001]
To All Who Will Never
Forget September 11, 2001 -- Young people, deeply wounded by the
events of September 11th, have expressed their emotions in creative ways.
15 year-old Katie Canton offers a poem from across the U.S. [posted 10/19/01]
Lamentation
and Absence -- "I wake up each morning to a sunless sky and
the news is still true." San Francisco poet Christine Rodgers offers words
of solidarity in the aftermath of September 11th. [posted 10/19/01]
Intercessions
for Thursday Evening by J. Philip Newell [October 2001]
Prayer for Peace
(A Poem) -- College student Timothy Miller recently left to spend a year
in Japan. In the midst of the mourning and questioning, he considers the
fear of saying, "I am an American," and considers the promise
of revenge. [September 2001]
Smothered --
In a poem of stifling imagery written on September 11, a parish priest
on a train from New York City to Boston describes the sorrow he left behind.
[September 2001]
Victims - They Are
a World and Reflection on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism -- In
two pieces, one a poem and the other an essay, a Sri Lankan human rights
activist reflects on September 11th. Basil Fernando has seen this many
times before, and simply hopes that a more mature and humane solution
may come out of the present crisis. [September 2001]
Song for the Deaf
-- Not everyone has a compassionate response to HIV/AIDS. A recent fundraiser
drew hostile reactions from religious fundamentalists. In response, poet
Christine Rodgers speaks in love. [July 2001]
Love of God
by Joyce Nalunga [June 2001]
Prose of Chenalh—
by JosŽ Emilio Pacheco [January 2001]
Winter Fire
by Rose Marie Berger, for Josephine Jochimisen [December 2000]
The Unknown Citizen
by W.H. Auden [November 2000]
Beguinage Revisited
by Janet Shea [October 2000]
Dreams before
Waking by Adrienne Rich [July 2000]
The War Continues
by Cherrie Moraga [June 2000]
Right
to Life by Marge Piercy [April 2000]
|
