I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tom Delmore’s poems Sparse hay does not a savior make and Ascension Thursday ~ Heal Thyself.
These two poems come on the heels of retirement and a shift in writing. What is God calling me to in this craft? I began to see this as words jumped onto the page that seemed part of the poem but out of place, but not wrong. “A push the envelope moment” that sent shutters of not what I think but what others might. It is being on the cusp of something I know I must continue to do. I read somewhere that the writer Loren Eisley was so far away from his belief in God that he was right next to God. Monks have to trust. If you have ever seen a crossover dribble by Alan Iverson, the apostles will nod in understanding.
Sparse hay does not a savior make
Sparse hay does not a savior make
Nor herald angels on high. Coke filled
Shepherds like Silago lads turn against
The wind.
This new ark has no two-zees
But buttresses a woozy. Cow
And sheep get an eyes view
Becoming covenant species.
Donkey is alpha and omega transport.
A triad of men so old their journey
Was played out in kingdoms
Yet to exist. Rules say: no child
Left behind. No magi till Epiphany.
Rehab for sheep herders has no sign
So the crèche is an ethereal trip
Through frosted grass.
Belief is a tricky business.
Ascension Thursday- Heal Thyself
Make him a tent or something
Then we take refuge in there.
That por favor moment, like sand
Through an hourglass, sayin, get grindin.
Bethany first, then we do Manhattan.
We stubbed toes as if the earth was Astroturf.
We twisted ankles, crossover dribble
In the wake of Allan Iverson. Skinned knees
Like hopscotch neophytes.
Ascension gazing is not naval gazing.
For the love of Christ it was a Thursday
And all the GPs were on the back nine!
This opportunity to heal, to make holy
Is in the huddling of the twelve.
Tom A (TA) Delmore lives in Woodinville, Washington. His books of poetry include Eclipsing F Crow Poems (Little Letterhead Press, 1996); Child is working to Capacity (Moon Pie Press, 2006); A Poultice for Belief (March Street Press, 2009); Tell them that you saw me but didn’t see me saw (Moon Pie Press, 2011). Individual poems have been published in Raven Chronicles and Seattle M.E.N. Magazine. His latest Poem appears in; Take a Stand Art Against Hate. A Raven Chronicles Anthology. Titled: Homeless Vet. 2020 and A Thurible of Belief August 2022 in America Magazine a Jesuit Weekly.
