Reformissionary

NPM: Carl Sandburg "Choose"

"Choose" by Carl Sandburg (Chicago Poems)

THE single clenched fist lifted and ready,
Or the open asking hand held out and waiting.
Choose:
For we meet by one or the other.

Michael Spencer: 1956-2010

I found the Internet Monk website of Michael Spencer years ago. His words about Jesus and His Church, spirituality and truth have been deeply encouraging and helpful in my discipleship and as I work as a pastor. We soon connected and I had the privilege of speaking at his school in 2006 and my family enjoyed the Spencers & the whole experience. Michael Spencer died today in the presence of his family in his home in Oneida, Kentucky. I have this picture with Michael (left) and Matthew Smith (center) from our time there. The photo below is the bridge I took from the home we stayed in to the the school where iMonk served.

I thought it would be fitting during National Poetry Month and the day after Easter to give you a poem from Michael's wife, Denise, posted in 2007.

For Holy Week - Denise Day Spencer

THREE-FOLD TORMENT

Let me share with you His pain,
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.

– Stations of the Cross, St. Ann Roman Catholic Mission

He stumbles ‘neath the load.
It is not heavy, yet it crushes.
Merely a mangle of thorns
Woven as a crude crown.
Thorns that boldly dare to mock their Maker.

He stretches out His hands,
Ready to embrace, but not fondly.
Only the ore of iron
Hammered into soiled spikes.
Iron dares to agonize its Author.

He writhes upon the tree.
Alone, and utterly forsaken.
Simply a structure of wood
Fashioned as a cruel cross.
Splintered wood now dares murder its Master.

He gazes on the crowd.
Mankind, pinnacle of creation.
One whispered word could destroy
Thorn, iron, wood, mad men.
Yet the Savior dares to speak:
“Forgiven.”

NPM: Joanna Newsom Song

"On A Good Day" by Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me. Song with lyrics below.

Hey hey hey the end is near
On a good day you can see the end from here
But I won't turn back now though the way is clear
I will stay for the remainder

I saw a life and I called it mine
I saw it drawn so sweet and fine
And I had begun to fill in all the lines
Right down to what we'd name her

Our nature does not change by will
In the Winter 'round the ruined mill
The creek is lying flat and still
It is water though it's frozen

So, across the years and miles and through
On a good day you can feel my love for you
Will you leave me be so that we can stay true
To the path that you have chosen?

NPM: John Donne for Easter

If you are suffering this Easter, read and be encouraged.

Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness by John Donne (via)

Since I am coming to that Holy room,
   Where, with Thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made Thy music; as I come
   I tune the instrument here at the door,
   And what I must do then, think here before;

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
   Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
   That this is my south-west discovery,
   Per fretum febris, by these straits to die;

I joy, that in these straits I see my west;
   For, though those currents yield return to none,
What shall my west hurt me? As west and east
   In all flat maps—and I am one—are one,
   So death doth touch the resurrection.   

Is the Pacific sea my home? Or are
   The eastern riches? Is Jerusalem?
Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar?
   All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them
   Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem.

We think that Paradise and Calvary,
   Christ's cross and Adam's tree, stood in one place;
Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;
   As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,
   May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace.

So, in His purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord;
   By these His thorns, give me His other crown;
And as to others' souls I preach'd Thy word,
   Be this my text, my sermon to mine own,
   "Therefore that He may raise, the Lord throws down."

NPM: Emily Dickinson

The Beggar at the Door for Fame
Were easily supplied
But Bread is that Diviner thing
Disclosed to be denied

c. 1872

NPM: WH Auden - As I Walked Out One Evening

NPM: Billy Collins - The Golden Years

Billy Collins is my favorite contemporary poet. He is accessible, humorous and often slyly profound. Here one of his for day 1 of National Poetry Month.

The Golden Years by Billy Collins

All I do these drawn-out days
is sit in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge
where there are no pheasants to be seen
and last time I looked, no ridge.

I could drive over to Quail Falls
and spend the day there playing bridge,
but the lack of a falls and the absence of quail
would only remind me of Pheasant Ridge.

I know a widow at Fox Run
and another with a condo at Smokey Ledge.
One of them smokes, and neither can run,
so I’ll stick to the pledge I made to Midge.

Who frightened the fox and bulldozed the ledge?
I ask in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge.

Poetry Is Good For You

As National Poetry Month (NPM) begins today here's what you'll find at Reformissionary. 

I hope to get up a new poem every day. May miss a few, but will make an effort.

I hope to help you find some new voices in poetry and music (the most popular poetic medium of our day). I like to find new poets: whether they are young or old poets, alive or dead poets. Let me know if you have a poet that should be on my radar.

I'll try to get up videos of poets reading their poems or talking about the value and art of poetry. 

I also help to find an essay or two on writing poetry and/or enjoying poetry.

Maybe I'll find something new and unexpected to post. Maybe I'll write a poem or two. Maybe I interview the greatest poet ever, whoever that is.

Take in at least a little poetry this NPM. Poetry is good for you. As a communicator I realize poetry can teach us conciseness in language, new angles in seeing the world and our experience of he world, a richness of description, etc. As a human I realize poetry makes me slow down and sip rather than gulp like I do most things. Information consumption has found a corrective in the slow ingestion of poetry, meditation on words and forms.

Coming Attractions 3.11.10

>< Starting to read Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh soon. So much good buzz out there on this book. I've needed a book like this for years, and now it's here. From the introduction...

My hope is that, through this book, God will begin or continue a process of healing introverts--helping them find freedom in their identities and confidence to live their faith in ways that feel natural and life-giving, the way that God intended.

>< I'm still working on a review for Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic by Chris Castaldo. I really like it. If you are doing outreach to Catholics or have Catholic family and/or friends (that's pretty much all of us), I recommend this book. 

>< Phriday is for Photos tomorrow. Some of the photos from the photography project for 5th grade art are up at the school and I snapped a couple of pics. Proud of these kids. 

>< The last few days have been an explosion in good, new music. Looking forward to a few great recommendations on Monday.

>< New Lots-o-Links post middle of next week or so.

>< I'm planning to put a post up next week on resources I've been using to study and understand Catholicism. 

>< Getting a lot of ideas for posts on both evangelism and discipleship. Hope to start getting to those next week.

>< April is coming up fast, which means National Poetry Month comes once again to Reformissionary. Can't wait!

Lots-o-Links 2.25.10

Dave Kraft: What Makes A Leader? series

Hudson Taylor on Evangelism...

Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our want of success.” (via)

GCM Collective (Gospel Community Mission) launches on Monday...

It is a gospel community that lives out the mission of God together, as family, in a specific area and to a particular people group by declaring and demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms. God is moving to create thousands of new gospel communities on mission around the world. Be a part of this movement.

Did I Get Married Too Young?

When my very smart and relatively young girlfriend (she was then 20) first told her father she was thinking of marrying me, he refused to even hear of it. "How much college debt does he have?" he demanded. "What's the rush? Why not wait until your career and finances are established? How do you know he's the one?"

Brent Thomas sees Rob Bell's Drops Like Stars

Just because someone says something very well, that doesn’t mean someone says something very right.

Acts 29 Theology Workbook

Tim Keller: The Big Issues Facing the Church & How Should Churches and Leaders Be Preparing To Address These Big Issues Facing the Church?

Joel Virgo: Pray with Perspective series

Francis Chan: Public Passion vs Private Devotion

Last summer I came to a shocking realization that I had to share with my wife: If Jesus had a church in Simi Valley, mine would be bigger. People would leave His church to attend mine because I call for an easier commitment. I know better how to cater to people’s desires so they stick around. Jesus was never really good at that. He was the one who said, “He who loves father or mother … son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matt. 10:37 NIV) I’m much more popular than Jesus.

Having come to that conclusion, I came back to the church with resolve to call people to the same commitment Christ called them to. I knew that people would leave, and they have. I found comfort in that because, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26 NIV) Over time though, the conviction can fade, and it gets tiresome seeing people leave. There is a constant pull to try to keep people around rather than truly lead the faithful who remain. When my church was started, I used to tell my wife that I didn’t care if we only had ten people, as long as they really loved God and desired to worship Him with all of their hearts. Where is that conviction now?

Lots-o-Links 2.17.10

A Beautiful Idea: Artists Changing the World is a beautiful idea

Bill Streger: What is Ash Wednesday?

Dave Kraft: What Makes a Leader? --> See the vision

A leader is, first and foremost, somebody with followers. If nobody is following, you are not leading, no matter what outstanding leadership qualities you might possess. Many years ago, my daughter, Anna, had a sign on her bike that read: "Lead, follow, or get out of my way," and the way she rode that bike, I believe she meant it. People are more than willing to follow someone who knows where they are going.

John Piper: How I almost quit

The church is looking for a vision for the future—and I do not have it. The one vision that the staff zeroed in on during our retreat Monday and Tuesday of this week (namely, building a sanctuary) is so unattractive to me today that I do not see how I could provide the leadership and inspiration for it.

Joel Virgo: Prevailing Prayer

Arthur Wallis once said, “A move of God will last as long as the Spirit of prayer that inspired it.” You can tell when this happens. It’s when prayer is used as a last resort, as a spare wheel, but it’s meant to be the steering wheel.

Bob Thune: Outline of John Owen's Mortification of Sin

Rob Bell at Out of Ur on the dangers of video preaching

Video is not church. You put images and music on a screen, and people will listen. But it's also dangerous. You're playing with fire. I think video technology deserves to be scrutinized heavily.

REN3W Video - Redeemer NYC

Check out the REN3W Campaign from Redeemer, & this beautiful, artistic intro (go full screen)...

REN3W Vision Campaign from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.

Lots-o-Links 6.13.09

Doxa Fellowship is moving our Sunday morning worship service to downtown Woodstock, the historic Waverly House.

Jonathan Dodson: Marriage Resources

Rain City Hymnal CD is out at Re:Sound, and on Noise Trade.

Matt Chandler on the role of men

Resurgence (Bob Thune): Is preaching killing your church plant?

Advance Conference MP3s

Art21 is on Hulu. Episode 1: Art in the 21st Century on "Place."

TGC/BoB: Art & Culture in Christian Blogging

I was asked a while back to speak at the Band of Bloggers event at The Gospel Coalition conference, which was this month in Chicago. I was happy to go and be one of the eight panel members discussing being "Servants and Stewards" through our blogs.  Each panelist was given 7 minutes to answer a particular question on blogging.  Mine was "What is the place for art and culture in Christian blogging?"  Here's a general outline/recap of my talk. It always comes out differently than I write it down, but should still be helpful. You can also view the handwritten notes from my Moleskine that I used for my talk (page 1, page 2 - page 2 is really my talk outline and page 1 quotes that I referred back to).

---

*As I stood to talk I took a shot at my friend and co-panelist, Justin Taylor, who has yet to spent $9 on a domain name, but still has one of the best read Christian blogs in the universe. Justin, seriously, buy a domain name. :)

Context

1. Art - Beauty -- mention I don't have the time to explain a theology of the arts; assume the audience assumes it (later quotes should be an encouragement to look further into the arts)

2. Blogs -- mention that because we have different kinds of blogs with different purposes (pastor blogs, church blogs, personal blogs, family blogs, resource blogs, etc). I will explain what I do on my personal/pastoral networking blog and let the audience determine how to best blog on art & culture on their blogs.

3. Christians in general -- mention the need to enjoy, support, and create the arts; our blogs are a good place for us to do that

Abraham Kuyper quote, found in Art for God's Sake by Philip Ryken -- "Like God himself, we have 'the possibility both to create something beautiful, and to delight in it.'" - and I add "...on your blog"

Use the quote for a two part outline, in reverse. As we delight in and create art (and blog on it), we encourage others to do the same.

1. To Delight

Someone who delights in the arts is called an arts patron (observer, supporter, advocate). Use the questions from and Tim Keller quote in "Are you a patron?"

Questions:

Have you attended an arts event or venue in the last six months? (live music concert, museum or gallery, play, dance performance, independent film, etc.)

Do you have a favorite art form that you particularly enjoy experiencing and learning about?

Do you occasionally attend different types of arts events/venues, besides your favorite?

Do you have a favorite artist or arts organization whose work you follow closely?

Do you ever spread the word about a particular arts event or artist?

Do you sometimes look through the Arts section in newspapers or magazines?

Have you financially supported an arts organization or artist (outside of purchasing tickets) in the last year?

Do you know an artist, are you involved in his/her life, and are you actively supporting his/her career?

- The more "yes" answers = the better patron. Where there is a "no" it's good to stretch ourselves.

Quote:

"Christians cannot abdicate the arts to secular society. We must consume, study, and participate in the arts if we are to have a seat at the table. Whether it has a religious theme or strikes us as irreligious, we must be patrons if we are to have an impact on how the world interprets and responds to the arts. We cannot be wary, we cannot be afraid, we cannot be self-righteous. Christians must look, listen, read, and experience the arts if we are to lead our culture to renewal." - Tim Keller (via)

*As I mentioned I was going to quote Keller I took a second to mention my Tim Keller Resources page.  Then I told the attenders that they received a Tim Keller book in their bags (each received 10 books as a part of attendance).  I told them Keller's new book is very short and titled Unfashionable, which includes a lengthy epilogue by Tullian Tchividjian. As you probably know, attenders did get Tullian's book which includes a 3 page forward by Keller. People laughed. [By the way, get Tullian's book. Like it a lot so far. He graciously signed my copy after.]

How I delight in the arts at Reformissionary...

Music Monday: I use my enjoyment of music to fuel a weekly post on music, CD's, music videos, concert experiences, etc.  Illustration: recently at the Brandi Carlile concert my wife, Molly, for the first time heard the background singers because she could see them.  It was a learning moment for her. Patronage increased her appreciation for and delight in music.  Now the CD sounds different to her. As we blog on these kinds of experiences we will encourage others to become a patron and delight as well.

National Poetry Month: Each April I blog on National Poetry Month with numerous poems, poet highlights, videos of poetry readings, etc.  We can take advantage of nationally recognized arts emphases to become patrons and to encourage patronage.

2. To Create

"The characteristic common to God and man is apparently that: the desire and the ability to make things up." - Dorothy Sayers in The Mind of the Maker

"The primal artistic act was God's creation of the universe out of chaos, shaping the formless into form; and every artist since, on a lesser scale, has sought to imitate him." - Perrine's Sound and Sense

How I blog on my creation of art at Reformissionary...

Phriday is for Photos: The last few years I have taken up photography. While I've been a little too infrequent in my Friday photographs lately, it's been a staple at Reformissionary for a long time. When I've slacked I've gotten notes from friends and readers mentioning they've missed it. Because I'm creating and blogging my art, my readers have been an encouragement to me to keep creating. And through blogging my photography I hope I've encouraged my readers to create themselves.  Actually I can say that I have talked to several readers who have taken up photography because (at least in part) they have enjoyed my Phriday is for Photos posts. [One Band of Bloggers attender talked to me after the event and said he just upgraded from a Nikon d50 to d90, to some degree because of my blog. I'm jealous.]

Conclusion: A quote by Luci Shaw from her chapter "Imagination, Beauty, and Creativity" in The Christian Imagination (Ed. Leland Ryken)

"We were each, in the image of our Creator, created to create, to call others back to beauty, and the truth about God's nature, to stop and cry to someone preoccupied or distracted with the superficial, 'Look!' or 'Listen!' when, in something beautiful and meaningful we hear a message from beyond us, and worship in holiness our creator who in his unlimited grace, calls us to become co-creators of beauty."

Select art/culture websites:

• ArtsandLettersDaily.com
• ArtsJournal.com
• CuratorMagazine.com
• InternationalArtsMovement.org (blog)

Select art/culture podcasts:

• IAM Global - outstanding on all arts
• Filmspotting
• NPR All Songs Considered
  
• The Writer's Almanac
• Pen on Fire
• Creative Screenwriting Magazine
• NYT Book Review

NPM09 - Music Monday Addendum

Andrew Bird is one of those musical artists that loves playing with language, and so is one of our great musical poets.  Here are the lyrics for "Measuring Cups" off his album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs (download/CD).

Measuring Cups by Andrew Bird

get out your measuring cups and we'll play a new game
come to the front of the class and we'll measure your brain
we'll give you a complex, and we'll give it a name

get out your measuring cups and we'll play a new game
can't have the cream when the crop and the cream are the same
liquid or gas no more than the glass will contain

when you talk about the hand of glory
a tale that's rather grim and gory
is it just another children's story that's been de-clawed?
when the tales of brothers Grimm and Gorey have been outlawed

i think they're gonna make you start over
you don't wanna start over
put your backpack on your shoulder
be the good little soldier
take your places now, cause we're all predisposed

measuring cups, play a new game
front of the class, measure your brain
give you a complex and we'll give it a name

when you talk about the hand of glory
a tale that's rather grim and gory
is it just another children's story that's been de-clawed?
when the tales of brothers Grimm and Gorey have been outlawed

so put your backpack on your shoulder
be the good little soldier
it's no different when you're older
you're predisposed
that's all for questions
now, the case is closed

NPM09: "For the Anniversary of My Death" by W.S. Merwin

A few days ago on NPR's Fresh Air Terry Gross interviewed Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin.  I liked the poems he read.  Here's one he didn't read.

For the Anniversary of My Death
by W. S. Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveler

Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what

Poets Academy also has a fine collection of short videos where different poets talk about life and poetry, including this one from Merwin...

NPM09: "An Ember in the Dark" by L'Amour

I posted this during a previous National Poetry Month. As one of my favorite all-time poems I can't help but post it again.

Louis L'Amour was a famous writer of frontier/adventure novels.  "An Ember in the Dark" is found in his book of poetry, Smoke From This Altar. 

An Ember in the Dark by Louis L'Amour

Faintly, along the shadowed shores of night
I saw a wilderness of stars that flamed
And fluttered as they climbed or sank, and shamed
The crouching dark with shyly twinkling light;
I saw them there, odd fragments quaintly bright,
And wondered at their presence there unclaimed,
Then thought, perhaps, that they were dreams unnamed,
That faded slow, like hope's arrested flight.

Or vanished suddenly, like futile fears--
And some were old and worn like precious things
That youth preserves against encroaching years--
Some disappeared like songs that no man sings,
    But one remained--an ember in the dark--
    I crouched alone, and blew upon the spark

NPM09: "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost

Robert Frost was a wonderful poet. With famous poems like "Fire and Ice" and "The Road Not Taken," we can see why. One of the places I first heard Frost was from the mouth of Ponyboy in the movie The Outsiders. Here's the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

NPM09: "This is Just to Say" Poems

The poem, "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams is interesting in itself. It's an apology, sorta. More, it's an explanation of why it's easier (and at times advantageous) to ask forgiveness than permission. It's meant to be playful.

What makes it more fun is how people are responding by writing their own "This is Just to Say" poems.  Some of these are highlighted in the recent This American Life radio episode "Mistakes Were Made" which I recommend you check out. The author of the Somewhere in the Suburbs blog has also asked readers to write their own version of the poem.

First, the original poem by William Carlos Williams. Second, my poem, followed by others from elsewhere.

This Is Just To Say (via)
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

My attempt...

This is Just to Say
by Steve McCoy

I left
an insulting comment
on your
blog

when you
heartily
recommended the new
U2 album

Forgive me
I was already
logged in
and have functioning ears

Two from Kenneth Koch, poet (via)

Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

(And...)

I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

Carol (Somewhere...commenter)

I called
your new husband
by the name
of your old boyfriend.

The one
We thought
Would
Marry you.

Forgive me.
He was familiar
So jolly
And easy talk to.

NPM09: Emily Dickinson on Opinion and Truth

Opinion is a flitting thing,
But Truth, outlasts the Sun -
If then we cannot own them both -
Possess the oldest one -

(c. 1879, published 1924)

NPM09: Song "3 a.m." by Gregory Alan Isakov

This is also a Music Monday addendum, but whatever. My introduction to Gregory Alan Isakov was last Thursday as he opened for Brandi Carlile. More people need to hear about this guy.  I've been listening to him since Thursday and I like his songwriting a lot. Here's good music-based poetry for your Monday night during this National Poetry Month. I found some lyrics for the song with mistakes. Some I could correct, others still may not be perfect. I did my best. Enjoy!

Well, it's 3AM again, like it always seems to be
Driving northbound, driving homeward, driving wind is driving me.
It just seems so funny how I always end up here
Walking outside in a storm while looking way up past the treeline
It's been some time

Give me darkness when I'm dreaming, give me moonlight when I'm leaving,
Give me shoes that weren't made for standing.
Give me treeline, give me big sky, give me snowbound,
Give me rainclouds, give me bedtime just sometimes

Now you're talking in my room, there ain't nobody here
Cause I've been driving like a trucker, I've been wearing through the gears
I've been training like a soldier, I've been burning through this sorrow
The only talking lately is a background radio

You are my friend and I was a saint
And riding that hope was like catching some train
Now I just walk, but I don't mind the rain
Singing so much softer than I did back then

Well the night I think is darker, we can really say,
God's been living in that ocean, sending us all the big waves
And I wish I was a sailor so I could know just how to trust
Maybe I could bring some grace back home to dry land for each of us

Say what you see, you say it so well
Just say you will wait like snow on the rail
Combing that train yard for some kind of saint
Even my own self, it just don't seem mine

Give me darkness when I'm dreaming, give me moonlight when I'm leaving
Give me mustang horse and muscle, oh, I won't be going gentle
Give me slandered looks when I'm lying, give me fingers when I'm crying
I ain't out there to cheat you, see I killed that damn coyote in me

NPM09: Colossians 1:15-20

What scholars call an early Christian hymn or poem, Colossians 1:15-20 is a beautiful statement of the lordship and supremacy of Jesus Christ. 

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created,
    in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
    whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
—all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
    whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross.

NPM09: Easter Weekend Hymns

I have a wonderful old Baptist Hymnal from the American Baptist Publication Society, printed in 1883. There is a "Certificate" section at the beginning with printed signatures by those who compiled the hymns. It includes several names including John A. Broadus, Basil Manly, and T.T. Eaton.  There are over 700 hymns and chants, without music.  For Easter weekend I have two hymns for you themed for the weekend: death and resurrection. I do love our great hymn-writing poets of the past and present.

Death

Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died,
For man, the creature's sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While his dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do.
(Isaac Watts, 1707)

Resurrection

The strife is o'er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
Oh, let the song of praise be sung.
        Alleluia.

The powers of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legions hath dispersed
Let shouts of holy joy outburst.
        Alleluia.

He closed the yawning gates of hell;
The bars from heaven's high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise his triumphs tell.
        Alleluia.

Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee,
From death's dread sting thy servants free,
That we may live and sing to thee.
        Alleluia.
(Francis Pott, 1860)

NPM09: Writer's Almanac & Kingsolver Quote

The Writer's Almanac is a daily podcast and NPR radio spot hosted by Garrison Keillor. It's just over 5 minutes a pop with some interesting stuff about writers and the world (birthdays, historical events, etc) explained with writers in mind. Never just a list of facts, Keillor does an excellent job including things worth thinking about.  He always finishes with at least one poem.  Think of The Writer's Almanac as a kind of 5 minute devotional for writers. If you are a writer or aspire to write one day, I encourage you to follow along with this great podcast.

One fact mentioned in yesterday's podcast is the birthday of author Barbara Kingsolver. I loved the Kingsolver quote Keillor reads about how to improve at writing.

It is harrowing for me to try to teach 20-year-old students, who earnestly want to improve their writing. The best I can think to tell them is: Quit smoking, and observe posted speed limits. This will improve your odds of getting old enough to be wise.

NPM09: Carl Sandburg - Chicago Poems

Carl Sandburg's (1916) Chicago Poems is a well known collection of free verse from the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and author. I just picked it up tonight after looking through it a dozen times since moving back to the Chicago area.  I'm glad I did.  Wonderful stuff.

Here are a few selections (via)...

Crimson

CRIMSON is the slow smolder of the cigar end I hold,
Gray is the ash that stiffens and covers all silent the fire.
(A great man I know is dead and while he lies in his
     coffin a gone flame I sit here in cumbering shadows
     and smoke and watch my thoughts come and go.)

Fog

THE fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Chicago

     HOG Butcher for the World,
     Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
     Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight
            Handler;
     Stormy, husky, brawling,
     City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
     have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
     luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
     is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
     kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
     faces of women and children I have seen the marks
     of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
     sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
     and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
     so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
     job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
     little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
     as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
          Bareheaded,
          Shoveling,
          Wrecking,
          Planning,
          Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
     white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
     man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
     never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
     and under his ribs the heart of the people,
                              Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
     Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
     Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
     Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

NPM09: "Can Poetry Matter?" and "Insomnia"

Dana Gioia (a dude) has a wonderful and important essay that I like to point to on National Poetry Month: "Can Poetry Matter?" (found in his book Can Poetry Matter?).  I've shortened Gioia's concluding points below, but I wanted to give you a taste here.

...I would wish that poetry could again become a part of American public culture. I don't think this is impossible. All it would require is that poets and poetry teachers take more responsibility for bringing their art to the public. I will close with six modest proposals for how this dream might come true.

1. When poets give public readings, they should spend part of every program reciting other people's work

2. When arts administrators plan public readings, they should avoid the standard subculture format of poetry only. Mix poetry with the other arts, especially music.

3. Poets need to write prose about poetry more often, more candidly, and more effectively. 

4. Poets who compile anthologies—or even reading lists—should be scrupulously honest in including only poems they genuinely admire.

5. Poetry teachers especially at the high school and undergraduate levels, should spend less time on analysis and more on performance. Poetry needs to be liberated from literary criticism. Poems should be memorized, recited, and performed. The sheer joy of the art must be emphasized.

6. Finally poets and arts administrators should use radio to expand the art's audience. Poetry is an aural medium, and thus ideally suited to radio.

It is time to experiment, time to leave the well-ordered but stuffy classroom, time to restore a vulgar vitality to poetry and unleash the energy now trapped in the subculture. There is nothing to lose. Society has already told us that poetry is dead. Let's build a funeral pyre out of the desiccated conventions piled around us and watch the ancient, spangle-feathered, unkillable phoenix rise from the ashes.

Read the rest of Gioia's "Can Poetry Matter?" as well as some of his poetry, at DanaGioia.net. Here's his poem "Insomnia" from Daily Horoscope...

Now you hear what the house has to say.
Pipes clanking, water running in the dark,
the mortgaged walls shifting in discomfort,
and voices mounting in an endless drone
of small complaints like the sounds of a family
that year by year you've learned how to ignore.

But now you must listen to the things you own,
all that you've worked for these past years,
the murmur of property, of things in disrepair,
the moving parts about to come undone,
and twisting in the sheets remember all
the faces you could not bring yourself to love.

How many voices have escaped you until now,
the venting furnace, the floorboards underfoot,
the steady accusations of the clock
numbering the minutes no one will mark.
The terrible clarity this moment brings,
the useless insight, the unbroken dark.

NPM09: "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

Shel Silverstein's poetry is a lot of fun. Our kids love it, and so do we. We just read tonight through the first fourth of his book Where the Sidewalk Ends because the kids kept asking for another poem, then another, then another. We obliged.  We plan on finishing the book all the way through soon and then maybe check out another. Here's the title poem from the book...

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (online location)

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

NPM09: A Sabbath Poem

He thought to keep himself from Hell
by knowing and by loving well.
His work and vision, his desire
Would keep him climbing up the stair.

At limit now of flesh and bone,
He cannot climb for holding on.
"I fear the drop, I feel the blaze --
Lord, grant thy mercy and thy grace."

Wendell Berry from A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997, p108.

NPM09: Mom and "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins

It's now a rule. Every year I need to re-post one of my favorite poems, "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins, on the anniversary of my mom's death. That's today. She died in 2007 from cancer at the age of 59. It's not really meant to be a sad poem, though it is now that for me. It's supposed to be sorta funny and insightful, as the video shows. 

So here's to your Mom and mine.  Video is of Collins reading and the text of the poem is below that.

The Lanyard by Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

NPM09: "To Dorothy" by Marvin Bell

Writers on Writing is a favorite podcast of mine in which Barbara DeMarco-Barrett interviews authors, poets, and literary agents on the art and business of writing. Last night I listened to her interview of the American poet Marvin Bell. I really enjoyed it, especially his reading of "To Dorothy," a poem about his wife. Today, as I think about it, it's also a poem about my wife. I love you, sootie.

To Dorothy

You are not beautiful, exactly.
You are beautiful, inexactly.
You let a weed grow by the mulberry
And a mulberry grow by the house.
So close, in the personal quiet
Of a windy night, it brushes the wall
And sweeps away the day till we sleep.

A child said it, and it seemed true:
"Things that are lost are all equal."
But it isn't true. If I lost you,
The air wouldn't move, nor the tree grow.
Someone would pull the weed, my flower.
The quiet wouldn't be yours. If I lost you,
I'd have to ask the grass to let me sleep.

Here's a video of Marvin Bell talking about poetry. It's short...

NPM09: Goodnight by David Ferry

"Goodnight" by David Ferry (via, from the book Of No Country I Know)

Lying in bed and waiting to find out

Whatever is going to happen: the window shade

Making its slightest sound as the night wind,

Outside, in the night, breathes quietly on it;

It is parental hovering over the infantile;

Something like that; it is like being a baby,

And over the sleep of the baby there is a father,

Or mother, breathing, hovering; the streetlight light

In the nighttime branches breathing quietly too;

Altering; realtering; it is the body breathing;

The crib of knowing: something about what the day

Will bring; and something about what the night will hold,

Safely, at least for the rest of the night, I pray.

NPM09: Billy Collins "Litany"

Billy Collins is one of my very favorite living poets. His poetry has a beauty and realism to it that seems unpretentious and able to be enjoyed and understood by anyone and everyone.  There's too little of that today. He also regularly injects humor, which I find refreshing.  I've posted stuff from Collins several times the last few years and I'm sure his name will come up a few times this month. 

To start National Poetry Month 2009 I give you a video of the wonderful Billy Collins reading "Litany." You can find this poem in his book Nine Horses and you can read it online at Poetry Foundation...

Lots-o-Links 3.31.09

Molly Update: Molly is very, very tired.  Every day she sleeps about the right amount of time and feels like lying down for the rest of the day. She can't nap well and never feels refreshed or energized. It's very frustrating for her. I regularly walk in the house or walk upstairs from my office and find her on the couch or in the bed. Her attitude is in the right place but her body just won't keep step. Calls to the neurologist and medication adjustments continue.

Links...

Curator: An American Beer Garden. If wishing made it so.

Listen free to the new Great Lake Swimmers album, Lost Channels, at Paste.

Seth Godin: Ignore Your Critics

Jonathan Dodson: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

Tim Chester: A review of Rob Bell's Everything is Spiritual

Donald Miller: Advice on writing from Stephen King. Unfortunately Miller spells it "Steven" which should be another piece of advice on writing. While we are on writing, what about cut and paste writing?

Kevin Gregg is the Cubs' closer, not Carlos Marmol. It's not as sexy to set up, but Marmol has been good at it.

Rapping flight attendant...

National Poetry Month (NPM09)

Who is pumped?! I look forward to National Poetry Month (April) during the other 11 months, and now it starts up tomorrow. You can check out my '07 and '08 posts to whet your appetite. It's going to be a month full of delight and pain and discovery and contemplation. I hope you, even if not a big fan of poetry, will awake a bit more through poetry to the wonder of things usually unnoticed.  Here are a few quotes about poetry to get us thinking...

Poetry fosters and nurtures life by finding wonder in the nooks and crannies of ordinary life. (via)

Poetry is what gets lost in translation. -Robert Frost

Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. -Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. -W.B. Yeats

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. -Plato, Ion

The Curator & Fujimura Interview

The Curator is a new (fall of '08) website of the International Arts Movement (IAM).  I think IAM is great and this website should gain a large audience.

The Curator launched on August 29, 2008 as a web publication of International Arts Movement (IAM), which announces the signs of a “world that ought to be” as we find it in our midst, and seeks to inspire people to engage deeply with culture that enriches life and broadens experience.

In keeping with IAM’s belief that artistic excellence, as a model of “what ought to be”, paves the way for lasting, enduring humanity, The Curator seeks to encourage, promote, and uncover those artifacts of culture – those things which humans create - that inspire and embody truth, goodness, and beauty.

The founder of IAM, Makoto Fujimura, is interviewed (part 1, part 2) at The High Calling.

Prismatic Shards

In my studio, I use ground minerals such as malachite and azurite, layering them to create prismatic refractions, or "visual jazz." Via my art I hope to create a mediated reality of beauty, hope, and reconciled relationships and cultures....In order to find hope, even in the midst of the broken and torn fragments of relationships, in order to begin to journey into the heart of the divide, we must first wrestle with the deeper issues of faith. We must be willing to be broken ourselves into prismatic shards by the Master Artist, God, so that Christ's light can be refracted in us.

Makoto Fujimura, Refractions, p12.

Lots-o-Links 3.17.09

Molly Update: Mol has been tired lately. Meds help her sleep, but she has just been dragging. We'll see what the neurologist says next appointment. No results on her neuro-psych test...other than Molly doesn't know jack about Madame Curie and can't do mental math as good as our 6 year old. Fortunately for her I married her for her body and not her mind. :) And yes, I had her permission to say that.

Jonathan Dodson: The Missiology of St. Patrick
Resurgence: Vintage Saints - St. Patrick

Devotional Christian has potential.

On March 26th Mark Driscoll will be on Nightline with Deepak Chopra and others discussing whether or not the Devil exists. That should be fun.

DA Carson: Portraits of Jesus in John's Gospel

Stephen Nichols: Jonathan Edwards' Apologetic In Theory and Practice

Tim Chester: Mission Planning in Acts

Resurgence: Interview with Matt Chandler (3.9.09)

Found at Culture Making: "Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture—why would anyone bother with music? And yet—from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.” "

Finally Tonight, Jesus...

Molly Update and Lots-o-Links 10.22.08

Quick update on Molly.  She is finishing up her third round of steroids tomorrow, so we hope that will have a good result.  But as of today she has had more numbness/tingling in her legs than ever before.  Her balance issues are dramatic.  She is sleeping a little better, but not nearly enough yet.  It's still very worrisome around here, but God is our refuge (we read and prayed Ps 52 with our kids this morning).

Links...

Kung-Fu Election.  "Huck-uh-beeee!"

Good Wendell Berry website that I wasn't aware of until a few weeks ago.  New Wendell Berry Poetry.  New Billy Collins poetry.  Poems for autumn.

JD Greear - Multi-Site vs Church Planting.  Bill Streger - Great Questions for Pastors. Jonathan Dodson - Redefining Evangelism.

Questions to ask before confronting.  Powlison on Friendship Counseling.

BibleArc.  Tom Schreiner taught me this at SBTS.  Could be a cool resource site. We'll see.

I have this ESV Study Bible.  Haven't used it enough to say too awful much (though I like what I've seen), but I do really dig the online version that is available for those who buy a hard copy.  Place for notes, highlighting text in different colors, and the full content of the study Bible.  I will use the online resource several times a week.  You should get one!  Westminster is a great place to buy books, especially ESV Bibles.

A Holy Longing: Beauty and the Gospel.

Total Church Conference audio is up.

Lots-o-Links 9.8.08

New book in the mail, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.  It contains 22 readings for Advent, including ones from Martin Luther, Tim Keller, Jonathan Edwards, and others.

A church thinking missionally...Benched (via)...

Benched from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

Convention speeches as seen through Wordle. Very cool.

Christianity Today has a bunch of "Culture Making" stuff: Andy Crouch article, Andy Crouch interviewed, Andy thinking about his next book.

Craig Groeschel: The Power of Questions part 1, part 2, part 3.

Tim Keller's preaching notes. Good luck.

Jeremy Pryor: Your Discipleship Tools Are Too Weak (don't miss the helpful dialogue in the comments).

Total Church Conference: A Community-Centered Gospel.

LEAD Conference

On October 22-24 the LEAD Conference begins in St. Louis.  From the website...

We are gathering some of the best leaders to equip, encourage and employ up and coming urban leaders.  Our focus will be on the theological and practical implications of ministry in an urban context. There will be three breakout tracks for leaders to participate in: Church Planting, Mercy, and Arts. ...We will learn together, grow together and change the world together. 

The conference coincides with an Acts 29 Boot Camp, and the list of speakers is top notch: Bryan Chapell, Darrin Patrick, Daniel Montgomery, Eric Mason, Randy Nabors, and Matt Carter. Breakout tracks include church planting, arts, and mercy.  Should be great.  If things are ok at the time with my wife's "illness," I hope to go.

Lots-o-Links & Molly Update 7.29.08

Quick update on Molly & Chiari.  Her MRI's haven't happened yet as our local hospitals don't have the equipment to do the specialized ones she needs.  So we either have to go closer to the city or wait until her appointment with her surgeon in September.  Dunno what's going to happen just yet.  I'll let you know.

Some days are better than others right now.  The last few have been pretty bad, though the worst of symptoms from last year haven't shown up yet.  Glad about that.  Thanks for praying for her. 

Here's David Ford's "Song for the Road," which I put up here as a tribute to my wife who is in constant pain, hourly frustrations.  Should she ever wonder if I will be there when she needs me...

Now I know someday this all will be over
And it's hard to say what most will I miss
Just give me one way to spend my last moments alive,
and I choose this, I choose this, I choose this.

Recently on sub•text...
Neighborhood Diversity | Smaller Cities and Towns
Male, Middle Class, and White | Suburbs vs. Christianity

Other links...

Joe Thorn is rebooting his prayer life.  I'm actually planning some extended prayer in the near future.  Good thoughts from Joe.

Al Hsu points to more Andy Crouch Culture Making stuff.  Excerpts and more.

New Wendell Berry short story in The Atlantic.

David Powlison on Breaking Pornography Addiction.

Jonathan Dodson: Dark Thoughts from The Dark Knight

Ben Arment: How to Attract High-Caliber Leaders to Your Church

William Willimon: Pastoral Wisdom

Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat audiobook FOR FREE!  Get it now, only a few days left.

Kay Ryan is the new U.S. Poet Laureate.

JD Greear: Writing Stuff Down

Paul Tripp has a potty mouth, and he's right on the money...

The Big 5: Books on Writing

I'm always interested in books on writing and becoming a better writer.  It's easier to read books on writing than to write, but the question is still worth asking...

What are your Big 5 books on writing?

These should be books written with the intent of teaching you to write.  I know other books can help you be a better writer (including books about writers), but let's stick to your favorites on the art and craft of writing.  It can be about fiction or non-fiction writing.  It can be about poetry, articles, essays, letter writing, or most anything else.  This is not a list of books on how to write a sermon.  Feel free to throw one or two in there on grammar issues or issues directly related to writing if you like.  If you don't have 5, no prob.  List what you have read that you like.

Lots-o-Links 6.11.08

Resurgence has an interview with Bob Kauflin.

My brother captured two tornados on video last week.  Neither were doing anything amazing, but it's still pretty cool to a storm buff like me.

I love coaching Little League, and would love to coach this kid. Awesome...

Jeremy Pryor continues explaining his Story-Formed Life discipleship class/strategy...

The Office originated in Japan. Did you know that? Here you go...

Tim and Kathy Keller: The Role of Women in Ministry.

The Last Men's Book You'll Ever Need?

The New York Times on theology pubs and such.

Tim Chester: How I teach the Bible in a household church.

Tony Morgan: 7 reasons why the church needs artists.

Jonathan Dodson on building missional cores.

Thanks for the many comments on my Big 5 books series.  If you have missed any of the lists, please go and comment.  Great resource posts.

Culture Making

I'm highly anticipating Andy Crouch's new book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.  You can read the introduction and first two chapters online.  I heard about this book months ago and I'm eager to get my hands on it.

Go ahead, pre-order it on Amazon right now.  Due out in July.

NPM '08: One of the Most Beloved Poems...Ever

The 23rd Psalm
(KJV)
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

NPM '08: Taylor Mali

Can't neglect introducing (or reintroducing) you to Taylor Mali this National Poetry Month.

NPM '08: Czeslaw Milosz

I enjoy the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz (Wikipedia, Poets.org), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1980.  I think you will too.  Milosz died in 2004.

Forget

Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.

Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.

The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.

Encounter

We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago.Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.

NPM '08: More Billy Collins

I can't help myself.  I need to point (or re-point) you to Billy Collins.  Last year I linked to his animated poetry, which I find amazing.  Here's one...

Here's his poem "Vade Mecum" found in Questions About Angels...

I want the scissors to be sharp
and the table perfectly level
when you cut me out of my life
and paste me in that book you always carry.

Here's Billy reading 3 poems (including "The Lanyard")...

Music-o-Poetry

I've been out-of-pocket for a couple of days, so here's a post with just a little bit of Music Monday, Lots-o-Links, and National Poetry Month.

MUSIC MONDAY

A new video from Hot Chip.  Pretty cool...

One Pure Thought

In case you didn't know, here's the reason wearing red jock straps over your pants is SO popular now...

LOTS-o-LINKS

Driscoll loves the ESV Study Bible. 

John Piper: Preaching as Concept Creation, Not Just Contextualization

Founders gets a facelift.

I love this clip.  If you ever need to work on your business card envy, here's how.  (WARNING: A little colorful language.  This clip is for Mommies and Daddies only.)

NPM '08

Love this stuff from Borders Open Door Poetry.

Check out The Poetry Center of Chicago.

NPM '08: Finding Good Poems

Poetry, to some, is a difficult art form to appreciate and enjoy.  Some poetry is just weird.  It can be hyper-cryptic and hard to understand.  Other poetry is so syrupy sweet that it's just unpalatable.  So how can a busy person, like you, start to actually enjoy poetry on a regular basic and feel that it adds to your life without wasting your time?  I have a two step plan, both involving Garrison Keillor. 

1. Subscribe to the podcast of Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac.  It's free through iTunes (or whatever you use).  It a very cool, and very short (just over 5 minutes) daily podcast with historical stuff of interest to writers and writing, and a poem read by Keillor.  Hearing poetry read aloud is an easy way to begin loving poetry.  Read the show notes in order to get a flavor of the content. 

2. Buy and read Good Poems by Garrison Keillor.  Dana Gioia (a dude), a wonderful poet and thinker, and a critic of the unapproachable poets of our day, writes...

Good Poems left me grateful for Garrison Keillor, whose Writer’s Almanac has probably done more to expand the audience for American poetry over the past ten years than all the learned journals of New England. He understood that while most people don’t care much for poetry, they do love poems, provided they are good poems. He also understood that most people would rather hear a poem than read it, though they harbor a sensible suspicion that anyone who reads them one poem aloud may be dangerously capable of going on for hours. Presenting only one poem a day at the end of Writer’s Almanac, Keillor has engaged a mass audience without either pretension or condescension. A small victory perhaps, but one that restores faith in the possibilities of public culture.

This is a helpful book of poems, good ones, that come from a variety of authors.  The best way to start with poetry is anthologies.  From the poetry of many you will then find a few you like, and then you will have your favorite poets and can search out for more of their work.

Hope this is helpful.  If you are a poetry lover, feel free to share how you would introduce people to the world of poetry.