All posts in Poetry

  • L’Chaim!

    the-concert-1957

    L’Chaim!
    Blindman At the Gate

    Water turned to wine
    The miracle is the time
    That it did not take
    For common to turn extraordinaire
    Tap water transformed to carménère
    Drawn from pots of ritual purity
    Taken to the master of the party
    Hints of plum and kingdom come
    Salute!

    In Nazareth he was called the carpenter
    In Cana he became a master vintner
    Sommelier said it’s a hundred point wine
    The miracle-worker did it without a vine
    A whole barrel of vintage year thirty
    Better than the best from Cape Verde
    All so the feast would not cease
    A toast to Mary for her idea
    L’chaim!

    We walked from Nazareth to Cana
    In the fall of my fifty-fourth year
    Talking Jesus all along the way
    Took us the better part of a day
    Every other store up and down the line
    A Christian selling some kind of wine
    Call it a entrepreneurial witness to—
    Jesus’ first miracle
    Cheers!

    Water turned to wine
    The mystery is the time
    It takes for my own transformation
    A slow and painful fermentation
    With a soul like crushed grapes
    I’m a dusty bottle in God’s cellar
    But the winemaker knows his craft
    He makes all things beautiful in their time
    Hallelujah!
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  • Deep Time

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    Deep Time
    Blind Man at the Gate

    1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 7/10—
    Thousands of Millions of Years ago…
    A silent singularity
    Pregnant
    Waiting
    (Of course, it cannot “wait” — there is no motion, space, or time)
    BANG!
    Light and Heat and Expansion
    ALL set in motion
    Gravity did the rest
    Galaxies and Quarks
    (I cannot comprehend)
    We have a Universe!
    1, 2, 3, 4, and 1/2—
    Thousands of Millions of Years ago…
    It comes together, it spins, blue and green
    We have a home!
    For the miracle of Life
    Amino acids
    Single cells
    Life in the sea
    Arriving on land
    The cold blooded rule
    A rock falls from the sky
    Gives the warm blooded a chance
    Living in the trees
    Venturing to the ground
    Running down prey
    To fuel a bigger brain
    And finally the—
    AWAKENING!
    Not only being, not only alive, not only aware—
    But aware of awareness
    Self-consciousness
    God-consciousness
    Speaking of God
    Did you know me way back when?
    Or are you so immersed in the Story that I was a surprise even to you?
    What are the chances of the exact me coming to be—
    When at the bottom of being there are tumbling dice?
    Always planned or happy accident
    Either way, I’m fine with it
    It’s enough that you know that I AM
    Too
    But this matter of deep time
    It tells me something about you—
    You are
    Patient
    So patient
    All that is holy is patient
    Love, Peace, Life
    All that is unholy is impatient
    sin, war, me
    Help me to be holy
    By being patient
    Like you
    With time—
    Deep time, future time, all time
    On your side
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  • The Magi and I

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    This is from last Christmas, but it still speaks to me and for me…

    T.S. Eliot’s poem Journey of the Magi with my quasi-interpretation of it. Which is more than an interpretation — it’s also a kind of autobiographical confession; for I too have had a hard time of it. And like Eliot’s Magi I would do it all over again.
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  • West of Shinar

    NewJerusalem

    West of Shinar
    by Blindman at the Gate

    God said, “Let there be.”
    Existence. Life. Awareness.
    Good, very good.
    A man called Mankind.
    A woman called Mother-of-All.
    They bore and wore the Imago Deo.
    Walked in the Garden with God.

    Then something went wrong.
    Paradise lost.
    Moved to an apartment east of Eden.
    They had babies.
    Called them Cain and Abel.
    Farmer and Shepherd.
    But the landed gentry murdered the nomadic herdsman.
    The killer lied to God (and himself) about what he had done.
    “I didn’t murder my brother — I just killed an enemy. It had to be done.”
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  • Columbus Day

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    Columbus Day
    Brian Zahnd

    It’s Columbus Day in America. Well, depending on where you live. South Dakota, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii don’t recognize Columbus Day. Where Native Americans still have a fairly visible presence Columbus Day can be a bit awkward. In South Dakota today is a state holiday — “Native American Day.”

    Growing up in Missouri I knew Columbus Day as the celebration of the “discovery” of America. Which lets slip the obvious fact that the story is being told from a European vantage point. Last May Peri and I arrived for the first time in Portugal, but we hardly “discovered” Portugal. Yet from our perspective we were making a new discovery. (We did refrain from claiming to now own Portugal.)

    Contrary to what you may have thought, Columbus did not arrive on the shores of an empty wilderness, but on the shores of a world more populous than Europe. Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) was larger than any European city. But armed with guns, steel, and germs, and driven by the conquistador’s lust for gold and slaves, the population of the Americas was decimated. Columbus discovered America like that asteroid discovered the dinosaurs.
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  • The Journey Goes On

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    The Journey Goes On
    Brian Zahnd

    The journey goes on
    And I find myself in a place
    I could never have imagined
    (And I mean a good place!)

    Not in the Love Song 70’s
    Not in the Ravenhill 80’s
    Not in the Faith Man 90’s
    Not even the tumultuous 2000’s

    I won’t make an idol of any moment in time
    The vastness of God can’t be explored in the blink of an eye
    We don’t attain authenticity overnight
    So I’m a mystery
    Even to myself

    The 70’s Jesus Freak
    The 80’s Revivalist
    The 90’s Church Growth Guy
    The 2000’s Trouble Maker
    Could never understand who I am today
    Which makes me somewhat happy

    Because it’s not the reinvention of self for fashion sake
    Like the widening and narrowing of neckties
    No, it’s about being true to Christ by being true to yourself
    The sacred mystery is about the adventure of becoming
    So the journey goes on
    And on

    But through it all I remain loyal to the Way
    Because when Jesus called BZ to follow him
    (That long-haired fifteen year old kid)
    And he said, yes
    He meant it

    I can’t be labeled and classified
    The way entomologists pin insects
    I believe in metamorphosis!
    Whatever bug you pin me down as
    I will not be
    (Does that bug you?)

    I’m a dweller by a dark stream
    And the chrysalis is cracking
    Like in the vision John saw
    (Thank you, my prophetic Canadian brother)
    In the end I’ll have wings
    And I will fly

    BZ
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  • Reading the Bible Right

    Reading The Bible Right
    by Brian Zahnd

    (An old poem resurfaces. It’s best read aloud.)

    It’s a STORY
    We’re telling news here
    Keeping alive an ancient epic
    The grand narrative of paradise lost and paradise regained
    The greatest “Once upon a time” tale ever told
    The beautiful story which moves relentlessly toward—
    “They lived happily ever after”

    Never, never, NEVER forget that before its anything else it’s a story Read more

  • Ten Flags

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    Ten Flags
    by Blind Man at the Gate
    (This poem is mostly true)

    Today I saw ten flags in ten minutes
    Of the stars and stripes variety
    Three were flown from churches
    With marquees that said things like
    “Celebrate Freedom”
    Five were flown in front of banks
    The biggest one waved proudly above a
    Perkins Restaurant
    (Omelettes starting at $6.99)
    The highest one flew atop a
    Wal-Mart
    Of the Supercenter variety
    (Open 24 hrs)
    Ain’t this America
    With liberty and justice and omelettes
    And low mortgage refinancing for all
    Freedom is what it’s called
    Freedom is what it’s about
    Freedom is what we’re fighting for
    Just remember buckaroo
    Freedom isn’t free
    It starts at $6.99
    With 7.39% APR financing
    (Rates adjust annually thereafter)
    O say!
    Does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave
    O’er
    Churches and Banks and Perkins and Wal-Mart?
    Freedom© made in America®
    Freedom of religion and commerce and omelette
    Freedom to buy cheap apparel made in Guatemala
    I’m proud to be an American
    Where at least I know I’m free
    Ev’ry heart beats true
    ‘Neath the Red, White and Blue
    Support our troops
    Buy American. Save Jobs.
    Financing options available
    Today I saw ten flags in ten minutes
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  • Belong (Antidote for Gnosticism)

    Saturday Morning 04.30.12.16x20_2642

    Belong
    (Antidote for Gnosticism)

    Let Christ inform all of life
    Don’t be a religious cliché
    Be a real human being
    Belong to the human race
    Belong to the woods
    Belong to the city
    Go for long walks
    Learn to appreciate art
    Take up the violin
    Cultivate culinary skills
    Read War and Peace
    Laugh more than you do
    Weep now and then
    Listen to live jazz
    Pray
    Eat a peach
    Do something ridiculous
    Go dancing
    Stop judging
    Start loving
    Plant a garden
    Climb a mountain
    Memorize a long poem
    Learn some astronomy
    Become a bee-keeper
    Go back to college
    Take up a new hobby
    Make some new friends
    Read the Bible
    In a new translation
    Get rid of bumper stickers
    Learn a foreign language
    Watch a foreign film
    Change your mind
    Drink only good coffee
    Trust the sommelier
    Talk to your neighbor
    Not about religion
    Go to church
    Go to the circus
    Don’t confuse them
    Be human
    Belong

    BZ

    (The artwork is Saturday Morning, Painted by Anthony Duce.)
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