Now hear me hail the heavens above,
where in fires fermented, a foam of the sky
distills in stars to be stirred by comets.
It fills the cosmos, and floats the planets, Continue reading . . . “Advent XVII”
Life is worth but little,
we live and die, our skin becomes
the crumbs of earth, or dissipate into the sky
forming clouds of rain. Continue reading . . . “Advent XVI”
Oh shame, to raise your face and
say “Yes, Lord” to will so wild, for one
would never dream of such
unwanted fate, be found with child, unwed, Continue reading . . . “Advent XV”
The fire of heaven fell upon
a dew-globe drooped
to a world-wet branch.
Light Continue reading . . . “Advent XIV”
I dreamt of the mountain air
the night that heaven centered
all earth’s anchor in this worried womb.
The wind was new, and ever in its arms Continue reading . . . “Advent XIII”
That Life was manifest, the Life divine
That soars in nature’s heights, and fills her deeps;
The Life that weaves the infinite design
That makes all lives and natures intertwine; Continue reading . . . “Advent XII”
Holy mother
pregnant, silent. Who is it
turns within your womb? Continue reading . . . “Advent XI”
Lord of Heaven,
I thought I was afraid You’d come
cold and commanding,
but now I know I fear yet more You’ll come Continue reading . . . “Advent X”
As ceaseless as the wind whistling through the wire,
day unto day we’ve poured out speech,
wells of words taking the wings of the morning.
We have strained our necks with Continue reading . . . “Advent IX”
Old sky, how high you lie
up there, in your complacency
your faceless dome
your eyeless spread Continue reading . . . “Advent VIII”
I meditated on the wrath of kings,
the right of sovereigns, that they own all power
and seize their glory, that their passions tower
to fall on us in vengeful thunderings. Continue reading . . . “Advent VII”
You pull the cloth around her shoulders, hold her hand.
And turn your eyes from all that you would understand. Continue reading . . . “Advent VI”
Maidservant of the world, you brought to us,
the gnawing drought-burned masses, bread and wine
in peasant pottery. You sang one bird-like poem
in the innocence of beginning: sweet bright lines, Continue reading . . . “Advent V”
Blow, wind, with bleak December’s driving snow
with rousing blasts that tighten up these walls,
and sing the song you moaned so long ago
through Bethlehem and Herod’s stony halls. Continue reading . . . “Advent IV”
Most holy mother,
blessed of Father. Swelling
in your bosom dwells the son of God. Continue reading . . . “Advent III”
Then let them sing of the gods of the hero age—
the strong gods, wielding calamity.
Tall gods, knee-deep in cunning,
waist-high in wisdom, glowing with force, Continue reading . . . “Advent II”
The stars were strewn as freckles,
restless as the wriggled mass,
the night you came. Continue reading . . . “Advent I”
A fitting place, this
wood-between-the-worlds,
to say good-bye to friends,
fold the memories—both Continue reading . . . “Daniel Hess: Funeral Home”
Kayla Eby: The Chemistry of Nature
The lamp cast soft orbs
of light on the worn carpet.
Across from me, my cousin
patiently tries to explain Continue reading . . . “Kayla Eby: The Chemistry of Nature”
It is the first of June.
There, you see it—tall, mint-coloured spikes
carrying well the swelling buds—
that’s what I brought you to see. Continue reading . . . “Cherie Horst: Hope”
