Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Introductions: they are in order, I guess?

oh god it’s wonderful
to get out of bed
and drink too much coffee
and smoke too many cigarettes
and love you so much   -Frank O'Hara, Steps
One Thing:

Often in the morning, I will take my coffee out onto my back steps to watch the river. This is the time when I feel most attuned to God's presence. Today it was thirteen degrees outside. Here I was, bundled up in my bathrobe, pajamas and boots, huddled over my coffee, waiting to hear Him speak.

But some days He doesn't. Some days He is silent, and other days I can't hear Him over the winds that blow in my head. On those days, I can be content to drink too much coffee and love Him so much because...
“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

Everlasting Love. Kinda makes you feel like a fair maiden, huh? Even when it's thirteen degrees outside and snot is dripping from your frozen nose. Kinda makes you feel like you'll hear from Him again.

Another thing:

In snippet of poetry, God is there. When I muse on lines of O'Hara or even Plath, I am reminded of a sunrise morning when I saw a fox lighting into the woods. I felt that God was there, in the morning, in those woods, all around me.

The beauty of a fox dashing into the woods is poetry. It is not even waiting for a pen because God has written it, perfect in the morning!

Last Thing:

Which snippets of life have you regarded as divine poetry? Where and when do you hear God the most? I'm waiting on your reply, coffee in one hand and a volume of verse in the other.