Long Awfulness Poems

A Brief For The Defense 

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies 
are not starving someplace, they are starving 
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. 
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants....

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"Cry for the soul that will not face the body" Dory Previn 

                      ...

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"You're lucky to have a daughter like her"
No she was not lucky
She alone knows the number of ribs her body broke over the years
She alone knows the amount of water her skin pores shed
She alone...

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It’s boxing day (the Brit name for the day after Christmas) and Pamela, Lisa’s grandmother is visiting our little pandemic ark. Pamela’s a Cowboys fan so we’re watching them slaughter Washington - between commercials -...

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In the blushing sunrise,
Rose gold and luscious lavender,
Promising that daybreak…
Stirs souls to hear God’s laughter,
Sings of all the pleasures…
Revealed when light erases the dark,
Leaving the night without the teasing
Stars, the quiet moon or the roaring
Winds,...

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There is a woodpile in my in-laws’ cellar, and some coal, but other rumored things also.
And it has been there a long time since anyone tripped down these broken concrete steps.
Maybe twenty or thirty years;...

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Let’s watch for Christ’s coming midst tempting worldliness
Toward heavenly pursuits upon salvation-joyfulness
For advancement of God’s kingdom and His righteousness 
With our redeemed souls’ precious worthiness
Against perilous hell’s fiery awfulness.

Let’s watch for Christ’s coming midst frustrating...

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Comeuppance generated
desire to kill self awoke
resolution to make amends
bedevils this bloke
who deservedly receives just desserts
invisible hand doth choke
living daylights, hence
nightmare scenario I evoke.

Following objective forthwith
pained papa doth aim
constitutes feeble attempt made
to reach out and accept...

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Easily are fires put out by tears and fears
There is a heaviness I feel in the darkness
It was once all lit up all around me—
I was so prideful, so immersed in it
I felt so safe...

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THE FOIL BETWEEN LOVE AND LUST


Who dares me; I lust, to hold utter sway over the flesh!
I love, but can at least assume claim upon the heart.
Well, I swore that from the flesh comes the...

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August 15 Scripture Meditations Based on Daniel 4-6

Key Verse – Daniel 4:2 I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.  

MY GOD, THANK YOU...

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She is odd, they said.
She won’t talk to you.
She is stuck up.
She is mean.

He did not believe them.
Them who had lied about him also when he was the new kid.
He sat with her during lunch.
They...

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You indicated I don’t listen.
I respectfully disagree.
I hear you.
I just don’t like what you have to say.
Pretending to ignore you takes tremendous effort.
Quick to dismiss
that which emanates from a source
other than your own lips –
and...

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Once upon a summer’s eve, when I was younger, I met a person over the phone.
She was the concerned mother of my daughter’s new best 14-year-old friend, Sandra Bone.
Our conversation led to psychical stories, when...

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Once upon a summer’s eve, when I was younger, I met a person over the phone.
She was the concerned mother of my daughter’s new best 14-year-old friend, Sandra Bone.
Our conversation led to psychical stories, when...

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She gave me an angry look.
Neither her face or eyes were familiar.  
The hope I had been counting on for three days, dissipated.

This mean-looking eleven-year-old child had been through more
awfulness in her life, than...

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August 24 Scripture Meditations Based on Amos 4-6

Key Verse– Amos 4:8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me,...

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June 10 Scripture Meditations Based on Proverbs 3

Key Verse – Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.   

MY GOD, THANK YOU FOR DIRECTING MY PATHS

Thank You...

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September 20 Scripture Meditations Based on Mark 1-3

Key Verse– Mark 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

MY GOD, THANK YOU FOR ENABLING...

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With a silence that cut through the laughter
She entered the room, bitterness
Edged around her features, portraying
Cruelty with an unfeeling sword of darkest
Gloom, dread so dismal it feels, almost,
Like grief sinking into the bones
Sullenness coughing up...

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Admitting need for solace from lonesomeness
My soul seeks hope propped by serene blissfulness
To overcome feeling of separateness
Imprisoning me around guilt’s awfulness
Fortified upon conceit and selfishness---
Oh, how can I escape from this woe’s grievousness???

Confessing to God...

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When I was younger so much younger than today, I used to go to lots of poetry events. There was something called Red Sky that was every week, people were so very serious about it....

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What was going through your head
When you decided to end your life
Did you consider your love ones at all 
Leaving behind your sons and wife

Failing to show up for work on Monday
Not calling or coming...

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Trembling, heart racing – it feels
So much like darkness, gray and dim
No light – no hope – no way to cope
This is the inkling of sorrow, grief
Beyond words – like the scream of fear

Fading, fading...

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Accept our thanksgiving, our God
for Your gift of eternal life’s fullness.
In Your salvation plan
You included us by Your loving kindness.
You paid for our iniquities 
against hell-condemnation’s awfulness
When You adopted us 
as Your children of righteousness.
Now,...

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