POETRY SPEAKS AGAIN

GOD SPEAKS in a gentle whisper... as POETRY SPEAKS again!
by CLAUDIA edit 3/27/2011

Modeled on 1 Kings 19: 7
The angel of the LORD came and spoke to Elijah sleeping under a broom bush, hiding
in the wilderness...

"Get up and read, for the journey is too much for you." So I got up and ate the Words written in the ancient scrolls:
wise lyrical words, some of them poems.
Strengthened by this sweetness, like heavenly manna for it had a taste
of honey, I traveled
until I reached the destination directed to meet,
on Horeb, the mountain.
There I settled down, to rest, to reflect,
to listen for a Word, to hear a personal, specific healing, poetic message.

GOD said: “Go out and seek poetry on the earth -
in the places I will take you -
for the LORD is about to pass by...
He is speaking another time - in new venues
and places, to spiritual seekers in new spaces.

So I looked and found Poetry Slam,
with much loudness and rhyme,
but for me GOD was not there.

Then I found the Open Mic, where poetry of all types
was proclaimed for precise purpose;
but the Spirit did not speak specifically to me.

SO I looked once more, and I found Performance Poetry
in everyday places... new theater, actors speaking truth
in body and verse, to say and to explain many things,
to expose unrighteousness and pain.

Words in Rhyme used to bring about great change,
but often one instead felt sadness and shame… so I asked:
“does GOD speak or desire to meet me in this way?”

After all of this poetic noise, in the market place,
I went to look for empty spaces... on the mountain,
in the desert, cathedral, abbey, art museum,
and park - where there was space between words.

And here I found a Sabbath Rest,
a place for peacefulness;
and here I heard poetry speak its peace;
between the lines, within the words,
inside those hymns and chants. Paintings too
sent forth loud praise - I visually heard through
colors, forms and lines.

And as these proclaimed compellingly,
through metaphor and line,
I perceived the Spirit speak:
specifically, directly, quietly...
insightfully inside,
into my soul.

CLAUDIA
July 2010
Edit March 26, 2011