Most of them sounded like definitions of Faith to me. With apologies to Ferlinghetti I have substituted “Faith is...” for “Poetry is...” Which one do you like the best. What is your one-liner about what faith is?
I know, I know, piety makes you want to say that you can’t beat “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) But see what poetry old Ferlinghetti brings out in you. First, which of the following do you like best? Now be adventurous and try your hand at it. Please send me those comments. I will add some of Ferlinghetti’s from time to time for awhile to continually “prime the poetic pump.” Scroll all the way to the bottom, to "Comments," to share your favorite and add your thought to "Faith is..." or click on "Guest Comments" under Navigation. Thanks
[Faith is] the Unknown Guest in the house.
[Faith is] the Great Memory, every word a live metaphor.
[Faith is] the eye of the heart, the heart of the mind.
[Faith is] an e-mail from the unknown beyond cyberspace.
[Faith is] the ultimate inner refuge.
[Faith is] the anchor in your life, only as good as the depths it can reach.
[Faith is] like a moth pressing against the window, trying to reach the flame.
[Faith is] the cry of the heart that awakens angels and kills devils.
[Faith is] news from the growing edge on the far frontiers of consciousness.
[Faith is] the light at the end of the tunnel and the darkness within.
[Faith is] what holds death at bay.
[Faith is] what fulfills longings and puts life back together again.
Additions from Ferlinghetti, 4/21/09
[Faith is] the shortest distance between two humans.
[Faith is] an exaggeration understated.
[Faith is] the primary conductor of emotion.
[Faith is] a lightening rod transmitting epiphanies.
[Faith is] a dragonfly catching fire.
[Faith is] what the early spring is saying about the deaths of winter.
[Faith is] a black kid dancing around a banana tree at night in a patio on Toulouse Street.
[Faith is] eternal graffiti in the heart of everyone.
[Faith is] what arises to ecstasy somewhere between speech and song.
[Faith is] a quiver on the skin of eternity.
[Faith is] a lifesaver when your boat capsizes.
final installment from ferlinghetti, june 30, 2009
[Faith is] what exists between the lines.
[Faith is] made with the syllables of dreams.
[Faith is] a lighthouse movings its megaphone over the sea.
[Faith is] an Arab carrying colored rugs and birdcages through the streets of Baghdad.
[Faith is] a pulsing fragment of the inner life, an untethered music.
[Faith is] a rope to tie around you in a sounding sea without shores.
[Faith is] a book of light at night, dispersing clouds of unknowing.
[Faith is] a dinghy setting out to sea from the listing ship of society.
[Faith is] a piercing look into the very heart of things.
[Faith is] more beautiful if it is veiled in mystery.
[Faith is] a radical presence constantly goading us.
[Faith is] what can still save the world by transforming consciousness.
[Faith is] a window through which everything that passes can be seen anew.
[Faith is] at its highest saying we might die without it.
[Faith is] what can salvage deeply tragic lives.
[Faith is] the last lighthouse in rising seas.
_____
*Just a word about Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Did you know he earned a doctoral degree in poetry at the Sorbonne in Paris? He was at the center of the “Beat Generation” of the 50s and 60s in San Francisco, where he owns a bookstore, City Lights. His own wartime experiences made a pacifist of him, after having been sent to Nagasaki, Japan six weeks after the atomic bomb destroyed the city. You preachers among us should google his,“Christ Came Down,” and you will have enough inspiration for all of Advent and Christmas the next time around. He puts a lot of faith in poetry.
[originally posted, Epiphany, 2009]
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the hungry i
there is a part of me
the location of which i do not know
the shape of which i have no idea
a part of me that is somewhere deep within
that is the seat of all that i am
that part of me gets hungry
when all other parts of me seem
comfortable
secure
and fulfilled
that part of me can be
yearning
uneasy
and empty
in a difficult situation when the events of my life
or those close to me become crucial
and I have to make a statement
about what I am going to be
the first word of that statement
"I"
comes from that part of me that is way down deep inside
is there a person who exists who could not talk in this way
i doubt it
this is the way God has made us
all of us have a hungry i
and like all of our appetites this one can become the all
demanding
consuming
appetite of life
it can become a hungry i that devours its neighbor
yet
to be real
to be human
everyone must have an "I"
or end up a zero
this is the way we are made
just as God does not hold our physical hunger against us
nor does God hold this hunger against us
what God does hold against us is
when we pretend that this is not the truth about ourselves
when we pretend that there are not significant times when
we do not care about anyone or anything else just so
the hungry i
gets filled
it is the pretense
not the truth about ourselves
that convicts us
only when we are able to say
yes lord that is me
i cannot throw the first stone here either
only then will we be capable of receiving
the food that overcomes all hunger
the food that is the bread of life
+john winn
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an interactive poem by john winn
Take the following lines and re-arrange them in the order that seems best to you, using every line intact, without changing any of the words or adding any. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer, only different versions.
john winn.
Deep within
Where silence is touched by sight
T h i s I s S u c h A M o m e n t
God gets through to us
in many different ways,
but we seldom immediately understand.
It takes a Moment
MOMENTOUS
Where soul is illuminated by light
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know is cubed by
that Moment.
johnwinn
God gets through to us
In many different ways
Deep within
Where silence is touched by sight
But we seldom immediately understand
MOMENTOUS
It takes a moment
Where wrong is changed by right
Where soul is illuminated by light
And all we already know is cubed by
that Moment
This Is Such A Moment
john winn
+++
Steve Polster
T h I s I s S u c h A M o m e n t
Where silence is touched by sight
Deep within
God gets through to us
in many different ways
but we seldom immediately understand
It takes a Moment
Where soul is illuminated by light
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know
is cubed by that Moment.
+++
Judy Woodman
MOMENTOUS
God gets through to us
It takes a Moment
but we seldom immediately understand
Where wrong is changed by right
Deep within
that Moment
Where silence is touched by sight
Where soul is illuminated by light
And all we already know
is cubed by
T h i s I s S u c h A M o m e n t
in many different ways
+++
Will Finnin
It takes a Moment
Deep within
Where soul is illuminated by light
but we seldom immediately understand
in many different ways
God gets through to us
Where silence is touched by sight
T h i s I s S u c h A M o m e n t
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know
is cubed by that Moment
+++
Ellen Alston
MOMENTOUS
God gets through to us
in many different ways
but we seldom immediately understand
that Moment
Where silence is touched by sight
Where soul is illuminated by light
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know is cubed by
Deep within
It takes a Moment
T h i s I s S u c h A M o m e n t.
+++
Nancy Jackson
God gets through to us
in many different ways,
but we seldom immediately understand,
It takes a moment
Deep within
Where wrong is changed by right
This is such a moment
Deep within
Where silence is touched by sight
This is such a moment
Deep within
Where soul is illuminated by light
This is such a moment
And all we already know is cubed by
that Moment.
MOMENTOUS
+++
Con Christeson
MOMENTOUS
It takes a Moment
Deep within
Where silence is touched by sight
Where soul is illuminated by light
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know is cubed by
that Moment
but we seldom immediately understand
MOMENTOUS
God gets through to us
in many different ways
+++
Edna Patterson-Petty
MOMENTOUS
Deep within
Where soul is illuminated by light
Where wrong is changed by right
And all we already know is cubed
by that Moment
Where silence is touched by sight
God gets through to us
in many different ways
but we seldom immediately understand
It takes a Moment
T h i s I s S u c h A M o m e n t
+++
Callie Winn
we seldom understand
or know
or see
or touch
the many different ways
God gets through to us
sees us
touches us
but already deep within
there is a place
of silence
where light
illumines soul
and momentous change
(it only takes a moment)
MOMENTOUS change
gets through
and wrong is right
and dark is light
and all we know is cubed
+++
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