A few weeks ago an acquaintance sent me a newly published book of her poems. They were simple but beautiful in their first-person expression of praise, love, and gratitude to God—a collection of modern psalms. I reacted to that book like I have to other similar ones, asking myself, why don’t I write more overtly spiritual poetry? I ask because writing about spiritual subjects is hard for me to do.
I’m not sure why. It may be because I fear using theological jargon and worn-out phrases, thus slipping into cliché. (It certainly does take thought and attention to relate spiritual experiences and express convictions and emotions with fresh language that avoids being trite, maudlin, or sentimental.) Or I might avoid that kind of writing because many of my convictions don’t fit the politically correct social climate of the day and so the poems come whiny or like a rant.
As I look over the overtly spiritual poetry I have written, I feel that the poems that have come to me the most easily and naturally are the persona poems. In these I’ve tried to get into the head space of a Bible character.
Preparation to write these got me studying characters in the Bible and imagining their thoughts and feelings as they faced specific circumstances. I often fictionalized how that moment was a catalyst to growth in faith or rejection of it.
Several years ago I wrote a collection of these based on Bible women. Here are two from that collection.
Image: Pixabay
Miriam
(Based on Exodus 15:19-21)
Though I lived under the bright
Egyptian sun these many years
my sky went black the day Moses left.
Even his return with snake-rod
didn’t banish the clouds
hovering on my horizon.
Premonition dampened
my celebration when we crossed
out of Goshen into the wilderness.
Dust of approaching chariots
was my nightmare
entering the day.
But somewhere on that black
step-by-step sea crossing
I walked through fear to faith.
I taught Moses to sing.
Now he gives that gift back to me
Hand me my timbrel!
© 2018 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
Orpah
(Based on Ruth 1:1-14)
I am too young
to give in to death
be numbed by Naomi’s
negative breath.
Mighty Yahweh has failed
this family, my man.
Here’s my chance to detach
from this unlucky clan.
So I’ll return to Moab
to make a new start
(despite this strange yearning
deep in my heart).
© 2018 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
If you’re like me and find writing poems about spiritual subjects a challenge, maybe writing persona poems could become a spiritual poetry portal for you too.
Thanks to Carol Varsalona, who suggested the subject of Poetry as spiritual practice of the heart, and who is hosting Spiritual Journey First Thursday today at her blog Beyond Literacy Link.
Violet Nesdoly / poems 