Wood, Gold, Water, Toes

The following poem was written at the amazing New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day worship service we had at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 with my church family.

It was inspired by (and also confirmed) the fellowship and worship and words and scriptures shared during our time together.
It was also inspired by some amazing poets, singers/songwriters, and spoken word and hip-hop artists.

The greatest inspirations in that vein would be William Matthews and his album Kosmos, released November 9, 2018 which I’ve had on rotation recently (shout-out to David for putting me on to him), Propaganda (prophiphop) for so many pieces, but I’d zoom in on Lofty from the album Excellent, and his spoken word piece The Gospel In Four Minutes, and Levi the Poet, probably The Beginning. The Separation. (I’d also recommend Correspondence (A Fiction), a sweeping epic poetic narrative. The Commentary for Correspondence is really worth a listen too if you dig Correspondence. Some of his other works are a little heavy, a little aggro (i.e. his texture isn’t for everybody), but I’ve shared his name with many people.) And last, but not least, Jackie Hill-Perry for so many works! But I’d point to Crescendo primarily.

Anyway, here we are

Wood, Gold, Water, Toes

———

You didn’t start at the

beginning or before,

but at the end but not the

finality no –more like the festivity

and the post-game celebrations

the touchdown dances

the feast and the after party.

———

What did Jesus dance like?

What does Jesus dance like?

———

toes in the dust, red, brown, foot

prints on the floor

hardwood,

———

tables, chairs, building beams

beams, bars, crossed crossing

bars like I’m coming in and over and

taking bars so as to

break bars, split bars and spit bars

like, I AM THE ONE WHO MAKES the

16 sweet and the quinceanera

bonita, ‘cause, each age is

worthy of celebration (now) and I

got some dancin’ to do and I

got the champagne and caviar on

ice, or bread and wine if you

prefer, not only, but also

and MYSELF, LIFE and THE FOOD you knew

nothing about then but now can know in

——————the full.

I didn’t start at the beginning

(Eternal) but to take it from the

top,

“See, Wha’ Ha’ Happened Was…..”

…..

…….

I fell in love

and fell hard

———

and haven’t stopped falling.

why you think the universe is

———still expanding?

so I can walk with you a little further and

watch the light in your eye as

you marvel,

———oh what marvel

How marvelous you are, the

twinkle in your eyes as you see

for the first time that the

corona of the star, the chemical

reaction that breeds fire, is

just a facet of my FATHER’S love,

how deep, and HIS GLORY and

———

your value and you’re valued

———

like/’cause/when

WE breathed into ADAM

and

like/’cause/when

ADAM breathed out

then

WE breathed in like

plant and animal

like

CO2 and oxygen dance

and

WE breathed in your breath

and/then

WE lived

and

WE dreamed of getting to know

you and your children and your

family in OUR family and WE

dreamed of dancing on hardwood

floors –no nails– and dancing

on a serpent’s head and dancing

on deceit and lies (and laughing), and, sand

between toes –textures–, and on streets of

warm gold which pulse w/ OUR love!

and dancing w/ the light of the cosmos

like distant disco balls beneath OUR feet.

——————

WE didn’t start at the beginning,

WE started at the Feast

or dancing on the waves,

giving sea legs a new

meaning

———and oh how I AM sweening*

——————over YOU!

———

See I didn’t start at

the beginning but at the

end, like a punchline,

is this thing called time, for

laughter and drama and

longing in love and fulfillment.

I didn’t start at the

beginning but jumpstarted

this mechanism, stretched this canvas,

programmed this series of 1 s and 0 s or

electrons and energies to give

a backdrop for OUR story, to set

the scene to make something

beautiful, and it can’t come

close to the Imago Dei

–or Imago Daddy I might say–,

that is in YOU… but I HAVE FOUND it

an adequate

———accessory

one that will suffice to serve

———as a vista, a view

————to be enjoyed at the

———dining table or

————balcony window

for in MY FATHER’S House there are

many mansions and rooms and

I HAVE PREPARED and

AM PREPARING a place

for YOU

———and a view

————so stay true and gulp glimpses

———of it now

———everyday

in perspective that the

———LOVE OF GOD FOR YOU IS

———as wide as creation

–ever expanding– and

———as wide as the cross

–the finished work– and

———as open as the

mouth of that empty grave

———–like the gap left in the space where–

———–I knocked out the front teeth of–

————–sin and death (…the bums)–

so, BELOVED,

HEPHZIBAH, BEULAH,

take off YOUr sackcloth and

ash and put on YOUr dancing

shoes, or get ready to kick ‘em off

and get out of the boat

onto the dancefloor,

it might look a little rough,

but I’ll tell the winds and the waves

to hush

‘cause WE gon’ strut

do a little two step.

join ME on the water and

I will show YOU what I dance like

and what dancing is like

and I will show YOU what new wine means

-oh taste and see!-

when New Year’s no longer mean a thing

(Eternity)

and I WILL show YOU

a thing or two about parties

not at the end, but when it’s over.

and WE can get our practice in now

so sample it, now,

walk with ME now

and dance with ME here

so WE can dance together then and there

at the end –no finality– and ever more

amen