Prayer Poet

The psalmists knew very well

how carefully loaded phrases

strung together in surprising ways

can be explosive in both

hopeful and dangerous ways;

how hurling guttural truth

toward the heavens changes

the world in ways we can

neither explain nor predict;

how leaving wide margins

of blank silence leaves room

for the other voice to speak.

The pieces that both come from

and travel to the deepest places

often begin with empty lines,

which represent the ways

we duct-tape the voices in our head

long enough to hear the one in our heart.

Those are the ones asking us

questions which most need answering;

questions that all creation asks daily;

questions that weave us into

the tapestry of history and hope.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins