Imagine Gentleness

"Imagine," I said, "a nature walk
with no restrictions and no boundaries."

She added, "And no signs placed 
on poorly marked pathways
demanding, Keep Off The Grass."

I said, "And to stroll with a new cadence
and an extraordinary rhythm and energy."

She added, "Though not all of us 
are as skilled as Epimenides
in the ways of the gods."

I offered, "All the more reason to save
my tears for saving daughters."

She said, "Remember: Let your 
gentleness be known to everyone."

Resurrection Questions

Gospel of Matthew

No questions

Gospel of Mark

Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?

Gospel of Luke

Why do you look for the living among the dead?
What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?
Do you not know about the things that have taken place?
What things?
Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?
Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?
Why are you frightened?
Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Have you anything here to eat?

Gospel of John

Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?
Have you believed because you have seen me?
Friends, do you have any fish?
Do you love me?  Do you love me?  Do you love me?
If it is my will that he remain, what is that to you?

Book of Acts

Why do you just stand here looking up toward heaven?

Levers

The metrics show a decrease in privilege
despite more attention being paid
to differences incenting niceness.

Uncomfortable work reversing trends 
of excellence in response to being
screwed fails once again.

Victims of the same pedagogical
systems which teach downward
mobility remain enthralled.

We kid ourselves by filling our garages
with used mattresses thinking
Jefferson's meritocracy has arrived.

Great thoughts remain small behind
curtains while little men control
the levers of work and play.

Fools…

...Suggest that tradition must be respected at all times.  
...Campaign endlessly for stewardship of the heart.
...Believe evening walks should only go around the block.
...Take out the garbage in every letter written.
...Cry, There are so many adversaries.
...Walk past the gravestones of the blessed souls.
...Reckon hope to be only a prologue to the day.
...Recklessly hoard prosperity for sunny days.
...Propose sole purposes for existence.
...Hold shares to profit from created misery.
...See no excellence in the idea of diversity.
...Create victims of downward-pushing systems.
...Rejoice in days where nothing happens.

Seeing each other for the first time:

An incredible encounter of tingling minds,
inspiring both to move beyond flirtatious
eye-play to a deep place of wanting to know
and to be known.

Distance and separation between events
during this time drive despair of not being
physically close away as fear of severing
any relationship dissipates.

Initiative to share the same experience rests
on the intensity of always returning together
again from being lost to the other as great
events happen during evenings.

Palm Sunday

How many more calculations must be made
to be free of belief in miracles when sunlight
falls with such graceful abandon?  Lip-biting 
onlookers have not awakened to shout their 
derisions to fools who still remain lost 
in the dregs of bad vodka.  Scolding mothers 
have not found anything to pray upon.  
Wonders wander around centers of being
long forgotten.  A daughter cries for attention 
in the loneliest corner.  Dry compassion 
waits for those less well-fed.  A donkey-rider
enters the city claiming to possess the secret
of being in relationship with God and neighbor.

Inspiration Flirts

I cried.  "I'm a vampire.  What 
do I do?"

She asked, "Will they not say
that you are out of your mind?"

"Yes!  And I am mindful 
in this state that Christ 
has no body here but ours."

She smirked.  "It is not a test
of faith to give in to your
resistance to jump because
you are afraid."

Looking into the far future,
I said, "The pattern of my dreams
finally made itself known last night."

She reached out for my hand 
and said, "Incredible mind-tingling
inspiration always flirts with events
that are shared during this time."