Friday, May 27, 2016

Staying Afloat



Words like whirligig,
puzzle,
firestorm,

words for the day,

sit on my couch
in cozy pajamas
sipping hot tea.

Bring pillows, they say,
and candles.
These lights hurt our eyes.

Noisy seabirds duck and dive
a cove somewhere outside.  Waves
crash the shore.

I listen hard for the music
of salt and driftwood—

for words like ebb,
buoyed,

float.
                                                    

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you…” Psalm 55:22.


© 2016 Jennifer Wagner

Monday, May 23, 2016

Leila



The river turned on her, angry.
Churning water, debris
swirled monstrous around her.

But rivers have rocks,
and in the middle,
“one higher
than I,” she told me.

She climbed upon it,
stayed to her knees, footing unsure.

And the river became an ocean swelling,
spray mighty.  Flecks of sand stung her skin.
Winds rushed.  She closed her eyes.

It raged— it drenched, it raged, raged—
and receded.  A parting of the sea.

And she stood, unscathed,
though not unaffected.

Chains, foul and bound to her infected flesh,
infected heart, had been torn away.
Miseries vanished, banished
like ghosts themselves spooked.

And to the other side—she leapt
to the meadow in sunlight
of promises kept,

and keeps
on leaping
further, farther,

now she’s free.


© 2016 Jennifer Wagner



From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Soar



Yes, little one,

there are mountains.

And storms.

And rain.


But, oh, the

berries,

nectar,

sky.



© 2016 Jennifer Wagner