January 22, 2020 Dear Deity…

Those of you who follow this blog (a small, but statistically significant group) will have noticed that I frequently throw in some poetry. Although I would hesitate to assign the title “poet” to myself, I have noticed that I often need poetry when I write. I haven’t even traditionally been a big fan of poetry until the last year or so. (As an aside, I want to give a shout out to the podcast “The Daily Poem,” which has helped whet my appetite for different kinds of poetry. There’s only one poem read out loud per day and each podcast is only 7-10 minutes long, Monday through Friday. Check it out!)

Back to the original discussion, some poetry seems inaccessible and I haven’t really had to patience to slog through the obtuse mental meanderings of someone else. Have you ever felt like that? Maybe you’ve felt like that when reading my poetry. 🙂 And yet, when I have need of it, nothing else will do.

Here’s a poem I wrote when I was in my early 20’s. God was calling my name, but I had lots of doubts and questions and since I have always loved writing letters, I decided to write one to Him and sort of have it out, as it were.

Correspondence
Dear Deity
of dubious gender:
Show me your garden
of infinite splendor.
Tell me truly
(between you and me)
is being omnipotent
all it’s cracked up to be?
Give me a sign,
not a bush all aflame,
send me a breeze
that whispers my name.
Or maybe tomorrow
when I open my eyes,
bring me a mood
to match the sunrise.
You see, O Great One,
I don’t lack respect,
but without definition
what can you expect?
I must also confess
I question with despair –
can this nebulous concept
even hear my prayers?
Well, enough of my queries,
but one last request:
to the souls I know,
please give my best.
And if you should happen
to pass through my town,
I hope you’ll come see me
and prove you’re a noun.
Best regards,
Lynn B.

I want it on record that He did, indeed, answer my questions and prove He is a noun. Maybe I’ll write more on that in future blog posts…

Here’s what I saw on my walk today:

I think I scared them away.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.