Linda Swift is our guest today. She has had over 100 poems published and won numerous awards for her work. She is a lifetime member and former president of the Kentucky State Poetry Society .
She maintains a Poetry Page on her website at http://www.lindaswift.net/ . Her collection of poems, HUMANLY SPEAKING, Conversations With God, will soon be released as a e-book and in print by Willow Moon Publishing. (posted by Celia Yeary)
WINDOW TO THE SOUL
Linda Swift
I'm honored to be included in this HEA Week of Poetry blog And it's fortunate that I am required to submit my comments before reading the Poetry Week's other contributors or I'd probably disqualify myself. For I do not consider myself a poet. I write poems and I think there is a difference. Let me share my definition of the categories of this genre and you'll see why.
Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost are two examples of poets; people who lived for their poetry which has proved timeless. Some modern day poets will eventually be added to this list. Then there are those who write poems; people who have something to say from the heart that touches other hearts. Next are the verse writers. Think Hallmark greetings here.
My own definition is that poetry is a window to the soul. I write many types of fiction; novels, short stories, articles and plays. I am involved with each piece I create but I am more emotionally invested in each poem I write. Let me give you an example. I once read a 7,000 word "short" story to an audience of two hundred professional authors at an Indiana U. Writers' Conference and didn't have a single tremor. But when I read a simple poem to a writer's group meeting of less than a dozen, I tend to hyperventilate. Why? Because my poems expose my innermost being.
When something touches me deeply, making me either sad or glad, I sometimes "write it out" in a short story. But if the feeling is so deep that it's hard to find words to express it, then I resort to poems. So perhaps my poems are in a sense my therapy.
The Holy Scriptures are filled with
beautiful stories of strong characters
who are role models for all of us. But
what about the weaker characters in
these ancient books? Those who were
least favored, those with obvious flaws.
Let's take a closer look at some of
them—Esau, Tamar, Jonah, Rahab—
and try to understand their actions.
Perhaps there are lessons to be
learned from their mistakes. You may
see some of the Bible's imperfect
people from a different point of view.
Have you ever wondered why Cain's
offering was rejected? Or if Jezebel
was as wicked as she first appeared?
How do you feel about Job's suffering?
Do you agree that Martha's role was
less important than Mary's?
Join the author in these conversations
with God if humanly speaking, you
have a need to know.
HUMANLY SPEAKING, LORD
Humanly speaking, Lord, there are many things
about the Holy Bible that bewilder me.
I don't mean philosophical issues
such as where Adam's sons got their wives
the date of Christ's second coming
an explanation of the Trinity
or whether to include the Apocrypha.
Nor am I concerned with the decency code
though the Old Testament has risque language
by anyone's standards, such as the expression
"All them that pisseth against the wall."
And I'm certain every Board of Education
has long ago banned all other books
that give explicit details of drunken orgies
evil spirits and devil worship
and daughters who seduce their fathers.
My questions deal with simple things,
Lord, but I hope you'll hear me out.
Now, regarding the parables that Jesus taught,
why would a man risk ninety-nine sheep
to look for one he might not find?
And why would those who labored for an hour
be worth as much as those who worked all day?
(I believe in equal work for equal pay)
Was it right for five wise virgins to deny
the foolish ones a share of light?
And who does not sympathize with the servant
having little, afraid to take a chance with it?
(It proves once again those who have, get more)
Was it wrong of the man who would follow Jesus
to want to say goodbye to his family?
(Isn't consideration and commitment Christian?)
And how could the prodigal's brother feel otherwise
when he had labored long and hard
but never had a feast in his honor
much less a ring and shoes and handsome robe?
Then there are all those stories
of disciples, saints, and sinners
whose actions and reactions perplex me so.
I don't mean to be sacrilegious, Lord
but humanly speaking, I have a need to know.
by Linda Swift
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