Theme for the Year
Lit Faithfulness
It’s simpler
Than you think
No mountains
To climb
No epiphanies
To have
No words
To preach
Just buy a box of
Matches
It does not matter
Who you meet
Or what they
Believe
Each has a candle of
Cherished dreams
Invite everyone
Out of the rain
Out of the wind
Out of the sun
Just enough shelter
To pause
Most will not
Stop
They’ll just
Brush you by
Too busy
Too harried
Too ambitious
Too broken
If they give you
The time of day
Ask “Where’s
Your candle?”
Your ask will restore
Candles
Eaten by rats
Long hidden
Denied
Forgotten
Ask who
Rains on them
Blows out their light
Glares too bright
Then give them
The box of matches
Let them
Strike the light
If needed
Cup your hands
Protect the wick
As they
Light the candle
Of their dreams
Let the flickering
Grow to flame
Now listen to them in
Their sacred space
Hear the tales of their
Cherished dreams
Ask
“Is it lit?”
At “yes”
You leave behind
Matches
Not thinking
The Candle Trilogy: Unlit Betrayal | Lit Faithfulness | Faithful Betrayal – Holy Fire
Theme for the Year
(c) Jamie Coats February 2016
In 2017 Episcopal Relief and Development asked to use this poem as a reflection for Palm Sunday.
I wrote this meditation:
On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides into Jerusalem in triumph – on a donkey. He arrives not as the force-wielding conquering hero, but as the man who listens to dreams of every person and says, “you are already loved by God.” The social hierarchy that makes some high and superior and the rest low and inferior is ended. After his arrest we the crowd cry, “Crucify Him!” How dare a man upset our social order by listening to the cherished dreams of every person regardless of rank or status? We may be angry but Jesus asks us to light a candle of prayer. That candle is in all our hearts, including the least and poorest of us.
The Man in the Noon
I rode Pegasus all morn,
Could have ridden all day,
Instead at noon
We gently come in to graze.
Emma said the Lord of the Manor
Will say unto you, “Work for me
You’ll be fed from my dovecote
Eggs and young fledglings that coo.”
Emma taught me to reply,
“You’ll not want me to work for you.
I’ve been sent to release the dove,
It is what I am called to do.”
I’ve broken into the dovecote,
Picked up the fluffy fledgling,
The one nearly ready for flight,
’tis now in my jacket, peeking out.
Now I throw the young dove
Up into the air.
Up towards the sun.
Squinting, I see it fly.
I call out at the top of my lungs,
If you don’t shoot for the stars
You’ll not land on the moon.
If you don’t land on the moon,
You will not see the whole earth,
So blue and beautiful,
So full of God’s people.
Hold it all in your heart.
Then ride a moon beam back
To perch on Pegasus’ head.
He’ll snort with delight,
Now you coo and I’ll begin to pray,
This noon
I stop
I put down
All I do.
The offering of my work
Is to you, God,
And to my love,
And to all your children too.
Thanks be to God
Who gave me life.
I love the people of this earth,
I’m sorry I judge them so.
Now I call out their names to you.
God, help us, hug us
With our demons
Whom we deny.
Then in your arms
We will know
We’re already loved,
Forgiven, renewed.
Come Pegasus
Did you graze well?
Your new friend the dove
Will guide us seeking.
It is time to fly,
Fluffy fledglings to find,
We’ll go
’till the sun starts to hide.
The prayer in the middle of the poem contains the seven ways to pray in the Book of Common Prayer: 1) OBLATION; 2) THANKSGIVING; 3) PRAISE; 4) PENITENCE; 5) INTERCESSION; 6) PETITION; & 7) ADORATION.
The Evensong of Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on the harbor wall.
In Pigeon Cove Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty back together again!
The one called Emma, the love within said:
It is time for peace on the earth
From heaven’s all gracious King
Goodwill to all Humpty Dumpty Men.
You are an egg-man,
Pregnant with a white pigeon
Ready to be a fledgling
Hoping its world will crack.
Inside you, all scrunched up
There’s a dove irritated,
Uncomfortably aware
It’s time to hatch.
But stopped by your pride,
Your work for today’s earthly king
You’re in perfect egg-shape
Unwilling to crack,
With thoughts:
“So much to achieve,
So much to do,
So many ways to work.”
Dusk has come,
It is time to stop work.
Will you make sacred and give thanks
Or will your busy-ness outrank?
Know this, when the sun fades,
When you, egg on the wall, silhouette
If you have not fallen,
I will give you a shove.
All your king’s horses
And all your king’s men
Can’t stop the cycle, can’t stop nature,
They will never put you back together again.
Hello baby dove, so fluffy,
I’ll place you in a soft nest.
I will feed you, watch over you
And when your wings are spread,
Peace will fly,
No power on earth can resist
A dove from the cove,
With a message for all mankind,
Learn to break for Evensong
It is when “shoulds” must die
And it is time for gratitude
In your heart to reside.
And on Humpty Dumpty Day
Invite friends to celebrate
Their brokenness, not success.
Give each an egg,
They’ll write what they need to give up.
They’ll take the eggs to the edge.
They’ll throw them onto the rocks.
They’ll let the dove in their hearts, hatch.
Please see www.kickhumpty.com
Theme for Year
© Jamie Coats February 2014
Still Hope at Pigeon Cove
Still
I sit at dusk
Quiet, with a sea view
Half sky
Quarter sea
Quarter grass
And me
My hands cupped
Waiting to receive
At dawn the sun arose
The love within, Emma
Emmanuel for some
Released a dove
Looking for a cove
All day it comes
Across the half sky
Across the quarter blue
Across the quarter green
Arriving to alight
On my left shoulder
Its feet prickle my skin
With a slight flutter
Down my arm
It nestles into my hands
So fluffy
So warm, so light
It coos
My partner cups her hand
Gently under my right
So slowly I slide it out
Our white pigeon
Still comfy
Let’s us know
It is time to sleep
And we will awake, with
Hope
Theme for 2013
The Green Man and Pegasus
At a bar met the Green Man
Who asks, “Like a word?”
“I am looking for Emmanuel,
Emma for short.”
“Go to my barn, take some lessons,
I’ve just the horse for you, Pegasus.
What a winged horse,
Asked for a barn right on the cliff edge
So he’d be able to leap straight into the air.
No, I said, erosion happens.
You’ll have a barn way back from the edge.
From the barn you can still see the sea.
I built the barn from the sacred tree,
The one on which he died.
At the barn take Pegasus out of his stall.
Groom his winter coat so fine,
Put some fluff in a can.
Pick up his feet, pick out his hooves,
Open his mouth, put in the bit
Bend his ears forward, reins over his head.
Saddle him up, check the girth again and again.
You don’t want to fall off up in the air.
Take time to be responsible,
Ride him around the paddock
Until he’s done his business.
I want no defecating from on high.
Then ride off the cliff edge,
To people’s surprise you’ll not fall to your death
But rise into the sky.
Now before you go
Come back to the bar.
Ask my friends each for a word,
A caterpillar one that crawls around inside
Eating up their lives.
Put the words in your can,
Shut the lid all cozy
They’ll turn into chrysali.
Then on Pegasus take off,
Straight into the storm sky
Ride ‘till the sun appears.
Then open that can
And butterflies will pour out
Leaving a rainbow trail
Arching color across the sky.
On your return tell your daughter
If she has a nightmare
She can snuck into his stall
And curl up under his wing.
You’ll find Emma, you’ll find her
You’ll find home, you’ll find us all, partner.
Know what grows, dies, returns.
Seasons and heartbeats understand.
Here’s to bars and barns
Places for you to be a Green Man.”
Theme for 2012
Jamie Coats February 2012
Wonder, Wonder, Bounding Tiger
Awoke to find a tiger
By my bedside.
“Resolve to pray your day
I’m from your sister.
I am here to give you courage
No fear you need to have.”
“At night you sleep well?” she asks
“I fear what lies under my bed,” comes my reply.
She nuzzles me, says,
“My eyes catch demon lines
In the swirling dark underneath.
I catch and hold them tight.
By morn I know their names
They no longer need to know mine.
They turn to ash,
Added stripes on my back.
Come! Bound through meadow
Come! Bound to the stream.
Plunge to the middle,
The sun will sparkle on the water.
Let their tragedy wash out to sea.
Wonder at the cycle of nature.
On the river bank there are
Sisters and brothers,
A whole church of friends
Whose prayers call for the
Beauty of the land.
Once parched, now green.
Weeping restores life.
Now rest by the stream.”
I lie against her rich soft fur
She grooms herself.
She talks of her feisty cubs,
Her fierce love for them.
Up she gets and I experience life’s
Wonder, wonder, bounding tiger.
Theme for 2011
Part Two of the Grief & Wonder Trilogy: Wonder? Wonder, Wonderful
Jamie Coats February 2011
Polish the Tortoise
Polish the tortoise
Amble in love.
Emerge out of the blue
On four legs and tail too,
Step slowly as forgiver,
Father, fitter, lover,
By balance my day foretold
On my back the world,
Daily a doable walk
In search of the lettuce stalk,
Oft idle, to rest, to turn
To stop, to learn:
From hare who forgiveness begs
Ears between his legs,
From healing in hearing
The jackal in the garden
Immediately pull in
Safe in my skin
And talk from inside
‘Til safe to confide
My inner eagle eye
Sees from on high
A compass like creature
Pointing to a green future
Resting in love’s embrace
In sleep there’s no race
At night bathe in calm
Or sleep in her arms
To awake anew
Again out of the blue
Polish the tortoise
Amble in love
Theme for 2010
Jamie Coats February 2010
Unbounded Love
Hands tied
Rope cuts into flesh
Over the edge I die?
Saved by four loves:
Daughter, lover, neighbor, brothers.
Gather round,
Help me stand my ground,
Sense the change,
Warmth in my heart.
An open heart
Can be a sharp heart,
Cutting enough to be free.
A razor,
Now in my hands.
I cut the rope,
Make a length
With which to measure,
Myself.
Unbound hands
Give thanks.
I look around,
Fingers can count,
Hold a pen to write,
Touch gently, caress
Unbounded love.
I know my limits,
My joy has none.
Theme for 2009
Jamie Coats February 2009
A Sonnet for 2008
Early to bed
Wake rested
Be spirit-led
Free to be tested
I love my Alexandra
I love my drama
I love my ballerina
I love my neighbor
Like a butterfly
Gentle no force
Feeling powered by
Life’s course
Make beautiful moments
The year’s monuments
Theme for 2008
Jamie Coats February 2008