We all have tragedy.
Will it hold us
And we pass it on
Tragically?
Or can we let
Our friends hold us
So hold our own tragedy
And then let it like ash
Spread into the stream
Returning to the cycle
Of a greater love
And experience wonder?
Part One of the Grief & Wonder Trilogy: Wonder? Wonder, Wonderful
Jamie Coats February 2011
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
There is nothing more wonderful
Than to have ones way
Blocked by an angel,
Holding a gift from God
A practice when received
Let’s us feel God’s love.
Blind
We bump into the angel.
“Get out of my way”
But the angel does not move
If we fight we lose like Jacob
If we turn the angel moves around.
Fear comes to attack
But sees a man confronted by an angel
Receiving a gift from God.
Fear can not confront
As the angel is in the way
And its wings wrap the man in love.
He lets the angel
Place his broken heart
In a nest of feathered love
Where broken pieces come
To lie and heal
To rest in wonder,
And the Angel says,
“Know in your church of friends
You can place your hurt heart on the altar
And know there will be no hole in your chest
But a space filled with the heart
That God gave Jesus.”
Part Three of the Grief & Wonder Trilogy: Wonder? Wonder, Wonderful
Jamie Coats March 2011
Jamie Coats October 2005
Nests are homes
Made of scraps;
Discarded pieces
Of other lives
Woven into love.
Jamie Coats June 2004
The love of God
Is like a butterfly
That reminds us
That we are as
Beautiful as flowers
And in our darkest heart
Is the love giving
Nectar of life.
Jamie Coats January 2008
“Ride out!
With gentle voice.
In name of Christ,
celebrate a whole life
with no dichotomy,
a riot of visual imagery,
to open eyes, to spiritualize.”
Jamie Coats January 7th 2004
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
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
Let your rootedness shine!
If an angel flew overhead
I’d reach up and catch her
By her Achilles heal
And wonder if I’d make her crash to earth,
Spraining or breaking an ankle, maybe worse,
Or if I could catch her and
Lower her gently for her foot
To grace the earth.
Let your rootedness shine!
If she asked me to dance I’d say, “Yes!”
I’d twirl quite beautifully on the spot
And bend, wave and move with my feet
Not leaving a foot square.
She says, “Run, jump,
Waltz across the floor.”
I smile, “I can only dance as the tree rooted
By the river of love in my life.
Let your rootedness shine!
My roots are fixed
And my body is supple
And through the seasons I will flow
Not moving from this place
The river I am near is of love,
Love for my child
Love of my neighbor
Love of the work of our saviour
Let your rootedness shine!
Where would we be
Without the trees
Who stand as testament
To the strength of life?
For sex they send seeds through the air
Pollen for bees to spread afar.
Fruit for birds to eat
And winged seeds twirling everywhere.
Let your rootedness shine!
But once the seed is in the caring earth
And feels the water ignite
The inner strength of life
It is in one spot that the tree stands upright.
I came as a seed.
I didn’t know that
I so wanted to become
The willow tree man.
Let your rootedness shine!
Angel, is it your time
To feel the earth?
To let the water of love
Ignite a strength of life in you?
That will root you
To a spot next to mine
And let our branches
For our life seasons, entwine?
Let your rootedness shine!
Jamie Coats June 2008