You exuded confidence

like one of Zeus’s thunderbolts

and beauty, oh greatness,

beauty that rivaled the cause

of the Trojan War—

Helen of Sparta’s passionate revolt.

how quickly we forget,

laying down palm branches

to casting stones a week later,

breaking stained glass windows

to our mansions,

crucifying our Creator.

This poem was inspired by Cornelius Plantinga’s book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be and the lyrics to Cake’s song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle.”   Bellyful.   Passive-aggressive bomb Or self-medicated napalm?   The neglect of this rhyme Revives the justification of your dime   Spent on supersized fries While kids in the Congo…

My superhero alarm clock

Double-dares me to suit-up

For PE’s mile hike

Up life’s strange coming-of-age,

A call to braces, acne, and puberty.

I look outside my window

And wonder why others’

Faces aren’t melting,

Feeling the nuclear devastation

Of your leaving

“Redeem and restore
What the locusts have eaten—
O Lord—
The schemes Satan’s woven,
Our innocence … stolen.”

This poem was inspired by my friend and pastor, Matt Whitlock, and his sermon on “The Silently Simple Life.”

Mystery of Tears is about redemption and restoration. More specifically, it’s about the sufferings (“spasms”) of Jesus that “broke the curse” for our benefit (i.e., “substitutionary atonement”).

It’s time to release the kraken for Christians to look inwardly with contrition in order to love courageously.

Is your view of human nature Stevensonian or Shelleyian? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Dr. Frankenstein?