PARTICIPANTS
DSS
By Faith Flaherty, O.P.
Department of Social Services
nice enough,
should help
one would think
but in this crowd,
this line
mere mention of
DSS is
like dropping a
stink bomb.
There's silence,
downcast eyes,
feet shuffle,
shoulders slouch,
sucker punch
in the stomach
feeling,
quick intake of
breath that
tries to catch
the run away
beat of a
broken heart.
Acorn and Oak
By Sr. Mary Regina, O.P.
The world population in an acorn,
sits crammed-in so tight,
helpless, lacking God's pure light.
Let us out, Lord, have us grow,
shake the tree with your mighty wind.
When our acorn falls,
moisten us to maturity in your sight.
Let us fall into the ground to die,
find you, Christ,
as you go down into the tomb of earth,
as you bring all dead to life.
The beatitude of seed and tree,
is this acorn named humanity,
whose first beatitude is you, Lord,
who conquer not by sword,
but only offer meekness
so that we can possess the land.
Your kind love and mild mercy
raises poor ones out of dry, parched sand.
You understand,
for you have husbandry of all the earth
and so do we who follow Thee.
We see you, Christ,
in this resurrected acorn,
in every green leaf,
formed from grief to joy, to oak.
I wonder if on Calvary your cross
might have been this wood
where on the ground so solid stood
Mary, John, a chosen acorn
and beatitude!
Anawim Games
By Faith Flaherty, O.P.
the skateboarders push him
an Iroquois gauntlet
the suitcase man staggered
name calling, spittle,
kicks the anawim
straightened held tight to his suitcase
shoved back and forth and forth and back and back and forth a human ball of catch
Waiting At The Gatehouse
By Faith Flaherty, O.P.
A mix of parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, spouses, friends, and lovers patiently wait to be called. All nationalities, shapes and sizes share the time. I am reminded of Anna Akhmatova's Requiem, and am ashamed of my impatience. We the waiting become one in prayer.
Leningrad -- Norfolk
snowflakes fall on both prisons
one tormented cry
