Adventist Poetry Redux: The Winners Are...
29 August 2008
Adventist Poetry Redux: The Winners Are...
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Well it's no secret that Spectrum is a (THE) place for the convergence of Adventism, culture, conversation and the arts. So when I made a call for Adventist poetry, the dozens of original, inspired and inspiring entries that poured in were nothing short of Adventism's finest.
Here are some selected favorites from among the many outstanding poems we received.
First, in recognition of the many wonderful, insightful and creative submissions by Carol June Hooker, we honor Carol with the title of Spectrum Poet Laureate! Carol's entries never failed to impress. Second, KM deserves recognition for some terrific haiku. KM, the Master of Haiku award goes to you. Tom Zwemer also deserves recognition for a clever and witty series of "blank verse" poems that together form a lyrical train.
Now the selections:
Here are the Top Three Limericks:
The pains that some people will take
to make gluten and soy taste like steak.
When I'd rather have "et"
a feast made by Babette
Gimme something that's real; keep the fake.
By: Andrew Kettle
"Takoma Park, Maryland"
"Get out of the cities," White wrote.
Some make policy, based on that quote.
The world Jesus pities
Lives mainly in cities:
Amidst, CUC's gospel note.
By: Carol June Hooker
"If Jesus Had Been Adventist"
While Mary and Martha were keeping
A vigil of mourning and weeping
“Don’t dismay,” Jesus said
For the man is not dead
Your brother is only soul-sleeping
By: Songster Jonesy
Strong Runner Up:
"South Lancaster, Massachusetts"
As the Nashua River gets cleaner,
AUC's slim enrollment grows leaner.
Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Yale,
And state colleges fail
To scare Adventists, grown up and greener.
By: Carol June Hooker
Top Three Haiku Entries:
Berrien Springs date:
Seminarian, coed
Trudge grey snow alone.
By: RT
"AD 31"
Thunder shakes the cross
While strong Hands rip the Temple's
Shadow-forms and curtains.
By: KM
"Beatific Vision"
Ellen Gould Harmon
Saw Jesus in her visions.
Isn't that enough?
-Carol June Hooker
Strong Runner Up:
"Adventist Education"
Their eyes are cast down;
We worship in the chapel.
How short is your skirt?
-Patti Tompkins
If you'd like to review all the entries and pick your own favorites, you can view them here
Search
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- Bob Helm on Atonement at the Cross
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- rc on The Prophetic Gift
- Michael on On William Johnsson's Obama Editorial
- Tom Zwemer on Arts: Mega Churches
- Art Telles on Why Everyone Should Oppose Same-Sex Marriage
- Elaine Nelson on The Prophetic Gift
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Comments
I wanted to keep this post from becoming excessively long, but I also wanted to share an outstanding work of poetic art created by Andy Hanson, who blogs at Adventist Perspective and shares his reviews of major Adventist publications there and here on Spectrum.
He gave me permission to share this poem he wrote:
Praying Today
I.
Lord,
I thought I had come to terms
With the beauty and savagery
Of the natural world
Babies
The size of the universe
And the speed of light
Not to mention
TV and cell phones
The Internet
And photographs of my house
From outer space
And particles so small
That they routinely
Pass through the earth
And touch nothing.
But that was before. . .
I discovered that
I am an ecological planet
Inhabited by trillions
Of microfauna and microflora
That (at least in most cases)
Have worked together
To make “me” into
The improbable ecological Planet “I”
That stands before you
This afternoon.
That was before. . .
I learned that
In the ocean
Two miles down
Fauna and flora
With their attending
Microfauna and microflora
Exist happily in and around
Hydrothermal vents
That spew boiling
Metal sulfide rich water
Heated by magma
Oozing though cracks
In the earth’s crust
(terra firma indeed!)
That hardens
To spread the ocean floor
And put in constant motion
The continental plates
That grind together
To create mountains
And earthquakes
And volcanoes
And tsunamis.
That was before. . .
I read that 600
Newly discovered life forms
Are flourishing four miles down
In stygian blackness
Below the ice in Antarctica.
That was when I
to put it into succinct scientific terms
FREAKED OUT
II.
Lord,
Right now
I only know that today
I am persevering
Praying
Struggling to comprehend
Thanking You
For that
Improbable
Crazy
Complicated
Chaotic
Mysterious
Marvelous
Miraculous
Thing called
LIFE.
Yay! :) Thank you Jared. Was good fun.
Thank you for the excellent contributions. This sort of thing ought to happen with more frequency in my opinion. But then as I mentioned before, I'm a sucker for good poetry!
Ooops! I appreciate my haiku ("Adventist Education") being honored as one of your strong runners-up. However, in the "awards" piece above you listed my haiku with my daughter's name as the author. Heidi Tompkins did submit a haiku also, but I was the author of "Adventist Education." No harm, no foul. Kinda funny, actually, though Heidi (a serious published poet) might not appreciate being mixed up with her mama.
Patti Tompkins
Ooops again! Heidi's haiku was titled "Omnivores."
Whew! After fully recovering from my mild confusion, I corrected the mistake to give credit where credit is due.
One of the unfortunate things about selecting favorites from among the list is that it never really does justice to all of the fun, insightful and creative ideas that readers shared.
Thanks again to all who contributed and made it a delicious poetry potluck. Let's do it again some time!
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