Author Archives: joshwcaudill

I have known since long before I wasA gardener that weeds seem always toFind their way back around. I amUnsurprised when a dark day finds meAgain; this is the work of darkness.What darkness knows is to come and to comeAgain. To make a home where it isUnwelcome. I am unsurprised to find myself,Again, in theContinue reading “Get Out”

My prayers have always been true. I’veAsked God for just those desiresWhich, I find, he asks me to cultivate.Begged relief for my suffering friends,Neighbors whose struggles I do not know;Enemies whose civilities I do not acknowledge.Heaven to rise up in small movements ofLiberation as a stream which will not beDamned.Bread for the hungry. A bakerContinue reading “Teach Us To Pray”

Let me find a wayThrough tangled vines. I wander throughA wasteland or a vibrant jungle. I catchMy foot on thorn and briar, or uponTumbleweeds gathered just before me, orUpon vining sweet peas in bloom. ICannot tell if this path is blocked byMy own failures or envy at another’sSuccess.Let me find a way to tear awayContinue reading “Pilgrimage”

Impart the seed upon the groundAnd see what fruit, arising, grows:A sprouting vine, though all aroundGrow thorns which will no mercy show; A hopeful bud upon a pathWhich birds shall fall upon to feed;An eager leaf which not the wrathOf sun nor rocky soil heeds; A humble seed in prayerful soil,A bounteous, multiplying crop?We prayContinue reading “Sower”

Nine times out of tenThe dog does not catch the car.The storm’s snow does not Provide the child’s escapeFrom school’s next day.The exception which proves theLaw is the light ofEach day:Monotony steered justOne degree off its path.A day whose expectations,Whose normalities eclipseThe sun.But the sun blazes yet,Brightest at the edges. (December 7, 2019)

“Remember,” the singer says to us all,“Remember when this happened to you, too.”The pastor’s quiet voice, often pointedlyCharismatic, echoes a magnified whisper,The overhead speakers giving voice to unspoken,Unspeakable reverence.Who ever said technology was not a miracle? The pastor remembers his own immersion,The first of many deaths and dailyResurrections. He had held the preacher’s hand,His noseContinue reading “Newness of Life”

Never have I hoped so ardently, soOpenly to be wrong of my confident,Particular convictions. I pray with myQuietest vocabulary that this stumbling,Resurrecting world’s graces to come wouldShine with radiance, outshine what IThink, what I know it will not. I hope that I mightUnderstand that hope is not a prayer forVindication. It is another word forContinue reading “Ledger (II)”

I hope my car will start today. I hope that theAir conditioning kicks in, that my commute isBearable. I hope that there is still warmth in myCoffee. Too, that one day I will not soDepend on things to keep me attentive, toExtend my waking hours. I hope my dreams to be lessFitful than my days.Continue reading “Ledger (I)”

“Jesus Paid It All” we sang at church again today.And pondered I the darkest of the deeds that I have thought,The sharpest words which I have said or only thought to say.The works I know I ought to do which lately I have not. And pondered, too, the contemplations of my neighbor, whoHas gathered ’roundContinue reading “On What Is Due”

It is a crushing feeling to cry oneself to sleepAware that the tears are only there because they are.To cry because one is crying,To feel the breaking inside which results only fromAnd only inBrokenness.No step taken in contention with oneself seems quite to produceA reconciliation,But contend, we must. In a senseless time, I long forContinue reading “Psalm 35”