ALPHABETICAL COLLECTION
Poems A–Z
Explore Alan’s published poems in alphabetical order. Read a poem here or follow its category to discover more from the collection.
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THE EXILES
Unable
Read the written poem
UNABLE
First to die
ABEL
and no brother’s hand
to staunch
the bleeding
the woe
and
the weariness
how to tell
FATHER
ADAM
Or not to
the self-denial
the burying
and
MOTHER
the broken-facedness
a crack
in nature
and the ground
Unsoaked
by the blood
crying
recompense
much weeping
two sons
in a day
and the long walk
into
thelandoflongwalking Genesis 4
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THE PARTICIPANTS – The Present Players
We have been so busy
A call to examine the scriptural Birth Narrative as opposed to absorbing the popular additions to the Nativity. We have been so busy with the Christmas story, Adding to it – tinkering – as we saw fit: Here a donkey; there a little lamb; To carry Mary, worship at the cradle of the great “I AM”.
Read the written poem
We have been so busy
We have been so busy with the Christmas story,
Adding to it – tinkering – as we saw fit:
Here a donkey; there a little lamb;
To carry Mary, worship at the cradle of the great “I AM”.
Conjuring a full-blown history for the Magi;
Balancing equations: three gifts means three givers:
‘X’ must equal ‘Y’.
Placing all within a ‘stable’, some prefer, beneath the ‘inn’, a cave,
Where Mother Mary, in a manger, laid the baby ‘born to save’.
Certain sure there was a maiden and a babe,
A carpenter, a choir of angels, and perhaps an astrolabe,
Some shepherds …yes… at Bethlehem,
As God-With-Us came clothed in flesh, once, way back when.
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THE GARDENERS
We Win
Adam is father, mother & husband to Eve. Adam is created with Eve latent within. Man and Woman – the one flesh – as God intended. Adam released increased Ish births ishah As God Unearths The woman within
Read the written poem
We Win
Bone deep
the sleep
Adam released
increased
Ish births ishah
As God
Unearths
The woman
within
and then
The sin
The shame
All the same in
Adamagain
We win
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THE SETTLERS
Well Bred a piece for two voices
Elisha feeds a hundred people with twenty loaves of bread. Gehazi, his servant, is sceptical of God's power to enact a miracle. (2 Kings 4:42-44) Elisha speaks to Gehazi Gehazi replies “Set the bread before the hundred; See that all are right well fed.” “All we have are twenty buns To feed the men: we’re short on funds.”
Read the written poem
Well Bred
Elisha speaks to Gehazi Gehazi replies
“Set the bread before the hundred;
See that all are right well fed.”
“All we have are twenty buns
To feed the men: we’re short on funds.”
“Twenty buns are all we need.
Now, sit them down. It’s time to feed.”
“All we have are twenty barms;
Kindly sent from local farms.”
“Twenty barms are quite enough.
Gehazi, how you huff and puff.”
“All we have are twenty batches.
The men will have to snack in snatches.”
“Snack in snatches? Not at all.
Each will fare well: large or small.”
“All we have are twenty baps;
Enough for five men – ten perhaps.”
“Enough and more. Now, servant, please.
Let’s say ‘Grace’. Down on your knees.”
“All we have are twenty bagels.
We might as well just feed the seagulls.”
“Feed the seagulls? God does that.
Prepare the feast and stop the chat.”
“All we have are twenty cobs;
Will that feed all those big fat blobs?”
“Those men are prophets like myself.
Besides, you’re not so thin yourself.”
“All we have are twenty rolls.
Are we to feed one hundred souls?”
“Whether the figure is under or over,
Numbers don’t hinder the work of Jehovah.”
“All we have are twenty muffins;
And that, I say, is next to nuffins.”
“Buns and bagels, baps and barms;
Why are you so up in arms?God will multiply the muffins;
Now hush your noise and let’s get stuffin’.”
Alan R Garner for Kent Camp 240710