Juggernaut Fury – A Poem
Their juggernaut fury bore then, breakneck, on. Iliad, bk 16, ln 702 A horde of chub, toddling out of time, marching in and out of unbalanced lines. Terror of little lives just recently begun. Anyone with a sense of time sees in these wobbling ankles a rising sun. All Chronos’ alms, gathered in grinding […]
Interview with Author K.M. Weiland – Character Arcs
K.M. Weiland, author of historical and speculative fiction as well as books on the craft of writing, joins us from western Nebraska. Thanks so much for joining us at The Westminster Confession of Funk. It is a real pleasure to be able to ask you a few questions about your work on Creating Character Arcs. […]
The Scars of God’s Hands
My soul clung to the dust, now dust clings to my soul. Your life-breath, once blown up the nose of my father, once exhaled in fruit-statutes, once blown across the dry bones until they could get up and dance; breathe life on me. Speak again the six stanzas that climb up to rest. Speak them […]
Song of Your Own
SONG OF YOUR OWN People take on the shape of the songs and stories that surround them, especially if they don’t have a song of their own. Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys Like the slender-ankled daughters of ocean shaped by the banks that decide their path, we are shaped by our songs and our stories like potions. Each […]
Investigating Us – An Interview with Musician Joel Ansett
Joel, thanks for joining us at The Westminster Confession of Funk, hosted by CrossPolitic. So you have a new Kickstarter out. Your last one was a big success. What have you learned about yourself as a musician since your last kickstarter, “The Nature of Us”? Great question. Goodness what have I learned. As a musician, […]
The Whirlwind Bides His Time
Having recently had The Rev. Joseph Carlson as a Guest on the recent episode of CrossPolitic, I thought it might be nice to get one of his sonnets before you. This is for the 24th Sunday of the Trinity Season in his book of Sonnets for the Church Year. Waiting Four hundred years – the […]
Dread Clouds – An Interview with Author Hannah Grieser
Hannah, thank you for joining us at the Westminster Confession of Funk hosted by CrossPolitic. The Clouds Ye So Much Dread was such a delight to read. But it is obvious that a lot of tears and pain was required to fill this particular pen with ink. Do you find it odd to have […]
Wing Lift
Wing Lift Psalm 91:3-4 Death-wrenched, life-drenched, each pinched soul fledged to soar on raptorial sails. A fowler-freed fire-bred goldfinch, carols unhitched, stretching and reaching, on wind-held wings. Held in glide and lift, windhover pinion, piloted upwards, against the pull, against the pitch, rich wind hovers over the face of the waters fixing and fastening the […]
Milton’s Political Uselessness
In 1652 John Milton went completely blind. His eyes had been waning, the world fading, for some time. The darkening was complete the same year his first wife and only son died at one year old. He was a published poet, but he had spent his energy in English politics and education since the time […]
Dance with Us – Dance and the Christian Life
Team Farley has a number of Family Rules that are beyond discussion. Rule #1: When Billy Idol comes on the radio no one may leave the car until the song is over. You must respect the Idol. It is our most sacred Family Rule. Rule #2: “Hello,” by Adele, requires that all windows be opened […]
It’s Edited: Don’t be Duped by the Newsertainment
Editing is an art form. My son Cedric was coming in the front door a few days ago when his sister asked, “Did you eat an ice cream sandwich?” He replied, “Malachi had two.” That was, strictly speaking, true. Malachi had eaten two ice cream sandwiches. The difficulty is that Cedric had also eaten one. […]
A Manifesto on Art and the Church
The Christian Church is in exile. Not that we are living in tents (though many church buildings may qualify as temporary). Instead, there is a deeper exile. The soul of the American Church is in the plot point of the epic poem in which the protagonist becomes a homeless wanderer Like the exiled warrior of […]
Marxism is Boring: The Hyper-Politicization of Public Art
Everyone has to have an overarching story. A mythos that holds what they see and hear together. When I lived in California, I did evangelism on Wednesdays. I hoped to do it other days as well, but Wednesdays I did my sermon prep at the neighborhood park. I introduced myself to people and invited folks to […]
Bill Maher and the Impotence of the Tiny Heart-Obama
I make my children practice telling jokes at dinner. If I can help it, none of my progeny will have bad comedic timing. The girl that married me, lo so many zodiacal rotations ago, hoped to be a comedian when she grew up. The same skills, it turns out, apply to motherhood. (She has a […]
Is Our Galaxy Worth Guarding? (A Sort-Of-Not-Really Movie Review)
It is true that nobody makes a new earth without first making a new heaven. – G. K. Chesterton (Ffinch 1986, 278) I have recently been wondering, if I were to travel to Krypton, would the sun give me superpowers? Or would Krypton’s sun, being red and therefore older and cooler, deplete my powers? The way chunks of Krypton […]
When the People Cheer – Strip-Clubs and Black Thought’s Poetic Insight
On The Roots newest album ‘. . . and then you shoot your cousin,” one of the most powerful tracks is ‘When the People Cheer.’ Each stanza is written from a different perspective. The third stanza, Black Thought’s stanza, is written from the perspective of a sex addict that has reached both a financial and existential low because he is enslaved to sexual pleasures. He knows that what he is doing is wrong, but he can no longer resist the strip clubs. He turns in to an after-hours joint to blow his last dollar on a lap dance.
Packaging the Tribe: Selling More than Music
Netflix’ new documentary Hip Hop Evolution is a history of the development and rise of Hip Hop and Rap. In one of the interviews, Ice T, a primeval purveyor of Gangster Rap, talks about his early rhymes: “I was just writing about my reality.” He was trying to capture “the laid back vibe of reality.” The people in the neighborhood listened because they recognized their life in his words. According to Ice Cube, another early Gangster Rapper, Ice T wrote rhymes that “were our version of what a day in the life of Los Angeles was like.” They were not trying to create a new genre. They wanted to fetter their daily insanity with verse.