Still Awake

I’m still awake at almost midnight. Jake and I just finished cleaning up after another perfomer-packed open mic, and now he’s jamming on bass guitar with a few other night-owl musicians upstairs. I actually “performed” at this month’s event, just to diversify things a bit. Mostly we have a lot of people playing guitar and singing songs they wrote or cover songs. One regular brings his uke and does a song or two on it. I, however, am not currently proficient at any instrument, though I’m learning banjo–at a much slower pace than I’d prefer–therefore, I read a few poems I’ve written recently. Here’s one of them, the untitled one.


In the little closet where the windows to my soul
are closed and my internal pose is prone
I crave an occasion where majesty and awe
take over and I am left exposed to its power
to vaporize any sense of self left lurking
in the shadowy clefts hiding from the light.
I cannot begin to delight in a world devoid
of this wonder and beauty beyond imaginings.


Limit me not to my mere faculties of mind,
but open wide the gate of beyond-all-I-could-hope;
open wide the window where I shout in joy,
calling out things that are not as though they are,
as I hold hands with the presence of the One
who hovered over the surface of the untamed waters;
open wide the door of flames through which
I will walk to be overtaken by the all-consuming Fire.