What does God require of you

When I got out the hospital there was a man juggling knives off the freeway
That was April last year
Rockslides and floods, mind roaming roads in stuck
Racing sliding thoughts
Add a year
Last day in May
Birthday in June
I took out my age compass and shook
No true north
0-18, 18-36, 36-54
June 30 birthday
Mid year, compass center, where you are
Graduation, point at zero, lead at 18, times 3
What does God require of you
Is that even the right question?
Flowing through pleasure and pain
Immersed in own thought
Graduation
18 times one two and three
Where does it lead
Speeding through life, not looking at beauty?
Graduation. 
What does that mean?  Last free education?
What is the more
Church works some assurance, deepens connections
Slow, work and restore
Sharing, trusting, learning, betrayal
What is your prayer shifting aware
Rock slides and floods.  Minds road in stuck
How do you juggle
Can't read through banners, wander
How to walk humbly in this world
Mission your trip, building community
How will you spend service
Difference as equals
Subtraction extraction
Death of grandparent or pet
What is the lost connection?
Compass centers where you are
Splash or slash
Grace and truth mixing apps
What's the impact?
Longing for love and connection
Stepping out beyond self, shy out of shell
How do you know what to trust in yourself?
We are our music, dance hide in banter
We are our prayer
What is your banner
We covenant with You and with one another
May God help us and be with us
Come to find sanctuary

Denis Streeter  5/31/15

the next wave

seeing the wave in my eye wander
there was no where to sit and cry
benches too hard to alone.
beaches to dry spit behind
I raise my left arm to sky
leaving the bees behind
wandering a gander flew the winter
no squawk the flight is often
no boundaries only minds
sitting around getting unadulterated
berated I left fist to sky
and god left back
we went a few rounds
I wonder if he was cheating
I couldn't tell the shoulder left behind
nothing but ladder and no one to blather
hiding their way to the psalms
quashing and qualms
having their way
mixing my summer in winter
finding the sand spit behind
praying a gander
hiding in stalls rolling in grammar
laughter rising till the next wave

denis streeter  5/30/15

Sermonalysis

The Dishonest Steward

The orator says
Let's put this in a cultural historical context
This was written in the time of the Roman Empire
So rendering to Caesar what was Caesar's was not much choice
So Jesus was creating a parable of a corrupt sytem
Something anyone could relate to, by showing how life really was
The guy swindling his master is found out
And told he's fired
So he thinks...
What can I do?
I can't dig and I won't beg
I'm financially ruined
So he thinks...
I know!
I'll reduce the debt by 50% for one and 20% for another
He does and the master is impressed by his shrewdness
Lets him keep his job
And why not?
His master is more likely to be repaid
You know
Lower your interest rates...
It's in your own interest
It rewards a shrewd even devious nature
Jesus is saying
Look we live in a corrupt system
I'm just pointing it out
You know it's true
Nobody really did that
Counter-intuitive
So how do you live in this world
Well some scholars say this
Some scholars say that
Let's put this in a cultural historical context
No one can decide what to make of the parable
Just work around the edges like the grand equivocator
Theologians, philosophers, historians
Are rewarded for seeing the "big picture"
Even when it doesn't say anything
Working around the edges
It's a devious nature that sucks in the intellectuals
Reaping rewards
Certainly beats digging and begging
Who wants to get their hands dirty
Well...what about knowing the system and working within it
With your own...some would say...God given gifts
What about working with clay
Sculpting your own images
It doesn't have to be clay
It could be poetry
The sculpting of ideas, shaping of words
Make something different
Delve into the mud and create
Iconoclast your way
Remold and cast away
You will not lose your interest
And you may keep some change.

Denis Streeter  5/17/15

walking in plural

long before shadows sent knees
possums bent plural
taking willows to whine
one word at a time
taking cover whilst shifting
first one then the other
bent arse wise
leaving tongues to fool
at the fish curfew
leaving dry to fry
and bucket to tea
with the spiral left overs feeling mean
adjusting coffins disparage wise
daft as night
leaving tomorrow the barrel three time five
lick the cheese, turn to leave lest the squirms fly
spring sprang and lost
as laughter whined beyond cognition
no one recognized
one leg out and one leg in
snagged two for tea
tongue tied before the shouts were out
feeling toothy but not uncouth
and the soap dish at noon
kneading conclusion
watches the spoons fold in quarters
gingers time in wakes of cream
drunk in shallow tea the door drop whiskers
sideways to hear
walking in plural

denis streeter  5/13/15

twice as nine

the horseshoe shines too long
under the rook read sun
and the logjam wanes
while fish trap their corners
under the rubbish bin
and the bush backstage
in their cat tail collars
watching the nines overflow
shamming between glasses
over rooftop windows
shattered
in the tumbledown darkness
washing tops of night
aware-ing irritation
shamming moon tops
into frugal abyss
washing nines overflow
centering time's backbone
reaping each flaw
rewording darkness
rabid following under-gendered
shot through in roses
where the rabbits dwell
horse play shadows
watching cattails sine
in walls of echoes and grass
holding fingers of light
waking the eaves
shorn in shadows
with their buttons tucked in
as sleeves waken trees
floors checker their watch behind the knees
bending backwards
floors rumbling night
before the rubbish arrives
hung on horseshoe hook
rook reading corners
lemon as lime
shine as a shizzle
and twice as nine.

denis streeter    4/30/15