There are certain moments that lend themselves to poetry. They capture something essential. There are certain theological concepts that can only be understood (by me) if they’re written in verse and in meter. I’ve been writing poetry for many years. As a group, my poems remind me what has mattered to me and the individual poems are like photographs I might put in chronological order to trace my life story. I offer them here in the hopes that they will touch something infinite in you.
Do This in Remembrance of Me
Do this in remembrance of me
in dining rooms after soccer games and swim meets;
next to strangers over oysters and Chardonnay;
in shadows of water tanks and graffiti cries;
under cement ceilings and raining rocket raids.
Do this in remembrance of me
under seashore umbrellas and piles of rubble;
in fallow olive groves and hidden cave chapels;
in the midst of calls for revenge, bodies burning;
when despair snuffs out hope and doubt fills every mouth.
Do this in remembrance of me
while you ache and long and
wait and weep.
Do this in remembrance of me
until I come.
Journey into Silence
This silence is too loud.
I should unlock my hands.
Don’t breathe that fast.
My job title should be slightly different.
This silence is too long.
My cheek itches.
I shouldn’t have used those words.
I wish he would see me differently.
This silence is too deep.
I wonder if she loved me.
She ignored me.
I was little, I didn’t know.
This silence has gone too far.
Don’t keep walking that way,
It’s too close, it’s too close!
Open your eyes, break the silence!
No, the clouds are moving so fast
and the grass tickles the backs of my knees,
making me laugh, my hands behind my head.
Oh! The sun beats down on my six-year old toes
and I close my eyes tight, dizzied by the
size of the sky and how I don’t see where it ends.
This silence is too beautiful.
kellye fabian 