A while ago I was going to write something to encourage theological students to read some poetry. Then I realised, it should be a poem. Here it is.
You should read more poetry.
Words tracing images across pages
diving into mental crevices,
darting through ideas,
carving new connections.
It’s not rhyme that makes a poem —
— beat counts for more —
mainly its words doing things
on their edges
by their insinuations and whispers.
T. David Gordon thinks poems
help Johnny preach.1
And they might.
Most of the finest preachers
can turn a phrase.
Bible readers
can’t skip the poetry.
Tehillim is verse from 1 to 150.
So we may as well work at it.
Meaning can be subtle.
A poem might free you
for a moment or two
from the mechanical
for the delicate whimsy
of God’s world (and words).
Inspired by the work of Dan Gioia— check him out here.
- See T.D. Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, summarised here