Poetry

This is a list, which I intend to keep up-to-date, of the poems I’ve posted on this blog, with some (but not all) of the editorial content. (At present they will be listed in order of publication here, though I could easily be swayed to alphabetical or thematic organization.) This page will be basically mirrored on Google Docs, and the same poetry can be found on my WEbook Misc Poetry project (with a few exceptions).

I welcome and eagerly desire nearly any sort of feedback on my work; suggestions for real titles for those poems which are currently using (some fraction of) their first lines would be particularly helpful. I’m also especially interested in learning which poems you think are my best. Because this archive has grown so large as to be unwieldy and somewhat intimidating, I’m posting more manageable selections each week.

• The Traditional Poem: A Melancholy Musing on the Day: A gloomy Valentine’s Day poem.
• Commence with Honor: My high school graduating class’s class poem, by virtue of a lack of competition, and a good summation of what I feel about graduations (and most partings in general).
• “What if the trumpet”
• Caveat Lector: The title, of course, is Latin for “let the reader beware.” Members of the Dialogue staff thought, when this was submitted to a spring issue in 2007, that the images might have come from Hindu (or was it Buddhist?) mythology; in reality, they came more from a song titled “I’ve Been Waiting” by Sixpence None the Richer.
• “Ah! for the olden days”. “Written in one of those rare moments where the poet’s melancholy nostalgia broke long enough to laugh at itself. This was published in the first Dialogue issue of the 2007-2008 school year.”
• “Once I lay unwillingly awake”: Is it better to be in love, or to not be in love?
• “Oh, may I never be melancholy”: “Does anyone catch the allusion to The Merchant of Vencice?”
• Untitled Metaphor #5. Musings on the swift passage of time.
• Taliesin to a Critic: See my explanation of my poems on the Matter of Britain. This poem was written either in my senior year of high school or during Spring Break of one of my first two years of college; from this my high school classmates could probably deduce whom I had in mind as the real “critic.”
• Song for the Princess #2: Written in the summer of 2004 at the latest, in my sophomore or junior year of high school. While the only presentable piece of that series, it is not one of my better works.
• “Music swirls around me”: Another high-school-era poem.
• Second Sight: Perhaps I should have waited until Epiphany to post this. Though it was written early in my junior year of college, i.e. late 2007, this piece is still moving enough for me that I debated whether to post it.
• “All creation shines” Glory concentrates around the beloved.
• “Ah! to turn back”. Despite the slight variation between the “title” and first line, this is a first-line-as-title poem, and as such really does need a real title. I’m not quite sure when I wrote this, and I’m not even sure it’s finished.
• “There is no unmixed joy”: I don’t know when I wrote this, but the image is drawn from my reading of A Slave of Catiline, a novel of Ancient Rome by Paul Anderson, whom I’ve listed in my Best Books series of posts.
• The World Turn’d Upside Down: This was probably written my freshman or sophomore year of college, so 2006 or so. The title is borrowed from the song that is said to have been played at Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.
• “How long ago is it”: I wrote this in the last days of January and the first days of February 2008.
• Taliesin After his Last View of Llogres: The second poem I’ve posted in my series written around the Arthuriad, this was written very late in the series, probably in my second or third year of college. My character who is called Taliesin while in Camelot is called home unexpectedly because a civil war is breaking out, as described in the first chapter of my novel-in-progress Sunshine Civil War. In the story-world, either this poem was composed later to memorialize what he felt at that time, or he was permitted to go back for a little while later during a lull in the fighting. I’m not sure which yet; probably the former.
• Untitled Metaphor #6: For the reasoning behind that “emotion in the gut” line, see for instance here; I trust the other allusions are more penetrable.
• “Hold! Fleeting instant”: The first truly new poem I posted on this blog. The quote in the last line (which is actually what started the whole thing in my brain) is from The Mikado.
• Song for O’Carolan: This was probably my first intentionally free verse poem (sophomore year of high school or so?), and probably my first experience of the phenomenon where a poem practically writes itself. Inverness and Pontypridd, cities in Scotland, were chosen for the sound of their names, but the other allusions are significant: O’Carolan was a 17th-century harper, composer, and bard of particular note. The stanza beginning “Between the eaves of Arberth hall” alludes to the Welsh Mabinogion’s First Branch, while the next stanza refers to several events in the Arthuriad.
• Nunc dimittis: This borrows the (common in my writing) language of beloved-as-image-of-God from Dante (who quoted Lamentations 1:1 on hearing that Beatrice was dead) through Charles Williams, and the initial form from the Gospel and the liturgy. This was written early during the spring semester 2007. I thank Libby for pointing out one bit in a previous version that didn’t make sense.
• “Your first kind word”: Followed “Nunc dimittis” by a few months.
• Portrait #3: From a (so far short) series of what I call “verse portraits,” this probably dates from my junior or possibly sophomore year of college.
• Untitled Metaphor #8: I probably wrote this in my junior year of college (based on where it stands in the series of Untitled Metaphors), but don’t remember when.
• Portrait #1: This was my first verse portrait. Unlike the others, I don’t think it was intended to describe any particular person of my acquaintance, though my memory isn’t clear.
• Untitled Metaphor #2: I began this series my sophomore year of college, and the poems are numbered chronologically.
• “The snow this morning”: I probably wrote this in the winter of my sophomore year of college.
• Untitled Metaphor #7: This poem was published in the March 2007 issue of Dialogue, Calvin’s student-run literary and art magazine, in the “nature”-themed issue, and I probably wrote it no more than a few months earlier.
• Numbered Sonnet Opus 2 #2. Probably written in the fall semester of my sophomore year of college.
• Untitled Metaphor #1: The poem that sparked this series, this was probably written near the beginning of my sophomore year of college, though it might have been as late as October or November of that year.
• “And oh! for some sweet leisure”: Probably written the summer after my freshman year of college.
• A Vision of the City: Intended as a portrait of the ‘fam’, written soon after I joined late in the autumn of my sophomore year of college.
• On Time: Published in the first or second issue of Dialogue my freshman year, and written shortly before; the dream described in the poem was a recurring dream until I wrote the poem.
• “After so many tears” Just to be with the beloved …
• “Let no one tell”Don’t believe your critics.
• A Dream: A dream I had in early October 2007.
• “There are no words” Poetry alone describes the glory I see.
• “Walking down the grocery aisles of dreamland” A response to an unusual dream.
• After the First Defeat at Luddington: Set after an event from my novel Sunshine Civil War
• A Love Unknown: Thanks to Stef Ensing for the title.
• “If you’re not she”: Originally included several Latin phrases, but I decided the poem was stronger with them in English instead.
• “To dance the night away”. Which of two deeply moving experiences is better?
• Sonnet #∞: A poem I wrote for an assignment my senior year of high school.
• Untitled Metaphor #3: The poet searches for a suitable metaphor, in the same vein as the oft-quoted statement that “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
• “How beautiful the freshly fallen snow!” The one poem I’ve ever written that began with a tune. Probably written in February 2007.
• “See how the forest”: An attempt to echo the feel of Tolkien’s laments.
• “Her whom I once loved”: Perhaps a companion piece to “Once I lay unwillingly awake,” “How long ago is it,” or some similar poem.
• Temperament
• On the Beloved’s Absence: A description of the beloved, when longing to see her.
• “Sunbeams dance”: Written mid-April 2010; the Resurrection should preclude all despair.
• Super flumina Babylonis: An application of the words of Psalm 136 to describe how I felt about being away from my beloved.
• The Romantic’s Lament: A cry of loneliness that borders on imprecation.
• Taliesin at the Throne of Arthur From my series set in the Arthuriad.
• “Why are you quick”: Based around an image drawn from the novel Julia Valeria by Elizabeth Gale.
• “How long, O Lord, will you remain aloof?”: With Isaiah, we cry: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!”
• Poetry’s Defence: My final project for my British Literature course, an attempt to put some ideas from Sidney’s “Apology for Poetry” into Spenserian allegory.
• Song for the Queen #2: A poem sort of “set” in Tolkein’s Middle-Earth.
• The Beatific Vision: Love changes everything.
• Taliesin Before Morgause: A poem set in the Arthuriad. Taliesin, Arthur’s court bard, confronts Morgause, one of the story’s main antagonists.
• “Fear not, my beloved!”: “Yes, this is sudden, but don’t be afraid.”
• “How beautiful you are, my beloved!”: An attempt to explain why I love.
• “Your smile, too rare”: The beloved’s smile is like the sun in a West Michigan winter.
• “If, as Paul says”: Glory is too much for me even now.
• “Oh omnipotent Lord”: Another in the same vein as “Ah! to turn back”
• “God showers our world”: The source and purpose of beauty.
• The Gift of Love: Love is a gift from God that reveals the Giver in three ways.
• “How dim the faces”: “Remember[ing] the height from which [I] have fallen.”
• “My dear love hath”
• A New Thing: Things have changed, things stay the same.
• On Falling in Love: Inspired by an experience I had during Epiphany my freshman year of college.
• Approaching Harvest: As we harvest fruit, we beg for another harvest.
• “Lend me those years” … because of how badly I messed them up this time.
• O Felix Culpa? A somewhat disturbing, fundamental question.
• Autumn Sunset The glory of nature points to the glory of God.
• Fleeting Vapor: A part of me would rather linger in dreams.
• Taliesin Before Arthur, from my series on the Arthurian legends: Arthur has asked, but Taliesin cannot tell him everything.
• Crisp Memories: The crispness of a fall evening.
• Evening Shadows: Shadows lengthen as an end draws near.
• “What splendor lies”: People truly do bear the image and glory of God.
• “Here gathered”: A poem for Thanksgiving.
• “Behold, our lives”: How brief is our span of life!
• Dream Treader: A poem prompted by the Narnia novel (and a filk).
• Weary Winter: I was tired of winter already
• Incarnation: A meditation on the fact we celebrate at Christmas.
• Remember: Remember me friends, but even if we forget, God will not.
• Epiphany: The Light calls us to waking life.
• “Ah, how I love”: An address to the beloved.
• “Weep, O my eyes!”: For my beloved is gone.
• Moonlit Reverie: If that isn’t moonlight, let me pretend it is.
• Taliesin at the Dance, an important poem in my series set in the Arthuriad, in which Taliesin meets his beloved.
• Computer and Poet
• “Remember me, fair maiden” A fusion, perhaps, of poems by Christina Rossetti and Mary Queen of Scots.
• “How happy he”: A letter from a friend is a delight.
• The Enduring Muse: My old poems can still move me.
• “I greet the spring”: Has spring come at last?
• Lingering Winter … No.
• Dreamed Promises: A response to a long-ago dream.
• Morning Memory: Morning chases dreams away.
• Pascha: A meditation for Good Friday.
• “Do you remember”: A musing on a fond memory.
• Shadowed Beloved: A shadowed visage is no less beautiful.
• Battlefield Dreams: Prompted by a strange and compelling dream.
• Merlin in the Temple in Jerusalem: From my series set in the Arthurian legends: Aged Merlin visits the ruined temple in Jerusalem.
• Vanished Moment: Longing for a time gone by.
• Empty Dreams: Why are my dreams, recently, so … thin?
• To the Dance: Nothing will keep me from dancing this set with you.
• Ad Trinitas: A prayer to the Triune God, posted for Trinity Sunday.
• Fading Delight: The joy expressed in “To the Dance” eventually begins to fade.
• A Feline Supplication: An address to the cat who disturbed my rest while I was visiting some friends.
• Reunion: Our reunion was joyous.
• A Summer’s Evening: My joy at the eucatastrophe of the Evart dance overflowed into this poem.
• Nightmare: A poem-prayer after waking in the grip of a nightmare.
• Under the Pines: A reflection on the “Joy”—in C. S. Lewis’s use o the term—I found in Evart.
• The Fading Lights: A meditation on the transience of this life.
• Departure: Leaving Evart after the gathering breaks.
• Noontime Longing: “Nature is lovely and all, but it’s not her!”
• A Bittersweet Farewell: Watching a dear friend travel away.
• “Walk through the buttercups”: A dream of approaching autumn, with perhaps echoes of Milne.
• Ears: “He who has ears to hear …”
• “O silvery moonbeam”: Borrowing the image from Roverandom.
• Prodigal
• Fleeting Visage: Even a moment’s remembrance of your face brings happiness.
• Dryad Colors: A question prompted by the changing of the leaves.
• Autumn Remembrance: Remembering one happy autumn.
• Sicut Cervus
• Children: Prompted by the delightful children I have encountered in various families and churches.
• Taliesin and Blanchefleur: Part of my series set in the Arthuriad: Taliesin gives yet another account of an early encounter with his beloved.
• Passing: Regret at the fading of a cherished memory.
• Paths of Memory: Remembering happier days as winter blows in.
• Snow’s Purpose: Why does God make snow?
• Letters Only: Prompted by Milne’s poem “Here Lies A Tree” and my longing for a friend’s letters.
• “Dear friend—though we’ve”: Questioning a strange and wonderful dream.
• Advent: Preparing for Christmas.
• Reflection: Looking back.
• Dawn: Light has come into the world.
• “Dreams carry me away”
• Midnight: A sleepless night.
• Taliesin’s Last Lament: From the series set in the Arthuriad: Taliesin relinquishes that name forever.
• Taiesin at the Ball: Another from the series. Taliesin’s depression nearly ruins a ball, but his beloved snaps him out of it.
• “Lord, once I prayed”: A possible follow-up to “How long, O Lord, will you remain aloof?”.
• Falling Fire: A reflection on times gone by.
• Quarter Century: A poem for my twenty-fifth birthday.
• “In sickness, as health: A meditation after an illness.
• Winter Wind: The blustery day makes us wish for spring.
• Storm: The storm displays God’s power, and his preservation of us.
• Taliesin on the Occasion of his Knighthood
• Friday: A Good Friday meditation.
• Breaking Day: Four perspectives on the events of Easter.
• Taliesin Before the Portrait Painter
• Spring: Spring has come at last.
• Lawn: Of all that I’ve done on and around the Commons lawn …