Prophetic Poetry

Holy Agitation for Peace, Justice, and Passion

Ronald L. Faust

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781608990979
  9781498254977
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621893882
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Social Sciences

This poetry becomes an agent of transformation in offering a new direction for our lives. It provokes a little holy agitation by tossing poems like pebbles into placid pools of water to cause some waves. Such poetry gives us prophetic alerts to pay attention to things that matter, like peace not war, like economic and immigrant justice, like an earthy passion for life more than death. This book of poems describes a link between poets and peacemakers: Maybe peacemakers are like insurgent poets, Irrelevant, dissident, disregarding the status quo, Imagining a vision of a world that gets along This poetry--too dangerous for right wing religion--will offer a resource for church activists and for taking the next step of courage. It will be a companion for marching to a different drummer and hearing the still voice of God amplified through ordinary occasions.

Part One

Peacemaking

Shalom be with you

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled,
neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27

Bullets Fail–Let Peace Prevail

How strange the fascination with bullets,

Hard, brassy, classy, shiny in their cases,

Poised, coiled in the chambers of weapons,

Until triggered, flying through fleshy places.

How foolish are the grabbers who rein in others,

Powerful, like pro-wrestlers, except with a gun,

Strutting, cajoling, suppressing, acting big,

Passing on a macho mask from father to son.

People may work, picking up a paycheck,

Never once having to ask who’s to blame,

When a sixteen year old boy finds a gun,

Targets his school as if on a video game.

Nobody knows where goes those bullets,

Maiming a soldier, trying not to die in vain,

But killing another, nobody really cares,

How the violence makes us all go insane.

And so the bullets travel through Iraq,

Fighting a wretched war built on a lie,

Or into the scary scenes of street gangs

Fighting for recognition before they die.

So many bully bullets roam around the world,

Tearing apart the beauty of innocent’s delight,

To crumble the walls that keep them out

And steal the scarce little that is their right.

When will we ever learn that bullets hurt

Our chances to make life our ultimate goal,

Because, before the flame of love flickers out,

We must nurture peace or rip apart our soul.

(On the occasion of the 4th Anniversary of the Iraq war, March 1, 2007)

Bush and Nixon in Limbo

Both were impeached, except one escaped,

Avoiding the horror of war,

Denying the climate crisis,

Hiding the struggle of the poor,

Yet both blended a commonality for war,

Protecting the rich and powerful

Raising support for the military

And bankrupting the economy,

While both found liberals to blame

And lied to maintain their cover up,

That they were tough empire Presidents

As others back bended under limbo bars.

It took an interminable hell of a time,

To endure their dim witted destructiveness,

Yet...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Author’s Preface
• Part 1: Peacemaking
• Part 2: Worker Justice
• Part 3: Immigration
• Part 4: Economic Justice
• Part 5: Passion
• Part 6: Courage