This book is a memoir of a minister and peace activist in partnership with a whimsical ant to show a lifetime of artifacts in a room that uncovers thinking about peace and justice issues, such as in the following themes: • The values of Jesus and biblical evidence often give preference for insignificance and love for peace. • A history of protests demonstrates against injustices and nuclear weapons. • Disenfranchisement of democracy is like wiping out a colony of ants and tagging them with tiny obituaries. • The end of life is a normal part of nature, and death shows up in layers to enhance the cosmos. A Room Full of Shadows is a valuable resource for thinking deeper about our whimsical insignificance and finding peace in the shadows.
The thread that runs through these poems is a prophetic function of rising to the occasion in bubbling up truth hidden below the surface and at times questioning the status quo. Poetry that can do this serves an important role in facing evil intent and putting us on higher ground to do what is right and courageous and honest. I think poetry should be slightly dissident and have language to move us. Here is a springtime occasion to think and feel these provocative poems.
These have not been normal times. The flaws of a nation were accentuated during the coronavirus pandemic. Hidden divisions over racism and abortion wounded civil discourse. Democracy was put at risk. History will not be kind about this era of “making America great again.” We will never be the same. These poems are unprecedented, as well as anything the president ever did. They were healthy outlets during the presidential pandemic between 2017–2021. Shamefully, we were entrapped in the literalism of shallow pursuits and the fear of critical thinking about higher values. Poetry can engage us in social transformation and pull us away from status quo thinking into a creative realm of higher values—a place of authenticity, openness, and peace. These unique poems caught the emotions in living through an era of impeachment and resistance. We have survived, learning lessons in going forward.
Poetry keeps bubbling up like Ole Faithful and brewing a pot of coffee. A cup of coffee gives me time to pause and rest from the craziness that’s out there. Sometimes over a cup of coffee we can wake up something much deeper in our conversations with another. A poem may find its way into this book Percolating Poetry that could awaken the mind and heart to a new resolve for peace and justice. This book is a part of a series of Prophetic Poetry that intersects with some of the major events that touch our lives and finds language to bring relief from our insanity with nuclear weapons. Enjoy. Percolate. Move ahead.
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.
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