Not long ago, I finished a series of sonnets. I wanted to write some poems with biblical images whose connection was inward more than outward. I hoped they would have a dream-like quality. As I started working on them, I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose the non-linear imagery with a traditional form. I settled on the sonnet, one of the most classic poetic forms.

As sonnets go, mine employ typical meter but allow less traditional rhyme schemes. Still, they are highly structured poems; a lot of creativity is spent on maneuvering within the constraints of the form without writing something that sounds wooden or forced.

Each of the next few posts will feature one of these sonnets. I hope they’ll be an interesting departure from my typical posts. I also pray the Spirit inhabits the imagery and blesses people with His presence.

I.

It’s dark, the moment just before the world’s
first light.  A ring appears around the dark,
which shrinks into the pupil of a gnarled
old man.  He ages backwards: wrinkles start
to smooth, he shrinks in size until he’s just
a child.  He reaches up and plucks a star,
then plants it in the dirt.  A sprout soon thrusts
above the ground and grows into a large,
irradiating castle.  People throng
around the castle.  Some are made of wind.
They move in flowing streams, and only they
can see the castle.  Everything turns gray
with a rough grain, then starts to slowly spin:
a vast stone rolls away and then is gone.