With the publication of I Bought a Pearl quickly approaching (September 4, 2024), I am a mix of all the emotions you might expect. I am excited, relieved, and nervous. I also find myself reflecting on my path as an author, how I ended up here and what things might look like in the future. … Continue reading Trauma and Relationship with God––Not Positive, but Inspirational?
poetry
A Wreath of Mercy
**This is a crown of sonnets, which I composed as a final project for a Medieval Church history class. It is a meditation on mercy as the early church understood it and an invitation for today's church to enter into the practice of mercy. Because the piece was originally an academic project, there are many … Continue reading A Wreath of Mercy
How Van Gogh’s Gospel Changed My Understanding of /Healing Beauty/
When I was a kid, I learned about Vincent Van Gogh in an art class. I loved mixing paint with flour to make it thicker and attempting to imitate the great artist’s work. I always felt for Van Gogh. I think I had a tender spot for his troubled end-of-life. The fact that he cut … Continue reading How Van Gogh’s Gospel Changed My Understanding of /Healing Beauty/
Let her blossom
A sweet-smelling flowerThat blooms in secretRoots her power in potentialHer fragrance precious in obscurityUnadmired beauty, her unchallenged glory
Declaration Against Shame
My heart is full of anticipation, but I can't remember how to hopeThe land cries out for justiceBut who is listening? The loudest voices make a contest of victimhoodTo find beauty in oppression is commendableTo oppose it is condemnableThere is none who speaks out for usWhere is our advocate? "Listen, you people, far and wideListen, … Continue reading Declaration Against Shame
Skeptical Communion
Concealing the confidentialSealing the separationConsequences of congenitalStrength. Candid to the coreAnd comely by consecrationCommonly confused solicitationFor camaraderie and kinCraving closeness, still I'm soullessCurrently can't comeInto companionship. So now,Such simple somethings such asKindnessSeem a soft caress or a slithering snakeAnd I can't keep it from slippingTo somewhere I cannot contain it. I can't keep it from … Continue reading Skeptical Communion
Victor Apparent
How strange that the Almighty achesHis invincible side woundedBy unrequited love and jealousyInjustice rejoiced in the darknessOf daylight perverted by prideYet the darkness trembledIts lack of comprehensionComing to an endIn the realizationOf having been overcomeBy a life laid down, willfully,That it might be taken again
The Plants That We Let Grow
All good things must come to an endAnd of some we'll never speak"This too shall pass"And what we sow, we shall reap. Too soon, perhaps, for honestyI'm wordless if I must contain itTime has made me feralWe're at an impasse if I can't explain it A quarrel's abrupt resolution,My opposition now before the ThroneWe may … Continue reading The Plants That We Let Grow
A Sonnet of the Eternal Spring #1
Buds in Fall contain a happy secretThey stem from supernatural consummationOf long-forgotten love, hope requickenedUnnatural or confused, disastrousYet altogether right and wonderfulThe miracle of two become one explodes into lifeTo which all living, dead, and dormant do respondThough leaves succumb to gravity’s callsAnd darkness often and more quickly fallsOur love waits, safely nestled in the … Continue reading A Sonnet of the Eternal Spring #1
Forgiveness #6
You forgive me without reservationI confess, you absolve, and it is goneTeach me to be like thisHelp me to be like thisI know it is not an actionIt is a way of beingYour beingYou, the one I want and needI’m believingLike love, all-believingFaith, with hope, in actionHelp me to be like thisTeach me to be … Continue reading Forgiveness #6
Lalala! Nobody’s Listening
We shout past each otherAnd yell, “Relativity!”, until I’m the one that’s rightSo, never mind. You do you. And I’ll do me.And people are dying in between.When it’s white folks, the flags fly at half-mastBlack bodies in the streets mean it’s just another dayYeah, I went thereBut lalala! Nobody’s listeningAnd that’s not allWe all like … Continue reading Lalala! Nobody’s Listening
The One Whom My Soul Loves
Soft whispers at twilightEntreat me into wakefulnessThe voice of my BelovedSo peaceful and safe am II've lost touch with timeThere's only his sweet presenceEnfolding my bare and tender soul My Lover whispers to me of worthOf destiny, of life with him, foreverHis kind words caress my lame and aching heartI come open, his always, but … Continue reading The One Whom My Soul Loves
Freedom Sizzling
Raw, exposedLike an egg out of its shellSPLAT! in the bottom of the panWith the truth searing my most sensitive parts,I sat. The inner dam of deception had sprung a leakAnd the words cascaded forth before my lips could hold them back.He took advantage of me. With 20/15 vision, I saw it all.How he had targeted … Continue reading Freedom Sizzling
A is for Arthur
He saved his own skin by donning deceptionIt was my word against his Man of God, they depend on you to tell the truth And I was left holding my head in my handsMy "father" doesn't love me anymoreBut "daddy", why don't you love me? So, which is it?Is it the ex-father figure or the … Continue reading A is for Arthur
Naomi M. Wong 