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Sarah Burg Dec 2015
you do not know that i think you are a church
the stained glass windows are your eyes
and when the sun shines
you are even more beautiful
there are people singing inside of you and
every time i touch your skin
i can hear their praises
that's why i never let go
when i kiss you i can feel you washing my sins away
all of my sins are the thoughts i have
about what i want to do to you
and i know that your hands heal the broken because
i am fixed
The doorbell rang sharply
I threw off my blanket by the door
I answered to two high school kids
"Could you donate to the poor?"
"We're taking cans, and money"
" clothing, gloves and jackets too"
"Is it in your heart to help us"
"can we get something from you?"
I said "Come back tomorrow"
"I'm a little short you see"
"I'll be home from work directly"
"You can come here after three"
They smiled, "see you later"
said the tall one with the hat
"We'll be back again tomorrow"
And I thought, that was that
I closed the door behind them
Went back and I sat down
I was reading by the fireside
Wrapped in an old dressing gown
The heat was off in most rooms
The house was small, and drafty too
I had to heat it with the fire
Or lose my heat all up the flue
I had no cash for cable
A computer? not a chance
I could barely pay the mortgage
I was in bad circumstance
The job I'd had forever
At least since I left school
Was gone now, plant was shuttered
They closed the old Majestic Tool
Three hundred sixty workers
Most had been there all their life
As had been their fathers
It's where I met my wife
She left me when they closed up
Got an offer to head west
I told her take the offer
I told her "I think it's for the best"
She hasn't called in eighteen months
I got the papers for divorce
I figured, I can't afford to call her
So, it's just par for the course
I trip around the town by day
Getting meals where they are free
In a town as poor as we are
It's not a real strange sight to see
There is no work around here
I'll have to move within a year
If things don't soon get better
I'll try to stay real close to here
The morning after last night
You know, the one I spoke about
Where the kids came out collecting
And I pretended I was out
of food and cash and clothing
didn't have a dime to spare
I would have loved to help a little
But I didn't really dare
A can of food would last two days
Spaghetti, maybe three
Although I  wanted to contribute
I need these things for me
I went into the foodbank
The morning after the night before
I would get my Christmas hamper
Along with others, walking poor
I'd take it home, unpack it
And when the kids came by at three
I would give them, at least something
My word meant a lot to me
I didn't have a lot of things
Not much was left at all
But, my word, was worth a fortune
I'd be there when they called
In the back, out of my vision
While I signed and took my box
Was one of the two students
Sorting through some coats and socks
I took off with my treasure
Set to donate when they came
I was robbing Peter to pay Paul
It was such a silly game
The boy went to the counter
He checked my address in the book
He then went to see the head man
He wanted him to take a look
He told him of their visit
How he recognized my face
He realized how much it hurt me
To be reliant on this place
They talked about my visit
And they saw my need was real
And they talked amongst the others
with elvish, Christmas zeal
I was waiting for the doorbell
Had two cans, and a small coat
When the doobell rang, I answered
There was four boxes and a note
Vacant space, they must have run
They had to be close by
What I saw there boxed before me
Well, it made this grown man cry
Instead of coming for donations
They knew how hard it was for me
They had brought along some blankets
And lots of food, for free
I picked the note up gingerly
I was still shaking from the tears
It said "Merry Christmas Mr. Watson"
"and Have a Happy, Safe New Year".
Ivy Haegan Dec 2015
I sit in the pews
And I read your gospel
Of pretty things that you say
Things that make me okay
Things that lift me up
This word of God of sorts
That divides my soul in half
Tearing the black, tar-like mess
That is myself from it and
Condemning the demons within
To Hell where they came from
Leaving behind a clean, pure
White slate that's just waiting
To be filled with your love
The love you blessed me with
The love I don't deserve but
So willingly take because of
The way you say my name
And make me feel whole again
A feeling that seemed so gone
So long gone that I lost my will
And it became a downhill battle
Slowly but sure surely
Burning my demons with the
Light of your love that I am able
To accept and hold strong to
Without your blessings and
Unconditional love that seems
To be unheard of I couldn't have
Overcome what I have overcome
And it's it your Old Testament
That rewrites my New Testament
Saving it from the flames of hell
That devour the voices in my head
The ones that's scream
"You're not good enough"
"You don't deserve him"
"You'll **** the ones you love
Along with yourself
Create distance before it is too
Late for all of you
"
"Maybe hurting yourself will give
You the control that you can't find
"
You lifted my crucified heart
From its grave that it laid dead
In for much longer than 3 days
And you removed the nails
And saved it from the devil
Known as self hatred
You held my hands in prayer
And through your hands
Flowed love and freedom
From myself that I needed
You made self love an option
And by looking at you
I just know that
*Your smile is my church
Randy Johnson Dec 2015
I've been going to a Kingdom Hall and I've become a Jehovah's Witness.
The people are very friendly to each other which means we are blessed.
The Kingdom Halls have different preachers on each Sunday and Tuesday.
Unlike other Denominations, our preachers never receive pay.

At the Kingdom Halls, we are taught that Jehovah is God's name.
Some people tell lies about Jehovah Witnesses and it's a shame.
One lie that people tell is that we don't believe in Jesus.
We are good people, I hope that you'll come to see us.

Unlike other churches, we don't pass around a collection plate.
People at the Kingdom Halls are treated like family, it is great.
Besides listening to the preachers sermons, we study the Bible as well.
When people are untruthful about us, please ignore the lies that they tell.
Brent Kincaid Dec 2015
May I have your attention?
This information is for you.
Put this in your dictionary,
****** doesn’t mean ‘let’s *****’.
It might do where you come from
But some of us were raised better.
We recognize and accept
The Constitution to the letter.

It guarantees our freedom as
Citizens of this fine nation.
Nowhere does it say nudists should
Be treated with degradation
And blocked from freedom to be
Who they really are at heart.
Denying natural freedoms is
Where fascism gets its start.

If you have been trained in a way
That genitalia is abomination
You’re the one who is indecent
And needs some repatriation.
It’s not like someone naked is
Automatically getting it on.
That’s just inside your mind, so
Only you can make it be gone.

A lot of what you are thinking
And the very thing you are fear
Is not real, it’s irrational
This is what you need to hear;
Some may not find you ****
When they see you naked
But those are not nudists.
They’re unclothed bigots that fake it.

May I have your attention?
This information is for you.
Put this in your dictionary,
****** doesn’t mean ‘let’s *****’.
It might do where you come from
But some of us were raised better.
We recognize and accept
The Constitution to the letter
The wooden pulpit split
cracked like thunder
and from its splinters
came life, green and flowing
vines that slithered and twined
their bodies from pulpit to pew
and from it burst roses
every color of a sunset
except those holding together
the pulpit she stood behind
those were white as the moon.
Brent Kincaid Nov 2015
I’m a deeply religious person
And though I don’t believe in cursing
As a spiritual individual
It will do no good at all
To try to take my rights away
By telling me how I must pray
And who I have to pray to.
You couldn’t if you wanted to
Because I have the Constitution.
So make a New Year’s resolution
To shove those thoughts, however dumb
Right back where you all got them from.
Consider this great advice of mine
And shove them where the sun don’t shine.

Free is the way for me.
How much better can it be.
Freedom in perpetuity
That’s what you can do for me.
Get all the rich folk taxed equally
Leave all the rest of it up to me.

This country started long ago
The founding fathers made it so
That nobody could push us around
Or run our beliefs into the ground
And yet for several hundred years
Some were beaten about the ears
Because we did not drink from the chalice
Is somebody else’s golden palace;
Of preachers in their fancy duds
Who hang with well-connected buds
That make the laws that work to pry
Our freedom away and let us die
By collectively saying and assuming
If we aren’t their church, we aren’t human.

Free is the way for me.
How much better can it be.
Freedom in perpetuity
That’s what you can do for me.
Get all the rich folk taxed equally
Leave all the rest of it up to me.
SpudRepublic Nov 2015
Another body grappling from the iron law of self-interest,
credit, dollar signs and blood stains,
reeking havoc on the walls of houses,
graciously ripping empathy from its veins.
Kicking and alive hanging below
the stench of wine kicks me in the gut.
distracting me from all that I know.
An eye of omniscient knowledge and grace
What, I have a dream?
foggy eyed zombie plugged into the face
the peak of this dream is my own redemption
White walls and satin cloths hide the shame within.
But, I can see through those stain glassed, make-belief windows.
I have brought myself to leave and the Wolfe has stopped knocking at my door.
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