"theotokos" poems
On one side of Alexander Palace Papa stroked
his coiffed whiskers, pacing back and forth
in his simple study.
Ikons and photographs of family
Watched him all waiting in anticipation
for the news.
On the opposite side of the palace, Mama clenched
her dainty jaws, tears of joy and pain
streamed down her face.
Grigori led the Monks in chant, murmuring
prayers to the Theotokos, asking for protection
and health for the imp-child.
The imperial sheets matched the mauve room.
The resurrection child was born.
The news reached Papa thirty minutes later.
Disappointed in her grandiose arrival,
he delayed their first meeting.
The parade outside the palace
Dispersed, they too disappointed.
Jun 26, 2010
Jun 26, 2010 at 5:53 PM UTC
The devout of Saint Sophia, the ones who prayed
Venerated, virgin-martyr, holy hunger
The priestesses, vestal tombs. Virgins of Etrusca
What do they know of me?
Waifish, heart-sad, victim of ill womanhood
Persecutor, rejector of the womb,
Denier of her blood.
Apr 27, 2018
Apr 27, 2018 at 7:01 AM UTC
"Brothers will fight one another
and **** one another.
Cousins will break peace
with one another.
The world will be a hard place to live in.
"…an age of the axe, an age of the sword,
an age of storms, an age of wolves.
Shields will be cloven."
Brothers fought one another
and killed one another.
Cousins broke peace
with one another.
The world was a hard place to live in.
But this is no battlefield of
gods and men
Nor triumph over fell beast
and the splitting of shields.
This is the exploding shell
down cobbled streets of old;
of thatched roofs ablaze,
the ashen ruin of hearth and abode;
The weeping eye of Theotokos
in Ragnarǫk’s gaze.
Two decades before;
football on Christmas morn’.
'Stille Nacht' from the trench,
that soothing tune.
Giving of gifts and handshakes
And smiles in between,
When it first dawned upon you:
You were brothers.
Jan 12, 2018
Jan 12, 2018 at 10:18 AM UTC
“…and looking at a picture on the opposite wall.”
-C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Ikons are windows to another World
Of Theos and Theotokos, of our saints
Some as merry as yet are others stern
While forming from the prayerful writer’s 1 hand
And in the saints the Light of God shines through
True witnesses to that transcendental Truth
And so we pause and with a candle catch
The prayer-light of their eternity
(As does the bedes-spider 2 who lives there)
Ikons are windows to that truer World
1 In Orthodoxy an ikon is said to be written rather than drawn or painted, but y’r ‘umble scrivener is no authority; the reader might begin a study of ikons / icons with:
http://www.pravmir.com/how-to-sep-up-an-icon-corner-at-home/
2 An Orthodox friend discovered that a spider had made its home among his ikons, and so in peace and hierarchical obedience the little creature served God as a sort of canon, or perhaps a bedes-spider, until its death.
Dec 29, 2018
Dec 29, 2018 at 4:27 PM UTC
Maria! Maria!
I’m drawn to great art
Maria! Maria!
Theotokos my heart
Maria! Maria!
Please help with my vices
Maria! Maria!
In silence like spices
Maria! Maria!
Por favor me amor
Maria! Maria!
I need courage galore
Maria! Maria!
True like Jesu
Maria! Maria!
Steadfast for you
Dec 30, 2018
Dec 30, 2018 at 5:53 AM UTC
I don’t deny delusions
not all who claim do see
but I do perceive the love drops
come from the Cosmic Tree
I ask not for perfection
far less for certainty
just adventure, moonlight, sunlight
music’s mystery
despite my fears and failings
Mother Mary, Let it Be!
Apr 21, 2019
Apr 21, 2019 at 10:49 AM UTC
A Letter from Ekaterinburg
Dormition of the Theotokos
1917
Dear Alexei,
We are enjoying a beautiful summer –
The days have been perfect ever since spring
Cooler mornings now, and that’s about it -
Nothing exciting ever happens here
How is the new government working out?
Some of the banknotes are overprinted
With vague slogans covering the Czar, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here
Petrograd must be exciting for you, but
Nothing exciting ever happens here.
Write soon,
-Mitya
Aug 15, 2017
Aug 15, 2017 at 4:57 PM UTC