after Henri Nouwen’s studyof Rembrandt’s paintingof Christ’s parable I look at the handsembracing clutching caressing the hands I can only seebecause Rembrandt saw them for me the hands as seenin the light Nouwen shone on themhis power of suggestion & insightmaking me wonder how I’d viewthem on my own The younger son in meabsorbs their reassuring firmness the elder only considers my place & the father I am though a faintimitation is dancing
D.S. MartinApril 29, 2019
for the Sons of Korah (Psalm 84) Swallows swoop across the courtyard well above the notice of those alonefacing stone robed in black They flit & fly & loop back disappearing into gaps in the wall well above the reach or concern of those pushing paper prayers into every crack Before Mohamed’s people built their domebefore his Jerusalem dream Rome had destroyed the temple not one stone left upon anotherBefore Herod built on the rubble Nebuchadnezzar had knocked the temple…
D.S. MartinApril 12, 2019
You have my heart which is similar to the moon’s grip on this night Dark branches reach high to embrace the sky waters bulge in the curve of an eye She slips from behind clouds & then slides out of sight The chapel on the corner stands secure stained glass glowing in moonlight An unseen violin plays in the dark I want to love you like its strings love to sing like Christ loves the church like those…
D.S. MartinFebruary 28, 2018
MARCH 2012: POETRY by D. S. Martin You & I have stood on the brink of Niagara many times & so we know like Coleridge a waterfall can be sublime not merely pretty & of all the waterfalls on earth some are more majestic more picturesque & grand more worth the praise more deserving of the description We've worn raincoats within reach of the descending water's spray & on the boat Maid of the Mist & kissed as if to…
D.S. MartinOctober 30, 2014
The Pump at the End of the Lane I remember the sound of the pump at the end of our cottage lane braying like a donkey singing like an old man who knows only two notes We would pump & pump until rewarded with the gush we knew would come because it always did four kids taking turns cupping hands while another worked the lever filling our throats with icy pangs of pleasure splashing each other & running from getting…
D.S. MartinAugust 1, 2006