Among the earliest of sins …

                  (for Siani Woodard)  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made– Psalm 139:14 Half-court. Dad said our perch from steep bleachersallowed us

It’s not always easyto carry good wishes and admirationin a see-through bag ready to toss up like confettihoping enough will stickto needed parts of willing

I asked for two fried egg sandwichesand a blueberry milkshake. I got soup.And it was raining so instead of tryingagain to read “Middlemarch,” I lay

You can hear a conversation about this poem on the Reformed Journal Podcast. Photo by Ahmad Ajmi on Unsplash

First I place them in a line atop a narrowpath along the side of the house. That path grows muddy in winter,and the stones will

after William Carlos Williamsso much dependsupon a babyGod swaddled incloths lying in a woodenmanger so much dependsupon a manGod swaddled inpain hanging on a woodencross

The marketplace vendors admit they can’t explain God.They shrug and pocket pomegranates. Argue the flax is souring too quickly. They weave a melancholy spiritinto baskets

After 1 Samuel 24 His beard tightly curled, black locks in ringlets,Saul’s regal forehead slumbers on bedrockat the mouth of a shepherd’s desert cavelike an