Poems for Persons of Interest

Jeffrey Rensch  has been writing poetry for 50 years.  Previous poems of his on Poems for Persons of Interest include " Being ,"  " Carol of disarray , " and " Thank you for the shivering ," which won the Thanksgiving Poetry Contest last year. Courage Courage, come when you can. Courage be mine, don’t make me Show you in order to have you. Courage, show at night from nowhere, The last alternative to terror, The only viable thing besides. When there was peace we put Our courage in a drawer and closed it Tight and the key got tossed And the side fused with the desk itself And soon our fingers slipped When we tried to tease it open. We grew afraid of the drawer. In a far metropolis I was mugged. They ran down an alley.  Somehow I Went after my life without a thought And grabbed it.  I was like a thief Myself.  How had I managed it? There was no drawer, only the thought Of losing felt like a death. Courage was nowhere till it was. Only when something else was ...

Liv Ross is an urban monk, a poet, a storyteller, and a student of Christian spirituality. When she’s not writing, Liv practices gardening, pipe-smoking, leather-working, and mischief. In the Spirit of Bezalel I take a breath. I breathe out a flame, for Your flame has been breathed into me. My eyes are on the prize, gazing at the gifts held in these hands rising to the task of creation. Art is born of abundance, and abundant are the ways in which to amend awe into the soil of civilization. It all begins with beauty. Yes, beauty. For you best believe that life and laws have limits when nothing guides our gaze or grips our guts, holds our hearts safe against the world's weather. Beauty lies in the eyes of we who behold it. Daily, we drink of deep drafts like dewdrops and tip out the tenderest of threads - slender, silver spidersilks - woven into the warp and woof of wonder. Consider. Even the carrion crow carries iridescent radiance in a certain slant of light. Or amethyst and gold....