underdogs
We aren’t athletes—either of us,
and we haven’t agreed
on much
especially when it comes to
the stories of god and man,
but the warmest remembered ritual
he and I still both enjoy
is rooting for the underdog
until they
lose
Wake
My friends Mike Stavlund and Michael Toy have challenged me to join them for National Poetry Writing Month (aka NaPoWriMo), a challenge/experiment to write one poem each day for the month of April. ”It is a way to give oneself permission to write poorly; a way to embrace quantity over quality. But also, to revel in the mystery that somehow, sometimes, quantity begets quality” (says Mike.) Serendipitously, I’m on vacation for the next few days, a good time to start a new habit…
So here’s my first:
Wake
The ocean’s hand is long. Or is it wide?
Or is it her entire reach?
My toddling son stands facing her for his first time,
smiling as if at a bath that knows no end.
Then balance falls
away from him.
Rather, she takes it
and then hands it back
and then takes it again
wave
af-
ter
wave.
I’m holding his hand
and so much more this year.
And there’s that vast ocean again
handing to me
and taking back
and handing yet again.
Kickstart Songs to Pray By
So as not to bury the lead: I’m raising some money, $10 for great music… come on, give it a try. 
Here’s some background info:
When Neighbors Abbey began we decided it should be a part time job. And so my other job was as a contract worship curator for City Church Eastside with my friend Scott Armstrong, who I had gotten to know through the Emergent Cohort. While it remains part time, it has grown into a very life-giving collaboration! It started out while they were meeting in the community room at StudioPlex in Old Fourth Ward and 30-50 folks would gather. I played on my own or with a bassist or mandolinist (is that a word?). Eventually more musicians joined the ranks—folks who had been playing in indie bands around town. When we moved into Stove Works facility (still in O4W) the large boomy warehouse space affected the songs and we found our voice with more ambient/explosion/radio-head-ish tones.
All along I’ve been asking churches to consider moving past the false choice of “traditional or contemporary” into culturally specific aesthetics (or in the words of my friend Doug Pagitt- moving from for to as). But this venture with City Church has stretched further than I would have imagined into its own distinctive sound. We still cover familiar songs but we reframe them to fit our voice. For example we’ll sing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessings, with a 5/4 interlude like Sigur Ros or Come Thou Long Expected Jesus with the heavy tambour and pedal tones of In Rainbows. We’ve also written some songs together with monthly jam sessions (using some tricks I learned along the way from Todd Fadell).
Here’s the Kickstarter promo video with some samples of band rehearsals (the whole thing was recorded from my iPhone4).
This project is an opportunity to demonstrate diverse theological collaboration, to create fresh expressions of church, make quality indie music, and to bridge the emerging community of the church with her fore-parents. I’d love to hear what you think of the project as it unfolds and (of course) would love your help in making it happen through Kickstarter before March 18. We need to raise all $5,000 or we don’t get any of it.
Thanks for helping spread the word!
