At the optometrist's

I brought my notebook

and a pen, thinking

I might see something

or other that might

inspire. But it’s only

the eye doctor’s office,

with its all displays

of frames for glasses

and a waiting area 

for people, many

with canes and walkers,

and one elderly lady

managing a toddler,

her grandson, cute

little fellow with blond

curly hair and a loud

voice. A mobile

phone rings, loud 

enough to be heard

in the parking lot,

and we all think

someone doesn’t want

to wear hearing aids.

I come here sometimes,

for my own appointment,

without cane or walker,

yet. Today I’m a driver,

so I just sit and wait and

hope something might

suggest a poem. 

The receptionist loudly

asks if anyone here is

named Timothy, but

no one answers.

 

Photograph by Scott Van Daalen via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

[at the end] – poem by L.L. Barkat at Every Day Poems.

 

“The Last Warm Saturday,” poem by Jane Greer – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern. 

 

Collect – poem by Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

Waiting

After James 5:7-11 

We want this over,

whatever this is:

an illness, persecution,

a hurt, a traffic jam,

a trial, a tribulation,

a suffering. Get it over

and we’re back in

control.

But it doesn’t quite

work that way; it never

has. Wishing and 

wanting and hoping

doesn’t equate to instant

or any other kind 

of fulfillment. Instead,

wait like the farmer

waits for the rain. Wait

on each other. Wait on

the Lord, for his return

is his timing, not ours.

And remember that

patience is another form

of forgiveness, just as

forgiveness is another

form of patience.

 

Photograph by Zac Ong via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Send Our Best to the Nations: Missionary Education with Henry Martyn – Jon Hoglund at Desiring God.

 

Even Me – J.E. Kestner at Story Warren.

 

Traveling light – poem by Suzanne Underwood Rhodes at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Christian Artists Are Not Priests – O. Alan Noble at You Are Not Your Own.

 

A Poem About Life – Seth Lewis.

 

It’s Never Too Late to Learn How to Pray – Casey McCall at Remembrance of Former Days.

The Sweet Agony of Waiting

A publisher asks to see your full manuscript. You read it three more times, trying to eradicate all typos, missing words, unclear passages, and confusing lines. You attach it to a politely professional email, which you hope disguises what you’re experiencing in equal measure: hope, fear, and anxiety. 

You hit send.

 

And then you wait.

 

Waiting may be as much or more exhausting than the writing itself, but it is a fact of life in book publishing.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at the ACFW Blog. 

 

Photograph by David Taffett via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Samuel Pepys at St Olave’s – Spitalfields Life.

 

Meaning in Mystery: Why Noir Speaks in a Morally Ambiguous World – Adam Hill at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Mississippi Heat: Stops along the Vicksburg Campaign – Nathan Provost at Emerging Civil War.

 

“The Rejected Member’s Wife,” poem by Thomas Hardy – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Waiting

After 2 Peter 3:9 

We wait on a promise,

a promise to be fulfilled,

a promise spoken and

unspoken from

the beginning. Waiting

is not an acceptable word

in our vocabularies. Yes,

we believe. Of course,

we believe. But can’t it

happen now? The years

become decades, become

centuries, become 

millennia, and yes, we

believe, but when, when

will it be time? We don’t

understand why it’s so

slow, why it takes so long,

almost as if you want all

to be saved, none to perish,

all to repent, none to be 

left behind, all to be

embraced, all to walk

in the light.

 

Photograph by Zhu Liang via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Zeal – poem by Sofia Starnes at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin). 

 

Forgiveness in the Foam – Dwayne Sheridan at An Unexpected Journal.

 

Israel, Palestine, Hamas and Some Things That Are True at the Same Time – Eric Geiger.

"Waiting" by Glenn McGoldrick

Henry Wilson is a British Army veteran. He works as a warehouse supervisor and lives in the town of Old Thornton in northeast England. He’s lived in his house for 20 years. And perhaps the only thing of serious note in his life has been a failed relationship. 

And now someone is pranking him. A taxi shows up, and the driver says he was called to pick up a Henry Wilson. A second taxi shows up a few days later, with the same instructions. Then he arrives home from his night shift and finds rubbish strewn across his front yard. He’s incensed enough to find out who’s behind it. And he’s waiting.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

Waiting is the new dark short story by British author Glenn McGoldrick, and it has all the hallmarks of a McGoldrick story. A brooding protagonist, living something of an anonymous life. Something happening that upsets the routine. And a twist – always a twist. It’s a rather haunting story – being pranked by person or persons unknown is not an uncommon experience. And McGoldrick knows how to use that experience and smack you upside the head with it.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories with a twist, and usually a dark and often a deadly twist. He worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are gritty, and his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between. They often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. McGoldrick lives in northeastern England (which I’m assuming is not as dark as his stories might imply). 

 

Related:

 

“Shaking Hands” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Idle Hands by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“The Moor Road” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

 

Groans

After Romans 8:22-29

It comes deeply,

this groan, a tearing

of the soul, a pain

coming from the waiting

for the healing, promised.

The dove flies into the groaning,

itself groaning in words

inexpressible, simultaneously

deflecting, interceding, searching

a parallel responsibility

to prick, to stimulate, to strip

away even as the interceding

continues without ceasing,

continues with groans too deep

to comprehend.

We wait as the shaping

and molding continue,

creating a work forever

unfinished. The waiting,

too, is a work, if not

of art then certainly

a work designed to be

in progress, and we know

this is true because

we know in hope, a mother

awaiting the gestation,

a child awaiting the arrival

of its father, the hands

holding, the arms

enfolding, home,

here.

Photograph by Joe Gardner via Unsplash. Used with permission.

To learn to wait

After Luke 11:9-13

To learn to wait

is to learn to trust

to believe

to endure

to deepen

to mature

To learn to wait

is to recognize

truth from desire

to distinguish

deserve from need

to understand

need is faith and

faith is showing up

and faith is learning

and to wait for him

to give us himself.

He knows before

we ask.

Photograph by Ben White via Unsplash. Used with permission.