Poets and Poems: Stephen Cushman and "Keep the Feast"

I’ve been reading about the Civil War Battle of the Wilderness, fought largely amid dense trees and shrubs north of Richmond, Virginia. Weather conditions had been dry that spring of 1864, and the artillery fire ignited the brush. Horrific conditions resulted. Many men burned to death; others barely made it out of the line of fire. It was the first military confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, and neither man was going to budge.  

One of the books I was reading was Bloody Promenade by Stephen Cushman. It’s less of a historical account and more a reflection upon the battle itself. Cushman lives and teaches not far away, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and he’s been long fascinated with the Civil War in general and that battle in particular.

 

He’s also a poet. When I read his book jacket biography, his name sounded familiar. Later, I saw his list of poetry collections, and I realized I had reviewed one of them, Riffraff: Poems, here at Tweetspeak.

 

His latest collection, Keep the Feast, was published last year. In an odd way, I’m glad I read Bloody Promenade first. It was published almost 25 years ago, but I can how the poet who reflected on a terrible, tragic Civil War battle would write the kinds of poems that comprise Keep the Feast.

To keep reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings 

 

On Going Through Max’s Things – poem by Martin Rizley at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Derrick Porter, Hoxton Poet – Spitalfields Life.

 

Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

What the Body Knows – poem by Jean Janzen at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

"A Modern Day Psalm" by Jeff Todd

The subtitle of A Modern Day Psalm by Jeff Todd tells you what to expect: “an inspired poetry and song collection.” Most of the 77 written works included in the collection are song lyrics. In fact, they are a very specific type of song lyric, and that is worship songs.

The psalms of the Old Testament are written in poetic form, but they were meant to be sung. They are songs of rejoicing, of lament, of faith, of pain – all very human expressions but sung to God in praise to him.

Todd’s songs include lyrics expressing love for God, words of warning about darkness and destruction coming, backsliding, weariness of soul, experiencing God’s presence, pain in the world, missions and evangelism, and a considerable number of additional topics.

About 10 of the works included in the collection are poems. Here is one example, entitled "Mr Jones:"

                                                      

Mr Jones left this world way too soon

You should have heard the music play

He was all dressed up in his Sunday suit

When they took him away

I remember sitting on his porch

And the stories he would tell me

He spoke of this place he called Heaven

And how mice it would be

Mr Jones never met a stranger

And he always stopped to tell

The stories about salvation

And of Heaven and Hell

He talked to me about his love

That he died on a cross

He took the burdens of all man’s sins

And will save the ones who’s lost

The years passed since I was young

And Mr Jones grew older, too

Because of him I know the man

The friend that he knew

Jeff Todd

Todd is best known for his humorous “Redneck Guides” to a wide array of topics – the parables, being a dad, the epistles, the miracles of the Bible, the Book of Acts. Marriage, and several other topics. He’s also written a layman’s commentary on the New Testament and several devotionals. He lives in Georgia.

A Modern Psalm is a simple collection of songs and poems, written from the heart

Related:

Jeff Todd talks about himself and his books.

Top photograph by Alex Wigan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Songs from the Heart” by Tim Riordan

What if the psalms in the Bible are meant to be sung?

What if that’s how they were written and first heard?

Tim Riordan, author and pastor at SonRise Baptist Church in Newman, Georgia, makes a strong case for singing and studying the Psalms in Songs from the Heart: Meeting with God in the Psalms, originally published in 2014. He could have taken a more theological bent, but he didn’t. Instead, Songs from the Heart is engaging, approachable, and fascinating, as he takes the reader on a journey through the psalms.

Riordan begins by telling a fiction story of some 2,500 years ago, how the psalms would have been enmeshed not only in formal ceremonial and worship events but in everyday life. Then he provides a “big picture” view of what the psalms are about, the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how they would have been used. Why is this important? “Psalms is one of the most loved and most read books of the Bible,” he writes. “It is difficult to fully grasp the impact that this central book of God’s Word has had upon humanity.”

Psalms is a book of poetry, he points out, but it’s more than that, and includes a number of literary sub-genres. The word translated as “psalm” comes from a Hebrew word that “literally means ‘to pluck a strong,’” Riordan says, meaning that from the beginning, the psalms were poems meant to be set to music and sung. And there are seven different kinds of psalms – hymn, lament, processional, royal, thanksgiving, reflection, and wisdom. They are organized in the Bible in five different groupings, believed to be aligned with the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Pentateuch.

Tim Riordan

The bulk of the Songs of the Heart is an extended discussion of how the psalms can be used today. Riordan takes 30 of the 150 psalms and explains what they mean, how they were likely used, what was their context, and how they apply to basic questions (and often struggles) people still have today. And that’s a bedrock theme of this book – people still struggle with the same questions and issues that they did when the psalms were written.

Riordan, in addition to his SonRise pastoral duties, received a degree in music from the University of Georgia, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree from the Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans. He is also the author of Immovable: Standing Firm in the Last Days (2014), The Published Pastor – Book One: Expanding Your Ministry Through Writing and Publishing (2015), and The Published Pastor – Book 2: How to Write and Publish Books (2015).

Songs from the Heart is an engaging overview of why the psalms are important and how they apply to worship and faith today.

Top photograph by Bryan Minear via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Poems of Worship” by Jacqueline Mayfield

If you’re unfamiliar with the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament, you might think they’re only about praise. Generally, that’s their purpose. But they’re also about worship, about celebration, and about both the depths and the heights of human experience. David, who wrote many of the psalms, ran the gamut of emotions and experiences, from intense joy to dark depression, and from wild celebration to fear and despair. And the psalms reflect all of those things.

It’s likely why the psalms sound so contemporary. We resonate with what they describe.

Poet and writer Jacqueline Mayfield has published a similar collection of poems, ones that also range from the heights to the depths. The 32 poems of Poems of Worship cover life’s storms and joys, personal struggles, doubt, temptations, God’s strength and love, the poet’s own failures, overcoming the past, looking to the future, forgiveness, and the day-to-day reality of what it means to be a Christian.

Mayfield writes in simple language, using style that makes her[poems sound like a conversation with God.

You Protect Me

When I am walking in the dark

With no light to guide me

On this path in life

I try will all my might

To keep you in sight

Even when I turn the wrong

Way I know you protect me

You set me free from bondage

That had trapped me in

My own mind

You protect me

When I go through

My storms in life

Your umbrella of love

Keeps me dry and

I no longer

Have any tears to cry

You protect me from my enemies

That try to steal my joy

And when they

Play with me

Like I am nothing but a toy

You protect me and

I am grateful each day

And I feel secure

In your love that is so pure

Jacqueline Mayfield

The poems share this essentially free verse form, but with occasional rhyming lines like the ones ending in “might” and “sight.” To read it aloud is to listen to the conversation she’s having.

Mayfield is a freelance writer and poet who’s been writing poetry since she was 12. She is also the author of A Better Tomorrow: Poems (2017) and is working on her third collection of poetry. She lives in Hampton, Virginia.

The poetry of Poems of Worship comes from a childlike heart. And that is exactly the heart God is looking for.

Top photograph by Alex Wigan via Unsplash. Used with permission.