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“Heaven”

Heaven, with all its God-filled splendor,
Is far greater than ‘most anything.
My heart, full of love and valor,
Praises God and continues to sing.
Always will I praise God, for He
Makes the dead live and the blind see,
And gives to us of His love endlessly,
As we join Him for Eternity.
*****

“Redemption”

Nothing can pay
For the pain
I’ve caused
And
Nothing can ease
The pain
I’ve endured
Just trying to
Survive,
Just trying to
Be happy.

Nothing can erase
My past,
My mistakes,
My regrets,
My worries.

Nothing but the
Blood of Christ
Can wash it all away,
Make it a whole new day,
So that I may
Re-enter the fray,
With a newfound strength,

That Strength from God,
That will help me through
All the strife
In my life,
All His trials,
His purifying fires,
His glorious plans,
So that at
His Heavenly Harvest
I may be called
A good and faithful servant,
And join Him
Forever-more!
*****

“Trials”

We sow the seeds
God has given us:
We work the ground
Until the day of harvest:
All Things
Of Worth
Are Worth Waiting For,
Worth Working For:
And God’s Plan
Is Worth Everything
And All Time.

God makes the soils
Of our broken spirits
Fertile once again,
He plants seeds in our hearts
That we might begin to
Grow ready to serve Him:

And every day we must
Tend to our gardens,
With God’s Guidance
And brilliant, shining Son
Whose love is that
Ever-living Water
That daily cleanses
Our dry, parched earth.

In the end
God will renew us to Him
Through His One and Only Son,
That the curse upon man
May be broken,
And that we may
Rejoice in the fruits
Of our labors
In those trials
Made to serve the
Greater Glory of God.
*****

“Dear God”

Dear God,
You were always with me;
Oh God,
You will always be with me;
My God,
You were and always will be
My God,
My Past,
My Present,
My Future.
*****

“God in Everything”

Blanketed by
The warmth of
God’s Love,
Compassed round about by
God’s Great Creation;

I consider the constellations,
The ebb and tide of emotion;
And yet ponder how
So many could be
Unable to see
God in Everything.
*****

“Omni Presen(ts)ce”

I rest in
God’s
Presence
And
Ever Present
Love
Which
Tomorrow
And
Tomorrow
Present
New
Presents,
New
Victories,
A
New
Day,

A
New
Present,
A
New
Life,
God’s
Great
Gift,
Eternally
Present.
*****

“A Prose-Poem Prayer/My Psalm”

God,

You never left me in the hard times. You were with me
always, using the circumstances to teach me, lead me, show me how
much You loved me, how to love myself, You, and others. Thank
You.

Your Great Work is never done. You continuously create new
heights and depths of glory and inspiration within our lives, our
souls. You search my heights and depths to find what I never knew
I had all the time: and if it is wrong, then please fix it in me,
oh God; and if it seems good to You, make it better.

I pledge my entirety to Your Cause that I may help You lead
everyone to Jesus, that we would all revel in Your Glory, for
ever, and ever. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
*****

“Eternal Hope and Glory”

O God,
An eternity ago,
You wrote the verses of my soul:
Within me
Incessantly burns
The Flame of Hope;
My soul sings the song
Of sweet salvation,
Received from
Jesus Christ,
The Son of God,
The Son of Man,
And the Savior of
All God’s children.

Let us now work towards
His greater glory,
That an eternity from now
We can look back at our lives
Without shame.
*****

“Eternity Begins Now”

The Holy Spirit
Whose grace knows no bounds
Gives freely to
Any heart that
Believes
And Loves Him
And His Only Begotten Son
Whom He gave to us
That we might be saved.

The wisdom of the spirit gives
True sight
To the closed eye of the mind,
True hearing
To the deaf ear of the heart.
God even gives to us
Wonderful new dreams
To live out,
Life in abundance -
Such a joy it is
To work for the Lord!

Yet there will always be
Struggles
While we are
In this world -
We must remember that
God has put us here
To lead us every day into
A New Lesson,
A New Creation,
A New Heaven on Earth,
As any good father would.

It is the example of Christ
We should always strive for -
God has called us to be
Spiritual warriors
Who will dedicate
Their lives
To what is right,
According to
God’s will,
And
Against
All odds.

Let us daily rejoice in God’s great plan.
Let us rely on God’s strength.
Let us play our part on
The stage of life,
The book of destiny,
The River of the Soul,
That we might have life more abundantly,
A Heaven on Earth,
Eternal bliss hereafter!
Let us continue to
Believe and dream,
For our adventures have
Only just begun!
Eternity Begins Now!

The above Christian poems were excerpted from the author’s “Heaven on Earth”. View a free sample of his online book of poetry at Johnston Arts - Online Publications. Join poetry discussions at the Johnston Karate Online Community.

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What to Search

Poetry falls just short of celebrities, spam, porn and Internet marketing in the vast continuum of cyber-space searches. That means poetry is surprisingly popular on the Internet. Finding a poetry community to share your works won’t be an overly difficult task; however, finding one that fits your specific aim can get you feeling as though you are a character in the not-yet made movie, “Lost in Cyberspace.”

There are several types of forums for different types of poets.

• The show-and-tell
• The hard-core critique
• The ghost town forum
• The ego trogh
• no-spell-ums 4ums

The Show-and-Tell

If you are not particularly interested in having your work dissected by the serious critique forum, but you’d like to share your poetic experiences, perhaps you should look for a show-and-tell. These are communities where the members will give casual feedback on poetry, and usually, the feedback is heavily centered on the theme of the poem rather than the process of the poem.

The Hard-Core Critique

If you aren’t prepared or experienced in getting serious critique on your poetry, you might be taken aback by these types of forums. The members will give you their honest thoughts on your piece, and you’ll soon find out that a first time post rarely yields strictly positive comments.

A good critique forum will have members who read a lot of poetry and actually know what to look for in a good piece. These folks will comment on your structure, internal rhyme, general rhyme, awkward wording, abstract and concrete imagery, and your overall cohesion. You don’t have to blindly follow the members’ advice, but arguing and rationalizing the flaws in your poem will get you nowhere. Also, keep in mind, that a good critic will also point out the strengths in a poem, so it isn’t all that scary.

Also, your poem might go unnoticed until you give a few well-thought comments on other members’ poems. People can sometimes be apprehensive about giving a good critique to a poem until they know how that person critiques a poem.

The Ghost Town Forum

You probably won’t want to join this forum, but it can have it’s benefits. A “Ghost Town” forum is a forum that doesn’t seem to have very many members. “What,” you may ask, “could possibly be the benefit of this?” Well, it’s a clean slate. If you know of other poets who have the same aim as you, you can invite them to the forum. You can lead discussions and critiques in a style that will benefit those who do have the same aim as you.

Also, some “ghost towns” are actually very new. Some of them might quickly shoot up in popularity, and if you decide to stay with the forum, you can oftentimes build long-time relationships with the members.

The Ego Trough

There are forums out there where the sole purpose seems to give other poets a pat on the back. No, wait, where the poets are searching for pats on the back. It might feel pretty good to post your poem on a forum and get a response such as “Wow, this is so great. You’re talented. I can so relate to this.” Keep in mind that there is usually very minimal feedback going on in these forums, and a lot of times, it seems that the praise is generated in hopes of having someone come back and praise their own poems.

Some of these “Ego Troughs” were created by poets who were hoping to showcase their own poetry. For many, poetry is the ultimate expression of the soul, so the fact that people are hoping to garner a plethora of praise is understandable. The benefit of such a forum is that it can make you feel good about yourself, and it can help you to gain the confidence you want in order to move forward with your poetry. The consequence is that you might never develop the actual art and process of writing a good poem.

The No Spell-ums 4ums

There are some forums out there that seem to be developed by the youth of cyberspace. Unless you are a teenager (and even then), I really don’t see much use of these kinds of forums. These are the forums where even the poetry uses that new-fangled text-speak. Responses to these poems are even in text-speak, you know, “Ur so gr8!” I cringe at the idea of a poem that uses that kind of language, unless it is a parody or something.

I suppose poetry is relative, and even poetry spans the meaning and spelling of words.

The Bottom Line

Before posting your poetry in a poetry forum, lurk around a bit. Also, the very first thing you should do is determine what you really want to get out of a poetry forum. If you are really uber serious about developing your work, perhaps you should search for a closed community, but email the moderator and ask a lot of questions before jumping in. You can join one of those closed communities before posting your work, too. Check out the site and look at the things the other members are saying.

Here is a final list of things to consider when searching for a community:

• The Member Size. A REALLY big member base can have your poem lost in a matter of seconds.
• Publicity. If it is an open forum, even non-members can read your poem. Do you really want or mind that?
• Sign in or not? Even open forums usually require a member sign-in. If not, the forums may be subject to flamings and spam.
• Paid Membership? You might wince at the idea of paying for something you can get for free; however, a paid membership can filter out those who aren’t serious. Just be sure to ask a lot of questions before paying the doe (which shouldn’t be much more than $30 a year.)

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What do you do when you want to write poetry? I hope your answer is “I start writing.” Even writing a bad poem is better than waiting for the “right words.” You can always throw it away, and the process has begun. You’ll start to find the words sooner than if you had just waited. Here are some more ways to get started.

Sing A Poem

Try a little experiment - alone in the basement if you must. Describe something, then describe it again, singing instead of talking. You’ll notice the words you use change. Your sentences will generally be more rythmic. It is also easier to rhyme when you are singing.

Singing comes from the right side of the brain. This is the side that handles pattern-recognition. When you sing, you access this part of your brain, and you’ll get ideas or patterns of words that are difficult for your analytical left-brain to create. Try it.

Start With Poetic Materials

You can create poetry by listing words most likely to result in decent poems. Look for emotional content, for example. “Love” and “worship” have more poetic potential than “like,” right? Scan a book, pick out powerful words, and write them down. You may want to write words that rhyme with them alonside. Then start using them.

Say something dramatic, like “I sing of death,” or “Your eyes called out.” Try to let it come from somewhere deep inside you. Then start explaining what it might mean. This will almost certainly give you material for a poem.

Play with short verses, long verses, rhyming and non-rhyming poems. Try haiku. Try writing down your thoughts as fast as you can, without stopping. Don’t worry about quality at this point. You just need to get that creative mind working. Then, when you find gems in all the dirt, you can start polishing them.

Steve Gillman has been playing with poetry for thirty years. He and his wife Ana created the game “Deal-A-Poem,” which can be accessed for free at: http://www.dealapoem.com

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