Passion and Easter poems exploring agency in the gospel stories

Below I offer seven poems for lent and another seven for Easter season.

Expressing wonder, comfort and humour, but also anger, longing and lament, these poems grapple with the themes of agency and choice as they explore stories from Jesus’s passion and resurrection.

I had the idea for this series when, quite unexpectedly, I wrote a poem lamenting loss of rhythm. I published it on Ash Wednesday 2021, but then continued to write a poem each week up until Ascension Sunday. You can read them individually or download PDF booklets.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

• 
  Where has the cadence gone? A lament during times without structure.
  For stave and ink and voice and song, Are grieving lest they leave – or dare forget their art.
• 
  Neutral choice (a poem inspired by Mary of Bethany when she anointed Jesus with spikenard)
  If only there were a neutral gift, That made no claim of worth or cost
• 
  My neighbour’s colt – a poem inspired by Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem
  Is simple trust enough to bear, The weight of what we’re saying here?
• 
  Don’t ask (a poem about the debates Jesus had)
  But don’t ask me for a sign, As if your words were not malign.
• 
  The Longest Sabbath (a poem reflecting on Jesus’s prayer: “Not my will but yours”)
  I came to you with the sorrow of Job, Yet your long silence has brought me all the joy of Creation Week.
• 
  His blood and his body (a poem reflecting on when Pilate washed his hands)
  And who would have thought the man Had so much blood in him?
• 
  Father, forgive (two poems inspired by Jesus’s words on the cross)
  Father, forgive me, For I do not want to know, What I am doing.
• 
  A question, not a criticism (a poem reflecting on the resurrection accounts)
  To observe where you’re at, To give you your voice
• 
  A sonnet from a modern Thomas (reflecting on what it takes to share our faith)
  It’s not that I would leave my reason, or Would be coerced in my confession, nor Do I believe that you would want such things.
• 
  Loneliness in the morning after (a poem for when your faith has been rocked)
  I find that I cannot be sure, The way that I was sure before.
• 
  Son of Jonah (a poem reflecting on when Jesus reinstated Peter)
  So Peter, trust me when I say I’m trusting you, To feed and tend each precious lamb and ram and ewe.
• 
  Looking back from Emmaus (a poem about how we make sense of our experiences)
  The picture was complete If we could but see it.
• 
  The strangest part (a poem celebrating the resurrection stories of Jesus)
  Who would steal a dead man’s corpse and choose to leave behind the linen?
• 
  Divine comedy (a poem reflecting on Jesus’s ascension)
  And if I saw him rise and then ascend, My cynic’s not so easy to defend.

I also wrote another pair of poems that reflect on Jesus’ crucified body and his resurrected body.

This is my tent – a poem reflecting on the crucified body of Jesus.

This is my body – a poem reflecting on the resurrected body of Jesus.