Two Poems from Imperfectly Perfect

Do you see it there, this gift you have been handed?
front of a church

Scars 

A scarred spirit considers the church on the corner
the familiar steeple cross casting distorted shadows
in the late morning sun

saved souls stream through the
cavernous maw of a doorway
khakis and polos, dresses and pantsuits
washed clean and made new
praying to the god who blessed their flock
and must be protected at any cost—

even the cost of a scarred spirit they had
beaten and left alongside the road
stoned to death in the town square
labeled as untouchable and cast out
condemned to the very pit of hell
with all their heart and all their soul and all their mind and all their strength
(the love of Jesus always in their hearts)

A scarred spirit walks away
finally free of the church and the steeple
and all the little people
finally free of toxic teaching and preaching
finally free from hearts so filled
with the love of Jesus
that they had scarred not only the spirit

but also the hands
and the feet.

A cross inside of a church, illuminated by a spotlight.

Holy Presence 

Do you see it there, 
this gift you have been handed, 
this fragile, breakable blood diamond 
Cut from the fleshy earth of the heart? You 
have the power in your hand to crush it by 
squeezing too tightly 
or to shatter it 
by letting it go completely.  
Diamonds are supposed to be hard but 
there’s something about handing over
pain 
sorrow 
grief 
worry 
fear 
that softens it in the giving 
and you who now hold it? 
gently caress this delicate jewel 
and know that the space it once occupied 
has already begun to heal

These poems are shared with permission from Matt’s latest collection Imperfectly Perfect published this month. Find out more at: http://www.authormattschur.com.

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Matt Schur

Matt Schur

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