Two poems from Daniel Klawitter
Bird Brain
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap
nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they? —Matthew 6:26
I’ve heard there is a humming bird in the northern Rockies of Canada
With a brain the size of a grain of rice—its weight less than a specter.
When barely a month old, it flies south to follow the flower nectar.
In 3 months, it travels 3,000 miles across the United States and into Mexico.
It never gets lost on this difficult trek: wings a buzzing blur, beating berserk.
Last time I checked I was a human adult, who still staples paper wrong at work.
Hmmm. Yes, I have considered the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.
But despite God’s gracious care, I’m not quite convinced the comparison’s fair.
Grief Is…
Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;
hear my urgent cry. —Psalm 86:6
Molten magma bubbling beneath the crust.
An archaic alphabet of unsettled, unsettling dust.
A clarinet of sobs needing no translation.
The dumb phonetics of despair & desolation.
Some tongues proclaim prosaic platitudes
To comfort what remains uncomfortable.
For the suffering of those who suffer—
Is an attitude some find insufferable.
Daniel Klawitter is a religious brother in the ecumenical Order of Saint Luke, who works as an Admissions Representative at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO and is a member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. He is the author of four previous poetry collections and is the recipient of numerous awards, including: A Purple Dragonfly Book Award for excellence in Children’s Literature (for Put On Your Silly Pants, Daffydowndilly Press, 2016), and a Royal Dragonfly Book Award for Poetry (for Quiet Insurrections, White Violet Press, 2018). You can read more about Daniel at: poetdanielklawitter.wordpress.com