Excerpt for God/he by Andrew Kooman, available in its entirety at Smashwords

God/he

a collection of poems by Andrew Kooman



Smashwords Edition



Copyright 2011



Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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note:



the poems "he’s a miserable being", "love", "from the looks of it", "he could kill you", "he is capable", "you put your thumb on it", and "what confidence" were awarded third prize in Utmost Christian Writers annual poetry contest in 2004



the poems "linguistics", "words from God", "one soul in a world of many", "will", "he wakes", and "who knew which words" appeared 2004 in Volume 1 Issue 1 of Rock and Sling



the poem "three snapshots of the Trinity upon Christ’s death on the cross" was short-listed for the Utmost contest in 2006



in 2009, the poems appeared in a limited, handcrafted book of poetry which Andrew sells online at andrewkooman.com







a heart
is a hard
stone
to turn






Table of Contents



/he


he’s slippery as a fish
linguistics
one soul in a world of many
he wants to be sure
words from God
an initial stanza of restless
sedimentary layers
the rulekeeper

he is flammable
permission to speak

blindness
appleskin

a second stanza of restless
papershred
thinking
inventory
shitkick
chorus
temporary freedom
the blackness inside himself
fury
he is spent
a third stanza of restless
prayer
resolve
dare
he reminds himself
waterside
transfixed
the words he uses
the things in this world
passion for inwardness
the first gouge

1958
invocation
sliver
his own words

this same wind
will
contemplating the suffering at night with Conrad
the value of a word
the passion of inwardness
haunted
he wakes
emergence
loneliness
grief
afterthought: the things in this world
the morning after
making face
the darkness
in the quietness
a fourth stanza of restless
he has changed
faith
tracing
visitation
who knew which words



God/


bloodhound
God of regrets
the soul
you put your thumb on it
God in this room
espoused
he’s a miserable being
from the looks of it
he could kill you
fullstop
all the reasons not to
amnesia
he is capable
love
premonition
a first stanza on suffering
oh how the children have fallen
three snapshots of the Trinity upon Christ’s death on the cross
imagining Jesus’ poetics of suffering, in two stanzas
an inventory of God

aubade
you came swinging
he’s slippery as a fish
loves me loves me not God
God practicing smoke rings
you spent all this time
birth
impartation
he’s a trickster
the trinity on man
seed
greenthumbGod
in all
poema
pentecost
beautiful tears of God
making new

that word of honesty
what confidence


epilogue





/he





Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Job 38.3





he’s slippery as a fish


he’s slippery
as a fish
slips away into the
deep

just when you think
you got him
wriggles out from
hands excited by the
catch

he likes to hold
his breath
under water





linguistics

as a linguist
concerns himself with
syllables
thinks about palate
placement of tongue

he looks at his life
or those parts he is
able to see

there are words
he does not yet know

a language he
hears but cannot understand
or speak

he imagines a
new vocabulary of
being



one soul in a world of many

he sees himself
slightly
like a soul
caught in too much skin

finds himself
remembering

smells
page numbers
names of streets

chance memories

moments with
no apparent significance

sits over these memories
with a fishing pole
longing to hook
a silver fish





he wants to be sure

he wants to be
sure
his life lines up
is not
two different things
or three





words from God

he thought
words from God
would quiet him

unfold his mind
like one clean
cloth

nourish him
until Friday





an initial stanza of restless

he lies
there
quiet

in the dark

longing for
touch

a name

a face
he does not yet know




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