“Storytellers” Poetry Contest WINNER: Do Not Preach and Other Poems
by Deidre Braley
“Storytellers” Poetry Contest Winner:
DO NOT PREACH
I have something to say:
You don’t notice me,
But I hear your conversation:
Tangled in ego
And theology
You do not feel the world around you,
I think.
I know because I’ve been there, too—
My head in heavenly places,
My heart so solid and decided.
“Disgrace, disciples, we just keep digging.”
You talk in circles,
Trying to make sense of God
For someone else.
But rather:
Look in his eyes.
Come, alight your heart in humanity.
Don’t be cold in your
Contentedness.
Remember the day
When you were laid bare
And desperate,
When salvation touched you,
And you felt Jesus,
His very fingers
Patching up
The holes in your heart.
Do not preach,
For that does not convert any of us.
Feel and join and remember and hurt:
Then you will truly teach Jesus.
THE STORY BEHIND THE POEM:
I sat in a coffee shop one morning and couldn’t help but overhear a conversation between two men talking theology. They were so engaged in their ideas that I doubt they ever suspected they had an interloper, but I—I was sucked into their words and desperately wanted to share my own two cents. Rather than butting in with my own unsolicited opinions, I did the socially acceptable thing: I wrote them down and hid them in my notebook instead. Here, I remind Christians that we must stay close to our moments of brokenness, for in doing so, we will stay close to the revelation of Jesus’ love.
TOMATO ON THE VINE
There’s still a tomato on the vine.
It is hanging on
green,
when it should have been ripe
by now.
The plant is yellow.
Its fingers are curling
into fragile fists
that droop in lackluster
rebellion
against Old Man Winter.
What’s the point, what’s the point?
its wilted spine asks.
And yet
A tomato holds on
Still green
When it should have fallen
by now.
DEIDRE BRALEY
Deidre Braley is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Maine with her husband, Ethan, and their children, Theodore, Vivian, and Alden. She is author of The Second Cup, a weekly blog that encourages women to blow past the small talk and get to the good stuff. Deidre serves as the Editorial Content Director at The Truly Co., and has been published in their publication, along with The Joyful Life Magazine, Aletheia Today, and others. Her poem, "Not Lost or Looking," will be published in Maine Women Magazine in Summer 2023.