Does God still have a body?

Jun 27, 2016 | Bible Story, Gus Stevens, Multi-Syllabic Rhyme, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2

Does God still have a body? Buried though he was? And risen now as from a seed with root and stem. Then branches, varied, grow up like cedars towering above those reeds that fringe the Styx where souls are ferried slow to find new bodies. It’s said they’ll...

The Years the Locusts have Consumed

Jan 24, 2016 | Bible Story, Gus Stevens, Prophets, Sonnet, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2, Victorian Sonnet

What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; -The Prophet Joel We’ve eaten all the corn we’d saved for seed and there are no animals left to bleed upon our stone altars trying to appease the storm gods or whoever’s there to...

Deafening Sound and Burning Light

Feb 16, 2015 | Gus Stevens, Italian Sonnet, Sonnet, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2

“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” -Isaiah 33:14 He is deafening sound and burning light and this sinner’s eyes cannot bear the load; I have feared His wrath and now dread delight for who can...

Some He Bruises, Some He Bleeds: A Sestina on the Covenants

Apr 24, 2014 | Bible Story, Gus Stevens, Sestina, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2

Some he bruises, some he bleeds, some he leaves son-less in a stranger’s land. Some spit curses, while others fear they’re damned. What man can sort the flowers from the weeds— can crack the husk to reap the treasured seeds? We only see through this...

The Rape of Tamar and the Half-life of Joy

Nov 7, 2011 | Bible Story, Gus Stevens, Quatrains, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2

Amnon held his desired to the bed and, famished, smiled as he ravished the prey. Then he sickened like a man overfed; the flesh he sought, consumed, stank of decay. Absalom smiled too as he avenged the rape. But even the pleasures of revenge take flight; once the trap...

What need has He for our Democracy: A poem for Peter during his lapse

Feb 13, 2011 | Bible Story, Gus Stevens, Rhymed Couplets, The Unspeakable Name vol. 2

There lies the body of our murdered monarch. Dare we now await the morning with the lark, hoping for the death of dark and dawn of day, with blood on our hands and in our bones decay? We have no claim, no light, no hope of hope and deserve nothing but a...