Sunday, May 3, 2015

Daniel Klawitter- Two Poems



Five For Fighting
 
Note: Fighting is an established aspect of ice hockey in North America. The rulebook of the National Hockey League contains specific rules for fighting. These rules state that at the initiation of a fight, both players must drop their sticks so as not to use them as a weapon. Players must also “drop” or shake off their protective gloves in order to fight bare-knuckled (essentially “throwing down the gauntlet”). Officials punish combatants with five-minute major penalties for fighting (hence the phrase “five for fighting”).  —Wikipedia.
 
 
 
The early Christians
Often mentioned
Their opposition
To the Roman games:
 
To the blood sport
Of the gladiators,
And to the lions untamed
As they tore into the torsos
Of the enslaved and condemned
To satisfy and pacify
The crowd’s every whim.
 
(It was considered a sin.)
 
And on occasion,
The coliseum was even flooded
For boats to battle each other
On man-made waves.
Only God knows how many perished
In the blood and mud and fire
Of that spectacular, theatrical age!
 
And yet,
Here I am today
Cheering my own cherished gladiators
On a more contemporary stage…
A stage of unforgiving ice
That shows blood nicely.
 
The players’ skates are slicing across the rink
As they go dashing down the length
Of bright white to struggle in the corner
For the vulcanized rubber puck.
 
And as their sticks flash like swords
And they crash into the boards
This game of both talent and luck
Brings me to my feet,
Screaming bloody murder.
 
(I’m a good Christian man,
Born of a good Christian mother.)
But I’m also an unrepentant fan
Of this incredible display
Of courage and skill…
 
What can I say?
For when the teeth go flying
And it’s five for fighting,
I’m right there with the crowd
Chanting kill, kill, kill!
 
 
 
 
 
When Wonder Turns To Praise
 
 
For this is an experience which is characteristic of a philosopher,
this wondering: this is where philosophy begins and nowhere else.
--Plato, Theaetetus.
 
But Mary treasured all these words
and pondered them in her heart. 
The Gospel of Luke, 2:19.
 
 
A mother
must be made
of much more
than mere maternity
 
to birth a child
so adored
and enamored of eternity.
 
For the Holy Ghost
made the Lord of Hosts
a temple inside your womb
 
and when you said “Yes”
the angels confessed
that the devil’s reign was doomed.
 
No one expected so much
from one so small…
 
-Holy Theotokos-
full of grace.  We ponder
the wonder
of it all. 
 
 
Bio: Among other things, Daniel is the lead singer/lyricist for the indie rock band, Mining for Rain , and a member of the Colorado Poets Center. His full-length poetry collection, A Poet Playing Doctor , will be released in the fall of 2015 by Alabaster Leaves Publishing. To learn more, visit: http://about.me/dklawitter
 
 

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