Category Archives: Writing

Clear Gospel, Ambivalent Art Part 1

Jackson Pollock's Mural #631

Last summer, I was asked to join a team that would be responsible for creating a monthly night of worship, called First Wednesday. Our goal is to provide a moment for people to refocus their faith and respond in some way. We attempt to accomplish this goal through music, storytelling, scripture, and…art! My role is twofold: (1)to take the ideas of the group and write a script for the storyteller and (2)to help lead a team of artists that creates original work based on the theme of the night. The art is on display for people to observe as they show up and leave, and then it’s moved to be on display for a month. Incorporating art into the worship experience is a new idea at our church, and I’ve already learned quite a bit about artists, non-artists, and folks who have no idea what to do, say, or think when coming face to face with art.

One of our church’s goals is to share the clear gospel message at every event. And by gospel, I mean the message that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, resurrected from the dead to give us his gift of grace and salvation, and all we have to do to receive that gift is to believe that Jesus, the son of God, died and rose again. There are many philosophies, theologies, and opinions out there that vary from this stance, so we are intent on being crystal clear regarding the words, teachings, and grace of Christ.

However, if we approach art in this same black and white fashion, either as viewers/readers or as creators, we end up with trite, superficial, closed-off works that fail to move/inspire/provoke/challenge.

Why is that?

Because everyone who has approached the cross and walked away from the cross has their own story. If I wrote a poem about my father’s death being the catalyst for developing my own faith, and the poem concluded that in order for you to experience God or to develop your faith, your father would have to die too. That’s ridiculous. For some people, the death of a parent equals liberty and release. For others, relief.

The best art provokes its viewers/readers to walk into the intersection of self, expression, and introspection, to get run-over (or at least honked at!), and to fly away a changed person. All without ever leaving the street.

 

Renga Party!

Calling all poets and writers! Let’s have a renga party. Right now. For those who don’t know what a renga is, click here for a quick tutorial. Here’s a quick rundown (summary) so we can get this started:

  • Renga is linked verse, composed by a group
  • Each verse must stand alone and somehow relate to the verse that comes before it
  • Verses alternate in length between 3 lines and 2 lines
  • First verse is a haiku (and all subsequent verses are written in a similar style)
  • The opening verse mentions the season of composition (it’s winter here in Colorado, USA)
  • Over the course of the renga, every season should be mentioned (not necessarily in order)
  • Each verse should link to the verse in front of it, then shift to another image/idea

That’s enough for the first go around. Let’s go for 20 verses by using the comment stream.  Don’t worry if you don’t feel like an accomplished poet. Join in the fun. Let’s see what happens! See the comment section to read the first verse. Then, first come first serve!

Blindsided: Writing Prompt from TSP

Every Day Poems posted this photograph as a prompt on their facebook page.

Blindsided
by Joel E. Jacobson

It’s when I’m already running late
that I hit every light red,
that I get stuck behind
the only guy in the state
whose 10-under-the-speed-limit-
bumper-sticker message to me
is that I need to celebrate world peas,
Darwin fish eats Jesus fish,
I should wish for coexistence–

by the way
that irony
is not funny
to me
today–

My one, true desire
is for you to get a flat tire,
pull over, and suffer
for your rush-hour sins
of being a hindrance.

Full of haste, I jerk the wheel
to fly around the hippy imbecile
when I hear the honk and squeal
and swerve back into my place in line.

My heart pounds like my mind did
moments before being blindsided
by the slap of flapping wings
in the face of judgement.

The New Tongues?

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.

I Corinthians 14:2-3 (NIV)

The “gift of tongues” is often a controversial topic in church circles. There are some churches that welcome the “gift” while others firmly teach that the “gift” no longer has a place in the modern corporate worship experience. I’ve never had the urge to blurt something in a language I’ve never learned, but have been around people who are quite thrilled to utter mumbo jumbo. I’m okay calling it mumbo jumbo, because the people I’ve heard have said that to speak in tongues, you just make up noises to praise God. A few of these people have actually told me that people are only truly saved if they speak in tongues. Forgive me for sounding skeptical, but there is so much screwed up theology that is suggested in these assertions that I refuse to give them any credit. Isn’t my salvation between me and God anyways? I’m pretty sure Jesus never said, “Believe in me and you will know a language that no other human can understand. Speak that language, and you will be saved.” The great irony here is that Jesus taught to believe in him and speak the language of love. People may not understand why they are being loved, or how to receive that love, but the language itself is clear.

I don’t want to rant to the point of losing my intent on writing about tongues in the first place. The thought struck me several weeks ago that there is a correlation between the intent of tongues and literature, especially poetry.

All poetics and schools aside, poetry is one of the core expressions of humanity. It was the first literature, the first drama. How many young writers turn to poetry when they are simply trying to find meaning in their experiences? I wonder if poetry is a (the?) lingual connection between man’s spirit and God’s.

If you read the full chapter of I Corinthians 14, you’ll notice that the use of tongues in corporate worship is only permissible when the words are interpreted. Otherwise, the words don’t mean anything for the greater congregation. Paul asserts that worshipers prophecy, or tell about their experiences and what God is doing in their lives, rather then speak in tongues and be selfish about the experience.

Could literature, or poetry for that matter, be the new tongues?

Looking at this chapter (I Corinthians 14) through a poetic lens, one could say that language is between man and God, but experience holds meaning between humans. Have you ever written a poem that held great power to you, only to have a reader say, “Huh?” With poetry, we have the intersection of “tongues” and “prophecy”, or of personal language and experience.

How often do we hold on to those inaccessible poems (outside of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland), those poems/stories that hold no meaning for the reader? I certainly don’t.

And how often do we have an opinion about a poem, and then, through the course of conversation (interpretation), our views are either solidified or broadened? I don’t think literature demands critics, but the understanding and overall joy can be maximized with insight outside my own.

___

the jibberish
of intersecting
my mind’s eye
and ear and tongue
sifts like fine dirt
through a sluice box

New Poem: On the Shore of the Jordan River

I am pleased to make two announcements regarding my poetry:

Salamander Cove is featuring three of my poems this month. Other notable poets that have been featured at Salamander Cover are Joseph Hutchison, Bill Knott, Rae Armentrout, and former US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan. I’m honored to be in such company! (Bill Knott has the majority of poems in this selection, and they are really worth reading. Fantastic work!)

I am honored to have another poem published by Catapult Magazine. Click to read “On the Shore of the Jordan River“.

Now Available: Water the Mud

Water the Mud: poems by Joel E. JacobsonI’m pleased to announce that “Water the Mud”, a chapbook of 11 poems exploring grace and compassion, is now available for purchase. These poems first took form this past summer when I collaborated with artist Nicole Brown to respond to a series of sermons about Jesus, the stories he told, and the people he interacted with. “Water the Mud” is available here. If you would like free shipping, you can purchase a copy of the book through Amazon or download it straight to your Kindle.

As a side note, this chapbook is not copyrighted, but rather it is released under a Creative Commons license, which means you, the reader, have the freedom to use these poems to inspire your own creative work, whether it be musical, visual, or another poem. The only requirement is to credit the original author. Isn’t that what art is about–sharing and creating rather than hording?

The Red Wheel Barrow, Imagination, and the Christian Poet

It has been too long since I last posted, as bronchitis and sinusitis descended into my system and knocked me out for awhile. Unfortunately, my blog and writing had to take a back seat until I had the energy and ability to write without abandoning my family and my job. Hopefully, this blog finds you in good (or returning to good!) health. I’m pleased to announce that my review of William Carlos Williams’ Spring and All has been published by the Englewood Review of Books. An excerpt:

Originally published in 1923, Spring and All, Williams’s manifesto of imagination and poetry, became one of, if not the most, influential works for mid to late twentieth-century poets. Produced on the heels of the Great War, Williams calls for new forms, new images, new beings, and new cultures because all previous forms and ideas had led us into destruction and death. Today, we again find our American selves faced with war and economic and food crises. In a country where politicians are calling for thousands of math and science teachers, where standardized tests and business skills trump imagination and art, Williams’s monumental work yet again stands at the threshold of form and tradition, begging for a savior.

Read the entire review here. Don’t forget to share your thoughts–is it too much to associate imagination and creativity with Jesus?

Beetle Trees and Creativity

Scientists are predicting that by 2012, most lodgepole pines in the Colorado Rocky Mountains will killed by beetles. I saw this sad reality in Grand Lake this past week, as my family took a quick vacation. We rented a paddle boat and chugged out into the lake. A truly gorgeous morning to be out in the mountains. And on every side of the lake, I saw more beetle-dead tress than living trees. And it made me sad. I hunted up here once with my dad when I was in high school. I camped up here one summer as a kid. My wife and I honeymooned here. And it’s all dying. You can see in the picture that the hill in the distance is covered with dead or dying trees. Forest experts say that the only way to truly kill the beetles is to burn them. I doubt that the forest service will ignite entire regions of forest land in the Rocky Mountains. Sadly, scenic drives may result in a gray and brown rocky landscape, much like McCarthy’s The Road.

As I sat in my paddle boat in the middle of Grand Lake, my family bobbing happily along, I thought momentarily about cultivation. In Genesis, God commands man to take care of the land. Even now, the land still needs our help to be healthy. Nature is equally destructive towards itself as we are, something Emerson failed to acknowledge in his Transcendentalism utopia. Our earth has the ability to restore itself, and we see it as destruction. But forest are healthier when we remove the dead wood. Various animal herds are healthier when they aren’t over-populated. There’s something to be said for intentionally nurturing, cultivating, and caring for our home. The beetle tree problem is just another example of how our world needs us as much as we need it.

And the same goes for creativity. Our natural inclination is to move towards contentment, be okay with where we are. There’s a time for that, but if we, as artists or as people, ever buy into the lie that we have arrived, that we are the ultimate in our field, the moment the beetle begins to eat away at our creative spirit. The same applies if our audience becomes more important than our actual writing, or if success and the American Dream supersedes our art. I don’t say this to suggest that we should ignore our audience. Readers are part of the process, and alienating them doesn’t really help anything. Keeping an audience in mind is different than making the audience more important than the art.

What are some things that you do to stay fresh? To nurture your creativity? To refocus on the art instead status?

Social Networking and the Artist: Part 2

In my last blog post, I highlighted my uses for Facebook and Twitter. Today, I’ll explore Google+ and explain why it’s so valuable to me and all my hats (husband/father, teacher, writer, coworker, friend). I mentioned before that sharing on Facebook is always an over share. If a friend asks how I liked his homemade beer, I don’t really want my students that follow me on Facebook to read that discussion. If a relative asks how potty training is going, I don’t need my coworkers or writing network hearing about all the places that poop can fly. Facebook is very good at keeping people in contact, but the more people you know and more networks you join, there needs to be some boundaries. Enter Google+ and circles.

For starters, why Google+? That has nothing to do with people, sharing, or networking. My best guess is this. In the top left corner, before the Gmail, docs, and calendar links there is +username. In essence, it is Google+me, and Google+you, and Google+people. Google has always been about information, but the Internet is no longer just about information, it’s about people, and connecting, and rights (I’m not sure I agree with what I just said, but that’s how people are viewing it. I’m just the messenger.). So there we have it: information+people=a more complete and powerful Internet. The thought is pretty staggering if you sit and consider all the ramifications of what that means. Anyways, let’s get on with it. Here’s a a screenshot of the user interface once you log in:

I blotted the names in the suggestions list because I don’t know 2 of them, and the third isn’t on Google+. The interface is clean and organized. My apologies to the people who most recently shared as they are on the screen shot. The Google+ profiles are also very tidy and easy to read. Here’s my Google+ profile page:

Again, nice and clean. The real deal breaker for G+ though is the use of circles. Here’s a few of my circles:

You can sort your contacts into circles simply by dragging their name and dropping them into a circle. My profile page above will look different to different circles because of the amount of information I allow to be shared with each circle. People can be in multiple circles as well. But the idea of circles is what allows me to be family, friend, teacher, coworker, and writer. I have the freedom to establish boundaries and appropriate relationships. There is a lot of talk in school districts about interacting with students online, especially through social networking sites. I wonder if Google+ can begin to change this mindset, though there will always be jerks who abuse their role and ruin it for those of us who want the best for our students. I digress.

With circles, I can post pictures of my trip to Tiny Town with my family, and only allow my family circle to see it (okay, my friends would probably be privy to it as well). If I post a tidbit of writing, I can send it just to my writers circle or post it as public. I can still network online with people, but now I can have control over who and what. It’s a beautiful thing.

As a writer, Google+ is more beneficial to me than Facebook (in terms of productivity) because I use Google Docs, Calendar, and Gmail. If you look in the screenshots, I have access to all of those in the black bar running across the top of the screen. I’ve read that Google Apps will eventually be integrated into the Google+ experience. For example, I could be writing a poem and want to share it with my workshop group. Now I have to enter their email addresses and hope that email doesn’t end up in their spam bucket. With Google+, I can potentially create a post in Google Docs and share it with my Google+ circle.They can comment, discuss, etc. and email is never involved. It can all happen right there. My writing group can also start a hangout, video chat, on those days when we are supposed to meet but we are snowed in.

The final uniquely copied attribute of Google + is the  button. Facebook has likes, Twitter has retweets, and Google+ has +1. With Google+, you can really surf the web and +1 whatever you like. You can then view those +1′s on your Google+ account and share them with others. There may be some benefits to +1 over likes, but I’m not sure I really care about it at this point.

Truth be told, I probably won’t completely abandon Facebook, though changing it to simply a fan page for writing resources is right around the corner. But as more people join Google+, my personal interactions (not personable, I’m always personable. Right? Okay, maybe not. Again, I digress.). I am ecstatic about the opportunities that Google+ presents in all facets of life.

With all of that said, Google+ has some areas of opportunity. I would like my blog to automatically post to my profile, along with my Twitter stream. There are extensions being produced that allow for such interaction between accounts, but there is also some malware being created to capitalize on the Google+ craze. So I’ll sit back for a little while and see how the extensions develop. They can’t be as bad and as invasive as Facebook apps can they?

This is my brief introduction to Google+. I really do like the platform and look forward to using it as another tool in the writers toolbox. What have your experiences with Google+ been in comparison to Facebook and/or Twitter? Does Google+ have a place in social networking or is it just trying to be that kid on the playground demanding somebody play with him?