Poetry with photos by Jobie Avonley

Beaming love

a sacred poem

by Jobie Townshend-Zellner

(aka Jobie Avonley)

Please visit link to read:

https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/449gaq6gja?s=copylink

Liberty's Peace*

My country, ’tis of We

that you are born free

so all may sing.

Our humble immigrants 

working off their pants

from every human voice

may freedom ring.

This land of freedom 

won't last without us

our hearts must sing:

Praise for good given 

Censure for injustice 

that grace may cover mistakes 

to reconcile us. 

We love our inward peace 

well fought for in battle 

against misguided evil.

Our neighbor’s not our enemy.

That's only a mask to get our fight up 

and rob us all of freedom

we hold so dear. 

God wasn't just with our parents.

Divine Good’s our center and circumference 

to bless us all.

We join forces with our opponents 

to be set free from disunity

that we may not destroy each other 

but be set free.

Free to differ and discuss 

but never speak with disgust

of our fellow citizen. 

Honor our difference 

hallow our diligence 

to see all equal

in Liberty’s peace.

by Jobie Avonley

*New lyrics for the tune 

“America/My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

The Wooden Boxes of January 6, 2021

You three boxes would be unfolding history

with your Electoral College paper ballots 

of the United States 2020 Presidential election.

Former election cycles saw you not on public view.

Come this day, your wide-spread invisibility dissolved

as television and internet viewers witnessed 

your prolonged stay in Congressional halls.

It seemed the tallest of the brown shiny wooden boxes

hovered over the smaller ones like a big brother.

Yet all were secured alike. Two vertical leather-like straps

buckled in your contents; a third circled your mid-sections.

Yet, before you finished your silent civic duty

you were unceremoniously picked up by your handles

to accompany exiting Congressional lawmakers.

Subsequently, you were ushered back into the chamber.

You didn’t look bent out of shape at all.

Your visages had no ponderosity 

nor the jawboning of elected officials.

Calmly you stood while Mike Pence finished roll call 

on this day - just ordinary for you, but an epiphany 

of sorts for the rest of the nation!

- Jobie Avonley

Destiny for the U.S.

Is democracy in decline in the USA?

Well, it’s up to us to say.

Even if we follow self-rule to its tomb

it’s not final. There’s still a fix.

Self-government can rise again.

Stick with it to the end -

if needed, await its Phoenix.

 - Jobie Avonley

Here – a Piece of Paper

Here, your listening ear 

landing pad for creation. 

Here, the potter’s wheel 

centers imagination.

Here, chisel meets stone – 

transfigures a world apart. 

Here, the open door. 

Here, the ships depart.

Here, the seedbed 

and the watering can.

 -   Jobie Avonley 

Joy for us!

I am 

in awe of 

mirrors. 

They redirect

light to 

touch us. 

Oh Divine One

praise Your dispatch 

of reflectors

of all kinds -

the faces, places

talents, that shine 

Your grace 

into darkened hearts 

rekindling their flames.

I praise God for poetry - 

like sunlight reflected off 

deep blue bay waters

it brightens our days 

brings joie de vivre

to you and me!

   - Jobie Avonley

Carvings in Rock

It’s in the breaking of the seed 

that new growth begins.

Purity of water has power

as strong as love.

When we break bread, do we

recall the farm workers’ bending backs?

Using Apple devices, do we dwell on the close 

quarters of those toiling to make them?

Will we recall and empathize with the plight

of workers slaving for our creature comforts

when we let ourselves be touched, and no longer

toss our heads and say “Cry me a river”?

Crying out, crying for, lost humanity - if we 

all united in that the flood of our caring

would break open calloused hearts.

As surely as ocean tides carve

new forms on coastal rock cliffs

we would carve new forms of 

humane actions - guided by our 

tenderness, newly broken open.

   - Jobie Avonley

SHADOW-WAR HERO

Once shadows were exciting!

Dark cloud shadows, with scent of coming rain

The shrinking shadow of a descending carrying-my-friend plane

Fan blade shadows, rotating over my summer reading

But lately, gloomy shadows have come creeping

across my mental landscape, screaming

fearfully ominous lies in my face,

as I’m forging ahead with good projects in my embrace.

“Why are you doing this at all?

“Somebody else could do it much better than you!”

“Your efforts for good are so small 

nothing worthwhile will ever come through!”

I should have slammed the door in their faces!

They now hover over me, a black umbrella in all places,

blocking the light, suffocating what’s right.

Under their shadow, will I ever grow?

Hello, warm friend! I feel bouncing off you, the light of what’s true!

Can I grow across to you? 

No. To be upright, 

I, myself, have to head towards the light!

Thank you for your reflected light, it’s given me courage to fight.

I will destroy this tyrannical umbrella of lies by being wise.

When they’re not looking,

I’ll give them the boot with what’s true:

“Why are you doing this at all?”

I’m doing this because of my divine call.

over which you have no power at all!

“Somebody else could do it much better than you!”

There’s no one who’s “better” - what’s needed is my uniqueness;

but you can’t understand that - you represent mass hypnosis.

“Your efforts for good are so small -

nothing worthwhile will ever come through!”

My efforts are more than your unlawful lies, which are zero.

My source is endless good, which ultimately rules as hero.

   - Jobie Townshend-Zellner