Jean Janzen

THE ARCHITECTURE OF FALLING

This house is married
to its shadow. Every morning
the stretch of angle and roof
over the clipped lawn, the slow

rise, braced and upright
into the bright unity of noon.
Shadow pulls west over
the plum trees into stains

of gold and lavender,
and under night’s wing they sleep
together, floor boards
creaking, dry rot spreading

under the eaves. Cypress leans
into the roof tiles, strokes
and loosens them. For falling
is the life of house and shadow,

the light holding their vows
as they become one.

ALPHA & OMEGA

I didn’t know that the tent we made
that night to help our infant breathe
was in two worlds until I,

lying beside her with intent to watch,
awakened from a heavy sleep into
a glow unnatural, and her pink cheeks.

Or how often we are covered
by Alpha pitched among us
as the shining Omega surrounds.

Child in my lap with burned hands,
screaming, and then her whimpering
sleep, both of us held.

A woman now, her scars,
my lap, widen in the great O.

I believe that a central task of the poet is to awaken the reader/listener to the wonder of life. This is where worship begins and from where we can grow in our praise, confession, and journey with others in community. Artists seek to be a true witness, to name both the beauty and the horror of our experience. All the arts offer us new eyes, new ways to imagine and to participate with God in restoration and transformation of this broken world.

Jean Janzen is a poet in Fresno, Cal., whose latest collection of poetry is Piano in the Vineyard (Good Books). She also has written a book of essays, Elements of Faithful Writing (Pandora Press). She is a member of College Community MB Church in Clovis, Cal.