(NOTE: some of this is repeat, just want to post chapter by chapter. Had to finish Chapter 1, so here is the entirety of that. Currently working on Chapter 2, so stay tuned.)

A BROKEN HOME

I heard the door slam solidly behind me, and took the stairs two at a time. I dashed through the pouring Gulf Coast rain to the bus stop.

“Hey.” I nodded in the general direction of an older gentleman sitting on the bench, inches from the pouring rain. “You doing okay today?”

Come, explore the world of the Great White Whale
That sailors used to know;
Join Starbuck in the dinghy that
Can but gasp in the sea's swirling foam.

Tired? - throw your troubles
On any passer-by!
Try your hand at a Southern boy's trick:
Present your toils as artsy style.

Laugh at the Catbird, cry with 'the boy,'
Feel chills at the black cat's call!
Know the dread of the red-eyed dragon,
Let a feathered thing carry you through all.

**These are shorter poems with no relation to each other whatsoever.... I guess this is kind of like Anna's Nonsense Poets, but I'm not planning on making more of these....**

I wrote this poem for a newpaper that our creative writing class has been working on. Just to make everything clear, we all have pen-names so I used those in the poem. So it makes more sense, I am the Editor (Ebenezer Cliesbotham), the Brit is Jonathon Hill, Alecia is Markus Jack and Kendra is Jacques Nichols:) Anyway, hope everyone gets some fun out of it!
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

In the novel The Lilies of the Field, by William E. Barrett, the two main characters, Mother Maria Marthe and Homer Smith, were similar in many ways, yet different too. One of the similarities they shared was that both Mother Maria and Homer wanted to be in charge. While Homer was constructing the chapel, Mother Maria and he kept getting into arguments about if whether Homer was doing it right or not. Homer and Mother were both very adamant about what they wanted and did give in easily. When Homer was trying to get permission to buy the nuns food, Mother kept saying no.

Throughout history, humans have been fascinated by the fantastic. Miracles, heroes, and tales of magic all draw crowds of people, clamoring for an escape from the mundane reality of their everyday existences. Prior to this current age of technology in which distracting entertainment is available at the flick of a switch or the click of a button, these unsatisfied hearts turned to books to take them outside of themselves, to catch them up in a world outside their own.

No one can be a poet just because they want to be. To write poetry, just like all the other arts, you have to be meant to--that is, God has to want you to. No one can write poetry--real poetry, mind, that's true and good and at least halfway deserving of the word "beautiful"--without God putting it in them; without Him speaking into their souls every single word. I know by experience that it is the same way with writing books. Every character, every conversation, every circumstance is inspired by God's voice.

A number of thoughts have been running through my mind of late, on the subject of J. R. R. Tolkien in relationship to the recent films put out, based upon the first and second books of his trilogy. I would be apt to suppose the dear man in a most wearying state of despondency if I did not believe him to be in Heaven by now. If he is, it is a wondrous mercy, and if not, alas! I pray he shall be there shortly. One can hardly suppose him to be rejoicing at the moment, in consideration of the two recent films. At least I, for one, cannot.

“There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” Most everyone has heard these words before, I suppose. Indeed the statement has become so familiar to us as to make it hard for us to look deeper to grasp their full meaning. If you think a moment you will soon realize the words, and I am sure most of us would agree that, should it ever come to it, we would be willing to die for our friend. Though we can only hope to be given the courage and constancy to really do it.