Mount Zion Ryan

Been a long time ain’t it.
Blogrims. Plain and simple.

One.
Been listening to Stephen King’s Dark Tower magnum opus in audio book form on my daily commute. I’m on book 3, The wastelands, and I am loving it.

My own reading style borders on skimmming. Sometime I read too fast and miss colorful, but non-plot related details. Like Oy’s voice: low and gruff. Listening to the book has forced me to hear every word. If I were in school, I’d be very tempted to use audio books for any literature assignment I had. And I am a serious reader. I never thought I’d be such a fan of audio books. But really, isn’t it like having mom or dad read to you, except now the stories are all grown-up.

Two.
Faith and Faithfulness.
When he followed The Lord’s command to leave his ancestral home, Abraham was exhibiting his faithfulness. When he followed The Lord’s command to sacrifice his son, Abraham was exhibiting his faithfulness.

Not Faith. Faith is what you believe. Faithfulness is how you act on that belief. I can’t imagine ever losing my Faith. I have no doubts about any part of the Creed. But most often I don’t act that way. Especially recently.

Oh, it’s nothing dramatic. And maybe it’s more insiduous because it’s not dramatic. My faithfulness is way down. Oh, we still go to Liturgy on Sundays, but I’d much rather read a book or go to a Chinese Restuarant than go to the Akathist on Tuesdays. And reading, not interested. Oh, I’m reading plenty. Just nothing particularly spiritually noursihing. My reading is like a pickle: it tastes good but doesn’t have any nutritional value.

So pray that my heart will soften and I wil get my butt back in gear. Please.

Three.
Mike and I were interviewed by a local newspaper recently. I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. What an ego stroke! Someone asking me questions about me and stuff I love? Bring it on. I could talk for hours! The interview went well.

While we were waiting for Mike, Liz (the interviewer) asked me if I ever wrote poetry.

“Well,” I replied, “In High School I thought I wrote poetry. I have since realized the error of my belief.”

She mentioned being put off by the esoteric reputaion poetry has (and this from someone who had won the Knoxville Writer’s Guild Robert Burns Poetry Award–so I listened). She mentioned Billy Collins‘ poetry and I said I almost always like what Garrison Keilor reads on the Writer’s Almanac. I mentioned Ted Kooser (although I couldn’t remember his name). It got me thinking about poetry.

So I wrote one yesterday. Then I proptly sent it to a magazine as a submission. Here it is:

I Want an Office With a Window
By Ryan Shelton

The florescent lights, the computer’s fan
and the air conditioner’s gentle murmur
are all the sounds I hear.
They aspire to be crickets and whippoorwills
in the meadow of my standard government issue office.

A box labeled, “Personal desk starter kit”
raises my monitor to eye level.
How can “21 indispensable office products
in one convenient kit”
be personal?

I sincerely doubt its merits, but it was fairly spontaneous, has two levels of meaning, and even now I feel pretty good about it.

So I am writing poetry something that resembles poetry.

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