The Dedication
Solomon prayed on his knees,
shouting to Yahweh
to be pleased and come dwell
in their midst,
in the house they’d built.
Trumpets, tambourines,
drums thumbed in welcome,
blaring to break
through blue atmosphere,
purple, ringed fingers
stretched in praise,
calloused hands,
stomping boots,
Hiram holding
his aged mother’s hand,
singing with the band
and leaning against
Boaz;
priests slashing,
cymbals crashing,
girls trained to dance
leaping through each sash;
red Jerusalem filled with hearts
racing to see their God.
Holy Spirit rushing in
a hot wind of fire,
setting ablaze each
cheek, flash of orange in
three million eyes
consuming thousand-strong sacrifices.
Emmanuel has arrived.
Cedars of Lebanon
Bird-songs echo, cutting
through green needle layers
packing Lebanon’s floor
and webbing its skies,
cutting clean through April’s
baby blue air where
cedars’ ridge-wrapped
strength stands safe,
till Israeli lumberjacks
10,000 strong tramp
through the forest, whistling
harmony to Oriole
while Shrike laughs
that they’re off-tune.
Thirty Hebrew
dialects sound while the
temple’s walls, floors, and doors
in original form fall heavily
in hallelujah.
Maybe Yahweh thought then
of Jesus falling for a new temple
in our hearts, built of love,
overlaid in grace. Does wood remember?
Will you, cedar, worship too when
priests’ incense swings sweet your way
and the light of seventy candlesticks
reflects on your bare face?
Or will you whisper curious and taunted
beneath your gold overlay—peeking into
God’s presence?
Will the Spirit seep through the cracks
to thank you for your service?
Vessels of Sacrifice
Pedaling
around and around,
water slipping against palms,
seeping through braced
fingers—water to hand, hand to clay,
clay to wheel,
wheel to drumming foot.
The shape rises and descends
in bows; the potter teaches
purpose in the making.
Sticky hands embrace
the form meant to catch
dripping crimson,
somber liquid
hot like the sinner’s shame,
the shepherd’s sorrow,
and the Creator’s aching wrath.
Kaleigh Bowie is a musician, poet, and painter from West Virginia who seeks to glorify God through her artistic expressions of the everyday. She holds a BA in English from Fairmont State University and is a graduate of the Students for Life Hildegard Art Fellowship. Her poetry and paintings have appeared in Fairmont State’s Whetstone literary journal. She is blessed in marriage and has a ten-month-old daughter, Clover.