A Poem: The Light

I've been really busy with end of school exams, parties, graduations and also packing to get ready to travel to Korea to visit my brother and sister-in-law. The result of all this is that I haven't been able to post anything recently. So here's a quick poem that I'll throw up before I go. This poem got third place in the Whitman Academy poetry contest for the devotional category. The Light is about how we need Jesus, we need to depend on him, we need to realize he's there, and we need to ask him for his help.

The Light

I trudge through the darkness
It weighs down on me
Burdens me
It is oppressive
It suffocates me
Wearies me
The ground beneath my feet is treacherous
I struggle to keep a footing
But the land is not firm
It gives no support
I try to fight off this shroud
This blackness
My strength is not great enough
To defeat this darkness
This evil
On its own
I am overpowered
I fall
A call for help ripping from my lungs
But am caught
By light
Golden
Pure
Amazing light
And suddenly
I'm surrounded
Given a shield
From this terrible, disgusting evil
I am strengthened
Invigorated
Most importantly of all
I am given hope
I scramble to my feet
Yelling a challenge
With this light on my side
No evil power is a match
I will make it through this hell
I know I will
I walk on
Easier, faster than before
Soon I notice
The light is receding
The darkness is encroaching
Burdening me once again
I despair as the last bit of light
Simply vanishes
I fall once more
I choke, I drown
Oh light, where have you gone?
And it is there again
Saving me once again
And I realize
It never left me to begin with
It has been there all along
I just need to accept it
Want it
Trust it
Lean completely on it
To acknowledge I will never be able to conquer anything without it
I need the light

© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson

A Poem: Where Jesus Walked

This is another poem I entered into the devotional category of the Whitman poetry contest. This poem also did not place in the contest, but I still like it a good bit. The idea for this poem came to me while I was on vacation in Israel this spring. Just like the poem starts out, the idea for this poem struck me while I was standing on the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee while the sun was setting. The poem is about how it would have been great to be alive during the time of Jesus, but the fact is that we weren't. We have to continue to live on faith alone, and we must go out and change the world one step at a time, just as he commanded us to.

Where Jesus Walked

I stand on the eastern shore
Of the sea of Galilee
The Golan Heights
Rise to the sky behind me
In the west the sun slowly sinks beneath the mountains
It sprays its glory across the water
The town of Tiberius sprawls beneath the sun
Away in the distance to the North
Can be seen the formidable outline of Mt. Herman

I breathe deeply
The wind lashes my face
The Holy Land
That is what they call it
The place where Jesus walked

A tremor rakes my body
As I realize
I'm in the very land
Where our faith began
Christ's story fills the air
It takes very little thought
To imagine him here
Walking this shore
With his disciples in tow
To see him in front of my eyes
Teaching the crowds
How great it would have been
Just to see him
To hear him
In person

Alas he conquered death
Long before my time
And now we must run
On faith alone
But if feels so great
To walk where he once tread
To see where he once broke bread

As the sun disappears
Beneath the edge of the horizon
I turn on my heel and walk away

Tim to change the world

One step

One broken piece of bread

At a time


© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson

A Poem: A Man on a Mission

This is a poem I entered into the free category in the Whitman poetry contest. It's not one of my favorites, and it wasn't one of the judge's either, it didn't place. This spring I've been struggling with a lot of frustration because I haven't been getting recognition for several things I thought I deserved the right to have recognition for. I vented this frustration into this poem, which actually isn't my first poem on this topic. The result of venting this emotion into this poem is that it isn't that great, but at least it has some feeling in it.

A Man on a Mission

Frustration

It twists me
Bends me
It crumples me up
Like a weak piece of paper
That is chucked in the trash

You refuse to acknowledge me
Yet I've proved myself
So very many times
Just give me another chance
I'll do it again
And again
As long as it takes
To make you see me

I will not give up
Will not accept being overlooked
Will not accept this denial
I do have what it takes

I've shown you it's true
But your eye has a blind spot
When it is turned my way

I won't be treated like dirt
I won't be stepped over and trod on

You better watch out
For I'm coming your way
I'm volatile, explosive
If you get in my way
I'll erupt
Like a volcano
Busting its cap

I'm out to prove myself
No matter what it takes
God help you
If you get in my way
I'm a man on a mission
I'm on my way
I only want one thing

To prove myself

© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson

Haiku's From The Inexperienced...

Writing Haiku's is something I'm completely new at. I put my hand to it the other day, only to find out that this is one form of writing that I definitely need practice at. I've been really busy lately with end-of-the-year projects for school and the like, so at the moment I don't have time to post up any of my full length poems. Anyways, I thought it would be better to throw up the two Haiku's I wrote than to post nothing at all. I decided that since I had them on hand, to chuck them into the formal category in the poetry contest at Whitman, but of course neither of them placed, no surprise there. The first one is about how amazing a pillow is at night when you return from an exhausting day, the second one is about the beauty of flowers under the night sky.

Soft feather pillow
The very best friend at night
When so exhausted


Sweet flower petals
Falling beneath the bright stars
Such a sight to see

© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson

A Poem: Can't Give Up

So this poem is one I wrote and entered into the poetry contest at Whitman. I put it in the Devotional category. It didn't place or anything, which didn't really surprise me, because this isn't one of my favorites and I don't think it's that good. It's about how even when God seems far away from us, we can't give up. We need to keep on trying, and keep on searching for him. The beginning starts off talking about how amazing he is, and how men could never compare to him. Anyways, here it is:

Can't Give Up

The flower petals
Float past my face
Their sweet scent
Tickles my nose

I inhale
Their fragrance
Blissful euphoria
Takes me in its hold

Amazing that the most simple
Of all God's creation
Can bring me more delight
Than all the grandeur of Man's

The smallest bug
More intricate
Than Man's
Greatest super computer

How is that
To tell you
That Man cannot compare
With God in the slightest?

Where is God now?
I cannot sense
His presence
I need it now

But he seems
So far away
Too distant
For me to reach

Is it time
To surrender?
I just want to lie down
And never get up

No
I can't give up
I will keep trying
To become more like him

It's hard
That's for sure
But with his help
And by his grace

If I try my hardest
I may succeed

© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson

Why Blog?

So why am I starting a blog? For multiple reasons:

• A) Because I love to write, is there any better reason to have a blog? I love turning words into stories, with a passion, and I just want to get better. If only I could transfer some of my infatuation for writing to everyone else in the world, then my dream would be complete.
  
• B) As I said in the above point: to get better at writing. Practice makes better. I refrain from saying the rather overused saying "practice makes perfect" simply because if we're honest with each other, how often does anybody's practice at something ever make them perfect at said activity? Practice can always make you better, but rarely perfect.
• C) To get any stray pieces of poetry or prose that I write out there in the open for people to read if they wish. I know that most likely the vast majority of people don't care at all about my writing and wouldn't care to read it, but I'll post it anyways for any of those few people who may actually want to give their time to it.
• D) To put any passing, random, or erratic thoughts that might go through my head onto paper, well, metaphorically onto paper anyways.
• E) Last, but not least, to search for, and to discover more about myself. To learn more about what makes me me, through one of the things I like to do best: writing.

What you can expect to find on my blog:

• Any bits of prose, poems, haiku, sonnets or anything like that that I happen to write.

• My thoughts on topics or bits of news that I happen to hear about.

• What I think about pieces of literature or books that I'm reading or have read.

• Events that happen to me during my day, or interesting conversations I hear or have with someone.

• Any stray bit of interesting thoughts that happen to fly through my head.
  

My plan is to post as regularly as possible. Due to the end of school, exams and the like, I might not be able to post that regularly until the Summer, but oh well, better something than nothing at all.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my Erratic Scribbles.