"In the Beginning Was the Word," poetry

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2021.

Introduction

"The disciple whom Jesus loved," John, the last person to write a scriptural account of Christ's life and preaching and miracles (about 98 CE), repeats little of what we find in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. One might ask, why did he write this titular work? John 20:31, provides an answer: "These [words] have been written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." This Bible book carries great weight in many other ways, too. Consider, for starters, lessons in love (John 21:15), loyalty (21:20b), kindness (2:10, 11), and courage (2:15). Consider, too, as a work "inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16), John helps us "discern thoughts and intentions" (Hebrews 3:14)-even the sense, the state of our hearts.

An excerpt, based on chapter 16 of John

"Did a stork bring me

To be your little boy?" Bobby asked

As his mother sprinkled diced

Tomatoes on his taco

(That had a crunchy shell,

The way he especially liked it!).

"A stork?" his father said, his wife

Looking over at him, smirking.

"Yes," Bobby said, joyfully munching

On his Mexican wonder.

"A girl at kindergarten told me today

That a stork brought her home

To her mummy and daddy."

His mother had not stopped smirking.

"Well, Papa?" she said. "What do

You have to say about that?"

Everybody stopped eating to

Listen to what Papa had to say.

The author

Dan Lukiv is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). His creative writing has appeared in 19 countries. Recently, he has been experimenting with temporal shifts and narrative strings in his haiku and senryu.