Windhover a Journal of Christian Literature
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Windhover A Journal of Christian Literature Windhover A Journal of Christian Literature April 2011 Volume 15 Windhover A Journal of Christian Literature Volume 15 • April 2011 Editor Audell Shelburne Contributing Editors Joe R. Christopher Michael H. Lythgoe Art Editor Helen Kwiatkowski Assistant Editors Jenny Bell Beth Melles Print Coordinator Randy Yandell Board of Advisors Brian Blackley, North Carolina State University Laura Payne Butler, Sul Ross University Scott Cairns, University of Missouri Theresa DiPasquale, Whitman College Chris Willerton, Abilene Christian University Cover: Vessel by Johanna Mueller Cover design by Helen Kwiatkowski Copyright © 2011 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Press Dr. Randy O’Rear, President & CEO Belton, Texas In Memoriam John Thomas Shawcross Born February 10, 1924 Died March 8, 2011 Forward This is the fi fteenth volume of Windhover, my eighth to produce as chief editor. I approach its release with an odd mix of feelings: pride, as I look back over the previous issues to see the improvements in quality; pleasure, as I see the names of so many writers who are now among my friends; satisfaction, as I consider the continued successes of writers who have blessed us with their work; and more than a little sadness. I am sad to say that this issue will be my last as editor. I am grateful to many people for their help: Joe Christopher, Michael Lythgoe, Helen Kwiatkowski, Chris Willerton, Carolyn Poulter, Beth Melles, and Jenny Bell, who have served as editors through the years. I am thankful for the fi nancial support of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Without it, the journal would not exist. I am also sad to report the death of John Shawcross. I fi rst met John at the John Donne Society. He was a legendary endowed professor and scholar, and I was a timid graduate student who happened to be reading a paper on the same panel. He bolstered me and helped me fi t in. Years later, John welcomed my request to become a member of the Board of Advisors of Windhover. I initially had hoped that he would merely lend me his good name to help me promote the journal, to broaden its appeal to another set of readers. I should have known that John would not accept an empty honorifi c title. Each year after I sent him his copy of the journal to thank him for his willingness to help me, I would receive a four- or fi ve-page handwritten note, detailing his criticism of the most recent issue and his responses to the different poems, stories, art, and reviews. He let me know when something worked, when it failed, when we were being too didactic, or whatever. And, anyone who knew John will not be surprised to learn, he was always right. I wanted to say “almost always,” but, looking back over his notes to me, I don’t see a single time that his advice regarding Windhover was wrong. If you don’t know his work, google “Shawcross” and “Milton” or “Donne” and see what you have been missing. You will fi nd some of his 200 articles and more than 20 books. What you probably will not see is his congenial nature, his support and encouragement of students, young scholars, and professors, his kindness and love for people, all of which are even more striking when you understand the intellectual vigor and rigor and passion for literature, letters, and art. John Shawcross was one of a kind. I will miss his hand on my shoulder. While Windhover transitions to a new editor, I encourage you to support it and make it even better. I once had Field of Dreams syndrome, believing that if we published a high-quality journal, the sales and subscriptions would follow. But I’ve learned that building baseball fi elds in the middle of cornfi elds probably means empty seats. The new editor will need you as writers, but also as promoters and subscribers. Buy a copy for your church, your mother, or your local library. Spread the word and help Windhover fl y a little higher as dawn breaks on a new era. Audell Shelburne Editor, 2002-2011 Contents Forward Poetry Mark E. Harden Lesson ........................................................................................1 Karla K. Morton Holy Relics, the Turning Point ............................................2 Vicki Collins Heaven Came Down ...............................................................3 Philip C. Kolin A Butterfl y Sonata ..................................................................4 An Autopsy of the Crucifi xion ..............................................5 Sherry Craven Resurrection ............................................................................6 Transformation .......................................................................7 Christopher Anthony Fahy The Massacre of the Innocents ............................................8 Catherine L’Herisson Like a Fisherman ....................................................................9 Michael Hugh Lythgoe Tree Pollen at Easter ...........................................................10 Nathan Brown Ice and Snow ..........................................................................11 At Your Funeral .....................................................................12 All the Same............................................................................13 Lyman Grant Answered Prayers .................................................................14 Sometimes I Cannot .............................................................15 Joe R. Christopher On a Friend Becoming an Oblate In the Order of Julian of Norwich ....................................16 Donna Bowling Chisos Basin, Big Bend ........................................................18 Chet Corey Judas and the Three Ravens ..............................................19 Larry D. Thomas The Wind .................................................................................20 Winter Doves ..........................................................................21 Joan Mazza Makeovers ...............................................................................22 Mary Jo Balistreri Touched by the Sacred ........................................................23 Alan Berecka Divine Error ...........................................................................24 Shopping for Miracles: Lourdes 1979 ...............................25 J. Paul Holcomb Labor as Worship ..................................................................26 Jim Davis God Country ...........................................................................27 Douglas G. Campbell To Return ................................................................................28 Sarah Rehfeldt What the Light Can Conjoure ............................................29 Barbara Crooker Reformed .................................................................................41 Alan Birkelbach Quickening .............................................................................42 David Craig The Three Companions of St. Francis ..............................43 Nora M. Olivares First Exile ...............................................................................48 Angela Alaimo O’Donnell Peter’s Glimpse ......................................................................49 Last Rite ..................................................................................50 The Long Run.........................................................................51 Prose: Fiction, Essays, Interviews and Reviews Jacqueline Kolosov The World According to My Daughter .............................52 Elizabeth Bruce Watching Over Pink Peas ...................................................57 Joseph A. Parente St. Greta ..................................................................................62 Hannah Heath Johnson October ....................................................................................75 Mary Chandler Mr. Train Man and Martha .................................................82 Sørina Higgins The Eighth Annual George Nixon Memorial Lecture: Interview With Kelly Cherry ..............................................87 Michael Hugh Lythgoe A Review of Pharaoh’s Daughter .................................... 98 Barbara Crooker A Review of Slipping Out of Bloom ...............................101 Artwork John S. Hancock Artist’s Statement .................................................................33 Johanna Mueller Artist’s Statement .................................................................67 Contributors .............................................................................. 104 VOLUME 15 Mark E. Harden LESSON a poor imitation of its namesake, its fi berglass blades fractured beyond repair, the broken Black Hawk plummets— Icarus found that folly trumps technology… be them titanium or wax, wings will fail— only gods may glide free on warm sea winds 1 W INDHOVER Karla K. Morton Holy Relics, the Turning Point And the Lord said to Joshua, “Tell them to take up 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them…that the Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea...so that all the peoples of the earth might know the mighty hand of the Lord.” —Joshua 4: 3-7, 23-24 The day the San Gabriel went dry, we stood, unbelieving, on the banks… Walking down where no dry feet had been, we gathered pointed stones of fl int, shaped by ancient hands, to remind us of that miraculous summer day, when we gave up our old lives, and clung to each other,