Vibrated across vocal cords,
in shapes, patterns, and styles
understood by cultures,
or at least by someone
whose eardrums twitch,
they attempt to connect minds,
if not souls,
by painting verbal images
across the atmosphere.
There comes a day, however,
when verbosity arrives
one too many times,
and at least one conversant
recognizes the need
to let the silence do the talking.
This is the day…
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
Torn out, old flooring was found
dumped into a small cemetery.
What, pray tell,
were the perpetrators thinking?
“The long-dead won’t mind.”?
“Their descendants probably don’t even
come by here anymore.”?
But I saw, heard, and felt
something different;
something more:
a message from the trees
whose lives were taken
to make the flooring:
“Forget the gold-paved streets
that we’ve been convinced
line the paths of eternity.
It’s sister and brother tree
who lay down their lives,
so that a smooth surface
can be provided us,
and all who came before us;
not merely to get from
one place to another,
but also to dance,
as we sing the harmonies
of hope.”
Do you hear the music?
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
Ah, yes; maybe
learning how to love
requires not that we
face our own death
with trumped-up bravado.
Perhaps it demands, instead,
that we begin to recognize
both the insignificance
of our own single grain of sand
on the beach of eternity,
and, much more,
the infinitude of grace
that needs, knows, and loves
the very speck-ness
of who we are, unconditionally.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
At first breath,
it sounds so gentle,
like a delicate flower,
subject to destruction
by the brutality
of sun, wind, and/or rain.
It’s not until we catch a whiff
of its overpowering scent,
and its diamond-like
strength and beauty flash
before our eyes,
that we begin to realize
that its gift is
so deeply enmeshed
in the marrow of godness
that no one anywhere
or anytime could ever
hold a candle to its splendor.
Its gloria magisterium
is unveiled when
we begin to understand
gratitude and generosity
as the sole highways
on which we can pay it forward.
Matthew 15:21-28
clearly indicates
even the incarnate one
needs a passel on occasion.
Grace.
Let ‘er ride!
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
To write it another way,
author-ity,
or the action
and understanding
of the author.
To have authority
is to be so deeply
connected to
and enmeshed in
the story
that we can see
and influence
what happens next.
It is the capacity
to convince other characters
to willingly participate
in creating
a perceived outcome.
There is but a single
true authority,
but sometimes we’re able
to function
on the author’s behalf
within the chapters
in which
we find ourselves.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
“Do the best you can until you know better.
Then when you know better, do better.”
Maya Angelou
The road to a fool’s paradise
is paved with the egos
of all whose view
is always down their nose.
I keep thinking that
we know better,
but we aren’t doing better,
so I guess not.
Ignorance is often thought
to be a lack of knowledge
and/or understanding;
but sometimes it’s simply
choosing to ignore
what we don’t want
to acknowledge:
ignore-ance.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
As evening unfolds
and lumens give way to night,
remember that what we need
doesn’t always appear in light.
Sometimes, in the dark,
when breath is all we feel,
we hear the whisper of love
and understand what’s real.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
When faith,
via the rigidity of religion,
weds (or is it weeds?)
itself to empire,
power, and/or politics,
the foundations
of Mercy, Justice, Love,
and especially Grace
are cloistered and compromised
to feed the beasts
of influence, power, and control.
Once this absorption occurs,
only those thoroughly soaked
in a marinade of divine humility
are capable of stepping up
and speaking out,
inviting all whose hearts
hunger and thirst
for Community and Hope
to rise up to their raison dêtre.
The twitching and the sparks
in the hallway between
your mind and heart
are the font of your invitation.
Do you feel and see it?
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
’Tis a day we’ve set aside
to honor and appreciate
all whose labor has carried us,
as communities and as a nation,
through the years;
especially those who’ve born
the burden on their backs,
and even around their necks,
with less than adequate
or appropriate compensation.
Remind us, O God,
of the respect we owe,
and give us gratitude and gumption,
so that we may step up and speak out,
especially when corporate greed
attempts to sink its sharpened claws
into laborers’ skin,
in efforts to reward
CEOs and shareholders
with that which laborers deserve.
Show us how
to effectively reciprocate through
our own labor of love.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
Intelligent people know
what they know
and what they don’t.
Wise people seek
the help of others
to increase the former
and decrease the latter.
Foolish people are convinced
they know enough
(or maybe everything),
and are fearful of
and in denial of
their own ignorance.
Lord, please, toss me
from every throne
of foolishness
to which I cling,
and walk me down the road
toward the hut of wisdom.
Proverbs 18:2
A fool takes no pleasure
in understanding, but only
in expressing personal opinion.
© 2026 Todd Jenkins
