Category: Art

The words I give you

that they may be read

and spead their infection

into the future

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 16, 2006

Whatsoever it was

we are willing

to work together

with you

to repair

the rift

to seal

the breach

to integrate

our existences

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 1, 2006

The urge to expend all energy

to protect the container is strong

but what good does it do

to protect the body

if the spirit dies

Time demands its payment

Youth cannot be defended

by surrendering

to the needs of the flesh

The vessel slowly deteriorates

worn down joints

creak with every motion

muscles are too stiff

bones become brittle

but the contents

the mind/soul

can be bright and vital

growing fresher

with each new thought

with each opinion challenged

with each dip in the fountain

of knowledge

I will be forever young

if I continue to bathe

in the River of New

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–April 4, 2006

Most important of all

common ground occurs

when people are willing

to be changed

by the effort they make

to seek it

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 10, 2006

Such small minds

in fear they cower

preferring deceit

over truths

which they cannot

fully comprehend

My God

how their souls

must be shrivelled

stained by

false bravado

unmistakably

obvious

as they pollute

our mutual

reality

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 28, 2006

They lack a sense

of brotherhood

toward so many kinds of people

for union members

for whom it has

special meaning

for immigrants of any kind

legality be damned

for those whose roots

weren’t cultivated

in the appropriate loam

kinship even denied

with their own children

if they happen to be queer

no empathy felt

for those whose skin tones

haven’t been created

recently enough

by lounging in the sun

nor sympathy for people

whose cupboards are too bare

from one day to the next

If you don’t believe

what they believe

then to hell with you

There is no crown

for there is too little good

to place one upon

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–April 14, 2006

I do not set aside

the grace of God,

for if righteousness

could be gained

through the law,

Christ died for nothing!”

–Gal 2:21

Shedding Grace



God’s Eye

God sheds grace on us?

The shedding of grace

has a human face

We are graced with hunger

to measure our sense of charity

We are graced with poverty

to challenge us

to solve economic

inequity and despair

We are graced with pestilence

but also graced

with the scientific curiosity

necessary for us

to defeat disease

We are not graced with war

That is our doing

it is our responsibility to end it

We are not graced with greed

which is rather a byproduct

of the rotting

of human souls

We are not graced

with the false profiteers

who use religion

to tear us apart

when its purpose

is to bring us together

to give us common bonds

under our separate roofs

We have spurned

the grace of God

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 30, 2006

Fruited Plains



Food?

At the edge

of forests healthy

for everything

but animals or trees

lie the fruited plains

blistered with toxins

alchemically nurtured

in a liquid

roughly water

strange brew

what’s inside of you

Groves of blemished trees

bearing produce

invisibly bruised

dripping venomous juices

like Snow White’s apple

We are fashioned

into laboratory mice

to ascertain

how much poison

we can consume

and remain vaguely human

while we are forced

to pay exorbitant fees

for what passes

as our health

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 29, 2006

Purple mountains

or any color

once majestic

now leveled

rock crushed

for oil

or hollowed out

emptied of coal

except where it burns

or blown apart

in the search

for fancy rocks

The weapon

that destroys the mass

is fueled by the lives

of men too poor

badly educated and so ill-treated

lubricated by the greased palms

of partisan self-interest

and naked incivility

of so-called servants

and dangerously driven

by the avarice

of men too rich

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 24, 2006

Franklin proclaimed them
to us in 1941

Norman drew them

for us in 1943

We have lived our lives

in search of them

They are our most deeply

held convictions

Four are the freedoms

and the freedoms are for

all humans everywhere

They are the goal

Freedom of Speech

Free to talk
and hear
Free to write
and read
Free to teach
and learn
Free to create
and experience

Freedom to Worship

whomever or no one
whatever or nothing
whenever or never
wherever or nowhere
however or not at all
why ever or for no reason
the religion, philosophy, or ethos
the faith or belief we choose

Freedom from Fear

of oppression and brutality
by tyrants or despots
by bullies or demagogues
of killing and slaughter
because of nationality or religion
because of race or culture
of disease and corruption
of bodies or minds
of institutions or leaders
of rape and torture
of people or nature
of wallets or souls

Freedom from Want

of food
and drink
of lodging
and warmth
of work
and self-worth
of respect
and value

These are our values

or so I was taught

So what the fuck

is happening to us now

I

am
so
ashamed

We

are
fucking
pissed

It is

time for
them
to go

Help me

take back
this land
from them
–Robyn Elaine Serven
 –December 23, 2005

Amber Waves


Amber Waves

Probably it’s both.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 21, 2006