Haiku for a morning meeting

Natter, chatter, cluck. Chickens in tight circle Chase elusive grain.

My Mother's House
My mother’s house, a big-ol’ three-storied pile,
Faux Tudor mutt, kenneled on a hill
Sloping to the Mississippi's bank.

It sat, obedient, at her command
Until the grandkids chased it around,
Stepped on its tail, and always barked back.

Then it yipped and dashed in constant motion,
One room to another, afraid to miss a moment.

When they left, it slept once more in its cage.

Project Paul

I went to see an interesting piece back at the beginning of July named Project Paul. It is a one man show covering different angles of the Apostle Paul. I found it pretty stunning.

While the show has one performer--a young man recently graduated from Lawrence University named Jonathan Roberts--there is nothing "one" about it. His brother and sister have both contributed work to this "artist's response to the Apostle Paul." The show is a combination of acting, singing, movement, sound and video.

But where some works use these elements in an orderly fashion, "Project Paul" presents all the sensations at once in an overwhelming sensory explosion. At more than one point, Paul declaims while original background music is playing, recorded voices sound underneath, and the projector plays images across Paul and the entire set, and in particularlon a cloth he is holding in just the right position to catch a flash or face or color.

As I watched, I became more and more convinced that what Jonathan Roberts was presenting us with is the "just inside the Divine madness" or borderline schizophrenia of Paul's ecstatic experience on the road to Damacus. And it dawned on me that if Paul was indeed in sensory overload, a Divine madness, that quirks and inconsistencies would be expected to decorate his work instead of mar it.

There are only two breaks of intensity in the 65 minute show: in each, Paul sits and speaks the words of the Epistles to Timothy as if speaking directly to Timothy. The silence of background and the simplicity of lighting and voice in these moments makes the words sink unavoidably deep into the listener.

Now maybe I'm showing my age with not being able to keep up with the constant stimulation, but these two quiet moments were for me the most powerful, intense moments in the show. I came out wishing for a few more like them.

Even so, I think the show is marvelous in construction and performance. It books independently into churches and colleges and if you are involved in either, I'd recommend you try to arrange a performance. More information about the show and Jonathan Roberts & compatriots can be found at http://www.projectpaul.com