The Words
Post Author: Amber Inscore Essick
The Words
Fall 2017
The blank page.
That they do not come is
a trouble to me,
And that trouble—at times stacked
carelessly among other troubles—
accuses me, like other aspects
of a self-doubting mind,
Of negligence to my vocation, of
insufficient time spent
on any given task.
And yet, I might not hear the
Call, proper, in time at all, but
only in retrospect,
As a song sung back from the end of all things,
to their beginning,
my ears picking up only
a faint melody
in any given moment,
which is, itself, troubling.
When I was laboring to birth a
child, I was permitted
To trust myself, to sink down into
myself long enough
and deeply enough
to get something born.
But, day to day, cries from the
surface dissolve the thoughts
before they are born
onto the page, their
intentions never
ripening, clarifying, or even
declaring themselves fully,
even to me.
“No one knows the hour, not
even the Son of Man.”
Indeed.
The surface, the moment, calls,
and thus is not given
what it needs,
A woman delivered of the words.
Reverend Amber Inscore Essick and her husband John co-pastor Port Royal Baptist Church, a rural congregation along the Kentucky River. She is also the Adjunct Professor of Christian Worship at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. Her three children Olin, Leif, and Wren ensure that there is no shortage of questions, laughter, singing, or shenanigans in and around the church.
Image by: Amber Inscore Essick
Used with permission
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