Touch the Earth – Poems on The Way

Drew Jackson is the founding pastor of Hope East Village in New York City. He is also the author of the poetry collection God Speaks Through Wombs. He and his wife have twin daughters and live in Lower Manhattan.

Foreword by Pádraig Ó Tuama



Part I: Journey





I. Students



Touch the Earth

Take Nothing

Shake the Dust

In Their Garden

House of Hunting, House of the Hunter

Silence Disrupted

We Feed Each Other

Leftovers

Streets Is Talking

Crazy Talk

Sōtēr, Pt. II

Inner Circle

Transfigured

The Tragedy of the Disinherited

Human Hands

And What of Greatness?

With or Against

Like Flint

A Rebuke

The Call in Three Movements




II. Neighbors



Squad Up

A Harvest of Dreamers

Romulus and Remus

Instructions for the Freedom Struggle

Maledictions

Power to the People

To Live and to Live On

Apokalypsis (Tell Me)

Touch Yo' Neighbor

Nobody Talks About the Road

For Those Who Choose to Sit




III. Prayer



A Certain Place

Curious Observation

Pray Then Like This

Imagine, or, Suppose

Thoughts on Asking, Seeking, and Knocking

Ode to Pop

Silenced

This Haunted House

Redemption

Blessedness

The Sign of Jonah

Washing Dishes

Weightier Matters

When the Truth Insults Me

Monuments




IV. Hypocrisy



Meanwhile

Hypocrisy

Eyes on the Sparrow

Blasphemy

Ode to the Savings Account

Pigeon Economics

Four Boys

Miles

When the Rain Comes




V. Tyrants



There Are Pontius Pilates in Every Age

Survivor's Guilt

To Become a Flower

Which Lives?

Don't Despise Small Beginnings

Eschatology

Ask Them Why

Foxes

A Lament for the Prophets We've Killed




VI. Dinner Guest



Thanksgiving Etiquette

Lex Et Ordo

Breaking

Saint Coltrane

With Strings Attached

I Am a Conflict-Free Zone

We All Eat

These Bags

Salty Ghazal




VII. Found



For the Ones Called Lost

This Side of the Pasture

To Be Still Is to Be Found

There is a Great Joy That Waits

Prodigal

Give Me My Share

Distant Country

Brink

When I Came to Myself

Rehearsal

Where the Road and Sky Shake Hands

Like a Slave




VIII. Economics



Rich Man

Situation Ethics

Interrogating Mammon

For the Love

Wishes

Dog Spells God Backwards

Threshold

When the Prophets Come




IX. Kingdom Come



Stumbling Blocks

Be on Guard

If Another Disciple Sins

Pine-Sol and Gospel Music

Every Living Thing Was Once a Seed

Gold Star

For I Am Like Jonah

Kindness Travels

Roses for God

The Faces of the Blessed

The Kingdom of Trees

Ordinary Days

Remember Lot's Wife

Aetos




X. Mercy



The Virtue of Annoyance

When Hatred Goes to Church

Facing Heaven

Blocking Blessing

Even Infants

What Must I Do?

Mortally Impossible

Comprehension

What Do You Want Me to Do for You?




XI. Reparation



Wee Little Man

Tree Climbing

I Think It Was Brunch

No Repentance Without Repair

The Waiting Game



Part II: Jerusalem





XII. Triumph



Beast of Burden

Hosanna

Singing Rocks

The Last Frontier

Flipping Tables




XIII. Questions



Haiku: Unanswered

Beautiful Rejection

Machinations

Give to Caesar

In the Age to Come

For the Sake of Appearance




XIV. Warnings



Butterscotch Hard Candy

Building Campaign

Before It All Ends

Imminence

When the Powers of Heaven Shake

Sometimes Death Comes

N.Y. State of Mind




XV. Passion



30 Pieces

Upper Room

Eucharisteo

This Is My Body

This Cup

Towel and Basin

The Kingdom Is Ours

Sifted

Two Swords

A Stone's Throw

Kiss of Death

Peirasmos

Like a King

Death Row Trial #1




XVI. Death



Death Row Trial #2

Death Row Trial #3

Death Row Trial #4

Via Crucis: Sweet Blackness

Via Crucis: Daughters of Jerusalem

Via Crucis: Two Others

Forgive Them, Father

The Ninth Hour

Spectacle

Saturday




XVII. Resurrection



Under the Ground

Emmaus

Paranormal Activity

Fish Fry

Ascension



Acknowledgments