Spoken word/ music track from the Poor Clare album: Like the Tide. Listen below. 

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I want to know the god
my own unbelieving self can believe in.
The one who sides with justice,
because there is no other side to take.
Who doesn’t fit in holy books,
because she is bigger than the bigots reciting them.

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Bigger than ordained priests
praying over bread and wine
that will never reach the hungry,
when we all agree
feeding the hungry
is too sacred an act
to reserve to just one table.
And blessings are not exclusive to brick buildings.

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The god I want to know
is more than rituals
and reminders of how to be holy.

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More than churches
sitting on hilltops,
bearing steeples that can pierce the heavens,
when not even heaven
can contain our voices
as they carry the hearts of prophets
like Saint Clare,
and Simone Weil,
and all of the rest of the underrated radicals
fighting to do right in a world that barely registers a wrong.

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Or the voices of the oppressed
speaking up loud enough to be heard by the hurting,
where one word
can carry more change than any prayer
told silently to god by way of burning candles.

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So I am waiting for that day
when we learn
we, as a communion of saints,
wield enough power
to change every moment into miracles
miracles
my unbelieving self can believe in.

A CHAN prefers to spend more time outdoors than in, hanging off the side of rocks than on the ground, and plays in the dirt all summer long. They are the human to a German Shepherd named Chuckanut—it is not always clear whether playing in the dirt is more fun for the human or the shepherd. This is a positive thing. Sometimes they perform poetry, but it only sounds as good as it does because of the amazing and talented friends on stage with them.

Audio credit for the track goes to Poor Clare (www.poorclaremusic.com)

Poor Clare is a collaborative music project between the aforementioned amazing and talented musician friends and A Chan, poet. We are trying to inject better art back into the church. It is working.