Capitalism:
some folk have more than they need,
most don't have enough.
Ken Rookes 2024
Some cheeky haiku
A cheeky story
unfolds. Widow Naomi
eyes kinsman, Boaz.
Tells Ruth: Wash, anoint
yourself, put on your best dress,
make yourself sexy.
Go to the threshing-
floor. Wait until he’s eaten,
watch where he lies down.
Go and uncover
his feet and lie there with him.
He will instruct you.
So it came to pass.
Boaz took Ruth and married
her. She bore a son.
Much celebration!
Naomi’s daughter-in-law
secures her future!
Naomi helped nurse
grandson Obed. His grandson
was David, the king.
Ruth's story tells us
that foreigners have faith, too.
Remember this truth.
© Ken Rookes 2024
Haiku to set up the story
A protest story.
Ruth, the faithful foreigner,
wife par excellence!
The story’s set up
with famine, and a welcome
in a foreign land.
The Hebrew brothers
marry local Moab girls,
then all the blokes die.
Widow Naomi
heads back home. Daughters-in-law
Ruth, Orpah, go too.
Naomi says: Go
back girls; and find new husbands
among your people.
My lot is bitter,
God has turned his back on me,
I have no future.
Orpah kissed good-bye.
Naomi commanded Ruth
to also return.
Don’t make me leave you,
said Ruth. Where you go, I go;
where you stay, I stay.
Your people are mine;
your God will be my God too.
Where you die, I die.
Death itself shall not
part me from you! Naomi
accepted Ruth's choice.
© Ken Rookes 2024
Haiku of vindication
Overwhelmed by God’s
magnificence, Job is forced
to humbly concede.
Compared to you, God,
I am an ignorant fool,
I’m sorry I spoke.
How can I question
your ways, O God? My knowledge
can’t compare with yours.
I had only heard
of you; now, having seen you,
I am mortified.
The story concludes
as Job’s fortunes are restored;
a happy ending!
The bit we missed.
After Job’s response
God agreed against Job’s friends;
Job had spoken truth.
Vindicated! Job
did not deserve to suffer;
he’d done nothing wrong.
A protest story:
Just because you’re suffering
doesn’t mean you’re bad.
Among
the lessons
of this story: it’s okay
to argue with God.
© Ken Rookes 2024
Haiku of continued questions
At last God responds!
Hides God-self in a whirlwind;
very dramatic.
Questions, not answers.
God’s grandeur seems to excuse
him from answering
God holds all the cards,
suggests that Job is unwise
to ask such questions.
Make yourself ready
Job, almighty God’s about
to ask you questions.
God asks: Where were you
when I laid the foundations
of the earth? Tell me!
Who measured the earth
making sure all was in line?
Surely you know this?
Did you hear the stars
singing for joy when the world’s
cornerstone was laid?
We are impressed, God.
Hardly a fair contest, though;
you being divine!
Ken Rookes 2024
Why me, God?
Haiku seeking answers
He hasn’t cursed God,
but Job doesn’t hold back in
voicing his complaint.
It’s simply not fair;
I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t
deserve this treatment.
Why is God hiding?
I want to argue my case,
hear what he would say.
I keep asking, Why?
I am upright, tell me, God,
why I must suffer.
God holds all the cards.
If he listened to me he’d
find me innocent.
But I can’t find God.
I look front, back, left and right;
I cannot see him!
I have had enough!
My heart faints. Let me vanish
into the darkness.
Ken Rookes 2024
Christianity is under attack! they cry.
I respond inwardly, keeping my thoughts to myself.
Good! It has been ever so,
or at least, it should have been.
I will join in the attack,
there is so much that denies the kingdom,
so much that despises the words
that we declare came from the carpenter’s lips.
He was up-front with his followers,
told how he would suffer, be put to death
for the words he spoke, the things he did.
Said they could expect the same.
We are frightened
watching with alarm as the privileges of our glorious past
are challenged and slowly stripped away.
This cannot be God’s will! Surely this is not right!
But, perhaps it is right;
maybe it is God’s will. When all else is removed;
when what remains of Christianity
is love, bleeding and incarnate,
then we might be said to have arrived
at the gates of the kingdom,
and we should have cause to rejoice.
Ken Rookes 2024
Haiku for testing
Wealth and possessions
have long been seen as proof of
a virtuous life.
Surely God blesses
the ones who are deserving!
Yes, but not always.
The poor are not blessed;
their poverty evidence
of their shortcomings.
The story of Job,
written to challenge. The good
don’t always prosper.
In the land of Uz,
so the ancient tale goes; lived
Job, a righteous man.
Blameless and upright,
bulk money, stacks of children;
Job had a good life.
God boasts about Job.
Satan calls his bluff. Test him;
let’s see what he does!
In but a moment
it is gone. Taken away,
the blessings withdrawn.
Job remains faithful.
God boasts again. Satan laughs;
I’ll really test him!
Satan inflicts Job
with sores from head to toe. Let’s
see what he says, now!
Job’s wife speaks to him:
Enough! It is surely time
to curse God and die!
Job replies:
The good we receive
comes from God, surely we must
accept the bad, too.
Haiku of creative courage
A beautiful girl
captivates a king, becomes
Queen. No real power.
Hatred-filled Haman
plots against the Jews; the King’s
tricked into helping.
Esther is alarmed,
sends word to Mordecai: ask
my people to pray.
Not just a pretty
face, Esther is resourceful,
brave. Hatches a plan.
At Queen Esther’s feast
Haman and King make merry,
the King is well pleased.
What are you asking,
Queen Esther? It shall be yours;
take half my kingdom!
She tells of the plot
to kill her people. That means
I must die with them.
The King is angry.
Who has done this? Esther waves,
There he sits: Haman!
A servant points out
gallows built for Mordecai,
whose word saved the King.
Hang him, the King said,
on those gallows! (Poetic!)
Then the King calmed down.
Faithful Mordecai,
keeps records, sends out letters:
celebrate these days!
This sorrow-filled month
has become glad; share your food,
remember the poor.
© Ken Rookes 2024
Haiku of exceptional virtue
Celebration of
womanhood. The bar is high,
some find it daunting.
No mere appendage,
this woman is capable,
independent, too.
She is resourceful,
skilful, does ev’rything – more
– that a man might do
This amazing wife
never rests, organises
her house with aplomb.
Filled with charity,
industrious, making warm
clothes for her household.
At the city gates
her husband is found, sitting
among the elders.
This woman is strong.
She is clothed in dignity,
kindness and wisdom.
Blessed by her children
and praised by her husband: You
surpass all women!
Charm is deceitful,
beauty passes; she who fears
God is to be praised.
© Ken Rookes 2024
Capitalism: some folk have more than they need, most don't have enough. Ken Rookes 2024