You’ve Got a Friend In Me: Poetry Reading

Allie McTaggart   -  

This past Sunday at Trinity Life Church we began a conversation series called You’ve Got a Friend In Me.

Adam and I kicked off the series with a conversation on the topic of singleness in the church and in the wider world. We set the tone for our discussion by beginning it with a poetry reading.

I read a poem which I wrote in September of 2022, entitled Too Hungry for Heaven. While this piece is not specifically about being single, it fit our topic quite well by posing the question of whether our human desire for romantic partnership is rightly ordered in our spiritual formation as followers of Jesus. Do we think there is any more fulfilling relationship available to us now and in eternity than romantic partnership? What followed was a very fun back-and-forth.

For the benefit of those who would like to read the poem themselves, or to have the text alongside my reading of it in the video (linked here, to the beginning of the conversation), I’ve posted it below. We would love to hear feedback on the conversation through Trinity Life social media channels, or via email at blog@trinitylife.ca!

 


Too Hungry for Heaven

 by Allie McTaggart

 

Heaven is a place

Where there is no fear

You can walk the city alone

Perfectly safe

Every curiosity deserving of pursuit

And you don’t need power

To get what you want

You don’t need protection

Or a partner

 

Even though he says,

Still carrying your coat in the early fall air

As you get out of the cab in gorgeous darkness,

I knew I was gonna hold it the whole time. 

You didn’t need it.

 

Heavenly,

To be loved by someone

Who will hold your coat for hours and hours

Who makes home with you

And carries your burdens

He cries with you

Cries for you-

Yet,

 

What would this be without tears?

What would it be if I didn’t crave protection

And did not tremble in its absence?

I need something

Every second of the day

Oxygen

Breakfast

Touch

Experiences are the urgent god

So I ask for everything

Even though it’s never enough

 

I have heard that God is good

What father would give his son a stone

If he asked for bread?

 

I have a starved imagination

Too faint, too dim

Too hungry for heaven