Ed Brickell

Passing All Understanding

We bargain for peace meeting our understanding,
Unaware of the need to pass all understanding.

The silence that slips between the shut pages
Of the hymnals in wait for our sung understanding.

Or the disciples of Jesus terrified of the storm
But more scared of the stillness beyond understanding.

A lone bird call across a brightening pond
Shares our kiss in a trio of wild understanding.

A polished boot on the neck, gas blinding the eyes,
A jail cell that enshrines willful misunderstanding.

I filled the hive of my head with the loudest of bees
But where is their honey of sweet understanding?

Pundits enter data from exit polls without end
To predict revised futures without understanding.

Artificial intelligence is our latest demand
When we should hold ourselves hostage to one small understanding,

Yet when we finally realize all the ways and the whys
We should run far away from those cheap understandings.

What is the market algorithm Ed’s lacking
To match the profile of peace passing all understanding?

Ed Brickell lives with his two feline friends Harper & Maya in Dallas, Texas. His poems have most recently been shared or will be shared soon in Flint Hills Review, Susurrus, Book of Matches, Bond Street Review, and others. He shares his previously published poetry at shortsurpriselife.com.