Poetry Spotlight | “Grace” by Derek Thiem

DEREK THIEM is a former English teacher and a street poet based in Portland, Oregon. His poetry and lyrics explore recovery, street life, and Portland’s ever-changing pulse. He occasionally dabbles in themes of astrophysics, metaphysics, and erotica, revealing the unexpected breadth of his creative mind. You can find him on Facebook and YouTube under his name, and hear his work set to music on Suno.com under the monikers VioletKeyboard944 and ExasperatingVocoder2004.

Grace

Amazing grace 

How sweet the sound

That saved

A wretch like me

 

I have slept in doorways 

Been messed up in more ways 

Than anyone can count

Lived off bubbler fountains

And whatever I could conceal 

Without security

Deterring me

Given up mores

During forays

Into my own subconscious

 

I once was lost

But now am found

 

I have found the profound 

In the sound of voices

That gave me choices

To hoist myself out

Of the gutter

 

We all

Come from mothers

I don’t forget the face

Of my father,

And while we’re at it

I’ve got a daughter

I haven’t seen since

The sweet age of twelve 

 

Now sixteen 

And I am clean

Somehow this is going 

To work itself out

 

Here I sit

Lost wallet 

And broken glasses

These are what pass for 

My classes today

 

Goddess teaches me

And I have learned to pray

In a way that does not strain

My conscience 

From Moses to the cosmos

Jesus to Jupiter 

Muhammad to Mars 

And Buddha too

Who’da thought he had bars

Solid as gold

 

They spat truth

So props to all prophets

And soothsayers

That laid out ways that

We should be

Props to The Divine Wow

And how about a pow wow

From drum circles

To ciphers

I am down with the hyperkinetic 

Frenetic people that vibrate

At a higher frequency 

Frequently pushing society

To deal with impropriety 

Pushing ascetics instead

Of aesthetics 

 

Thank you to all modern philosophers

From Saul to Cobain to Reznor

To Vedder to Maynard

From Stephen King’s Roland

To Christopher Nolan

You made me

 

I once was blind 

But now I see