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Welcome to the Creative Corner! This week we are interviewing Josh Bullis.

Creative Writing

God’s crippled, the game’s afoot

Bring Zion to tear
Bring the leader to serve
Hear crying and laughter
Yet neither deserve

Scarlet from the skin
Red eyes and red horns
Soon comes black of the night
Pluck a rose from the thorns

Not to cry at the table
With drink and good bread
But to laugh, while still able
To hear things as they’re said

The rich plans of mutiny
But none others know
To trick them today
Tomorrow the blow

From an unlucky gang
No end of danger
A vagabond crew
To a self-righteous stranger

Yet the turn of all heads
At the upcoming stand
Times come to conquer
Go and do what you’ve planned

 

Interview with the author

Name: Josh Bullis

Age: 15

Grade: 11th

Location:----------------------------

Years on NSA: This is my second

Writer’s Views On The Poem:
Please give a short summary of what the poem means to you and reason you wrote it.

Well… the poem is supposed to take place during the last supper. At the time I wrote this I had been greatly impressed by a band called Coheed and Cambria. All their songs, played in the correct order, will play out a story. I loved the way though that they told the story in riddles and they were very good at hiding what they actually meant. So I thought I would write something in a similar way. At the time I had recently decided that Jesus was, in the Pharisee’s eyes, just the leader of a rowdy gang. We had just done the story of Judas’ betrayal in church, so I thought that would be a good story to do.

Three Quick Questions…

What do you think could be improved about this poem?

Well, I think I made it a bit too obvious. People reading are normally able to get the gist of what it’s about, but it’s meant to seem like random abstract sentences. I also don’t like the rhythm of it much. I use this rhythm a lot. I think I need to try out some different rhythm patterns in my future poems.

Any ideas or encouragement for other budding writers on NSA?

Well I’m not really the best person to ask to be doing this. I don’t often have time to read the stuff in the Creative Writing Folder. I do see a lot of positive feedback on a few progressive stories, and I’ve very much enjoyed a lot of the poems I’ve read (I do have time for those most of the time).

Can you lick your elbow?

Yes…actually.

Caroline’s Critique:

Strengths: This take on the Lords Supper with a slight Screwtape twist is intriguing in its ambiguity. It is a fresh perspective on an otherwise well-known event, a virtual riddle – as it was intended to be – fit into six regular, rhyming stanzas. Yet what stands out most is the content, the story that it tells through random glimpses and subtle ironies (who else would have thought to refer to Jesus as "a self-righteous stranger"?) which work together to give a picture of the mind of the Enemy that night. It is a poem that leaves you thinking – a true sign of good art.
 

Weaknesses: Although there is nothing particularly wrong with the rhyme scheme as it is, the poem may have benefited from a different rhythm that could better represent its originality and theme. Disjointed stanzas and difficult ideas also cause some confusion which could confuse the reader and detract from the overall idea of the poem.

Creative, unique, thought-provoking, disturbing in a way that makes you think…slightly confusing, but for the most part, in a way that merely adds to the overall ambiguity. This is a well thought out, well-written poem. Good work, Josh.

 

Thanks for reading! Got some comments, questions, ideas, or submissions for this column? Send your work and ideas to Caroline Black. God bless your week!