YOUTH NIGHT
Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash
A Poem by Courtney Moody
Like disciples of the upper room, our church
youth huddle around plastic tables and chairs.
Axe and cheap pizza and vanilla hand sanitizer
taint the cold air of the fellowship hall, an aroma
that will linger seven ways to Sunday Worship.
The teens are corralled in prayer: heads bowed,
cell phones shut, eyelids closed, and hands knit.
Stillness is the sacrifice for blessed time, blessed food—
AMEN! Breaks from twenty lips as chairs and
feet fly faster than the chatter that fills the room.
It’s the volume of Jericho’s triumph, paper
plate stacks falling like those city walls of old.
As the Israelites celebrated victory, Gen Zs and
Gen Alphas feast for another school year won,
for camp meetings to be had, for summers
of unity with their spiritual sisters and brothers.
I watch—awed by their spirit-induced laughter:
This is God’s generation. This is joy of life.
Courtney Moody is a dancer, writer, and poet of faith. Her poetry publications include Ekstasis Magazine, Kelp Journal’s The Wave, and The Way Back to Ourselves literary journal, while her prose has been featured online at Bridge Eight and in Propertius Press' Draw Down the Moon. In 2022, her poem "Florida Anatomy" was awarded 2nd place for the Florida State Poet's Association Award. She is currently editing her debut novel while continuing to create poems and choreographic work before she melts at the hands of the sunshine state. She can be found on Twitter and Instagram @courtofwriting.
