For Wilshire Baptist Church
Hey Wilshire family, I hope you don’t mind but I invited Malcolm Guite to come hang out with us when he’s back in Dallas in May. Guite is an English poet, songwriter, pastor and professor who has been at Wilshire before. He’s read scripture and prayed from our pulpit, and he’s spoken in our Epiphany class. And when he speaks — oh my, he could read an IRS 1040 or a restaurant menu and hold an audience in rapt silence.
But Guite is a wonderful poet in his own right, and I think it’s good to have poets around. They don’t speak in sound bites or headlines to gain clicks, followers and influence. They speak in words and phrases that burrow into the soul and illuminate what is true and eternal. Just look up Guite’s poem “Singing Bowl” for a taste of the divine.
I sent my invitation to Guite through Facebook, where he had posted a video from his recent visit to the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum at Baylor University. The library houses the largest collection of documents and memorabilia relating to the lives and work of 19th century English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the video, Guite reads Elizabeth’s “How do I love thee?” and a portion of Robert’s “The Pied Piper of Hamlin.”
Guite’s visit to the library interested me because of Guite, of course, but also because I’m a Baylor grad who spent time in that library, especially in the basement where I had literature classes. But also because my grandfather took English literature from Dr. A.J. Armstrong, the Baylor professor who amassed the Browning collection. What’s more, my grandfather was there in 1922 when a fire broke out in the university’s Carroll Library. Thankfully, firefighters saved the building shell, while students and faculty carried the books — including the Browning collection — to safety. By 1924, the collection had its own room in the rebuilt Carroll Library, and in 1951, it was moved to the new Armstrong Browning Library.
Thanks to the students, the Browning collection was saved, and thanks to poets and dreamers like Guite, the words of the Brownings are still spoken and heard. At a time when our culture has become so coarse and superficial, it’s refreshing to hear deeper thoughts and ideas expressed in beautiful words that have weight and emotion. It’s not only refreshing, but also needed.
We need more poetry, and we need more poets. They remind us there has always been good in the world and there still is. Too often it feels like the world is imploding and burning, but like those brave students 100 years ago, we still can rescue the best of us for future generations. That takes courage and the vision to see beyond ourselves and beyond our own moment in time. It also takes words that cause us to stop, be silent, and listen for a while. It even takes some dreaming and whimsy about kinder, gentler ways. It takes poetry.
As for my invitation, Guite acknowledged my note with a familiar Facebook “thumbs up,” and that probably is all that will come of it. A man like Guite is sought after and keeps a busy schedule I’m sure. No worries. I was mostly just pleased to see a familiar face experiencing a familiar place and expressing wonder, joy and reverence for the best of the human spirit.