Nathan Bakken - How to Be a Theologian

Poet and theologian Nathan Bakken writes a three-part discourse on working in faith with his poem “How to Be a Theologian”. Each section of the poem displays Nathan’s talent at poetic form, ranging from prose poetry, expansive fragmentation playing across the white space, before ending in a more traditional form. Nathan told The Dewdrop, “This poem is after Wendell Berry’s ‘How to be a Poet’ and is a reflection on the vocation of theologian.”

How to Be a Theologian
——–after Wendell Berry
———————————(to remind myself)

i.

Talk: of god. of words. of life. of dehydrated placenta. of side wounds. of lemon stalls. of broken teeth. of broken kisses. of shamrocks. of cassocks. of bitter wine. of sweet dough. of denial. of devout. of belief of denial. of he said. of she said. of what about they said. of what now. of ordering candles. of covenant. of congregational polity. of collapsing. of capitalism. of cracking down on creedal fallibility. of denial. of disavowal. of nothing. of nothing. of deep-seated homosexual inclinations. of mother hens. of virtuous sins. of scripture. of poetry. of fucking. of faith. of god. of grace. of screams. of whales. of bombs dropped. of broken limbs. of evisceration. of escalation. of eschaton. of chains to bodies. of chains to fences. of chains to trees. of nuclear reactor. of chains broken. of jubilee. of god. of liberation. of desperation. of hope. of sacred obsession. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love. of love.

ii.

Write.
——–On long flights.
——————On car rides.
—————————On train cars.
————————————-On gay bars.
———————————————-On cold nights.
——————————————————–On strange fights.
—————————————————————–On losing the thread.

——–In protests.
—————————In potholes.
In chapels. ——————————–In chokeholds.
—————–In bedrooms.
————————————-In basements.

In bunkers. ———In stairwells. —————In stories.

——–In hymnals. ————-In margins. ——–In silence.
——————————————————————————————–By seasides.
———————————————————————————-By hillsides.
————————————————————————-By roadsides.
—————————————————————-By the way.
——————————————————-Bi and bye.
———————————————–Avoid buying too many pens.
————————–They never seem to die.

iii.

Make peace.
Make love.
Make meaning.
Make momentum.
Make conflict.
Make perfection.
Make justice.
————————–breathe
Make movement.
Make laughter.
Make faith.
Make do with what you got.
Make time.
Make agendas.
Make song.
————————–breathe
Make memories.
Make miracles.
Make knowing.
Make wisdom.
Make more out of nothing.
Make reminders.
Make calendars.
————————–breathe
To think faith
when all there is is
a word to scream to breathe to scream to pen.
in the great hope
that something someone somewhere
moves in response.

Nathan Bakken

Nathan Bakken (they/them) is a Pushcart prize nominated poet, educator, and public theologian based in Reno, NV. They are currently pursuing their MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Nevada Reno. Their poetry and writing has been published in Dinner Bell Magazine, The Dewdrop, and the collection Held: Blessings for the Depths.