Gethsemane's Amen

Introducing My Newsletter + a New Poem

Hi there! And a special welcome to all of you who signed up for my newsletter recently to help me work toward publishing my first book. Your support means a lot to me!

After a brief hiatus, I’m excited to re-launch my newsletter (now via Substack) to keep you updated on my poetry and reflections on creativity. Let’s get to it!

A Brief Introduction

For anyone who is new here, let me introduce myself. (The rest of you can scroll on down.) My name is Michael and I’m a Thai American poet, born and raised in Southern California and now living in Bangkok, Thailand with my wife and three kids.

I have been writing and publishing poetry for the better part of a decade and have been honored to publish poems in places like Commonweal, First Things, Sojourners, and The Lent Project. I love writing at the intersection of faith, justice, and wonder.

I also love investing in other artists! One of my highlights the past few years has been co-leading Spirit & Scribe, a workshop helping writers integrate spiritual formation and writing craft. I’ve got some exciting new things on the way too, so stay tuned!

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New Poem: “Gethsemane’s Amen”

Now, onto some poetry! Clayjar Review recently published a new sonnet of mine titled “Gethsemane’s Amen.” This poem is part of a sequence of sonnets I am writing that meditates on the death of Jesus from different angles. (Other published poems from this sequence so far are “The Via Dolorosa,” “The Cross and the Lynching Tree,” and “A Mystery.”)

“Gethsemane” means “oil press” and for this poem I have leaned into this metaphor to describe Jesus’ experience on the night before his death. As Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives, he is pressed and crushed by the task before him to the point of sweating blood. Yet, as Philippians 2:6-11 declares, Jesus is ultimately anointed as Lord for his faithful obedience.

You can read the poem just below this painting by Indonesian artist Wisnu Sasongko.

Wisnu Sasongko - Last Night in Gethsemane (acrylic on canvas, 2005)

Gethsemane’s Amen

Your flesh was weak like ours, tempted and pressed
“If you are willing, take this cup from me,”
you pleaded in that garden, so distressed
your body bled from mental agony.

But, willing to be crushed, you passed the test
that all of us have failed beneath that tree:
you trusted God, obedient to death,
left good and evil to God’s sovereignty.

You let him press our sins into your story—
the priests and Judas, Pilate and the crowd—
all grasping for our fleeting crowns of glory,
but God anointed you above the clouds.

We praise ambition, but the world was won
with this: “Yet not my will, but yours be done.”

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