Dennis Strashok

POSSIBILITIES

copyright Dennis Strashok

Dennis Strashoks first album is a collection of original songs accompanied by Guitar and bass Violin

A Fine Form of Madness

Dennis Strashok is a singer songwriter and desktop publisher who resides in Vancouver B.C. He performs in coffee houses in the Vancouver region. He is a born again Christian and his songs reflect both his faith and his past experience in the mental health system.

Tapes are available

Poetry of Dennis Strashok

One and Other

In the beginning there was One

And One knew Other or so it seems to me

Because One was not undivided Unity

But One in plurality.

So One has this sense of knowing Other

which completes it, augments it, fulfils.

And this One reaches out to the ends of space

til the universe He searches and fills.

And what would be one without Other,

but pining and sorrow and loss.

But One is a father and mother

in its spanning and measuring across.

In the end there will be very Many

but they all will be joined into One.

The outpouring of bounty and plenty

will be manifest, the job will be done.

And many will join voice in chorus t

o worship, to praise, and to sing,

to revere the One who came for us

and the heavens will rise then and ring

with the sound of triumph and victory,

with the sound of joy and of love

and the One who created all history

will receive the Many up above.

Journey Journal # 91623

I've been told I am a pilgrim,

but my roots seem to go down deep.

I've been told I am a stranger,

but my home and my habits I keep.

I am more than a man in a measure,

I am less than a soul that can soar.

I have turned now from pain to pleasure,

I mutter where once I did roar.

I'm not looking for someone to care for me

Or to bend to my whims and desires.

I know that eternity holds a share for me

and sometimes I stoke inner fires.

I have been both a prisoner and a patient

I have known both the sword and the song.

My powers are both manifest and latent

Time stretches so brief and so long.

If you come now and put your soft hand in mine I

will hold it, carry you along

Where the wind and the rain and shining sand so fine

Meet the stars in their glory so strong.

A Cluster of Sunshine

There are grapes in cluster in the sun,

there are figs laden down on that tree.

It warms us and woos us as one

it shines on both you and me.

There's an oracle mango of virtue

speaking on through the cloud, through the haze;

the orange and peach are still with you

the fruits clustered up in the days.

There's the wisdom of watermelon richness

treasured there, laid up in store;

Grapefruit, lemon, and lychee

the earth crying out for more.

So I stand in a multitude of apples

the fruit heading up, root down

and the shower of gold all around me

shines on in an endless crown.

And in that train of vanquished foes -

the fruits growing there rich and ripe

The sun is a basket - the sun is a bowl

leading on in the promise of life.

Mentor

Of the theory of over-soul

I have heard and then denied

that there was any such reality,

still from the truth I did not hide.

For over-soul was only a shadow

of something greater, more dear-

The care of a loving Father

reaching down, touching here,

in the midst of all earthly turmoil

the storm and the strife,

not the power of psychic manipulation,

but the strength of an endless life;

not a seeking without knowing,

a reaching out, casting dreams against the void,

but a discovery of Other,

an infusion with His living Word.

So, now who is my Mentor,

my Counsellor in the night?

Who girds me for battle;

who arms me for the fight?

It is not my vain self

higher or lower, not just me.

It is the centre of all Creation

the father of Eternity.

And if I lie spent and helpless

then there's only self to blame,

or His power is endless

and He saves from all shame.

But if I turn and call once more

on the Father above,

ll be raised from my misery

and know the power of pure Love.