HeyJaredBackward Mutters
At Backward Mutters I'll be podcasting poems and posting thoughts on various topics of personal interest which will likely be limited to poetry, C.S. Lewis, and Jesus because, try as I may, I can't stop talking about either.
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- 5
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- Sep 29, 2026
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- Jul 30, 2026
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Backward Mutters Theme Music (opens the original)
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Over ten years ago, three dear friends and I made a worship EP of songs we’d written or re-tuned for our congregation. It was a wonderful learning experience, and the end product was something I am proud to be associated with. I’ve used a clip of one of the songs I brought to that project as the theme music for the podcast, and it is my retuning of the hymn by Elizabeth Prentiss, “More Love to Thee, O Christ.” Before I found her hymn, I came to acquire her book, Stepping Heavenward, which is wri
Giving Up on Myself (opens the original)
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I’ve been teaching a Sunday morning class on the first four steps of the recovery world’s twelve steps. I’ve been using the book Steps by John Ortberg along with Grace in Addiction by John Z. I find that the twelve steps accurately describe the life of sobriety. Without sobriety, it seems, a spiritual life is nigh unto impossible. The Apostle Peter writes, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controll
Climb (opens the original)
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Today’s poem is a tribute to the victims, rescuers, and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and it was written and delivered at the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service honoring those victims held at the Public Safety Memorial Park in my hometown of Kernersville, North Carolina.In the poem, I mention two individuals whose actions have been remembered. In not mentioning other heroes who gave their lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon attack, or the crash of Flight 93 near Shank
Fall Again (opens the original)
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For the past month, I’ve had the joy of participating in ’s, Poetry Workshop led by poet, . I don’t know why I am always surprised, but there are so many amazing poets out there putting words together in ways that ignite my imagination and inspire my heart.Over the course of the four week workshop, groups of poets gathered via Zoom to workshop their own poems together. It was wonderful. (Poets are the best!) It was a particular blessing to be able to see other poets enter into the life-giving ex
Keel and Beam (opens the original)
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Today’s poem is a sonnet which I wrote during Easter week. The words ‘keel and beam’ were likely in my head because I’d been looking at the spine titles of my incomplete collection of Aubrey Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian. They stood (and still do stand) quietly judging me from their place on the bookshelf, but that’s another story.The poem itself was one of the “downloaded” sort. By that I mean I received and wrote it with little (and possibly too little) editing. Do you know those sorts of
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