Commuting from Philadelphia to St. Paul this fall – and with multiple side trips ranging from North Dakota to Virginia and the Carolinas — I’ve been more sensitive than usual to the common rhythm of seasonal change and to the diverse ways that change occurs in different parts of the...
Grass
posted by DJL
Carl Sandburg’s poem “Grass” seems a fitting poem for this Memorial Day weekend precisely because he reminds us how quickly we forget the sacrifices of the fallen. Each battle, let alone each war, robs us of the strength, the potential, and the future of so many people. We pause on...
The Land of Beginning Again
posted by DJL
Read Louisa Fletcher’s wonderful poem “The Land of Beginning Again” and then ask yourself if this is heaven. Heaven not as some distant and cloud-filled paradise but rather that place where all hurts are mended, all griefs comforted, all regrets repaired, all insults undone, all relationships restored. In painting a picture that reminds me a bit of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia, Fletcher reminds us that life – both here and in the world to come – is about relationships. And she reminds us that forgiveness – which is, in fact, releasing a claim on another so as to begin again – is the secret ingredient of life. But then ask yourself...
The Mother
posted by DJL
Padraic (or Patrick) Pearse is a controversial figure because of his role in the Easter Rising of 1916 and other activities on behalf of Irish nationalism. He also founded schools, was a poet and author, and devout Roman Catholic. Whatever one thinks of Pearse, it’s hard not to be moved the...
How Can You Become a...
posted by DJL
Eve Mirriam, a native of Philadelphia, captures something of the beauty of not just poetry but also, I think, creativity itself. She invites us to consider making two moves: the first is attentiveness. Trace it’s shape, pay attention to its movement, follow its life, chew and smell and see...
A Final Affection
posted by DJL
Some weeks finding a poem is easy. I’m in the mood for something related to a season or event or have a particular poet (or even poem!) in mind. This week wasn’t one of those. Instead, I skimmed – I know this isn’t the way you’re supposed to read poetry, but sometimes that’s just...