From the category archives:
Here is a deeply moving poem of gratitude by Franz Wright, a poet who draws on his work with addicts and the mentally ill. One Heart It is late afternoon and I have just returned from the longer version of my walk nobody knows about. For the first time in nearly a month, and everything [...]
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I ran across this poem by Denise Levertov recently while I was doing some writing about Ignatius Loyola’s view of gratitude. It may be July, but it’s pleasant to think about snow. Praise Wet Snow Praise wet snow falling early. Praise the shadow my neighbor’s chimney casts on the tile roof [...]
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Choruses from the Rock T.S. Eliot O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying! The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer [...]
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by Mary Karr Jesus wound up with his body nailed to a tree— a torment he practically begged for, or at least did nothing to stop. Pilate watched the crowd go thumbs down and weary, signed the order. So centurions laid Jesus flat on a long beam, arms run along the crosspiece. In each palm [...]
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Back in my coaching days I learned to develop a particular kind of vision: I saw details of my athletes’ performance that others would miss. This one slouched a bit; that one overreached; and so on. The vision was the product of careful, attentive, even loving work. What others saw was just a boat full [...]
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From “Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches” by Mary Oliver: Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk! To put one’s foot into the door of the grass, which is the mystery, which is death as well as life, and not be afraid! To set one’s foot in [...]
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Easter Wings by George Herbert Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With Thee O let me rise, As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day Thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. My tender age [...]
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When he died in 2006, Stanley Kunitz was eulogized as the most accomplished American poet. Kunitz’s favorite poem was “God’s Grandeur” by the Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins. He reads the poem, and explains how he found it, in this video produced by the Favorite Poem Project. (H/T to Jim Campbell for unearthing it.) Share or [...]
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i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth day of life and [...]
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The poet Mary Karr has just published a new book, Lit, in which she talks about her conversion to Catholicism as well her struggle with alcoholism. She mentions in a recent interview that the Spiritual Exercises were an important part of her spiritual awakening. That’s all the excuse I need to mention Karr here, because [...]
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