My wife disturbed my Advent bliss a couple of days ago when she showed me a poem. I had been sailing along smoothly, humming “Come O Come Emmanuel,” lighting the Advent wreath, and reading Isaiah’s prophecies. Then Susan handed me “Annunciation” by Denise Levertov. These are the lines that troubled my world. Aren’t there annunciations [...]
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The season isn’t quite right for this poem, which speaks of “leaping greenly spirits of trees,” but it’s my Thanksgiving poem nevertheless. An achingly beautiful hymn of gratitude. 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 [...]
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What was the tree in the Garden of Eden all about? Denise Levertov has an idea. Contraband The tree of knowledge was the tree of reason. That’s why the taste of it drove us from Eden. That fruit was meant to be dried and milled to a fine powder for use a pinch at a [...]
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A few weeks ago, at Mass in my parish, Fr. Dennis Dillon, SJ, read this poem by Anne Sexton in his homily about Luke 17:5-10. The apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith; Jesus replies, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and [...]
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This is a lovely and startling poem by Czeslaw Milosz, one of the great poets of the 20th century. It’s about the eucharist–and other things. In Kraków On the border of this world and the beyond, in Kraków. Tap-tap on the foot-worn flagstones of churches, Generation after generation. Here I came to understand Something of [...]
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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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