Happy Thanksgiving. And please take a moment to remember all of our military, especially those deployed and away from their families this holiday.
Te Deum
by Charles Reznikoff
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat [...]
Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category
Te Deum by Charles Reznikoff
Posted in Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, The Beautiful Work, tagged Art, Books, Commonplace Books, Community, Drama, Faith, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Gratitude, Hard Times, Hope, Journey, Life, Life and How to Live It, Nonfiction, Poetry, Remembrance, Students, Teachers, Thanksgiving, The Beautiful Work, Writers, Writing, Writing Community on November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Peace on Earth by Williams Carlos Williams
Posted in Absence, Art, Faith, Liam Rector, Life, tagged Absence, Art, Bennington, Books, Drama, Faith, Fear, Fiction, Gratitude, Hobos, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Life and How to Live It, Nonfiction, Peace, Poetry, Poets, Politics, Presidential Election, William Carlos Williams, Writers, Writing, Writing Community on September 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I just can’t write, not now. Too much weight and worry, drifts of sadness. I’ll let others who do it so much better lead me now.
Williams has always brought me peace.
Peace on Earth
by William Carlos Williams
The Archer is wake!
The Swan is flying!
Gold against blue
An Arrow is lying.
There is hunting in heaven—
Sleep safe till [...]
Nothing to say except that I’m afraid: Sarah Palin
Posted in Anger, Community, Faith, Politics, Presidential Campaign, Uncategorized, tagged Anger, Community, Environment, Faith, Life, Life and How to Live It, McCain, National Security, Politics, Presidential Campaign, Sarah Palin, Thinking, Voting, Work, Writers, Writing, Writing Community on August 30, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Who is Sarah Palin? Who is the woman that McCain thinks we should trust to be one heartbeat away from the White House? Here’s some basic background:
She was elected Alaska’s governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no [...]
Concordance (Working Backward in Sleep) by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
Posted in Absence, Art, Bennington, Building, Community, Faith, Gratitude, Journey, Liam Rector, Life, Poetry, Writing, tagged Absence, Art, Bennington, Books, Building, Community, Faith, Gratitude, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Life and How to Live It, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Poetry, Poets, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Writing, Writing Community on August 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Concordance (Working Backward in Sleep)
by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
Working backward in sleep, the
last thing you numbed to is what
wakes you.
What if that image were Eros as
words?
What would it be like if you
contemplated my words and I felt
you?
Animals, an owl, frog, open their
eyes, and a mirror forms on the
ground.
When insight comes in a dream,
and events the next day
illuminate [...]
For the Executive Director of the Fallen
Posted in Absence, Art, Bennington, Books, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Writing, tagged Absence, Art, Bennington, Books, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Life and How to Live It, Loss, Poetry, Poetry Magazine, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Tom Sleigh, Writers, Writing, Writing Community on August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
For the Executive Director of the Fallen
by Tom Sleigh
In memoriam Liam Rector
The little boy crying out
Weenie Weenie
in self-panicking delight,
waving his little cock
under the banner
of the sun, seemed pure Blake,
all anarchy and energy,
an innocence unfrightened
of itself that shook the lake’s
waters and unsettled
the strained composures
and appointed certainties
of whatever Absolute Speaker
had been ranting in my brain:
Peace Through Strength
Justice [...]
“Father of that silence”–Larry Levis
Posted in Absence, Art, Bennington, Books, Building, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Prayer, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Writing, tagged Absence, Amy Tudor, Art, Bennington, Books, Building, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Larry Levis, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Poets, Prayer, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Writers, Writing, Writing Community on August 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
From “Linnets” by Larry Levis
This is a good page.
It is blank,
and getting blanker.
My mother and father
are falling asleep over it.
My brother is finishing a cigarette;
he looks at the blank moon.
My sisters walk gravely in circles.
My wife sees through it, through blankness.
My friends stop laughing, they listen
to the wind in a room in Fresno, to the [...]
Nothing Twice by Wislawa Szymborska
Posted in Absence, Anger, Art, Bennington, Books, Community, Faith, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Prayer, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Work, Writing, tagged Absence, Anger, Art, Bennington, Books, Community, Faith, Family, Fiction, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Prayer, Students, Teachers, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Work, Writing on August 5, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Nothing Twice
by Wislawa Szymborska
Translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak
Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.
Even if there is no one dumber,
if you’re the planet’s biggest dunce,
you can’t repeat the class in summer:
this course is only offered once.
No day copies [...]
A Blessing by James Wright
Posted in Absence, Art, Bennington, Building, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Prayer, Ritual, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Writing, tagged Absence, Art, Bennington, Building, Community, Faith, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Grief, Hope, Journey, Language, Liam Rector, Life, Loss, Poetry, Prayer, Ritual, The Beautiful Work, Transitions, Truth, Writing on July 27, 2008 | 6 Comments »
A Blessing
by James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they [...]
