tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26393396992584392492024-03-17T06:30:32.376-04:00Writing Without PaperArt * Dance * Poetry * Music * Musings<br>
"What if the mightiest word is love?" ~ Elizabeth AlexanderMaureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.comBlogger3717125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-15433197217950323162024-03-17T06:30:00.048-04:002024-03-17T06:30:00.255-04:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>I think self-promotion is a really bad idea for</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>a couple of reasons – the greatest of which is </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>that you start thinking that public attention is</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>how you know your work is good. Applause and acclaim</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> are not how you know something has quality</i>.</div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Scott Cairns</div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Ben Palpant, "A Conversation with Scott Cairns" (Online), The Rabbit Room, February 26, 2024</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://spu.edu/academics/college-of-arts-sciences/english-cultural-studies-department/faculty/cairns-scott-faculty" target="_blank">Scott Cairns</a>, Poet, Spiritual Writer and Memoirist; Professor of English and Director, M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Seattle University; Blogger and Podcaster</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/p/Scott-Cairns-100063123074334/" target="_blank">Scott Cairns on Facebook</a><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-91945801071953557572024-03-10T06:30:00.001-04:002024-03-10T06:30:00.136-04:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>[. . .] We must learn how to be surprised,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>not to adjust ourselves. [. . .]<br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Abraham Joshua Heschel</div><div style="text-align: left;">____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted in Tali Sharot and Cass R. Sunstein, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/opinion/brain-habituation-horrors.html" target="_blank">Why People Fail to Notice Horrors Around Them</a>" (Guest Essay), <i>The New York Times,</i> February 25, 2024</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://bcs.mit.edu/directory/tali-sharot" target="_blank">Dr. Tali Sharot</a>, Neuroscientist, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/cass-r-sunstein/" target="_blank">Cass R. Sunstein</a>, Law Professor, Harvard University; Founder and Director, Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, Harvard Law School<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://affectivebrain.com/" target="_blank">Affective Brain Lab</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/heschel-abraham-joshua" target="_blank">Abraham Joshua Heschel</a> (1907-1972), Jewish Theologian and Philosopher; Author</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arnold Eisen, "<a href="https://onbeing.org/programs/arnold-eisen-the-opposite-of-good-is-indifference-sep2017/" target="_blank">The Spiritual Audacity of Abraham Joshua Heschel</a>" at On Being, September 21, 1917<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-66634019316960702792024-03-03T06:30:00.038-05:002024-03-03T06:30:00.257-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>The correct response to uncertainty is mythmaking</i>.</div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Martin Shaw</div><div style="text-align: left;">_______________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Martin Shaw, "<a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/navigating-the-mysteries/" target="_blank">Navigating the Mysteries</a>," <i>Emergence</i>, May 12, 2022</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://drmartinshaw.com/" target="_blank">Dr. Martin Shaw</a>, Mythologist and Storyteller; Author, Translator and Poet <br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://schoolofmyth.com/about/" target="_blank">School of Myth and Story</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, "<a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/interview/mud-and-antler-bone/" target="_blank">Mud and Antler Bone: An Interview with Martin Shaw</a>," <i>Emergence</i>, June 4, 2018<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-88135513437806223612024-03-02T14:37:00.000-05:002024-03-02T14:37:07.782-05:00The Children / We See (Poem)<p> <b>The Children / We See</b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><i>What childhood does /</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span></i><i><span> </span>a destroyed childhood beget?</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>~ Fady Joudah</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">We see them –</div><div style="text-align: left;">the children </div><div style="text-align: left;">rummaging through the fallen</div><div style="text-align: left;">fortress that once was Gaza</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Their urge –</div><div style="text-align: left;">to eat, sleep, play</div><div style="text-align: left;">to wake as if free</div><div style="text-align: left;">like the kites <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">they fly in hope</div><div style="text-align: left;">their dreams<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">of so many seeds</div><div style="text-align: left;">their grandfathers sowed<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">when the land was theirs</div><div style="text-align: left;">to harvest</div><div style="text-align: left;">and they could</div><div style="text-align: left;">taste the white cucumbers</div><div style="text-align: left;">the figs and the olives</div><div style="text-align: left;">Battiri eggplant, gourds</div><div style="text-align: left;">with necks like swans'</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These children –</div><div style="text-align: left;">we see them</div><div style="text-align: left;">what they've become</div><div style="text-align: left;">ghost-eaters</div><div style="text-align: left;">dirt-diggers <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">what they would give</div><div style="text-align: left;">for a taste of khubeezeh</div><div style="text-align: left;">a drink of cold water</div><div style="text-align: left;">a wash in the Red Sea<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">They push their steel pots</div><div style="text-align: left;">their plastic bowls</div><div style="text-align: left;">to the front lines</div><div style="text-align: left;">their eyes on those</div><div style="text-align: left;">with the stronger arms</div><div style="text-align: left;">the longer reach</div><div style="text-align: left;">the elbows out and ready</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">They are children –</div><div style="text-align: left;">we see them</div><div style="text-align: left;">know what they teach us</div><div style="text-align: left;">what war does</div><div style="text-align: left;">how power takes</div><div style="text-align: left;">on a life of its own</div><div style="text-align: left;">delivering back</div><div style="text-align: left;">their small bodies</div><div style="text-align: left;">into the arms of their fathers</div><div style="text-align: left;">borne too early of their mothers</div><div style="text-align: left;">denied them</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">__________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The epigraph is from Fady Joudah's poem "<i>[. . .]</i>."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Khubeezeh, as locally known in Gaza, is cheeseweed. It has become, according to the United Nations, a <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1147077" target="_blank">major food source</a> for Gazans. A plant, it typically has been used in recipes for side dishes.<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-52357279669986222312024-02-25T06:30:00.055-05:002024-02-25T06:30:00.142-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Hope is a song in a weary throat.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray</div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, <i><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/dark-testament-and-other-poems-pauli-murray/8278665?ean=9781631494833" target="_blank">Verse 8, Dark Testament and Other Poems</a></i> (Liveright Publishing Corp./W.W. Norton, 2018)<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.paulimurraycenter.com/who-is-pauli" target="_blank">Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray</a> (1910-1985), Lawyer/Legal Scholar, Poet, Episcopal Priest, Civil Rights Activist</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.paulimurraycenter.com/" target="_blank">Pauli Murray Center</a>, Durham, North Carolina </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.paulimurraycenter.com/writings-about-pauli-1" target="_blank">Pauli Murray Resources</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Note</u></b>: On February 22, 2024, the U.S. Mint released the new <a href="https://www.usmint.gov/news/inside-the-mint/historic-change-celebrating-the-activism-and-impact-of-rev-dr-pauli-murray" target="_blank">Pauli Murray quarter</a>. (See <a href="https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters" target="_blank">American Women Quarters Program</a>.)<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Listen to Murray's <i><a href="https://soundcloud.com/pauli-murray-center/pauli-murrays-dark-testament-verse-8-hope-is-a-song-in-a-weary-throat" target="_blank">Dark Testament, Verse 8</a></i> at SoundCloud.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-19468171572718223222024-02-18T14:19:00.001-05:002024-02-18T14:19:00.144-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>We ask of writers what we ask of our friends,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>to help us mediate and interpret the world.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Hosam Zowa in <i>My Friends</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">___________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Hisham Matar, <a href="http://www.hishammatar.com/my-friends-1" target="_blank"><i>My Friends</i></a> (Random House, 2024)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/72121/hisham-matar/" target="_blank">Hisham Matar</a>, Award-Winning Novelist, Memoirist, and Essayist; Fellow, Royal Society of Literature; Associate Professor, Professional Practice in Comparative Literature, Asia and Middle East Cultures, and English, Barnard College, Columbia University<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hishammatar.com/my-friends-1" rel="nofollow">Hisham Matar Website</a><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-59488154082570142882024-02-11T06:30:00.036-05:002024-02-11T06:30:00.171-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>What is the worth of defending our lives</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>if we do not seek to protect the lives of others?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Viet Thanh Nguyen</div><div style="text-align: left;">__________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Viet Thanh Nguyen, "<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/palestine-asia-orientalism-expansive-solidarity/" target="_blank">Palestine Is in Asia: An Asian American Argument for Solidarity</a>" in <i>The Nation</i>, January 29, 2024</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://vietnguyen.info/author-viet-thanh-nguyen" target="_blank">Viet Thanh Nguyen</a>, Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature, University of Southern California; Novelist; Fiction and Nonfiction Writer; Editor; Winner, 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-30974945869339073052024-02-04T06:30:00.030-05:002024-02-04T06:30:00.243-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>[. . .] the truest thing about being human</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>– the thing deepest down in us –</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>is not sin but the divine image.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Barbara Brown Taylor</div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Isaac Anderson, "<a href="https://imagejournal.org/article/a-conversation-with-barbara-brown-taylor/" target="_blank">A Conversation with Barbara Brown Taylor</a>" in <i>Image</i>, Issue 97; Online Archive<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://barbarabrowntaylor.com/about/" target="_blank">Barbara Brown Taylor</a>, Episcopal Priest, Teacher, Writer and Author</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Barbara Brown Taylor on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorBarbaraBrownTaylor/" target="_blank">FaceBook</a><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-16254314409361012122024-01-28T06:30:00.022-05:002024-01-28T06:30:00.150-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Finding time for anything that matters </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>will always be a challenge.</i> [. . .] </div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Margaret Renkl</div><div style="text-align: left;">______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Margaret Renkl, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/opinion/letters-new-year-resolution.html" target="_blank">The Nicest New Year's Resolution I Ever Made,</a>" <i>The New York Times</i>, November 21, 2021</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://margaretrenkl.com/about/" target="_blank">Margaret Renkl</a>, Writer, Author, Essayist, Contributing Opinion Writer for <i>The New York Times</i>; Founding Editor, Chapter 16, Humanities Tennessee<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-2433833820492038332024-01-21T06:30:00.042-05:002024-01-21T06:30:00.131-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . .] <i>How lovely </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>it would be to become something</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>that cannot be contained; to become</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>something so present, yet so far out</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>of reach that no man even thinks of trying</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>to lay his hands on it.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Tariq Luthun</div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Tariq Luthun, "I Felt Nothing" in <i><a href="https://www.tariqpoetry.com/book" target="_blank">How the Water Holds Me</a></i> (Bull City Press, 2019), p. 25</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.tariqpoetry.com/about" target="_blank">Tariq Luthun</a>, Detroit, Michigan-born Poet; Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow; Community Organizer, Data Consultant<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-88545718109359254392024-01-14T06:30:00.036-05:002024-01-14T06:30:00.313-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[...] <i>what is more generous than a window?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Pat Schneider</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">_______________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from "The Patience of Ordinary Things" by Pat Schneider in <i>Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems</i>, Phyllis Cole-Dai and Ruby R. Wilson, Eds. (Grayson Books, 2017), p. 33</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pat-schneider" target="_blank">Pat Schneider</a> (1934-2020), American Poet and Writer</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Susan Bruns Rowe, "<a href="https://literarymama.com/articles/departments/2021/03/a-profile-of-pat-schneider" target="_blank">A Profile of Pat Schneider</a>" at <i>Literary Mama</i>, March/April 2021<br /></div><p> </p>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-27492289341405049812024-01-08T06:30:00.003-05:002024-01-08T06:30:00.238-05:00Gaza Funeral (Poem)<div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>The lucky are those who have someone</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span> </span><span> </span>to bury them when they die.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>~ Doctor in Gaza </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The too-short truce was all the time</div><div style="text-align: left;">they had to bury the dead boy lying</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">in their rubbled apartment. Already</div><div style="text-align: left;">they'd waited four days, the body</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">of their 10-year-old wrapped in</div><div style="text-align: left;">a blanket providing no warmth,</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">his last rites un-mouthed, never</div><div style="text-align: left;">to be heard amid the later bombings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">On the fifth day, hurrying past</div><div style="text-align: left;">the broken skeletons of neighbors'</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">burned buildings, the father spied</div><div style="text-align: left;">the guava tree that children used</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">to climb for its juicy, sweet fruits.</div><div style="text-align: left;">In the sand, giving way to the fallen</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">harvest, the father dug a shallow</div><div style="text-align: left;">grave and left his boy to sleep.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The epigraph and some details for this poem come from Raja Abdulrahim's article, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/world/middleeast/gaza-israel-burials-deaths.html" target="_blank">As Gaza Losses Mount Under Strikes, Dignified Burials Are Another Casualty</a>" in <i>The New York Times</i>, January 6, 2024.<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-90547616771173733012024-01-07T06:30:00.042-05:002024-01-07T06:30:00.243-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . .] <i>Light needs such quiet, gentle work</i>.</div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Benjamin Cutler</div><div style="text-align: left;">__________________________ </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Benjamin Cutler, "<a href="https://www.theshorepoetry.org/benjamin-cutler-an-invitation-to-light" target="_blank">An Invitation to Light</a>" (This is the concluding line of Cutler's poem, which was published in <i>The Shore</i> in 2019, and, more recently, included in the Advent Project, Day 15, December 15, 2023, of <a href="https://biola.edu/" target="_blank">Biola University</a>'s <a href="https://ccca.biola.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts</a>.)<br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://benjamincutlerpoet.com/" target="_blank">Benjamin Cutler</a>, Poet; English Instructor, Swain County High School, North Carolina<br /></p>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-6664591517209229822023-12-31T12:57:00.000-05:002023-12-31T12:57:59.155-05:00This New Year's Eve (Poem)<div style="text-align: left;"><b>This New Year's Eve</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">the world again will refuse</div><div style="text-align: left;">the weight of grief – the war</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">declared for "absolute victory,"</div><div style="text-align: left;">the wounded strangers left</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">homeless in the Strip, Putin's</div><div style="text-align: left;">trains stalled at Ukraine's border,</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Red Sea shipping lanes rocketing</div><div style="text-align: left;">with Houthi fire. Tonight,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">for once, the world will crowd<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">the evening with too many</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">noise-makers – every body in</div><div style="text-align: left;">Manhattan showing up in the Square</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">with its glistering crystal ball</div><div style="text-align: left;">twelve feet in diameter.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Down a pole the orb will come,</div><div style="text-align: left;">marking more than a century</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">of midnight shifts, one year</div><div style="text-align: left;">folding into the next, precisely kept</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">for the more than billion revelers</div><div style="text-align: left;">tuning in via tv or Internet.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We will all look for the patterns</div><div style="text-align: left;">and meanings in the glass,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">the balm of Love and Wisdom,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Happiness and Goodwill,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Harmony and Serenity,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Kindness and Fortitude,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wonder and Imagination.</div><div style="text-align: left;">We will try to spot the hearts</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">overlapping, the wheel spinning,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Earth's sun, three pineapples,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">butterflies in flight, a starburst</div><div style="text-align: left;">out of our Universe. And we will </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">recall the resolutions newly made,</div><div style="text-align: left;">already broken, sip Top 5 champagnes,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">and keep our ears and eyes open.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Later will be time enough to protest.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">___________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The words "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/31/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news" target="_blank">absolute victory</a>" come from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, referencing the goal of the country's war with the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Various Facts about the <a href="https://www.timessquarenyc.org/sites/default/files/body-pdfs/NYE2023_Ball_Fact_Sheet_10-14-2022.pdf" target="_blank">New Year's Eve Crystal Ball</a> in Times Square</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some Other New Year's Eve Poems of Mine:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<a href="https://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-year-games-poem.html" target="_blank">New Year Games</a>"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<a href="https://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-begins-with-cream-poem.html" target="_blank">January begins with cream</a>"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<a href="https://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2010/12/watching-clock-on-new-years-eve-poem.html" target="_blank">Watching the Clock on New Year's Eve</a>"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<a href="https://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-eve-2009-poem.html" target="_blank">New Year's Eve 2009</a>"<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-42116876519125846542023-12-31T06:30:00.003-05:002023-12-31T06:30:00.131-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where is the Life we have lost in living?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? <br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ T. S. Eliot</div><div style="text-align: left;">________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from T. S. Eliot, "<a href="https://www.wisdomportal.com/Technology/TSEliot-TheRock.html" target="_blank">The Rock</a>" (Opening Stanza from Choruses), 1934. <b><u>Note</u></b>: "The Rock" was a 21-page verse pageant play written on behalf of 45 Churches Fund of the Diocese of London. It was performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre. An edition of 1,000 copies was published by Faber and Faber, London.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1948/eliot/biographical/" target="_blank">T. S. Eliot</a> (1888-1965), Poet, Essayist, Editor and Publisher, Playwright, Literary Critic; Winner, Nobel Prize in Literature, 1948<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-78118812703702692502023-12-24T06:30:00.030-05:002023-12-24T06:30:00.182-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>We only get one chance to live this life of love.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Every day is a lesson in love, learning how not to</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>bind up ourselves and our neighbors, but in fact</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>to free ourselves and others.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Fr. Richard Rohr</div><div style="text-align: left;">___________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Richard Rohr, "<a href="https://cac.org/daily-meditations/knowing-jesus-for-ourselves/" target="_blank">The Prophetic Path: Motivated by Love - Knowing Jesus for Ourselves</a>" from Daily Meditations, Center for Action and Contemplation, December 1, 2023</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://cac.org/about/our-teachers/richard-rohr/" target="_blank">Richard Rohr</a>, Franciscan Friar and Ecumenical Teacher; Founder, Center for Action and Contemplation; Author<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-83709227353771825472023-12-21T12:27:00.002-05:002023-12-21T12:46:00.864-05:00There is a light (Poem)<p> </p><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"> <b>There is a light</b></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">that flickers violently</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">in the Middle East.</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">On this, the darkest</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">and longest of nights,</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">what has not been razed</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">in Gaza gives shelter:</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">a wind-whipped tent</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">among tents, a hospital</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">corridor, the burned-out</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">shell of an Orthodox church</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">where Christ, new-borne,</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">will lie among the rubble.</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">Soon a blast mistaken</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">for God's own voice joins</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">with the cries of children,</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">the silencing wails of women.</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">Snow is falling in Gaza,</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">and somewhere there</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">is a light that flickers,</div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;">land within sight.<br /></div><div style="margin-left: 80px; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-85729467988230075382023-12-17T06:30:00.031-05:002023-12-17T06:30:00.172-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . .] <i>I think about tears as a doorway: an invitation </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>to be fully human and to connect with others,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>in all the complexity that entails.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Benjamin Perry</div><div style="text-align: left;">______________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Benjamin Perry, "<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2023/05/crying-good-for-you-daily/674043/" target="_blank">What I Lost When I Stopped Crying</a>" (Excerpt) in <i>The Atlantic</i>, May 15, 2023; Online</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.benjaminjperry.com/about" target="_blank">Benjamin Perry</a>, Minister; Author, <i>Cry, Baby</i> <br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-36274413068267995312023-12-10T06:30:00.051-05:002023-12-10T06:30:00.136-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Be grateful, be father and mother, /<br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Be teacher, sister and brother /<br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>In all that you dream and do, /<br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Against the day your ledger</i> /<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Is opened to you.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Robert McDowell </div><div style="text-align: left;">___________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Robert McDowell, "Grateful" from <i>On Foot, In Flames</i> (University of Pittsburgh Press) in Robert McDowell, <i>Sweet Wolf Selected & New Poems</i> (Homestead Lighthouse Press, 2021), p. 96<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Robert McDowell, Poet, Author (Fiction, Criticism, Translation, Creative Nonfiction), Editor; Co-Founder (with Mark Jarman) of <i>The Reaper</i> Magazine and Story Line Press; Founder, Rural Readers Project; Co-Founder, Poets Prize; College and University Educator; Social Activist; Public Speaker<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://robertmcdowell.net/" target="_blank">Robert McDowell Website</a><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-84022747298823463542023-12-06T15:54:00.002-05:002023-12-06T16:42:51.824-05:00Staying Ahead of the Danger (Poem)<p><b>Staying Ahead of the Danger</b></p><div style="text-align: left;">Drone-dropped leaflets float down</div><div style="text-align: left;">like so much manna from heaven:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">warnings with QR codes for</div><div style="text-align: left;">downloadable color-coded maps</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">outlining the "dangerous combat</div><div style="text-align: left;">zones" in the killing fields of Gaza. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is no electricity to charge</div><div style="text-align: left;">the phones the IDF is calling.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Texts follow anyway. Evacuate,</div><div style="text-align: left;">those first ones order; stay inside</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"known" shelters and schools,</div><div style="text-align: left;">command others. An official</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">spokesperson fails to see</div><div style="text-align: left;">the contradiction, estimates</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">that for every one Hamas militant</div><div style="text-align: left;">eliminated, two civilians die.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let's be clear: This is the calculus </div><div style="text-align: left;">only his government can live with,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">the toll now "something more"</div><div style="text-align: left;">than the losses recorded yesterday,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">and still "more than acceptable</div><div style="text-align: left;">compared to other armies</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">facing similar challenges </div><div style="text-align: left;">in urban battlefields." After all,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">what choice is there? "We</div><div style="text-align: left;">didn't start this war," he argues. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">__________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The quotes in this poem come directly from an Israeli military spokesperson's explanation of his country's warning system, which uses air-dropped leaflets, drone broadcasts, telephone calling, texting, and Internet communications to warn Gazans to move out of harm's way as the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) advances its war against Hamas militants. Displacement in one area flows from displacement in another. As this <i>Washington Post</i> article makes clear from interviews with Gazans and humanitarian aid officials, there are no safe spaces for the Palestinians, not in homes, schools, hospitals, churches, or other shelters, especially where all essential services have ceased to exist. (See "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/06/israel-gaza-civilians-protection/" target="_blank">Israel touts civilian warning system, but for Gazans, nowhere is safe</a>".) <style>@font-face
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{page:WordSection1;}</style>The spokesperson's additional comments about the number of civilians killed compared to the number of militants are appalling, though the individual hastened to add – too late, in my opinion, to register a sense of compassion – that "any loss" is unacceptable. Numbers are telling. Facts are facts. We must all drop the scales from our eyes if we are to see this war, and this horrendous crisis for Palestinian civilians, in clear light and at last acknowledge those unlike ourselves as the human beings they are. (See also this <i>New York Times</i> coverage and, in particular, "An Airstrike hits Rafah, where Israel had urged Gazans to seek safety," (December 6, 2023): <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/06/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/06/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news</a>.)<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-71798227011037185712023-12-03T06:00:00.000-05:002023-12-03T06:00:00.147-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . . ] <i>I lived in the present, which was</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>that part of the future you could see</i>. [. . .]</div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Louise Gluck</div><div style="text-align: left;">_________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Louise Gluck, "<a href="https://www.threepennyreview.com/landscape-2/" target="_blank">Landscape</a>," <i>The Threepenny Review</i>, Winter 2005</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2020/gluck/biographical/" target="_blank">Louise Gluck</a> (April 22, 1943 - October 13, 2023), American Poet and Essayist; Winner, Nobel Prize in Literature, 2020; United States Poet Laureate, 2003-2004</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-3291173009524662382023-11-26T06:30:00.001-05:002023-11-26T06:30:00.148-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . .] <i>I have come around to understand the fact that in promising</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>us an afterlife, we are being given a chance to take care of</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>unfinished business. Because who, except the greatest </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>of saints and the most innocent of persons, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>doesn't have unfinished business?</i> [. . .]</div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Denise Levertov</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">_______________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Emily Archer, "<a href="https://imagejournal.org/article/a-conversation-with-denise-levertov/" target="_blank">Conversation with Denise Leverto</a>v," <i>Image</i>, Issue 18, Winter 1997-1998<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://imagejournal.org/article/a-conversation-with-denise-levertov/" target="_blank">Denise Levertov</a> (October 24, 1923 - December 20, 1997), British-Born Poet, Writer, Translator; Teacher; Political Activist<br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-13637614960101363732023-11-23T13:54:00.002-05:002023-11-24T13:52:25.734-05:00Uprootings (Poem)<p> <b>Uprootings</b></p><div style="text-align: left;">1</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Ungloved hands once plucked ripe olives,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Palestinian symbol of resilience and pride.</div><div style="text-align: left;">They harvest now no more than branch</div><div style="text-align: left;">and bone, sprayed hectares amid grove fires.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">2</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">In Khan Younis, beyond the border fence,</div><div style="text-align: left;">no one dances dabka. In Nablus, a farmer</div><div style="text-align: left;">hugs her tree, and cries; another watches,</div><div style="text-align: left;">his grape vines crushed, his fingers broken.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">3</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">A city center's oil spills. A boy's toy</div><div style="text-align: left;">plane soars from a concrete balcony</div><div style="text-align: left;">just seconds before the blast</div><div style="text-align: left;">of a white phosphorus bomb.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">4</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Love of the land, for the land:</div><div style="text-align: left;">even the natural history of the soil</div><div style="text-align: left;">is denied, crops confined behind iron</div><div style="text-align: left;">gates, earth mounds, secure checkpoints.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-73312643151117071342023-11-19T06:30:00.054-05:002023-11-19T06:30:00.141-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;">[. . .] <i>Peace, not only </i>/ </div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>the absence of war.</i> [. . .] </div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Denise Levertov</div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from Denise Levertov, "Making Peace" in <i>Breathing the Water</i> (New Directions Press, 1997)<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/poetry-00000277/juan-felipe-herrera-denise-levertov/" target="_blank">Text of Poem and Commentary by Felipe Herrera</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Making Peace" in The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov (New Directions, 2013), pp. 757-758<br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/n50049988/denise-levertov/" target="_blank">Denise Levertov</a> (1923-1997), British-born American Poet, Writer, Translator; Teacher; Political Activist</p><p style="text-align: left;">Denise Levertov Profiles at <a href="https://poets.org/poet/denise-levertov">Academy of American Poets</a>, <a href="https://imagejournal.org/article/denise-levertov-a-memoir-and-appreciation/" target="_blank"><i>Image</i> Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.ndbooks.com/author/denise-levertov/" target="_blank">New Directions</a>, <i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/23/arts/denise-levertov-poet-and-political-activist-dies-at-74.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a></i><br /></p>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2639339699258439249.post-1547246197079103552023-11-12T06:30:00.044-05:002023-11-12T06:30:00.146-05:00Thought for the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Eat the cake!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Hadley Vlahos on Advice from the Dying</div><div style="text-align: left;">____________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Quoted from "Biloxi Native Writes WSJ bestseller 'The In Between'," <a href="https://www.wlox.com/video/2023/06/27/biloxi-native-writes-wsj-bestseller-the-between/" target="_blank">Interview on WLOX</a> (Video), June 27, 2023</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://nursehadley.com/about#start-here.1" target="_blank">Hadley Vlahos</a>, Hospice Nurse; Author, <i><a href="https://nursehadley.com/book" target="_blank">The In Between</a></i> (Penguin Random House, 2023)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709707/the-in-between-by-hadley-vlahos-rn/" target="_blank">Excerpt from <i>The In Between</i></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">David Marchese, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/22/magazine/hadley-vlahos-interview.html" target="_blank">A Hospice Nurse on Embracing the Grace of Dying</a>," Interview, <i>The New York Time</i>s, October 21, 2023<i> </i><br /></div>Maureenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com0