The Poetry of Transformation
What poets and monastics have in common When people think about what poets and monastics (monks and nuns who live in monasteries) have in common, the list might look like this: They have their heads in the clouds; They’re hermits;. They dress weird; And they’re dying off. Like all potent rumors, there’s a smidgeon of… Continue reading 8 Things Poets and Monastics Can Teach Us About Happiness; with 8 Poems to Make Life More Meaningful–Part 1 of a series
What do spiritual practices do? Practice is how people develop the skills to become adept at anything. Music students practice their instruments. Gymnasts practice routines, yoga students practice poses, swimmers practice strokes, and tennis players practice their serves. Successful organizational leaders practice self-mastery and teamwork. Just as all these people practice to become more proficient, spiritual… Continue reading 23 Spiritual Practices Taught by The Rule of Benedict
Yesterday, when I read in the Concord Monitor that one of the last major American poets of his generation, Donald Hall, died at his home at the age of 89, I felt sad that I had neglected to write to him one more time. I never told him how much his example of the good… Continue reading Unpacking the Boxes: a small tribute to Donald Hall, (1928-2018)
At the intersection of reading and writing, in the spaces where listening, silence, prayer, and wonder happen--there is poetry. There, too, is where I find support for living as a Benedictine. Some months ago I decided that my blog will focus on "Reading, Writing, and the Benedictine way of life." Since then, I've been pondering… Continue reading Judith Valente–poet, journalist, and Benedictine oblate–on “How To Live”
On March 26, 2018, at the ‘March for Our Lives’ demonstration in Washington D.C., one of the march’s organizers, Emma Gonzalez, took the stage to speak against the insane notion that nothing can be done to protect us and our children from gun violence. People were shaken out of apathy and the #NeverAgain movement, organized… Continue reading The destruction of apathy: how Emma Gonzalez mobilized the tools of poetry to empower the #NeverAgain movement
April 10, 2018. Snow everywhere and it's miserably frigid. The calendar says spring arrived twenty one days ago but this is not spring. So here's a poem for questioning how things ought to be in light of how things are and vice versa. Christine Klocek-Lim’s nuanced poem, “This is Not a Poem,” is an ars poetica —… Continue reading This is not spring and this is not a poem
For impatient people: Because poetry has made me less self-absorbed and more empathetic, you can skip my explanation of why poetry is important enough to deserve a national month celebrating it, and jump straight to the 12 places to put poetry list. Just click here . So here's the story about why poetry is so important that… Continue reading 12 Places to Put Poetry for National Poetry Month
Goodbye for now, friends. I’m soon going on another lenten journey and plan to return in early April. It’s common for people of diverse Christian traditions to “give up” something for lent. You could say I’m giving up social media, but this is more than a time of abstinence. For a Benedictine, lent is also… Continue reading Withdrawing from Social Media for Lent
In her 1949 book, The Life of Poetry, Muriel Rukeyser indicates what motivated her to make poems: “Writing is only another way of giving, a courtesy, if you will, and a form of love.” Rukeyser was perhaps as well known for her political activism as for her poetry. Living through the death and destruction of… Continue reading Muriel Rukeyser on poetry as a weapon against hate
The Spirituality Center at Saint Benedict’s monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, has a labyrinth, which I am preparing to walk soon for personal and professional reasons. I suppose I could just drive over there tomorrow and walk it, but that’s not how I take journeys. I read up on the places I’m going because it… Continue reading Gailand MacQueen on the spirituality of mazes and labyrinths
