I recently came across this while looking through old writings of mine. I wrote it at the end of a month long volunteer training led by the Brethren Volunteer Service in Chicago in the summer of 1992. During those four weeks, I was sequestered with a diverse group of twenty-some volunteers from all over the…
Tag: poetry
The Beautiful Hour (poem)
For Kim The Beautiful Hour,You said,Is at twilightWhen the sun reaches that perfect angleAnd her beams linger and shimmerSoftly on the faces of creation.When people look more vibrant, fullLike TV peopleOnly better cause they’re on the biggest screen. It’s a nice thought,This Beautiful Hour.As the sun lets out her tressesOn the edge of the worldLet’s…
Good Bones (poem)
Good Bones By Maggie Smith (2015) Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this…
“For this World” by Walter Rauschenbusch
A member of my Quaker Meeting, Stephanie Rauschenbusch, shared this wonderful poem written by her grandfather Stephanie Rauschenbusch in 1957. It very much speaks to my condition. O God, we thank thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, and for the manifoldness of the life which teams upon it…
“Late Fragment” by Raymond Carver
And did you get whatyou wanted from this life, even so?I did.And what did you want?To call myself beloved, to feel myselfbeloved on the earth.
Home Cooking (poem)
Home Cooking november 1994 I lay awake under a heavy veilOf mosquito nettingThat defends my sweet American bloodFrom the thirsty insects of my homeland.The early morning lightSteps softly into this upper roomOf my grandmother’s home,Gently warming the slumberingCousins, aunts, and unclesThat lie on the floor all about me. It has been a hard weekThis first…
Good Bones, by Maggie Smith
Good Bones by Maggie Smith Life is short, though I keep this from my children.Life is short, and I’ve shortened minein a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,a thousand deliciously ill-advised waysI’ll keep from my children. The world is at leastfifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservativeestimate, though I keep this from my children.For every bird there…
“Q Train Manhattan Bound 942am” (poem)
Written this morning on my commute on my iPhone.
Mind blowing machinima by Lainy Voom: “The Stolen Child”
This machinima "The Stolen Child" by Lainy Voom just completely blows me away. I find it unbelievable that this was done in Second Life. Those water and light effects are just amazing. The first in a series of machinima inspired by poetry, I can not wait for the next one!
Need examples of poetry about political and social change
On Monday I am helping lead a workshop on "Global Arts for Social Change" with fifty-some Global Kids youth at a retreat in upstate New York. (See the full video I prepared for this here.) We've got a great bunch of kids, so I'm expecting some awesome dancing, street art, spoken word, drumming and other…