Many members of the Work Day/Hard Times Poetry List have emailed this morning; they remind me, as do the 4 poems we’ve prepared for tonight’s class session (on the teachings of Catherine McAuley and St. Ignatius on prayer) – – remind me of the List’s mission statement that I wrote in 2013. That 2013 Mission Statement — written during Detroit’s bankruptcy troubles and before those hard times had turned toward hope. We have posted hundreds of strong poems over these years.
Today’s 4 poems (which we prepared for our online class today) read with such an apt presence for these Election Day tensions that I decided to post them, not only for the online students but also for the c. 2600 readers to whom we dedicate each poem over these many years.
Have a blest day; best to read the mission statement out loud, as if it were itself a strong poem. Today’s four poems fit the mission statement, spot on.
john st sj
“The Guest House” – Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (جلالالدین محمد رومی)
https://sites.udmercy.edu/poetry/2020/11/02/monday-november-3-the-guest-house-jalal-ad-din-muhammad-rumi-%d8%ac%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%84%e2%80%8c%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%db%8c%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%88/
“Being Catholic” – Maria Ibarra
https://sites.udmercy.edu/poetry/2020/10/19/oct-19-maria-ibarra-being-catholic/
“The Well of Grief” – David Whyte
“the Mineshaft of passion” – Denise Levertov
https://sites.udmercy.edu/poetry/2020/11/03/nov-3-for-angry-moments-in-nervous-times-david-whyte-and-denise-levertov/