{"id":1747,"date":"2016-02-22T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1747"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:54","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:54","slug":"february-22-i-have-made-this-place-around-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/22\/february-22-i-have-made-this-place-around-you\/","title":{"rendered":"February 22  &#8211;   \u201cI have made this place around you\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Monday, February 22, 2016 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have yet to tire of watching university people driving through our lovely new gate; \u00a0after years of watching people stalled in line when someone ahead in line needs to discuss logistics with the gate attendant, I find it so cool that university ID\u2019s open a 2nd gate that welcomes homies onto campus for another work day. \u00a0It helps that I like the way the gate\u2019s soft-curve arch frames the university\u2019s clock tower and makes ordinary automobiles look gracious, a welcoming gate again this Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>February has surprises to go with its dim light. \u00a0I dug back in the list for a poem that has been absent for too long, posted first on another February Monday, in 2014. \u00a0If you find time to read the post out loud, with pauses, it may tease a smile out from your soul.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest week.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>February 2014<\/p>\n<p>A friend, some years ago, gave me \u00a0David Whyte\u2019s\u00a0<u>The House of Belonging<\/u>. \u00a0 It sat on my shelf for 14 years waiting for me to pay attention. \u00a0Two people, the poet and my friend who gave me the book, have created a place waiting for me to find it. \u00a0That\u2019s the point of David Wagoner\u2019s poem \u201cLost\u201d which leads off David Whyte\u2019s book. \u00a0It blows me away. \u201cLost\u201d echoes a wisdom some Lakota friends taught me 50 years ago when I came to the Pine Ridge Reservation to learn how to teach and become a grown up. \u00a0I use 3 short sayings as one of my email signatures.<\/p>\n<p><u>Three wisdom-sayings born on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation<\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTime spent baking bread follows the\u00a0pace\u00a0of yeast\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMotorcycling alone I move as\u00a0a tiny person in a vast world\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I pause long enough, I hear the sound of grass growing &#8212; and trees &#8212; each\u00a0at its own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s David Wagoner\u2019s way to say something similar. \u00a0Welcome to a new work week in the middle of February.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Lost&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stand still.\u00a0\u00a0 The trees ahead and bushes beside you<br \/>\nAre not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,<br \/>\nAnd you must treat it as a powerful stranger,<br \/>\nMust ask permission to know it and be known.<br \/>\nThe forest breathes.\u00a0 Listen.\u00a0 It answers,<br \/>\nI have made this place around you.<br \/>\nIf you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.<br \/>\nNo two trees are the same to Raven.<br \/>\nNo two branches are the same to Wren.<br \/>\nIf what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,<br \/>\nYou are surely lost.\u00a0 Stand still. The forest knows<br \/>\nWhere you are. You must let it find you.<\/p>\n<p>David Wagoner (1976)<\/p>\n<p>{Frontispiece in\u00a0 David Whyte,\u00a0\u00a0<u>The House of Belonging,<\/u>\u00a0Many Rivers Press, 1997}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, February 22, 2016 \u00a0 I have yet to tire of watching university people driving through our lovely new gate; \u00a0after years of watching people stalled in line when someone ahead in line needs to discuss logistics with the gate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/22\/february-22-i-have-made-this-place-around-you\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1750,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}