{"id":2194,"date":"2017-02-10T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2194"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:19","slug":"feb-10-david-whyte-and-denise-levertov-for-angry-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/02\/10\/feb-10-david-whyte-and-denise-levertov-for-angry-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 10 – David Whyte and Denise Levertov — for angry times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, February 10 \u00a0\u201cthe well of grief\u201d \u2014 \u00a0\u201cthe mineshaft of passion”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anger does best when I can bring it to stillness, when an anger\u2019s source in grief becomes accessible to me. \u00a0 There\u2019s lots of anger in the land these days. \u00a0Here are two poets who frequently grace these posts, writing their way into holy sorrow. \u00a0 Try reading them, but not both right in a row; put pauses in between to let the words seep into your day.<\/p>\n

That it is\u00a0Friday has got me stretching and smiling some, as in \u00a0\u201cT.G.I.F.\u201d \u00a0 Blessings on these couple days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Post # 1 \u00a0 David Whyte \u00a0\u201cThe Well of Grief\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who will not slip beneath
\nthe still surface on the well of grief,<\/h3>\n

turning down through its black water
\nto the place we cannot breathe,<\/h3>\n

will never know the source from which we drink,
\nthe secret water, cold and clear,<\/h3>\n

nor find in the darkness glimmering,<\/h3>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the small round coins,
\nthrown by those who wished for something else.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Risking Everything<\/u><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

David Whyte b. 1955<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Post \u00a0# 2 \u00a0Denise Levertov \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cthe Mineshaft of passion\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the poet\u2013it\u2019s midnight, the room is half empty, soon we must part\u2013
\nthe poet, his presence
\nursine and kind, shifting his weight in a chair too small for him,
\nquietly says, and shyly:
\n\u201cThe Poet
\nnever must lose despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then our eyes indeed
\nmeet and hold,
\nAll of us know, smiling
\nin common knowledge\u2013
\neven the palest spirit among us, burdened
\nas he is with weight of abstractions\u2013
\nall of us know he means
\nwe mustn\u2019t, any of us, lose touch with the source,
\npretend it\u2019s not there, cover over
\nthe mineshaft of passion
\ndespair somberly tolls its bell
\nfrom the depths of,<\/p>\n

and wildest joy
\nsings out of too,
\nflashing
\nthe scales of its laughing, improbable music,
\ngrief and delight entwined in the dark down there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Levertov
\nb. October 1923 \u00a0d. December 1997<\/p>\n

from: \u201cConversation in Moscow\u201d in\u00a0Freeing of the Dust<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, February 10 \u00a0\u201cthe well of grief\u201d \u2014 \u00a0\u201cthe mineshaft of passion” Anger does best when I can bring it to stillness, when an anger\u2019s source in grief becomes accessible to me. \u00a0 There\u2019s lots of anger in the land … Continue reading →<\/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\/2194"}],"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=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2196,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions\/2196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}