{"id":2229,"date":"2017-03-06T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2229"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:13","slug":"march-6-an-old-man-walking-with-two-dogs-in-a-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/03\/06\/march-6-an-old-man-walking-with-two-dogs-in-a-city\/","title":{"rendered":"March 6 – – an old man walking with two dogs . . . . in a city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, March 6\u00a0\u201cof weather, of corners,
\nof leisurely tensions between them
\nand private silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring Break on McNichols Campus: \u00a0the youngest half of the university\u2019s population is mostly invisible and inaudible. \u00a0For us employees there\u2019s still plenty to do but I find somehow, even so, there\u2019s more breathing space. \u00a0Maybe it\u2019s the excitement of our women\u2019s basketball team playing its tournament downtown in\u00a0\u201cThe Joe,\u201d and winning number one and gearing up for number two this afternoon. \u00a0\u201cThe Joe,\u201d \u00a0 a fixture, home for decades to the Red Wings but in its last year as the huge new arena rises a mile to the north in the growing cluster of stadia\u00a0\u2014 the Tigers, The Pistons, The Lions, The Red Wings, another sign of the pulsing new energy in the city. \u00a0When she prayed with the team before yesterday\u2019s game, Sr. Beth Ann Finster told the players: \u00a0\u201cThis is our building; our name is on the playing floor; you own this building.\u201d \u00a0Made the team crazy excited as Beth often does. \u00a0They are, along with other men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams, staying at the refreshed 72 story Marriot hotel rising above the 4 office towers of GM\u2019s world headquarters, looking out over the Detroit River and, off to the north-east, Belle Isle and Lake St. Clair and to the south, Windsor Ontario, the only city in the US where you go south into Canada. \u00a0 \u00a0A reborn waterfront and international border: for the players, a classy moment. \u00a0We are looking for another win today.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s the courage of the undergrad Alternative Spring Break teams who\u2019ve headed off to their week long commitments in demanding places of various U.S cities. \u00a0When they come back at the week\u2019s end, there will be new stories to tell. \u00a0Maybe it will be the less-public stories of\u00a0faculty using the week to dig deeper into their research projects.<\/p>\n

Whatever the sources, Spring Break has its own sound, its own pace. \u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s what led me to this Denise Levertov poem, one new to me. \u00a0An old man in a city walking his two mongrel dogs. \u00a0 Sweet. \u00a0 I hope you like it. \u00a0 Out loud with pauses.<\/p>\n

Whether for \u00a0you \u00a0this is break time or you are slamming high pressure work, have a blest day.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0\u00a0\u201cthe Rainwalkers\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

An old man whose black face
\nshines golden-brown as wet pebbles
\nunder the streetlamp, is walking two mongrel dogs of dis-
\nproportionate size, in the rain,
\nin the relaxed early-evening avenue.<\/p>\n

The small sleek one wants to stop,
\ndocile to the imploring soul of the trashbasket,
\nbut the young tall curly one
\nwants to walk on; the glistening sidewalkentices him to arcane happenings.<\/p>\n

Increasing rain. The old bareheaded man
\nsmiles and grumbles to himself.
\nThe lights change: the avenue’s
\nendless nave echoes notes of
\nliturgical red. He drifts<\/p>\n

between his dogs’ desires.
\nThe three of them are enveloped –
\nturning now to go crosstown – in their
\nsense of each other, of pleasure,
\nof weather, of corners,
\nof leisurely tensions between them
\nand private silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Denise_Levertov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, March 6\u00a0\u201cof weather, of corners, of leisurely tensions between them and private silence.\u201d Spring Break on McNichols Campus: \u00a0the youngest half of the university\u2019s population is mostly invisible and inaudible. \u00a0For us employees there\u2019s still plenty to do but … 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\/2229"}],"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=2229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2230,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229\/revisions\/2230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}