Monday, \u00a0April 30\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Town in March\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim Janda lived as a mystic pilgrim for most of his 74 years. He died August 7, 2010 in Salt Lake City, a priest of that diocese since 1996. Jim also lived for a quarter century as a Jesuit which is when we met. Jim was \u201cwell known for his gentle and generous heart. . . . During his life he wrote and published a series of short religious stories for children, school plays and books of poetry.\u201d So reads his obituary in the Salt Lake Tribune. The obit is accurate, as was the stated cause of his death, emphysema; I think he smoked too much. I can\u2019t remember ever visiting with Jim without feeling bathed in wisdom and tenderness, and in his awareness of how deep grief runs in human beings, right there along with whimsy.<\/p>\n
The Tribune\u2019s evocation of \u201cstories for children, school plays and books of poetry . . .\u201d does not even hint at the flint-hard prose and fine-tuned ironies that throb and flow through his poems. Today\u2019s post comes from the 1970s when Jim lived on the Lakota Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Like many of his poems, \u201cThe Town in March\u201d is homey and close to the grass without flinching from pain.<\/p>\n
Jim Janda reminds me of Joy Harjo. I am glad I thought to pull his book off my poetry shelf.<\/p>\n
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John sj<\/p>\n
The Town in March \u00a0–\u00a01st posted to this list March 19,\u00a02014<\/p>\n
I.
\na wind smelling
\nof grass
\nand wet earth
\nwas coming
\noff the prairie
\nand blowing
\nthrough town<\/p>\n
you could hear
\nMr. Buffalo Robe
\nplaying marches
\non his piano
\nfrom the open door
\nof his shack<\/p>\n
Mrs. Big Dog
\nsitting on the
\nstoop of her trailer
\nwas squinting
\nin the sun<\/p>\n
kids were shouting
\nabout the dead
\nbadger they found<\/p>\n
II.
\nhe does not play
\nthe piano any more<\/p>\n
some men broke his
\nhand and arm
\nwhen he was drunk<\/p>\n
some men blinded
\nJohn Red Feather too<\/p>\n
this is not spoken of
\nin town<\/p>\n
Jim Janda \u00a0\u00a0d. August, 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monday, \u00a0April 30\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Town in March\u201d Jim Janda lived as a mystic pilgrim for most of his 74 years. He died August 7, 2010 in Salt Lake City, a priest of that diocese since 1996. Jim also lived for a quarter … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2018\/04\/Jim-Janda.jpg\")
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