{"id":2751,"date":"2018-09-19T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2751"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:14","slug":"sept-19-in-love-denise-levertov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/09\/19\/sept-19-in-love-denise-levertov\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 19 “In Love” Denise Levertov"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, September 19\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0Connie de Biase, her birthday month, \u00a019 \u00a0months after we buried her<\/p>\n

I found myself writing a paragraph contemplation of Connie on her first birthday since leaving us. \u00a0 Now, one birthday later, \u00a0Connie infuses my imagination; \u00a0I still love her last year\u2019s contemplation\/celebration.<\/p>\n

Connie in our 4 decades of kinship partnered with me in our mutual commitment to noticing. \u00a0\u00a0When I miss her most is on Saturday mornings when I am home and able to Sabbath the day, especially driving into center city to buy community bread. \u00a0I used to call her while driving back home with fresh food in two bags in the back seat and we would talk about the condition of our inner lives. \u00a0Our last year or more were more brave and sad as Connie recognized her growing diminishment and her grief at losing the life in Madison that she loved and lived so gracefully. \u00a0Talking with her was part of that inner movement, \u00a0Ignatius calls these \u201cinner disturbances\u201d and counsels a habit of paying attention to them whether consolations or desolations. \u00a0\u00a0Noticing.<\/p>\n

originally posted January 23, 2017<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps this Denise Levertov poem came to mind because I flew into JFK Saturday, braved Long Island\u2019s expressways with their too tight turns matched by slightly-too-narrow lanes, to spend time with a lifelong soul friend, Sr. Consuela de Biase, csj. \u00a0 Connie has become frail, like the ancient poet in today\u2019s poem. \u00a0She misses nothing, I realized, but you have to lean in close to hear; \u00a0worn with fatigue, she whispers, and pauses to breathe. \u00a0We visited three times \u00a0(c. 90 minutes, \u00a025 minutes, and 4 or 5 when we said goodbye before I headed back to JFK early Sunday). \u00a0I love it that the 40 mile drive on the parkway was wearing; \u00a0it reminds me that those miles and our 3 conversations are of a piece with decades of mutual listening, the fabric of Connie\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s poem Denise Levertov writes of an ancient poet whose frail strengths remind me of Connie. \u00a0 This beautiful early autumn day might tempt you to open your window or step outside so you can read \u201cIn Love\u201d bathed in beauty, breathing a little too.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

johns sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn Love\u201d<\/p>\n

Over gin and tonic (an unusual treat) the ancient poet
\nhaltingly \u2014\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not because mind and memory
\nfalter, but because language, now,
\nweary from so many years
\nof intense partnership,
\ncomes stiffly to her summons,
\nwith unsure footing \u2014
\nrecounts, for the first time in my hearing, each step
\nof that graceful sarabande, her husband\u2019s
\nlast days, last minutes, fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n

She files her belongings freestyle, jumbled
\nin plastic bags \u2014 poems, old letters, ribbons,
\nold socks, an empty picture frame;
\nbut keeps her fifty years of marriage wrapped, flawless,
\nin something we sense and almost see \u2014
\ndiaphanous as those saris one can pass through a wedding ring.<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov \u00a01923 \u2013 1997<\/p>\n

Connie laughing, \u00a0smiling, \u00a0contemplative \u00a0August 2006<\/p>\n

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Wednesday, September 19\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0Connie de Biase, her birthday month, \u00a019 \u00a0months after we buried her I found myself writing a paragraph contemplation of Connie on her first birthday since leaving us. \u00a0 Now, one birthday later, \u00a0Connie infuses my imagination; … 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\/2751"}],"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=2751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2753,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions\/2753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}