{"id":2829,"date":"2018-12-03T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2829"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:04","slug":"dec-3-2018-sheer-bravery-women-and-men1921-and-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/12\/03\/dec-3-2018-sheer-bravery-women-and-men1921-and-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"Dec 3, 2018 – – Sheer bravery, women and men,\t1921 and 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, December 3, 2018
\n“. \u00a0 . \u00a0 . \u00a0 . \u00a0and wait then, humped and bloody,
\nFor the wits to try it again\u201d<\/p>\n

Some days offer anniversaries of blunt courage and beauty. \u00a0 The stillness of strong poetry makes a wise response.<\/p>\n

Richard\u00a0Wilbur wrote \u201cThe Writer\u201d\u00a0in 1921, \u00a02 years into the rolling\u00a0shock waves from WWI\u2019s chemical warfare horrors that twisted the bodies of maimed soldiers returning from Europe. \u00a0Way too often, they did not find jobs waiting to honor their broken bodies. \u00a0The first half-decade of post war was rough with fear and rage, with sometimes savage contempt for immigrants or for fellow citizens with whom one differed; all these pressures made for hard times, not unlike the years in which we live now.<\/p>\n

Richard Wilbur, today\u2019s poet, recognized in that precise moment of history, the sheer beauty and\u00a0wonder of young people\u00a0risking a lot while learning to write. \u00a0Writing is brave, the poet tells us, especially unfinished writing.<\/p>\n

Have a blest week. \u00a0I will spend four days with my sister Midge and her family in Carson City Nevada; \u00a0back Friday.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cThe Writer\u201d \u00a0<\/strong>Richard Wilbur<\/p>\n

In her room at the prow of the house
\nWhere light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
\nMy daughter is writing a story.<\/p>\n

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
\nFrom her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
\nLike a chain hauled over a gunwale.<\/p>\n

Young as she is, the stuff
\nOf her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
\nI wish her a lucky passage.<\/p>\n

But now it is she who pauses,
\nAs if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
\nA stillness greatens, in which<\/p>\n

The whole house seems to be thinking,
\nAnd then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
\nOf strokes, and again is silent.<\/p>\n

I remember the dazed starling
\nWhich was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
\nHow we stole in, lifted a sash<\/p>\n

And retreated, not to affright it;
\nAnd how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
\nWe watched the sleek, wild, dark<\/p>\n

And iridescent creature
\nBatter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
\nTo the hard floor, or the desk-top,<\/p>\n

And wait then, humped and bloody,
\nFor the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
\nRose when, suddenly sure,<\/p>\n

It lifted off from a chair-back,
\nBeating a smooth course for the right window
\nAnd clearing the sill of the world.<\/p>\n

It is always a matter, my darling,
\nOf life or death, as I had forgotten.\u00a0I wish
\nWhat I wished you before, but harder.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0richard wilbur \u00a0March 1, 1921 \u00a0\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

p.s. \u00a0On this date yesterday, December 2, 1980, four American women, Maura Clark and Ita Ford (Maryknoll sisters), Dorothy Kazel (Ursuline sister), and Jean Donovan a single young woman were raped, murdered, and buried in Salvadoran shallow graves by out-of-uniform Salvadoran soldiers. Their murders evoked a response in the U.S. that galvanized opposition to U.S. funding for the Salvadoran military.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Brave women. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1980_murders_of_U.S._missionaries_in_El_Salvador<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, December 3, 2018 “. \u00a0 . \u00a0 . \u00a0 . \u00a0and wait then, humped and bloody, For the wits to try it again\u201d Some days offer anniversaries of blunt courage and beauty. \u00a0 The stillness of strong poetry makes … 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\/2829"}],"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=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2832,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions\/2832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}