{"id":2962,"date":"2019-03-19T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2962"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:43:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:43:31","slug":"march-18-denise-levertov-david-whyte-the-mineshaft-of-passion-the-well-of-grief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/03\/19\/march-18-denise-levertov-david-whyte-the-mineshaft-of-passion-the-well-of-grief\/","title":{"rendered":"March 18 – Denise Levertov & David Whyte —> “the mineshaft of passion, ” “the well of grief”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, 2019\u00a0 two poems for angry times<\/strong>
\nAnger 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 and on our campus. We are living a ritual of grief as we send our companion Sally Baker on her deepest and final journey.\u00a0 Here are two poets who frequently grace this list, writing their way into healing and sacred 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

Have a blest week here in mid-March and the 2nd week of \u00a0Christian Lent.<\/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

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

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

Post \u00a0# 2 \u00a0Denise Levertov \u00a0\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

\"\"<\/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":"

Monday, 2019\u00a0 two poems for angry times 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 and on our … 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\/2962"}],"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=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2963,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions\/2963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}