{"id":3198,"date":"2019-09-25T16:27:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T20:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2019-09-25T16:27:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T20:27:05","slug":"september-25-two-long-marriages-with-autumn-anniversaries-a-denise-levertov-poem-for-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/09\/25\/september-25-two-long-marriages-with-autumn-anniversaries-a-denise-levertov-poem-for-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"September 25 – – two long marriages with autumn anniversaries – – a Denise Levertov poem for the season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, September 25\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013
\n\u201c. . . not because mind and memory
\nfalter, but . . . \u201d<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s \u00a0airport shuttle driver observed that Denver weather \u201chas a touch of autumn today\u201d: \u00a0a chilly, breath-taking mid-week during a board meeting that arrives just after I said my goodbye to Pine Ridge and 3 weeks with Lakota soul friends of a half century. Over and over, the three \u00a03 weeks came alive with inner moments when what I have come to call, \u201csensual memories speaking to me\u201d \u00a0reminded me of what St. Ignatius might call deep personal sounds, smells, tastes, and touches opening day-to-day events to past well springs of memory and present moments of stillness. \u00a0 No wonder, when I drove away from Pine Ridge on Monday, I prayed from awe and sadness and wonder .<\/p>\n

There is, though, more on offer than c 350 mile of \u00a0cross-prairie driving singing my Pine Ridge \u00a0good-byes . \u00a0Today one of Denise Levertov\u2019s poems reminded me that late September & early October, includes two important marriages. \u00a0 One I have known all my life and one from a friendship of two decades. \u00a0Mt parents chose their 1935 wedding day to complete the week of both their birthdays (Dad on September 21; \u00a0Mom on September 25, their anniversary on September 28). \u00a0Then too, Dad died October 12, 1970 and Mom died 25 years and one week later. \u00a0 \u00a0Barbara Shaffer, a more recent family friend, now grieves her husband of 58 years (Bill Shaffer, a Vet and a member of the UAW) who died one day before my dad\u2019s anniversary. \u00a0 \u00a0Their daughter Sarah, a University of Detroit Mercy graduate is also a soul friend linked with Pine Ridge. \u00a0 Now is a peer counselor in San Francisco for Vets who suffer from PTSD. \u00a0 \u00a0 Here\u2019s a poem for both marriages that warrants listening to and reading out loud with pauses, \u201cIn Love,\u201d from Denise Levertov\u2019s\u00a0Evening Train<\/u>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Some poems look out onto vast realities; \u00a0some open into intimate, enduring, resonant love. \u00a0That\u2019s today\u2019s \u201cIn Love.\u201d \u00a0A university engages many sorts of reality. \u00a0That\u2019s what we do here.<\/p>\n

Yes, best to read this several times, \u00a0out loud with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest mid-week \u00a0Friday in this late September. \u00a0 \u00a0Crisp autumn sun and wind gusts; \u00a0the sun rides lower in the heavens each day all the way til December\u2019s Solstice.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn Love\u201d<\/strong><\/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

\"\"<\/a>
\nDenise Levertov \u00a01923 \u2013 1997
\nfirst Posted on\u00a0October 19, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, September 25\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 \u201c. . . not because mind and memory falter, but . . . \u201d Yesterday\u2019s \u00a0airport shuttle driver observed that Denver weather \u201chas a touch of autumn today\u201d: \u00a0a chilly, breath-taking mid-week during a board meeting that … 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\/3198"}],"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=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3200,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions\/3200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}