{"id":3443,"date":"2020-04-15T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3443"},"modified":"2020-04-15T12:02:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T16:02:41","slug":"april-15-roaring-with-laughter-full-of-earth-praise-mary-oliver-and-pine-ridge-sd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/04\/15\/april-15-roaring-with-laughter-full-of-earth-praise-mary-oliver-and-pine-ridge-sd\/","title":{"rendered":"April 15 – \u201d . . . roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise . . . \u201c Mary Oliver and Pine Ridge, SD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, April 15 \u00a0\u2013 \u00a0Mary Oliver and Pine Ridge, SD<\/strong><\/p>\n

A friend sent me a Mary Oliver writing, new to me. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t quite read like a poem. \u00a0More like two small essays connected. \u00a0They remind me of a saying-set I wrote ten years ago or so imagining Lakota (Sioux) wisdom opening places in my imagination. \u00a0Living on Pine Ridge for much of my twenties and now for one Sabbatical month last September and, Pandemic allowing, some weeks this coming summer, I try to spend time with Lakota friends and visit 5 or 6 sacred places there: \u00a0meadowlarks, prairie grass and badlands, the profile of the Black Hills 60-70 miles to the west, thunder and lightning storms, horses running free. \u00a0 \u00a0A restorative time.<\/p>\n

Mary Oliver\u2019s two paragraphs nourished my imagination and memory & inspired today\u2019s post. Thanks to a soul friend who introduced me to \u201cFoolishness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have a blest day, with 2 or 3 surprises.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u00a0\u201cFoolishness? \u00a0No, it\u2019s not.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count
\nthe leaves on a single tree. To do this I
\nhave to climb branch by branch and
\nwrite down the numbers in a little book.
\nSo I suppose, from their point of view,
\nit’s reasonable that my friends say: what
\nfoolishness! She\u2019s got her head in the clouds
\nagain.<\/p>\n

But it’s not. \u00a0Of course I have to give up,
\nbut by then I\u2019m half crazy with the wonder
\nof it \u2013 the abundance of the leaves, the
\nquietness of the branches, the hopelessness
\nof my effort. And I am in that delicious
\nand important place, roaring with laughter,
\nfull of earth-praise.<\/p>\n

a wisdom-saying born on the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTime spent baking bread follows the\u00a0pace\u00a0of yeast\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMotorcycling alone; I move as\u00a0a tiny person in a vast world\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I pause long enough, I \u00a0hear the sound of grass growing, and trees, each\u00a0at its own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, April 15 \u00a0\u2013 \u00a0Mary Oliver and Pine Ridge, SD A friend sent me a Mary Oliver writing, new to me. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t quite read like a poem. \u00a0More like two small essays connected. \u00a0They remind me of a saying-set … 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\/3443"}],"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=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3444,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions\/3444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}