{"id":859,"date":"2014-10-27T00:00:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T00:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=859"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:06","slug":"oct-27-art-mcgoverns-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/10\/27\/oct-27-art-mcgoverns-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 27 – Art McGovern’s tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday \u00a0October 27<\/p>\n

After\u00a0\u00a0yesterday\u2019s Sunday noon mass in the Ignatius\/McAuley C&F chapel, walking home past the energy of parking lots packed in for the Detroit high school cheerleading competitions, \u00a0I stopped in my tracks in front of the tree we dedicated in 1999 for Art McGovern, sj. \u00a0It\u2019s leaves were still solid green, contrasting with the yellows of older trees around it. \u00a0 Sheer beauty surprise me into seeing it fresh. \u00a0\u00a0I went to my room, got my digital camera, and came back to contemplate Art\u2019s tree with the help of a pretty good lens.<\/p>\n

For those of you who never knew him, Art was a soul friend for my first twenty years here at Six Mile and Livernois. \u00a0He was soul friend for many people, \u00a0more beloved, perhaps, than any person who taught and worked here until he died too young of bone cancer at age 70. \u00a0 In his last months at the Jesuit Colombiere Center in Clarkston, \u00a0the staff told us \u00a0he set records for the astonishing number of people who came to tell him goodbye.<\/p>\n

We planted a tree for him before he died. \u00a0 \u00a0Most days I just walk by and \u00a0I doubt that bothers Art at all. \u00a0 Yesterday the tree found me. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s gotten so big!\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n

Stillness and beauty, the blessings of autumn.<\/p>\n

Have a good day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

today\u2019s post<\/b><\/p>\n

I wrote this poem during grad school in Southwest Philly when another tree woke stillness in me for a while.<\/p>\n

For the dogwood in our yard, middle of October<\/strong> c. 1977
\nAutumn’s russet colors
\nAge without solemnity
\nEarthy and simple, they linger
\nLinger,
\nNot for grandeur
\nNor from fear of the dust they will become
\nTheir affection for this place
\nThese ripening moments
\nEven me the beholder
\nSlows the pace of changing.
\nLet me be won by this warmth
\nTo slow my chosen pace
\nTo ripen affectionately.<\/p>\n

ps. Art\u2019s tree yesterday<\/p>\n

\"Art's-Tree1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Art's-Tree2\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday \u00a0October 27 After\u00a0\u00a0yesterday\u2019s Sunday noon mass in the Ignatius\/McAuley C&F chapel, walking home past the energy of parking lots packed in for the Detroit high school cheerleading competitions, \u00a0I stopped in my tracks in front of the tree we … 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\/859"}],"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=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}