{"id":971,"date":"2014-12-03T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=971"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:01","slug":"dec-3-apple-dropping-into-deep-early-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/12\/03\/dec-3-apple-dropping-into-deep-early-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Dec 3 — Apple Dropping into deep Early Snow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday December 3 \u201cStories of fatigue and doubt”<\/p>\n

The further north you live, the steeper the decline of light as the sun\u2019s angle toward the earth casts longer shadows over shorter patches of daylight. What we call Winter around here is as much about the thinning of the light as it is about ice and cold. As I walk around campus running M&I errands these days after Thanksgiving Break, I hear stories of fatigue and doubt. And grief. Perhaps that\u2019s why the Christian Advent poetry brings captivity and fear close together with outrageous hope and promise. Several Swedish friends who live a little further north than I do, have designed their homes with small pools of bright light backgrounded with dim spaces. Learning from them, I try some of the same where I live.<\/p>\n

Today in Detroit<\/strong>: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sunrise 7:45 \u00a0 \u00a0Sunset 5:01\u00a0 \u00a0 hours of daylight\u00a0 \u00a0 9 hours 16 minutes
\nToday in Stockholm<\/strong>: Sunrise 8:22 \u00a0 \u00a0Sunset 2:55\u00a0 \u00a0 hours of daylight\u00a0 \u00a0 6 hours 33 minutes<\/p>\n

Maybe the jagged self-doubt today\u2019s poet finds while watching the last frozen apple fall into an early snow bank is part of what helps us recognize some necessary balance: no doubt, no new discovery; no fatigue, no joy, no discouragement, no place where soul friends can love us.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s a short poem; best to read aloud, with a couple pauses and a moment of stillness to end the reading time.<\/p>\n

Thomas Merton wrote once, perhaps in the teeth of our doubts:<\/p>\n

“There is no way of telling strangers they are all walking around shining like the sun.”<\/p>\n

Have a blest day,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Jane Kenyon: “Apple Dropping Into Deep Early Snow”
\n<\/a>Posted by Phyllis Cole-Dai on Nov 24, 2014 12:00 am<\/p>\n

\"SnowyApple\"
\n<\/a>A jay settled on a branch, making it sway.
\nThe one shrivelled fruit that remained
\ngave way to the deepening drift below.
\nI happened to see it the moment it fell.<\/p>\n

Dusk is eager and comes early. A car
\ncreeps over the hill. Still in the dark I try
\nto tell if I am numbered with the damned,
\nwho cry, outraged, Lord, when did we see you?<\/p>\n

\"Jane-Kenyon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Apple Dropping Into Deep Early Snow” by\u00a0Jane Kenyon,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0American Poetry Review\u00a0<\/em>(online<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0edition, March\/April 1985).<\/p>\n

Art credit:<\/em>\u00a0“Apple in the Snow,”\u00a0photograph<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Roger Lynn.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday December 3 \u201cStories of fatigue and doubt” The further north you live, the steeper the decline of light as the sun\u2019s angle toward the earth casts longer shadows over shorter patches of daylight. What we call Winter around here … 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\/971"}],"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=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":978,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions\/978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}