Itinerary of Unabashed Gratitude (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, May 30, 2021, feast day of above Blessed Marie-Céline of the Presentation, Saint Dymphna, Saint Basil the Elder, and Saint Emmelia. Image from here.)

Itinerary of Unabashed Gratitude

(after Ross Gay)


1. Morningtide:
brings warm covers. Soul returned. Candle-lit Icons. And you are here, holy ones. And tea and porridge, almond laced. Soon Joseph yawning, stretching awake. Day begins.


2. Noontide:
lands with sun, overhead. If can't see it, can feel it. So onto letters, calls and classes, Spirit roaming. While body catches up supine cycling, drinks in the flow. Day moves, pulse.


3. Eventide:
falls in muffled hush. Computer's off (sometimes), day mulled over. And it's never all sorted out. Ever catch-up. While reminded life's a mountain can't reach top of. Found treasure, this trail of ever unknown.


4. Nighttide:
opens up nook to curl in. Stars a blanket. Bed a boat. Placing soul in Your hands, day cast upon the waters. Carried. Knowing I'll wake to You one way or another. And that You Yourself will bring me to the day I next need know.

*from promp:t freewrite as inspired by Ross Gay's Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude; from Lisa Freedman's Breathe/Read/Write, May 28, 2021.  

Nighttide (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, May 28, feast day of the above Nicea Icon of the Mother of God, and of Blessed Maria Bagnesi and Blessed Margaret Plantagenet Pole**. Today on the Jewish calendar, Noah's ark came to rest on Mount Ararat (2105 BC). Image from here.)

Nighttide

opens up nook to curl in.
Stars a blanket. Bed a boat.
Placing my soul in Your hands,
day cast upon the waters.
Carried. Knowing I'll

      wake to You
       one way or
      another. And

that You Yourself will
bring me to the day I
   next need know.



*from prompt: freewrite as inspired by Ross Gay's Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude; from Lisa Freedman's Breathe/Read/Write, May 28, 2021. (Note: fuller version of poem is here.)

**Ancestry note: "Henry VII arranged for Margaret [Plantagenet] to be married to Sir Richard Pole, whose mother was a half-sister to Henry’s own mother, Margaret Beaufort. Pole’s father was Geoffrey Pole, esquire, who may have been descended from the Welsh princes of Powys", from here.

Silken Road (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, published in Writers at Play Presents: The Art of Letter Writing, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2023. From May 23, 2021, feast day of Pentecost (above), and on Jewish calendar is Sivan 12, end of Shavout fulfillment days. Feast day of the "You Are a Vineyard" Icon of the Mother of God, and of Saint Euphrosyne. Image from here.)

Silken Road

The ways thereof be fair ways, and 

all the paths thereof be peaceable.

-- Proverbs 3:17, Wycliffe Bible

Truth is, I'd rather be listening. Pen set down

every now and again. Story and fable and mind now at  

rest. Leisure's guest. The truth is the truth gets buried. Hence

its unraveling in tale. Easing of silken road. As for me (turning 

skyward): Mother, please tell me a story! Never ending, until 

You say so. The truth is, I'd rather be listening. 

* From prompt: freewrite as inspired by Alberto Rios' Even-Keeled and At-Ease, from Lisa Freedman's Breathe/Read/Write, May 23, 2021.

Seasoning (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, May 22, 2021, feast day of above Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God, and of Saint Rita of Cascia, Saint Quiteria, Saint Humility, and Righteous Melchizedek, Image from here.

Seasoning

Season (v.): "improve the flavor of by adding spices,"

c. 1300 --etymology.com

Jumble of spices on shelf, seeking arrangement. For outpouring 

into palm. Into moment. Sprinkle of joy, tasting of Heaven's 

myrrh. Moment's birth. As strife meets spice of life meets 

kitchen's mess meets (how is it? even so,) this day

to live as Heaven's guest.

*From prompt: freewrite as inspired by a definition of season; from Lisa Freedman's Breathe/Read/Write, May 14, 2021.

Third Cup (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, published in Writers At Play Presents: Our Legacy, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2022. From May 21, 2021, feast day of the above Tenderness Icon of the Mother of God from the Pskov Caves, and of Saints Constantine and Helen, and Saint Isberga. On the Jewish calendar it is 19 Sivan, when (in 1849) Wolf Wissotzky established Wissotzky Tea, the leading tea company in Israel. Image from here.)

Third Cup

The first time you share tea... you are a stranger. 

The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. 

The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.

--Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea

Warm belly here,

purring cat. Yet

it comforts not

over and around 

the flash and the loud.

Or take this cup,

swirl of tea: 

its treasure of taste, 

hidden in haste,

over and around 

the flash and the loud.

Till softened mind, 

sheds light kind 

on all we simply touch--

to swoosh, 

      right over and around, 

the flash and the loud.

*From prompt: offer life advice in the form of a bop poem, from Daisy Barrett-Nash's Legacy Poetry, May 19, 2021.

Ever-Aftering (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, May 13, 2021 [further edited Summer Solstice Eve 2022 (via Cate's Imagination and Justice workshopping group), and Ascension Thursday (Roman Catholic calendar 2023, also Our Lady of Skepe and the White Poplar)], feast day of Our Lady of Help/Succor and Our Lady of Fatima, of above Saint Julian of Norwich, Blessed Gemma (gem) of Goriano (her Tridium is May 11-13), Saint Merewenna (teacher of Saint Elfleda), Saint Rolende of Gerpinnes, Saint Glyceria (sweetness), and Saint Agnes of Poitiers. Image from here.)

Ever-Aftering

(life-journey in light of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary)

The body takes the soul to places it could not reach 

alone -- alluded to by the fact that in Hebrew the words

body and wings share the same root letters.

— chabad.org, paraphrased

1. First Luminous Mystery:

    The Baptism In the Jordan

Honest, I'd float. On the water, in the pool, growing 

up. Water sun-lit with squiggles. Fairy writing, I 

call it. Then pretend to translate.  

2  Second Luminous Mystery:

    Miracle At Cana

Turns out Mom could be quite unreasonable, 

no dolphins to live in our pool. By age 12 I bow, she’s right –-

there’s no room. Turn to Venice beach, to Malibu’s ocean, 

plunge on in. Spot their pods come dawn — magic ever. 

Though no longer convinced they won’t fit, I sense a 

swimming in my soul. 

3. Third Luminous Mystery:              

    The Kingdom of God Proclaimed

                  

Honest, I’d panic, growing list of medical progressions–-till

open a window -- Yes, please, tell me a story! How 

       Grandma Sarah had mist always round

       her tent, and breadbin that never ran dry. 

       Ever Sabbath Light. While Grandpa Abraham 

       shook hands with angels, wangled promises, 

       counted Starlight. Angel of Death spares their 

       kinfolk it's told, deep of a Passover eve. Truth

being mystery (nonetheless nestling)

            at the doorstep of Believe.

4. Fourth Luminous Mystery: 

    The Transfiguration

It does happen. Sometimes. Soaked

right through to my shimmer-skin,

here at the edge where the river begins

fresh flow to wash away my sins

slant of sun to gather kin

immersion of soul, ancient

Path to begin.

5. Fifth Luminous Mystery:

    The Institution of the Eucharist

Honest, once begun it echoes still. 

Fairies in the Foothills merge forces

with other winged things--choir unseen,

growing ring–-as I open up the shade 

grab a muffin, trudge uphill. Dawn at mountain’s 

base being soft, a cool hand (before the bake) and

being a being as yet without wings I break my fast

turn Home at last, humming…

*For more information on the five Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, see http://www.how-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/scriptural-luminous-mysteries.html . 

Regarding the miracles of Sarah's tent (section 3 above) see Bereishit Rabbah 60:16, here: https://www.sefaria.org/Bereishit_Rabbah.60.16?lang=bi ; and article, here:  https://www.ifcj.org/learn/holy-land-moments/daily-devotionals/the-miracles-of-sarahs-tent .

 

**1, 3 and 4 are from combined prompts: Freewrite around the words/concepts float, flower, flow, and Baptism--and adapt after bringing in structure. From Lisa Freedman's Float, Flow, Flower workshop (The Poetry Barn, West Hurley, NY), May/June 2021. 

2 from prompt: Push through writer’s block by choosing a poem whose structure (not necessarily viewpoint) you like, and paralleling--or rebutting--poem's subject line/concept and/or poem's content/rhythm/language. Poem used as prompt was Seamus Heaney’s "Skunk". From Sharon Scholl’s Plunder Poems: Exploring Creativity Through Borrowed Words (Hope at Hand’s Jax Poetry Fest 2023).

5 from prompt: Freewrite as inspired by Alberto Rios' Into the Desert; From Mindful Poetry Moments (NPR's On Being, and The Well), April 6, 2022.

Things To Do When Panic Strikes (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, May 12, 2021, Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Day when (in 2105 BC, see Genesis 8:3) the flood waters receded; and when (in 1313 BC) the Israelites began thier encampment at Mount Sinai. Feast day of above Blessed Jane of Portugal, Blessed Imelda Lambertini, and Saints Euphrosyna and Theodora of Terracina. Image from here.)

Things To Do When Panic Strikes 

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,

even if your whole world seems upset.

--Saint Francis de Sales

1. Notice there is a without, not only a within.

2. But know the within is not the alone.

3. Feel your breath, its bellows' whoosh,

4. or rather your Maker's breath, whoosh from birth, making you a living soul.

5. This soul that has grown. Into this place. Into this moment. 

6. Remain in the surprise of life:

in limb, on tongue, even now.

*From prompt: write a six point advice poem, based on advice topic of choice and a series of six freewritten verbs; from Daisy Barratt-Nash's Legacy Poetry, May 12, 2021.

Hand Held (WC)

 

-

(Wendy Cabell, published in Mindful Poetry Moments, second edition, edited by Stacey Simms and Eddie Gonzalez, The Well (in partnership with NPR's On Being Project), 2021. From recently written poems woven together on May 9, 2021, Mother's Day. Also is Antipascha (Saint Thomas Sunday, Orthodox Church), and feast day of  Saint Prophet Isaiah, and educators Blessed Karolina Gerhardinger and Blessed Maria del Carmen . On Jewish calendar is 27 Iyar, day commemorating a (135 BC) victory against idolatry. Image is May 7th's Theotokos of the Life-Giving Spring, from here.)

Hand Held

(after Roger Robinson)

Hold (one's) hand: 1. Literally, to grasp one's hand and continue holding it, typically while walking together or sitting next to each other, often as a sign of affection. 2. To comfort or support one when they are frightened, anxious, or distressed. 3. To carefully guide one through something, to make something very easy for one. --Farlex Dictionary of Idioms

1. Interweave

Come closer dear. Let your Mother
sort it out. Mother Mary, She's here with
us now. Come tell Her what's going on.
Have some tea and cookies. Sink back into the
cushions. We've candlelight, birdsong... what's that?
It's okay, I know it too. The chaos, noise inside. But
She's here, please know this. My mother and her mother
and her mother, and back and back and back, their hand in
Hers. Can you feel your hand here too? All of us, She holds
us together. And untangles all the knots. So come closer dear.
Let your Mother sort it out.

2. Growing Years


When I awake, She's here. Knows this place so
much better than I. Sews me dresses. Makes soup.
Sorts these jumbled paintings and papers.
"Space, space", She says, "Let the story breathe."
So space holding now, or so longing.  And for Her
hand, though it's been here ever. And if Mary's
Her name, reflection Her domain
(through this love around me)
then just might keep growing

forever. 'Round Her echo,

"Space, space.

  Let the story

     breathe."

3. Star-shine

My Mother always says to me,

          Full of grace,
          this moment is,

held now in darkness, longing
for the fresh hope of morning.

          Morning Star,
She clarifies. To my
          You're a Starbearer then?

She smiles, takes my hand. Sets to heart.
Dawns a whisper,

          Follow that Star.
          Hum its anthem under your breath.

          Full of grace, this moment is.

          Amen.

*From a hybrid of prompts: First two sections from Legacy Poetry (Daisy Barratt-Nash)'s prompt to freewrite about the mentor would have loved growing up, and would love to offer those growing up. Third section from On Being/The Well's Mindful Poetry prompt to freewrite as inspired by Roger Robinson's A Portable Paradise. 

Shutterfly (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, May 2, 2021, Pascha (Orthodox Easter, its Icon above), and feast day of Saint Wilborada of Gall (martyr, bookbinder, anchoress). On Jewish calendar is 20 Iyar, when occurs (in 1312 BC) the journey from Mount Sinai. Image from here.)

Shutterfly

(after Dean Young)

A single gem has throbbed in my

chest my whole life. How could I 

not have seen it? But then unseen 

was Dad's wit and Mom's devotion. 

Grandma's inquisitiveness, Grandpa's 

deep well, of quiet. Uncle's wanderlust and

Aunt's courage. One brother's innovation,

other's simple joy. Still, a single gem has  

throbbed in my chest all my life. Putting

hand to heart now 

is enough.

*From prompt; Freewrite as inspired by Dean Young's Belief in Magic, whose "A single gem has throbbed in my chest my whole life" is used above; from Lisa Freedman's Breathe/Read/Write of May 2, 2021.