Do You? (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, originally from April 22, 2022, feast day of Orthodox Great and Holy Friday, of Our Lady of Betharam (connection with Lourdes), of the Miraculous Lady (weeping Icon of Cicero, Illinois), and of Saint Opportuna of Montreuil and Saint Senorina of Basto. Earth Day. Jewish calendar today continues Passover, and commemorates Splitting of the Red Sea (Miriam in subsequent song, above). Image from here.)

Shared here in honor of my Mother's passage -- she who much loved the "baby angels"

Do You?

through a miracle... dance

–Miriam’s Song, Debbie Friedman

I used to sense tiny wings,

nestled just behind the heart --

mine? yours? not sure, but

surely magic’s real, 

now the eyes

are open

*From prompt: Freewrite a quick 5 line poem exploring "I used to_ ... now_". From Suni Storm's Improving Your Performance (MOCA, Jacksonville), April 22, 2022.

Earth-Muse (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, January 15, 2025, feast day of Our Lady of Banneux, (above) Our Lady of the Seeds, Saint Ita of Killeedy, Saints Salome of Ujarma and Perozhavra of Sivnia, Saint Cosmas the Melodist, Saint Placid, Saint Teath (daughter of Saint Brychan of Brecknock, Saint Tarsicia of Rodez (granddaughter of King Clotaire II of the Franks, and sister of Saint Ferreolus of Uzès), Saints Britta and Maura, Blessed Diego de Soto (Mercedarian). Image from here.)

Earth-Muse

Inbreath:

Say you weave, from earth’s inside

bud on the rise

Say a breeze, kisses soul first breath

Say you swoon, soft wake tug of moon

Say you spy, ever heed

Light of sun

Say a diamond, splits a rainbow

current sky

Say a ray, slides heartward –-

pushes pen

Outbreath:

Say, pushes pen

a ray — slides heartward 

Say current sky

a diamond, splits a rainbow

Say Light of sun

you spy, ever heed

Say tug of moon

you swoon, soft wake

Say first breath

a breeze, kisses soul

Say bud on the rise,

you weave -- from earth’s inside

*From combined prompts:  Freewrite as inspired by Audre Lorde’s “Poetry is Not a Luxury”, from Daisy Barrett Nash’s Legacy Lines series, January 15, 2025; and choose a poem of yours to refine (I chose above) by posing questions or hypotheses, as inspired by "The Conditional" by Ada Limon, and "Questions About Angels" by Billy Collins, from Tresha Haeffner (The Poetry Salon)'s Write Games, January 16, 2025.

Indigeneity (WC)

(Wendy Cabell, revisited January 2025 but originally March 3, 2024, feast of the (above) Volokolamsk Icon of the Mother of God, Saint Katharine Drexel and Saint Non. Image from here.)

Indigeneity

(exploring Germanic roots)

People are scared and they're confused.

They're reaching for what I call our true humanity…

– Dr Gladys McGarey, age 102

When footsteps sense pace, heart’s beat it sometimes spills over in song. When there’s time, vast fertile plain

roses etch in Cathedrals' dark nooks.

Stands to reason Heaven sees it all. Offers a spot to settle, to

sip a most balanced brew —

toast to horizon ever

and ever new

*From prompt: Freewrite as inspired by “In Perpetual Spring” by Am Gerstler. From Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite, March 3, 2024.

Earth-glance (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, April 14, 2024, feast day of Our Lady of Kamalen/Guam, Blessed Virgin of Grace (Italy, Robegano district apparition, 1534), the (above) Vil'na Icon of the Mother of God and Saint Lydwina of Schiedam. Image from here.)

Earth-glance

Dance of sun upon dew, morning

new-–to-do’s ancient:

--clear the head

--make the bed

--birds to feed

--set on the tea

If moon hasn’t set quite yet 

she surely will —

with promise to refill

when stars surround. 

*From prompt: Free write as inspired by “I love you. I miss you. Please get out of my house.” by Donika Kelly.

From Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite, April 14, 2024.

Summer Cloister (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, August 25, 2022, feast day of Our Lady of Rossano, Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Translation of the relics of Saint Hilda of Whitby (above) and feast day of Saint Louis IX, Saint Hunegund of Homblieres, and Saint Aebbe/Ebbe the Elder. Image from here.)

Summer Cloister

(feast day of Saint Hilda of Whitby)

It is the monotony of our lives which frees the spirit; 

all the imminent things drop away–-Mother Thekla, 

Monastery of the Assumption, Whitby

 

Feet long now, for a 

Nun’s slow steps, 

slow deliberate.

Slow watching 

noting the shift of sky.

Though on variable terrain (mind’s eye)

a measured step never minds. Never being 

too big to ponder and ever a road --

swept in welcome

*From prompt: Freewrite as inspired by Sheryl St. Germain’s “Going Home: New Orleans”; from Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite, August 25, 2022.

Turnabout (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, June 9, 2022, feast day of Our Lady of Ligny/Our Lady of Virtues, of Our Lady of Grace and (above) Mary the Helper (two of the oldest titles for Mary), of Our Lady of the Plain, and of Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, Five Persian Nuns, Saint Ephrem of Syria, Saint Columba of Iona, and Saints David Gareji and Lucian. Image from here.)

Turnabout 

(in gratitude to the One who

created us creative)

I love when out of nowhere!:

curtain flutter, soul she stretches wake –-

Unknown where this carpet’s off to,

only where it’s from,

only time grab coat, pen, mug.

Just these just now --

Just enough.

*Reference to the One who created us creative is directly inspired by Rabbi Adina Allen's practice of Jewish Studio Process. From here: "Just as a blessing is always recited before starting Torah study, a volunteer also reads a blessing before starting the creative practice: 'Blessed are you God, Source of Life, who creates us in Your image and invites us to renew daily the work of creation. Blessed are You, who created us creative.'

**From prompt: Freewrite as inspired by Dean Young’s “Quiet Grass, Green Stone”; from Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite, June 9, 2022. 

Home Maintenance (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, February 1, 2022, Feast day of the (above) Weeping Icon of the Mother of God of Socola, Forefeast of the Meeting of Our Lord, Eve of Imbolc, Eve of World Day for Consecrated Life, Chinese New Year, Rosh Chodesh (new moon) of Adar, Saint Brigid’s Day, and feast day of  Saint Brigid of Fiesole, Saint Veridiana, Saint Perpetua,, and Blessed Anna Michelotti. Image from here.)

Home Maintenance

I’d make Heaven a cheerful spot

because the happy heart is true.

–Saint Brigid of Kildare, here

Behind the door, a cat.

Beside the cat, a bowl 

ever full yet ever giving–-

of sustenance, delight.

The cat mayhap the I.

The bowl mayhap the Heart.

*From prompt: Write as inspired by the life and miracles of Saint Brigid. From Kayleen Asbo’s Feasts of Light and Water, February 1, 2022. 

The Lady and Her Cat (WC)

 

(from Bradi Barth’s "Evangelisation Wardrobe” series)

(Wendy Cabell, forefeast of the Entry/Presentation of the Theotokos Into the Holy Temple, and of the anchoress Saint Maxentia, and of martyr Saint Nerses of Sahgerd who refused to worship the sun. Today on the Jewish calender, Noah's ark comes to rest (2104 BC). Image from here.)

The Lady and Her Cat

(response to Annunciation image from Bradi

Barth’s "Evangelisation Wardrobe” series)

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring 

to be clothed with our habitation 

which is from heaven

--2 Corinthians 5:2

The striped cat just wasn’t the same

after the accidents. Good thing —

for the Lady took her in.

Liked how this cat never chewed the flowers or clawed the sheets. This cat now snuggled on quilt as the Dove comes calling.

Cat's one eye watching, spies her Mistress --

whose hands to heart. Mayhap the Dove

will drop His bit of green into Her hands!

Mayhap those hands will stroke striped fur

and waiting soul, before the hobble, pounce

— upon holy ground.

Before dinner,

and prayers and bedtime stories

and a tomorrow of nestled light...

*From prompt: Write as response to a piece of art selected from those presented in Betsy Beckman and Kathleen Kitchline's Abbey of the Arts retreat Once Upon a Time in a Town Called Nazareth, November 20, 2021. Bradi Barth's image was selected, above.)

Heart's Pace (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, feast day of Our Lady of Almudina (Almudina Cathedral is above), of the Quick to Hear Icon of the Mother of God, of Saint John Lateran Basilica, of Saint Triduana (who traveled with Regulus/Rule bringing Saint Andrew's bones to Scotland), and of Saint Theoctiste of Lesbos. Image from here.)

Heart's Pace

In the heart

where a small boat awaits,

where blue meets red

(ebbs pulse instead)

I will meet you.

You who know the way. As

my own legs give sway,

I will follow

*From prompt: Freewrite as inspired after listening to Patti Smith's M Train. From Lisa Freedman’s BreatheReadWrite led in collaboration with Arvid van Maaran, November 9, 2021.