Poetry Page

By cutting to the truth of our experience, poetry shakes us and awakens us. Through it we open our eyes to what Robert Frost called “the pleasure of taking pains.” And what is gratitude besides this playful engagement with life as it unfolds in all its challenges and delights?

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
by William Shakespeare
Whether you read this classic poem under the glory of summer’s sun or in the chill of deep winter, you may be startled by the shivery image of bitter wind in contrast to the festive refrain. The poem has a biting honesty, characteristic of Shakespeare. It won’t let us explain away our icy ingratitude or our stinging disregard for friends’ needs. The singing of “heigh ho” seems almost to beg the question: Will we be jolly simply in order to erase our forgetfulness? Or will our joy flow instead from clear awareness of our lapses and a renewed pledge to act out of genuine gratitude? (PCC)

Personal Helicon (Helicon = "Abode of the Muses")
by Seamus Heaney
Poised in memory over the depths of childhood wells, Seamus Heaney observes the response of each to his inquiries: a bucket's "rich crash" to the bottom; his voice echoed "with a clean new music in it"; the startling "slap" of more fearful reflections. Now, as he lets poetry take the place of wells, he invites us to see ourselves, through his words, with equally vivid awareness. (PCC)

Sext
by Deidra Greenleaf Allan
Often we mistake diminishment for sadness, but this needn’t be the case. As Allan’s poem exquisitely illustrates, we can bear witness to the approach of winter’s darker days, yet still “find reason to sing.” (PCC)

Inside the Quiet
by Anne Powell
On the seventh day, God rested, we read in Genesis, but what about the need for rest thereafter? All those who labor and are heavy laden will enjoy this grateful twist on the art of letting go. (PCC)

Vigils: The Night Watch
by Deidra Greenleaf Allan
In Allan’s magnificent poem, the Wissahickon River becomes an image for the uncontained flow of life and passion that needs neither question nor answer to pour endlessly forward. Even so, we can’t refrain from asking how, and seeing where the question carries us. (PCC)

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Poetry Editors: Patricia C. Carlson (PCC), Dale Biron (DB), Brother David Steindl-Rast (Br. David)