Lines and Shapes connect us

Next photo shot requirement:

Must have a line or a shape.

Prayer to St. Joseph

Holy St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary, be mindful of me, pray for me, watch over me. Guardian of the paradise of the new Adam, provide for my temporal wants. Faithful guardian of the most precious of all treasures, I beseech thee to bring this matter of our house to a happy end if it be for the glory of God and for the good of my soul. Amen

Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day"

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

2009!

List for the New Year!
* Yoga
* Healthy cooking
* Slow down and breathe deeply
* Vacation time is down time
* Walk, walk, walk everyday
* Stretch, stretch, stretch everyday

Inaugural Poet: Elizabeth Alexander 2009

Elizabeth Alexander will be our Nation's fifth Inaugural poet: Robert Frost read "Dedication" at John F. Kennedy's (1961), Maya Angelou read "Inaugural Poem 20 January 1993" at Bill Clinton's (1993), Miller Williams read "Of History of Hope" at Bill Clinton's second inauguration (1997) and James Dickey read "The Strength of Fields" at Jimmy Carter's (1977).

Here is one of Elizabeth's poems:

Ars Poetica #100:

I Believe

Poetry, I tell my students,
is idiosyncratic. Poetry

is where we are ourselves,
(though Sterling Brown said

“Every ‘I’ is a dramatic ‘I’”)
digging in the clam flats

for the shell that snaps,
emptying the proverbial pocketbook.

Poetry is what you find
in the dirt in the corner,

overhear on the bus, God
in the details, the only way

to get from here to there.
Poetry (and now my voice is rising)

is not all love, love, love,
and I’m sorry the dog died.

Poetry (here I hear myself loudest)
is the human voice,

and are we not of interest to each other?

A Vision of a Student

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Study of Opposites 2

In life, we know that there is always a reason to look up. En la vida, hay tiempos en los cuales tenemos una razon para mirar hacia arriba.















But there’re always points in life when we look down... Pero tambien encontraremos ocasiones cuando miraremos hacia abajo....