I am going to restate my words from the end of my last blog: The feelings I have here I have had from a very young age. They have only grown in their depth of understanding even through the trauma expressed through my poetry. I would describe myself more as spiritual with faith in a higher power that holds us all in His heart as his children. I no longer promote any specific religion……
Poetry and prayer may seem similar, but for me they express differently. I am so wordy in my poetry sometimes. I envy poets who can say so much with so few words. Sometimes am able to and it does feel good. I am very proud of those when they happen. My poetry is not prayer. My poetry attempts to put emotions into a form with images. It is me exploring a part…..
One of my favorite verses and prophets: Within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. –Jeremiah 31:33, The New Jerusalem Bible On this Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I would like to talk about my choices. I have not gone back yet to the parish I left a year ago, but I have now went a few times to the parish I left 23 years ago. The latter…..
In My Dreams (my Jesus) happens to be one of my personal favorites. However, I would like first to talk a bit about the picture I chose for this blog. I have mentioned before (and in By the Pond) that there was a triggering event on 3-20-93. It occurred at a Catholic Mass (5:00-6:00 p.m.) on Saturday evening. I do not remember that Mass – only coming and going. I felt attacked in some way…..
I picked Song Restrained because Holy Week approaches. But first, I would like to talk about the picture on which I put the poem. To the left you can just see a mother-of-pearl shell. It given to me 25-30 years ago by a good friend who lived in Indonesia for awhile. Mother-of-pearl, my favorite shell, was what I had put in my high school class ring. A rosary like this one ended up being buried with…..
My last blog brought back memories of my 4 years teaching at a Catholic School. After an hour and a half recorded interview summer of 1983 conducted by the principle, and answering her different forms of the same about 10 questions over and over, she chose me. She was a nun and a story for another time. I taught kindergarten halftime my first year and move to first grade with that class the next year. I taught…..
I am continuing my discussion on my being or not being Catholic. Up until 23 years ago, the thought of leaving the Catholic Church never crossed my mind. The ritual and constant aspects of the Mass worked for me. I liked being able to go to any Catholic Church, even in another language, and know what was happening. But, I would like tell more of my interaction in different churches through my life in this blog……
I would like to talk about my grandmothers. They were both strong women and for all intents and purposes the heads of their households. While the last thing I wanted was to be like my mom, these two women showed me how to deal with things when life happens. The picture above is of Grandma and my daughter at visit in the nursing home she was in. In part 2 let us talked…..
Am I Catholic? At this point in my life, I cannot say I am not but cannot say I am either. Because of a separation on ethical beliefs and practices over the years, I have “self-excommunicated” myself. That means – by personal choice (the Catholic Church has not done this to me) I do not participate in the sacraments. It has been almost a year since I have been to the parish that landed the last…..
What makes By the Pond unique I feel is its cohesiveness as whole. While the faith base is Christian, the ideas, themes, and struggles are universal. The introduction and epilogue frame the poetry as to my intent. I have tremendous faith in God as father. Yet, I do not expect, or even want anyone to believe as I do. We all have our own path. 22 years ago (almost 23 years now) I walked into a church to sing with…..
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