Poems Pieces of God strewn sparking across the white-gold star-field of galaxies, word-spells: breathings and vowels, shutters and consonants, meaning and yearning – God invoking creation into being. Ted Witham Eastertide 2012
Archive for the ‘poetry’ Category
10 Feb
Moshe at the Bush
*** Moshe squints as the feet of the swirling mob raise ghosts of dust in the desert heat. He draws his kaffiyeh across his face. The sheep continue to bleat, and in the midst of their badinage the horizon is shifting shape – a shimmering blue mirage. Moshe’s shaded eyes see the paradox. The inside [...]
6 Feb
Life After
Life after I stand heart-still on bush-edge trail. My height nothing next to bunched boughs of sage green gums. The great wedge-tail eagle soars: all before it stoops, bows. The eye zooms: the bird has stalled: gravity forgot; upheld by thermal. All potential at rest, just the air mauled by fierce talons; wings held formal. [...]
20 Sep
Planks and Splinters
Wood shaving lodged in a man’s eye as he sawed. It hurt, looked nasty, might be infected. His mate drove him to the emergency ward of the Royal Hospital to have it inspected. The triage nurse made the doctor race. He arrived – and obvious for all to spy – A railway sleeper protruded from [...]
14 Oct
Intimacy
In our household of bustling, bouncing, bumbling boys, we did not hug. Like chicks and a nest, at six or eight we were pushed off the lap with its warmth and surrounding, and we were told, “Big boys don’t need cuddles.” Returning from boarding school, I would see Dad from the train window as the [...]
20 Oct
Franciscans in ship-wreck
FRANCISCANS DISCOVER HOPKINS 5. THE WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND The Deutshland foundered in a severe storm in the North Sea. All on board were drowned. Far away in Wales, Hopkins was deeply moved by this ship-wreck, and began to compose a long poem about it. Hopkins was particularly saddened by the loss of five Franciscan [...]
18 Oct
Hopkins uses Duns Scotus’ treasure
FRANCISCANS DISCOVER HOPKINS 5. The Franciscan idea of inscape Hopkins liked Dun Scotus’ idea of haecceitas, but it was too abstract for him to use directly for his poetry. He took the idea of landscape, the way an artist arranges the exterior world and chooses colours, composition and frame to express herself. Hopkins’ revolutionary idea [...]
15 Oct
The life of Gerard Manley Hopkins
FRANCISCANS DISCOVER HOPKINS 3. THE LIFE Paul Mariani recounts Hopkins’ life in fascinating detail in his 2008 biography (reviewed here). The main facts are listed below: o Born in London in 1844 to loving parents, the eldest of seven siblings. o His father was in a lucrative marine insurance business. o Baptised at St John-the-Evangelist [...]
14 Oct
Priest-poets enrich the Franciscan spirit
2. WHY SHOULD FRANCISCANS BE INTERESTED IN GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS? Gerard Manley Hopkins was a poet-priest, that is, he wrote poetry as part of his vocation as priest. His poetry is ministry. Hopkins is in a long line of priest-poets. George Herbert was one. Hopkins looked back to the Dominican geniusThomas Aquinas, a serious teacher [...]
13 Oct
Why Should Franciscans be interested in poetry?
FRANCISCANS DISCOVER HOPKINS 1. SHOULD FRANCISCANS BE INTERESTED IN POETRY? • St Francis was influenced by the troubadours. His interest in troubadours probably started on journeys to France as a child. The troubadours: o Sang in Italian or Provençal (French) and not Latin. o Broke convention by singing love songs to ladies beyond their status. [...]
