We’re in this together--Carolyn R. Wilker

It’s true, we’re all in the pandemic together. The definition of a world-wide epidemic is an infectious ‘something’ in many corners of the world at once. Pandemic is both a noun and an adjective, a thing and a descriptor. But in my mind, it is also a verb, because actions and consequences come with it.

I awoke to a song line very early on Saturday morning, the tune in my head, “Will you be my refuge?” Carrie Newcomer’s CD collection A Permeable Life finally arrived in the mail after a long wait. I’ve been listening until I can almost sing along. The lyrics to this song, Haven, are on another album though. She’s asking God to be her haven in the storm, asking for direction and “holding me up” until she can continue on herself.

My friend in Colorado has her family-prescribed limitations and her adult kids get her groceries. A friend in Vancouver is watchful, too, since she’s just gone through surgery for cancer. Maryann and her husband John, in Nova Scotia, have their adult daughter with them from a group home at this time. Nova Scotians have also suffered numerous and unspeakable tragedies in the past few months. So many of them must be crying out to God for solace in these circumstances.

Carrie’s words float through my mind again, a “haven in the storm.” I like that picture of a quiet place where I can go when the world around me is crazy and mind-boggling.

Poet Luci Shaw said in a recent Renovaré webinar about creating in chaos, “God will honour our prayers of lament.” We’ve heard laments from many corners. 

If we, in privilege, can live and move around in our homes and on our properties, Carolyn Arends also recognized there are people who’ve lost jobs, whose lives are anything but comfortable right now. I think, too, of people who have died of covid, or other illnesses, and their families cannot hold a funeral or cry and weep on a friend’s shoulders.

Andrew Peterson, song writer and recording artist, said (on the webinar) that he was told during a time of great difficulty that God can take it when we cry out against him. Even the psalmists cried out at unfairness, but still they surfaced at the end with some thread of hope that kept them going. 

We have that hope in God that will carry us through these days. A haven in the storm, I like that term. Thank you, Carrie.

 

https://www.carolynwilker.ca/about/

Kingdom Poets Anticipates With Luci Shaw - Martin

Luci Shaw is one of the most significant Christian poets of our time. She takes on topics of significance to people of faith, yet refuses to undermine her art with preconceived, didactic ways of thinking, or sentimentality. One important topic for Shaw is the incarnation.

Since childhood, Luci Shaw has annually written Christmas poems; originally the practice was simply for inclusion with her Christmas correspondence. As her poetic skills grew, so did the quality and quantity of these poems. In 1996, she and her friend Madeleine L’Engle released the book Wintersong — a joint collection of Christmas readings. Ten years later Eerdmans published Accompanied By Angels, a book of Shaw’s incarnation poems, many of which had appeared in her earlier books.

Since then, this tradition continues to result in fine Christmas poetry. In 2004 Luci Shaw sent me an early version of the following poem — followed by a revised version in 2005. The poem was further revised (as reproduced below) for inclusion in her 2006 collection What The Light Was Like (Wordfarm). Knowing how she continually returns to fine-tune her work, I would not be surprised to find she has since revised it further.

Breath

When in the cavern darkness, the child
first opened his mouth (even before
his eyes widened to see the supple world
his lungs had breathed into being),
could he have known that breathing
trumps seeing? Did he love the way air sighs
as it brushes in and out through flesh
to sustain the tiny heart’s iambic beating,
tramping the crossroads of the brain
like donkey tracks, the blood dazzling and
invisible, the corpuscles skittering to the earlobes
and toenails? Did he have any idea it
would take all his breath to speak in stories
that would change the world?

Posted with permission of the poet. This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Luci Shaw.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca

This is this week's post from: Kingdom Poets Follow this link to see dozens more. I have just added a new index to help you access all of the Christmas poems I've posted; more will be posted throughout December.

Anniversary - Martin

On Family Day of 2010 (Ontario’s February statutory holiday), I embarked on a new project: Kingdom Poets. On that Monday — and every Monday since — I have posted on my blog a weekly feature celebrating the poetry of some of the best poets to write within the Christian tradition. My first post was about 17th century metaphysical poet, George Herbert — and on this Family Day I will post about his predecessor, John Donne. You’ll also find entries on such famous poets from the past as John Milton and Francis Thompson.

Featured contemporary poets include: Wendell Berry, Luci Shaw, Robert Siegel and John Terpstra. I’ve receive wonderful feedback from many of the poets themselves — including a surprise e-mail from Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright, thanking me for my entry. Many poetry lovers have become followers of Kingdom Poets, and several college and university professors have encouraged their students to regularly visit my blog.

St. Lucian poet John Robert Lee is a recent discoverer of Kingdom Poets, and is active encouraging Caribbean Christians to visit as well. Here’s a link to his blog: Manhanaim Notes.

Now it’s your turn. If you’re not yet a follower visit: Kingdom Poets. Add your name. Check back weekly, or whenever the impulse hits. I know you’ll discover some exciting poets who are new to you, as well as get the chance to review many favourites.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca

Grand Rapids — Martin

Something special is in the air come the middle of April — every other year — in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s when a massing occurs, a migration, a gathering of writers from across the continent, including some of the best known of their various genres. The Festival of Faith & Writing is the place to be for anyone who loves Christian writing, and particularly for those who engage in the writing itself.

Start a list of the very finest Christian writers in whatever genre you most enjoy, and chances are they’ve appeared at the festival. What is particularly amazing is how many of them appear in the same year. The festival also broadens to include writers of other faiths, and secular writers who address well the issues of faith.

It is the poets who interest me most. This year Luci Shaw, Robert Siegel, Scott Cairns, Christian Wiman, Jeanne Murray Walker, and several other top-notch Christian poets appeared. In 2008, I was delighted to meet Paul Mariani, Franz Wright and Rod Jellema — to name a few.

Many Canadians make the biannual trip — particularly from southern Ontario. Four friends from my writers group came this year, as well as a number of others I know. Hugh Cook presented a workshop, and Rudy Wiebe, was another speaker. I didn’t get a chance to catch either of Rudy’s presentations, because there was too much else going on. In most time slots there are ten different options, most of which don’t require preregistration.

This was my fourth visit to the festival, and am already planning to attend in 2012. My report following festival 2008 is available here

Here's a link to the festival website.

Check out Kingdom Poets become a follower, and leave a comment.

D.S. Martin is Music Critic for Christian Week. He is the award-winning author of the poetry collections Poiema (Wipf & Stock) and So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Rubicon Press). They are both available at: www.dsmartin.ca

The Gift Of Poetry — Martin

As Christmas draws nearer it’s like we’re drawn back in time, like Ebenezer Scrooge carried magically by the ghost of Christmas past to things we remember from long ago, and those things we associate with this great celebration. This is where poetry dwells — in the associations we make in our minds, and in the part of us that makes meaning and looks for significance (for beauty, for truth, for goodness). The danger in this territory is that possibly we will settle far short of the things that really matter by contenting ourselves with the sentimentality of the season — even the religious sentimentality of a cute baby who never got diaper rash — rather than in the God of the universe on a risky foray into enemy territory.

During this Advent season, I want to encourage you to make room in your heart and mind and in your busy schedule for poetry that reflects upon the significance of the incarnation. Share such poetry with your family, with your friends; send it in an e-mail. Many Christian writers reflect on that first Christmas in their poetry (I, too, include some Christmas poetry in my new book Poiema).

One such poet, Luci Shaw, is particularly attracted to Christmas; over and over she gives us much to consider. Many of her Christmas poems have been gathered into the book, Accompanied By Angels (Eerdmans). She sent an earlier version of the following poem to me, in December, three years ago. With the permission of the poet, I include the published version for your reflection during this Advent season:

Breath by Luci Shaw

When, in the cavern darkness, the child
first opened his mouth (even before
his eyes widened to see the supple world
his lungs had breathed into being),
could he have known that breathing
trumps seeing? Did he love the way air sighs
as it brushes in and out through flesh
to sustain the tiny heart’s iambic beating,
tramping the crossroads of the brain
like donkey tracks, the blood dazzling and
invisible, the corpuscles skittering to the earlobes
and toenails? Did he have any idea it
would take all his breath to speak in stories
that would change the world?

From What The Light Was Like (WordFarm, 2006)

D.S. Martin is Music Critic for Christian Week; his new poetry book, Poiema (Wipf & Stock), and his chapbook So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed are available at http://www.dsmartin.ca/