Seeking Authentic Voice

You are the bread and the knife,   the crystal goblet and the wine.   You are the dew on the morning grass   and the burning wheel of the sun.   You are the white apron of the baker,   and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.   However, you are not the wind in the orchard,   the plums on the counter,   or the house of cards.   And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.   There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.   It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,   maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,   but you are not even close   to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.   And a quick look in the mirror will show   that you are neither the boots in the corner   nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.   It might interest you to know,   speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,   that I am the sound o...

kathrynjz over at RevGals offers this Friday Five: Today's Friday Five is an opportunity for you to list five of your favorite 'go-to' movies/tv shows/books. You can use images, links, explanations or netflix. I rarely read books a second time. I guess I figure if I've read it once, that is enough? But I listen to music over and over and watch certain movies again and again. So maybe I need to rethink the one-time book read approach....(duh).... Anyway, here is my list of five favorite movies/music (I don't know what I'm going to write as I start this so it will be a stream of consciousness) 1. Sound of Music is one of my favorite. I first saw it when I was a little girl, probably in first grade. My parents took me to see it because I earned good grades in school (or at least that was the incentive I recall). It was cold and wintery. We saw it a theater - now one of those classic old ones, in downtown Salt Lake City. The streets were still adorned with C...

Each one is a gift, no doubt, mysteriously placed in your waking hand or set upon your forehead moments before you open your eyes. Today begins cold and bright, the ground heavy with snow and the thick masonry of ice, the sun glinting off the turrets of clouds. Through the calm eye of the window everything is in its place but so precariously this day might be resting somehow on the one before it, all the days of the past stacked high like the impossible tower of dishes entertainers used to build on stage. No wonder you find yourself perched on the top of a tall ladder hoping to add one more. Just another Wednesday, you whisper, then holding your breath, place this cup on yesterday's saucer without the slightest clink. (Billy Collins "Sailing Alone Around the Room" - Random House, 2001) I've been thinking about Billy Collins lately, ever since Diane mentioned seeing him at a conference. I heard him read his poetry in Tucson in 2009 and...

A reflection on Acts 3:12-19 and Luke 24:36b-48 A little over a month ago I attended the Tucson Festival of Books. It was the first time Tucson had sponsored this event and I landed upon it while reading the local newspaper one morning over breakfast. What a great idea, I thought. And so the following weekend my husband and I wandered up to the U of A. I was most excited to attend the presentation offered by Poet Laureate Billy Collins. I first heard the poetry of Billy Collins at CREDO, an eight day event for Episcopal priests sponsored by the Church Pension Fund , which focuses on wellness: financial wellness, spiritual wellness, physical wellness, and so on. The leader of that particular CREDO offered the group of us an opportunity to ponder our ministries through the poetry of Billy Collins. Dan and I arrived early, in plenty of time to get a good seat in the large ballroom where Billy would speak. A long line of people formed, waiting for the door to open twenty minutes before the...