The Shed Notebook: National Poetry Month: Always William Stafford

I always include at least one poem by William Stafford during National Poetry Month. This in one of his poems that I wasn't as familiar with, but it is timely. Today I am thinking about the thread that has guided me through life. It has woven through events large and small, happy times, and sad times.  The important message in this poem is to never let go of that thread. Today, I am hanging on tight to my thread.

THE WAY IT IS

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

—William Stafford 

The Shed Notebook: Palm Sunday: "All Glory, Laud, and Honor"

This hymn always speaks to me on Palm Sunday.

All Glory, Laud, and Honor

Refrain:
All glory, laud, and honor,
to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

1. Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David's royal Son,
who in the Lord's name comest,
the King and Blessed One.
(Refrain)

2. The company of angels
are praising thee on high,
and we with all creation
in chorus make reply.
(Refrain)

3. The people of the Hebrews
with psalms before thee went;
our prayer and praise and anthems
before thee we present.
(Refrain)

4. To thee, before thy passion,
they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted,
our melody we raise.
(Refrain)

5. Thou didst accept their praises;
accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest,
thou good and gracious King.
(Refrain)

The United Methodist Hymnal Number 280
Text: Theodulph of Orleans; trans. by John Mason Neale
Music: Melchior Teschner; harm. by W.H. Monk
Tune: ST. THEODULPH, Meter: 76.76 D

The Shed Notebook: National Poetry Month: "What Belongs to Us"

• 

  I attended a literacy workshop about ten years ago and the presenter shared another poem by Marie Howe. Since then I have read many of her poems. They deal with the ordinary things of life we remember during not so ordinary events we experience.

The Shed Notebook: National Poetry Week: Honoring My Brother

Yestesday was National Sibling Day and I honored my sister with a poem. Today I will honor my brother. There were many times we sat side by side reading a book. My brother taught me how to read. I think we must have read  The Cat in the Hat together fifty times. We are still moving through "the ten thousand acts that will encumber the rest of our days." I am pleased I will enjoy those acts with him as my next door neighbor and won't have to travel far when "another laughter sounds back."

Two Set Out on Their Journey
by Galway Kinnell

We sit side by side,
brother and sister, and read
the book of what will be, while a breeze
blows the pages over—
desolate odd, cheerful even,
and otherwise. When we come
to our own story, the happy beginning,
the ending we don’t know yet,
the ten thousand acts
encumbering the days between,
we will read every page of it.
If an ancestor has pressed
a love-flower for us, it will lie hidden
between pages of the slow going,
where only those who adore the story
ever read. When the time comes
to shut the book and set out,
we will take childhood’s laughter
as far as we can into the days to come,
until another laughter sounds back
from the place where our next bodies
will have risen and will be telling
tales of what seemed deadly serious once,
offering to us oldening wayfarers
the light heart, now made of time
and sorrow, that we started with.

The Shed Notebook: National Poetry Month: " My Sister, My Friend"

Today is National Sibling Day. First I want to honor my sister with a poem. Tomorrow I will honor my brother. I am blessed beyond words to have two siblings that live close, stay in touch, and are always there for me. 

My Sister, My Friend

© Leann Stiegman

Published: February 2006

To me you are an angel in disguise.
Full of intuition, you are intelligent and wise.
Always giving and helping through good times and bad.
You are the best friend I've ever had.
If I had one wish, it would surely be
To give you as much as you've given to me.
Though I've put our relationship through some cloudy days,
You've been my sunshine in so many ways.
Through trials and tests, right by me you stood,
And you gave me your hand whenever you could.
Thank you so much, my sister, my friend.
My gratitude for you has no end.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-sister-and-my-friend

The Shed Notebook: National Poetry Month: " A Single Photograph"

I came across this untitled poem about six years ago. I loved the line "portrait of the moment". The photo above is one that made me thankful I had a camera with me at the time. This is an image of the inside of the Mission of the Sacred Heart, or Cataldo Mission, a historical landmark in Cataldo, Idaho.


A single photograph

—portrait of the moment—
is an inexhaustible epic,
a living tale beyond words
superior to a hundred volumes
written and fixed. 

A photograph
is consciousness painting,
the instant’s art that opens
on the unbounded vistas
of the inner life. 


-Daisaku Ikeda