“the experience of hearing Judy Garland sing ‘Over the Rainbow.’ When the song and the credits end, I am left with the feeling that ought to be a paradise, and I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’s famous quote: ‘If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’ We do not need to only participate in dark or troubling stories, but we do need to give priority to stories that haunt us, unsettle us, and expand us, whether through beauty and delight or tragedy. We also need to make time and space to interpret the stories through dialogue with others. Living in an atomistic culture, our default response to receiving a story is not to interpret it in community. We may have a personal opinion about it. We may tweet a 280 character review. We may debate parts of the story. But most of us are not inclined to take the time to slowly work through the meanings of the story and dialogue with one another. In other words, the prolonged, thoughtful, charitable dialogue about stories I’m recommending will not happen naturally. We need to intentionally pursue it.”
Alan Noble Disruptive Witness
Words struggle to show
Paradox of sun and snow
Bodied in a bird
Well done! Bravo!
Jim T
Jim T – 🙂 Excellent! A conversation in haiku.
Well done, Isabel and Jim.
Picking up on the phrase “lilacs out of dead land,” I offer…
In dead land, lilacs
stir, waiting for the spring to
welcome their rebirth.
Tom
Tom – 🙂 Lovely. The conversation continues . . .
Bird food
rotten snow
buried seeds
no problem
Barbara – 🙂 Three for three. Any other takers?
I would like to change it to be titled “Bird Feed”.
Barbara – Yours? OK.
I am sure Christina is happy to have inspired your collaboration, as well as to have sparked further poetic outpourings. The red poll looks to me like a wounded warrior, which is too sad a topic on a day like this, full of sun and wind and other things sublime and sublimate.
Laurna – 🙂 Thank you. On the redpoll, yes, we’d prefer a cheerier image. On the poetry, I did think you might weigh in . . .
Your haiku is perfection, Isabel. It says all that needs to be said about anything I am thinking when I look at the redpoll — and I am thinking especially now about my husband who may have seen his last wring and sprinter.
Laurna – I am so sorry. My thoughts are with you and your family.
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