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Read a Friend’s Heart
June 14th, 2008
Workshop Announcement!
Happy Father's Day!
Please join me to explore poetry in your spiritual practice.
I'm offering a workshop in mid-July (the 13th through the
18th), at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the
beautiful Berkshires of western Massachusetts (866-200-5203).
Follow this
link for more information.
Here is a description of the workshop. Please consider joining
us if it's logistically possible!
WRITING & PRAYING POETRY:
POEMS IN DAILY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Poetry as Spiritual Practice
Why is poetry the source language of devotion and the richest
expression of spiritual practice in prayer, chant, and song?
How can we wake up to recognize poetry as the pure sound and
shape of the spirit?
Together we'll practice reading, writing, and using poetry
in our daily rituals, aspirations, and intentions. We'll explore
poetry's sound and language, its rhythms, meters, and forms,
in a reflective writing process that leads to deeper awareness
and daily enjoyment.
Participants will experience a wide range of well-known poems-good
and bad-as well as our own work to create a treasury of poetry
with deep, abiding messages from all historical eras and all
religions and faiths.
Interactive exercises and guided meditations will help us
to put these methods and messages into practice by integrating
poetry into our daily path and spiritual journey. All that's
required is your willingness to enter the magic of poetry
and deepen your practice.
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Here is a poem on Father's Day by Theodore Roethke.
My Papa's Waltz
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle.
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head?
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
Deep Peace of the Light of the World To You!
Robert McDowell
www.robertmcdowell.net
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