Loved this 🥲 real talk, I get afraid of becoming too sentimental or precious with my faith, and try to express myself with language that is as unadorned as possible when it comes to things like devotion, spirituality, or belief—but this post makes me think that my impulse is a form of pride, and that we have an obligation to cultivate beauty as an act of worship. Thank you for this post 🌿
I like this thought, lowering our expectations of poetry and allowing it to be a backdrop and portal: "Though most poetry that we encounter will do nothing, the one poem that will do something could change everything. Lowering the expectations of poetry can allow it to become an intriguing backdrop to our lives, providing a subconscious portal to a depth that would otherwise remain unprobed."
It's funny--poetry is perhaps the art form I most unfairly scrutinize. Reading it and being all, "what's this even for?" and "I don't get it" and "what does that even mean" and "I could have written that line better"... and all this even though I wrote my master's dissertation on poetry!! Reading a book of poetry feels to me like an indulgence rather than ~legit~ reading. But I would really like to change that. Maybe if I spent more time with poetry I would, like you say, be able to lower my expectations of it, and maybe then be most surprised by it.
I love this! I’m gonna get the book and read it. Any recommendations for specific poets I should start reading? I want to expand my knowledge of poetry this year.
It was a thrill to read this. I discovered I was a poet late in life, amid a part-time ministry in Vermont, following a career doing many other things (like engineering and university teaching and administration). My congregation has warmly and creatively responded to my use of some of my lectionary-based poetry in worship.
Fantastic book and zoom course with Abram centered around the book. I try to sneak poetry into church every chance I get can — including one on the Magi today. 😉
A few years ago I resolved to read or listen to at least one poem every day. I miss some days but am grateful for mostly maintaining the habit. The Daily Poem podcast has especially helped me. As a song leader and musician in a small church with traditional hymns and songbooks, I do enjoy “smuggling poetry” into the conversation and calling attention to it in our hymns. I appreciate my pastor’s support and collaboration in this.
Thank you for this essay, the book recommendation, and the encouragement that there is beauty and value in the regularity and even mundanity of reading and contemplating poetry. I needed that encouragement today.
Especially loved this newsletter. I’ve been writing poetry for almost 2 years now after throwing it to the side during adolescence. But it’s usually when something happens to you, that you can’t explain fully, that you need to find a way to process and poetry quickly became that. It’s been how God speaks to me — using everything external in nature — and how I speak to nature, as a thank you.
Loved this 🥲 real talk, I get afraid of becoming too sentimental or precious with my faith, and try to express myself with language that is as unadorned as possible when it comes to things like devotion, spirituality, or belief—but this post makes me think that my impulse is a form of pride, and that we have an obligation to cultivate beauty as an act of worship. Thank you for this post 🌿
I like this thought, lowering our expectations of poetry and allowing it to be a backdrop and portal: "Though most poetry that we encounter will do nothing, the one poem that will do something could change everything. Lowering the expectations of poetry can allow it to become an intriguing backdrop to our lives, providing a subconscious portal to a depth that would otherwise remain unprobed."
It's funny--poetry is perhaps the art form I most unfairly scrutinize. Reading it and being all, "what's this even for?" and "I don't get it" and "what does that even mean" and "I could have written that line better"... and all this even though I wrote my master's dissertation on poetry!! Reading a book of poetry feels to me like an indulgence rather than ~legit~ reading. But I would really like to change that. Maybe if I spent more time with poetry I would, like you say, be able to lower my expectations of it, and maybe then be most surprised by it.
I love this! I’m gonna get the book and read it. Any recommendations for specific poets I should start reading? I want to expand my knowledge of poetry this year.
Emily Dickinson & T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" are great places to start!
I enjoyed reading your post, and thank you for sharing about the book! I am interested in reading it.
It was a thrill to read this. I discovered I was a poet late in life, amid a part-time ministry in Vermont, following a career doing many other things (like engineering and university teaching and administration). My congregation has warmly and creatively responded to my use of some of my lectionary-based poetry in worship.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful food for thought and spirit. This is the stuff which informs my poetry and life!
Fantastic book and zoom course with Abram centered around the book. I try to sneak poetry into church every chance I get can — including one on the Magi today. 😉
A few years ago I resolved to read or listen to at least one poem every day. I miss some days but am grateful for mostly maintaining the habit. The Daily Poem podcast has especially helped me. As a song leader and musician in a small church with traditional hymns and songbooks, I do enjoy “smuggling poetry” into the conversation and calling attention to it in our hymns. I appreciate my pastor’s support and collaboration in this.
Thank you for this essay, the book recommendation, and the encouragement that there is beauty and value in the regularity and even mundanity of reading and contemplating poetry. I needed that encouragement today.
Thank you. Expressing faith in art brings us closer to Christ as partakers in creation. You might enjoy this: https://jacksongunnbarrett.substack.com/p/jairus-daughter
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Especially loved this newsletter. I’ve been writing poetry for almost 2 years now after throwing it to the side during adolescence. But it’s usually when something happens to you, that you can’t explain fully, that you need to find a way to process and poetry quickly became that. It’s been how God speaks to me — using everything external in nature — and how I speak to nature, as a thank you.