Seven Gifts
Poetry and Poem-Making As a Pathway to Renewal
A PRESENTATION BY JOHN FOX, CPT
October 10, 2014
Southwest Region of The Association
for Clinical Pastoral Education
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Seven Gifts: Poetry and Poem-Making as Pathway to Renewal is a presentation of John Fox, CPT and
The Institute for Poetic Medicine. This copyrighted material is for educational purposes only.
For more information about the Institute, to find out about our nonprofit healing work with poetry for
people at the margins of our culture, and to sign up for the quarterly online Poetic Medicine Journal,
please visit poeticmedicine.org. Your financial support is welcome and would be heartily appreciated.
The Institute for Poetic Medicine
P. O. Box 60189
Palo Alto, CA 94306
To find out more about the work of John Fox: [email protected]
FIRST GIFT
Poetry and poem-making offer the discovery
of meaning and connection.
✧
By making us stop for a moment, poetry gives us an
opportunity to think about ourselves as human beings on this
planet and what we mean to each other.
Rita Dove
!
A THOUSAND LAYERS DEEP
John was sitting on the sidewalk begging
for food.
The man walked down 5th Ave. ignoring
him.
He was part of the scenery and people
tried to avoid him.
His pain was a thousand layers deep.
After all he was just a bum, the man
thought: what does he deserve?
“Go get a job.”
John cried.
Alec, 11 years
!
!
!
!
!
1!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
A RITUAL TO READ TO EACH OTHER
If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.
And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider—
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give—yes, or no, or maybe—
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.
William Stafford
!
2!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
CONSIDER WHAT HAPPENS
Consider what happens
upon hearing a poem
that moves you. The nod
of your head, tucking
your chin close
to your chest, as if
stopping to rest, as if you could cry now
in the middle of a long journey.
Here, whatever you regret having forgotten
even with your aching tiredness
(which you cannot forget) all of a sudden
turns to a surprisingly vibrant sky
as your eyes widen ever-so-slightly
in a recognition that shimmers
under your skin, wells-up
into a calm line-of-sight
that is your own and goes on
almost forever.
Astonished, you walk outside breathing
and slowly stroll in the fresh air
suddenly aware that back in your house
someone new, a stranger you like,
has arrived.
John Fox
AT BLACKWATER POND
At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled
after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones. I hear them
deep inside me, whispering
oh what is that beautiful thing
that just happened?
Mary Oliver
!
3!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
WORDLESS!
When my newborn son came home
He and my wife spent long days
Just staring at each other.
In the doorway of our bedroom
I stood wordlessly watching
My silent witness
A daily adoration.
This afternoon on the critical care unit
I saw something like this gaze again.
A man dying of cancer and his wife
Lost in each other's faces
A thousand memories flowing
Between their eyes.
Just inside the door
I waited
But my witness was unnecessary
And I withdrew without a word.
Eric Williams
CPE Residency at IU Health
M.Div student at Christian Theological Seminary
ASTONISHED,
!
Seems!hard!and!barren.!
A!shovel!made!of!just!a!few!words,!
Unearthed!earth.!
Just!below!the!surface!
Teeming!raw!life.!
!
Michael!Rice!Saxton!
CPE Supervisor
Manager, Spiritual Care and
Chaplaincy Services
!
!
4!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
S ECOND G IFT
Poetry and poem-making provide a way to
sharpen your practice of mindfulness.
✧✧
,
WHEN,SOMEONE,DEEPLY,LISTENS,TO,YOU,
,
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
When!someone!deeply!listens!to!you!
it!is!like!holding!out!a!dented!cup!
you've!had!since!childhood!
and!watching!it!fill!up!with!
cold,!fresh!water.!
When!it!balances!on!top!of!the!brim,!
you!are!understood.!
When!it!overflows!and!touches!your!skin,!
you!are!loved.!
When!someone!deeply!listens!to!you,!
the!room!where!you!stay!
starts!a!new!life!
and!the!place!where!you!wrote!
your!first!poem!
begins!to!glow!in!your!mind's!eye.!
It!is!as!if!gold!has!been!discovered!!
When!someone!deeply!listens!to!you,!
your!bare!feet!are!on!the!earth!
and!a!beloved!land!that!seemed!distant!
is!now!at!home!within!you.!
John!Fox!!
!
!
!
5!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
Bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience
on a moment-to-moment basis.
G. A. Marlatt and J. Kristeller
!
Pure!attention!is!prayer.!
!
Simone!Weil!
The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the
awareness of the world. That is what poetry does.
Allen Ginsberg
We need to approach our state of mind with curiosity and open wonder.
That curious listening to life is a joy —
no matter what the mood of our life is.
Charlotte Joko Beck
A good definition of mindfulness is cultivating a certain kind of
intimacy with the core of our being.
Jonathan Kabat-Zinn
True life is lived with when tiny changes occur
Leo Tolstoy
!
6!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
WHERE HERE IS
How will we know where here is
until it tells us, until this oak speaks
its story and these grasses whisper
what their mothers said to them
when they were seedlings? The crow
overhead is not just a carrier of
crowness. It speaks with the caw
of its own life. The air about us
is this air carrying smell messages
from the majesty of this place.
Knowing where here is – is paying
with our attention, not planting
a heavy foot down on the shore
of the earth like a conquistador.
Nils Peterson
T O L OOK A T A NYTHING
!
To look at anything,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say
‘I have seen spring in these
Woods,’ will not do — you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves.
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves.
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
John Moffett
!
7!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
KISSING WALLS
Every now and then
I kiss a wall in my house.
Every now and then,
out of the blue,
like when I am just standing
at the bathroom sink,
I finally wake up
in the middle of my life
and actually know that
I am awake and in the middle
of my life
and I am so grateful
to actually be where I actually am
that I kiss the nearest wall.
Anne Meyer
DO NOT WIPE YOUR TEARS AWAY
Do not wipe your tears away.
Let them flow down your cheek.
Let them create a stream on your face
to allow the healing waters to flow.
Let the waters cleanse your skin
and wash your face with silk.
Let them caress you lightly
and reveal to you, your heart.
Let the water fall to the earth,
and a tree will grow from it.
Let your tears flow from their depths
and they will release the seeds of your soul.
Do not be careful
Do not be contained
or proper or polite.
Do not wipe your tears away.
Taste them on your lips
and know that you have graced yourself, today.
Jodie Senkyrik
!
!
8!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
T HIRD G IFT
As a result of poetry’s healing action, there is a
physical, somatic component.
Poetry-as-healer encourages embodiment.
✧✧✧
. . . my jaws ache for release, for
words that will say
anything. I force myself
to remember
who I am, what I am, and
why I am here.
Philip Levine
from Silent in America
THESE DAYS
Whatever you have to say,
leave the roots on,
let them !dangle
And the dirt
Just to make clear
where they come from.
Charles Olson
!
9!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
After a long day I felt pulverized
Like plaster dust—fine and desiccated.
Scattering on the wind preferred.
Dispersing care and burden.
But wishes aren’t horses
So no one will ride. Only sitting
Motionless and silent hoarding my energy
Letting it seep inward to my heartwood
Where sunshine and leaves dapple my day.
Where turquoise skies and violet rivers merge,
And even magpies have sense.
Where gazelles cavort in breath-stopping play.
Gradually I grow from a spendthrift’s purse
Into a flickering, a rippling of renewal.
My hollowed core will fill again, and
I will emerge from this undertow
To howl hallelujah and carry on.
Just not today.
Sydney Long
U NTITLED
On my journey I have overcome
my boundaries — the ocean,
the Desert, the dense forest —
not by challenging them, but by
stepping up to them and calmly
turning to the side, to within
myself, to my boundaries where
I can learn to become one
with them…with the ocean,
with the forest, and the Desert
of my circumstances.
I have learned to become my
boundaries.
I have become free of my boundaries.
Ted Echeverria
a participant in The Rediscovery Project sponsored by The Institute for
Poetic Medicine, a writing workshop for people living with acquired brain
injury (abi).
!
10!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
DEAR BODY
Dear Body, You
make me remember
all the elements
lit kindling
that is
my right leg
lungs which
billow out the
sails of my journey
these two eyes, twin trails
lead me to the sea
feeling what salt says
and finally my right flank of silence
with the story of my weight
surrendered to gravity’s open palm
were it not for that fierce fire
I might not have listened
to what is true and calls me to it
if not for those sails and the hard snap
of the brass grommet , I might not have plunged
my heart into the adventure of this life
and then salt from tears leaving a pathway
on my skin, I might not have gotten outside myself and felt
the sorrow of the world and its joy, at last learning
to inhabit this body, learning that it belongs to earth
and what that does to how I spend my day,
what I gather deep into the night.
John Fox
!
11!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
F OURTH G IFT
Experiencing a sense of magic
and revival of your imagination.
✧✧✧✧
Early one morning
when the birds were singing
I had another heart in me.
anonymous, a child, age 8
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship is eternity,
Like two little rivulets that flow side-by-side forever
Between the two, lies the vision of sweetly being.
And when ashamed they release,
and flow down different sides of the mountain.
But then again, slowly but surely,
you can see them side-by-side again.
Carolyn Keane, age 11
Let us on our imaginary forces work
from Henry V, the Prolouge
!
!
12!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
I!searched!for!the!moon!tonight!
Looking!out!each!window!upstairs!and!down!
Until!I!finally!found!it!tucked!away!
Above!my!roof.!Only!by!craning!
My!neck!at!the!corner!of!the!kitchen!window!
Did!I!see!its!friendly!face.!
!
Looking!back,!I!know!why!I!searched.!
The!glow!on!casement;!
The!shadows!on!the!patio.!
Only!afterwards!did!I!recall!
Signs!too!subtle!to!recognize!outright!
!
How!many!other!signs!pass!by!unseen?!
How!many!moons!do!I!miss?!
!
Sydney!Long!
!
,
,
LIMITLESS,
!
Could!I!love!the!starlit!sky!
if!I!did!not!also!love!the!sun!
the!reflection!of!the!meadow!in!a!horse’s!eye!
the!curve!of!my!nose!
even!the!sound!of!my!own!voice!
though!I!have!spoken!with!the!spite!of!Esau!
and!wept!because!I!had!asked!for!too!much?!
How!can!I!not!love!and!thank!
the!Host!of!this!entire!universe?!
I!can’t!imagine!not!begging!to!stay!
no!matter!when!it’s!my!time!
but!when!I!must!
I!want!to!leave!
blowing!kisses!off!my!fingertips!
and!using!my!last!breath!to!say!
I!have!loved!it!all.!
!
Anne!Silver!
!
!
13!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
TRUTH SERUM
We made it from the ground-up corn in the old back pasture.
Pinched a scent of night jasmine billowing off the fence,
popped it right in.
That frog song wanting nothing but echo?
We used that.
Stirred it widely. Noticed the clouds while stirring.
Called upon our ancient great aunts and their long slow eyes
of summer. Dropped in their names.
Added a mint leaf now and then
to hearten the broth. Added a note of cheer and worry.
Orange butterfly between the claps of thunder?
Perfect. And once we had it,
had smelled and tasted the fragrant syrup,
placing the pan on a back burner for keeping,
the sorrow lifted in small ways.
We boiled down the lies in another pan till they disappeared.
We washed that pan.
Naomi Shihab Nye
THE CENTER OF UNDERSTANDING
To peer upon a single object.........
Is not just
To let it sit
In the sunlight or
Use five senses.
But to, without
Even touching the flower,
Let the energy
Flow as slow with
Inner peace and your
Center from you to
The paper. Giving light
The chance to be
Free in the night
With Luna at its
Side. That is how
You will be one
With the paper.
That will be how you
Can truly understand
Anything in space or time.
And that’s how
I wrote this poem.
Maggie Bourget, 11 years
!
!
14!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
F IFTH G IFT
A way of asking and listening to questions, where a question is not
in search of an answer. A question asks to be held, met.
✧✧✧✧✧
A,GIFT,
,
Just!when!you!seem!to!yourself!!
nothing!but!a!flimsy!web!!
of!questions,!you!are!given!!
the!questions!of!others!to!hold!!
in!the!emptiness!of!your!hands,!!
songbird!eggs!that!can!still!hatch!!
if!you!keep!them!warm,!!
butterflies!opening!and!closing!themselves!!
in!your!cupped!palms,!trusting!you!not!to!injure!!
their!scintillant!fur,!their!dust.!!
You!are!given!the!questions!of!others!!
as!if!they!were!answers!!
to!all!you!ask.!Yes,!perhaps!!
this!gift!is!your!answer.!!
!
Denise!Levertov!!
!
!
...be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart,
and try to love the questions like locked rooms and like
books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given because
you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually,
without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
from Letters to a Young Poet
!
!
15!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
When I write I escape the world
Because it eases my mind.
To me it’s a second world;
It has no time.
Bennie
Guilford Correctional Facility, North Carolina
Poetry is not a very popular art form these days,
but it is an essential part of human life.
Octavio Paz
I write poetry because it begins where
the last word does not belong to death.
Odysseus Elytis
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzche!
Judge!a!man!by!his!questions!rather!than!by!his!answers.!
Voltaire
!
16!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
S IXTH G IFT
The gift of relationships infused with compassion,
vulnerability and courage.
✧✧✧✧✧✧
CALLING
You call my name
long!!after!it!has!been!forgotten!
by!all!who!say!they!love!me.!
!
You!touch!me!
at!the!core!of!my!being!
while!others!have!left,!!
believing!that!there!is!nothing!there.!
!
You!breathe!love!
into!the!vessel!of!my!heart!
and!fill!it!with!warmth!and!tenderness!
even!as!others!take!from!me!
my!last!
gasping!
breath.!
!
You!hold!me!in!a!sacred!space,!
honoring!me!for!who!I!am,!
while!others!honor!me!
for!who!they!want!me!to!be.!
!
You!call!my!name,!
and!I!am!moved!to!tears!
because!I!too!had!forgotten.!
!
Daniel Hong-Soo Kim
!
17!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
Why is a scar on a man a mark of distinction,
on a woman a mark of disfigurement?
I don’t know.
Why is it funny when a man loses his hair,
and tragic when a woman loses hers?
I don’t know.
What will you tell her
when the x-rays turn the scar
on her breast rawhamburger red?
I don’t know.
When she’s bald, lost the hair
from her eyebrows,
and lies with closed eyes,
with a skeletal look,
will you kiss her
and tell her
she’s beautiful?
I don’t know.
What do you do
in the bedroom,
when she is thinking
of death,
and she cries?
I hold her hand, and I breathe.
Joe Milosch
!
18!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
PSALM 113
Oh Lord, I am sinking in despair
fearing you have forgotten me.
How long will my mind be confused
and my heart in grief ?
Turn toward me, mothering Healer, bring!
light to move me from despair before my heart closes.
Gently comes your healing hand!
across my mind bringing what was needed
before I knew myself.
Trust in your mercy opens my heart
and I realize again your grace.
I am richly renewed.
Your mercy is deeper than my despair.
Roberta deKay
IN YOUR PRESENCE
The days I spend with you,
Are times I spend outside myself,
Holding your words, your story, your pain,
Embracing your person,
Touching my own humanity because of you.
Virgil G.
Hospice volunteer, inmate at California Men’s Colony Prison
,
,
,
!
19!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
TELL,ME,WHY?,
Tell!me!why!people!don’t!talk!
Tell!me!why!people!don’t!feel!
Tell!me!why!we!close!off!the!!
gift!that!God!has!given!us!to!feel!
talk,!love!and!hear.!!For!this!is!
one!force!that!makes!the!world!
go!round.!!This!brings!peace!to!
the!heart.!!If!we!can!just!!
tell!one!person!why!you!feel!
that!way!you!do!!
!
“Darryl”!at!University!Hospital!
Newark,!NJ!
WHAT SUSTAINS
The more I am hollowed
by the fire, the more my ribs
spread like the tree of life.
The more I am washed
by the tears of others, the more
my heart rounds like an ocean shell.
The more stories I tell
of how one picks up another,
the more my hands open
like scoops for grain.
To be what others drink,
to be what others stand on
to reach what they love—
we should be so lucky
to be worn to this.
Mark Nepo
!
20!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
S EVENTH G IFT
A poem can shared with another person. Shared with a
loved one. Shared with the moon and sea. Shared with the
birds and trees. Shared with you. We are made bigger and
renewed by such sharing.
✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
,
SAINT,FRANCIS,AND,THE,SOW,
!
The!bud!!
stands!for!all!things,!!
even!for!those!things!that!don't!flower,!!
for!everything!flowers,!from!within,!of!selfablessing;!!
though!sometimes!it!is!necessary!!
to!reateach!a!thing!its!loveliness,!!
to!put!a!hand!on!its!brow!!
of!the!flower!!
and!retell!it!in!words!and!in!touch!!
it!is!lovely!!
until!it!flowers!again!from!within,!of!selfablessing;!!
as!Saint!Francis!!
put!his!hand!on!the!creased!forehead!!
of!the!sow,!and!told!her!in!words!and!in!touch!!
blessings!of!earth!on!the!sow,!and!the!sow!!
began!remembering!all!down!her!thick!length,!!
from!the!earthen!snout!all!the!way!!
through!the!fodder!and!slops!to!the!spiritual!curl!of!the!tail,!!
from!the!hard!spininess!spiked!out!from!the!spine!!
down!through!the!great!broken!heart!!
to!the!blue!milken!dreaminess!spurting!and!shuddering!!
from!the!fourteen!teats!into!the!fourteen!mouths!sucking!and!blowing!
beneath!them:!!
the!long,!perfect!loveliness!of!sow.!!
!
Galway!Kinnell!
!
21!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,
I,AM,OFFERING,THIS,POEM,
,
I!am!offering!this!poem!to!you,!
since!I!have!nothing!else!to!give.!
Keep!it!like!a!warm!coat,!
when!winter!comes!to!cover!you,!
or!like!a!pair!of!thick!socks!
the!cold!cannot!bite!through,!
!
I!love!you,!
!
I!have!nothing!else!to!give!you,!
so!it!is!a!pot!full!of!yellow!corn!
to!warm!your!belly!in!the!winter,!
it!is!a!scarf!for!your!head,!to!wear!
over!your!hair,!to!tie!up!around!your!face,!
!
I!love!you,!
!
Keep!it,!treasure!it!as!you!would!
if!you!were!lost,!needing!direction,!
in!the!wilderness!life!becomes!when!mature;!
and!in!the!corner!of!your!drawer,!
tucked!away!like!a!cabin!or!a!hogan!
in!dense!trees,!come!knocking,!
and!I!will!answer,!give!you!directions,!
and!let!you!warm!yourself!by!this!fire,!
rest!by!this!fire,!and!make!you!feel!safe,!
!
I!love!you,!
!
It's!all!I!have!to!give,!
and!it's!all!anyone!needs!to!live,!
and!to!go!on!living!inside,!
when!the!world!outside!
no!longer!cares!if!you!live!or!die;!
remember,!
!
I!love!you.!
!
Jimmy!Santiago!Baca!
!
22!
Copyrighted,Materials.,,For,Educational,Purposes,Only,