Interpretive tapestry by Lee Porter — Hospitality, Thou Preparest a Table III
This memory still makes me smile. It also challenges me to think about my voice and how I use it now.
It was fall 1993. I’d just been promoted to full professor, and was the designated speaker for the seminary’s fall academic convocation. I worked on my address that summer in the context of angry national and local rhetoric about racial diversity. Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t get A Blank Canvas out of my mind. Sometimes, especially with distressing or puzzling dreams, I’ve written the next scene out as I imagine it might be. But this dream was different. Here’s what I’ve written instead–
No woman is an island….
Gentle swells of water
Calls from seabirds
The sounds of waves
Lap against my ears
Tree leaves rustle
The greatest adventure of my life
In the company of others
Keeping it simple
Floating in deep waters
Singing life with my words Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s another gem from Emily Dickinson, along with my personal response below.
Much Madness is divinest Sense –
To a discerning Eye –
Much Sense – the starkest Madness –
‘Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail –
Assent – and you are sane –
Demur – you’re straightway dangerous –
And handled with a Chain –c. 1862
Emily Dickinson Poems, Edited by Brenda Hillman
Shambhala Pocket Classics, Shambhala 1995
Dear Emily,
Please forgive me for barging in. You don’t know me and I don’t know you personally. Still, your poetry challenges me to think deeply. This one, in particular, brings me comfort Read the rest of this entry »
I’m tired of resting.
Tired of following my daily recovery routine.
Tired of regularly hoisting my feet onto the sofa and doing nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
Rain drops
on drenched ground
eyeglasses, face
and heart
Cracks loom
in un-even pavement
Tears spring unbidden
Artesian wells overflow
Unnoticed
I walk through this cold front
of memories, grief and healing
***
This morning I walked as usual Read the rest of this entry »
It’s late summer, 1951. We just moved from El Monte, California, to a house near Savannah, Georgia. The front yard faces the river you see in the photo above. I’m 7 ½ years old. I don’t know how to swim; a half-mile wide river flows in front of our house.
Not long after we move in, Read the rest of this entry »
~~~Islands of Palau in the South Pacific
In 1984, one year after I began teaching, I attended a gathering of faculty from 6 or 7 sister seminaries. We were together for one weekend. There weren’t many women professors in the group.
Because I was the newest female professor Read the rest of this entry »
Ever since the middle of June I’ve worked on a dream that still haunts me. I’ve dialogued with it on paper and in my mind almost every day. It feels like a turning point.
Here’s the dream, Read the rest of this entry »
Our daughter and her husband released this new album recently!
This morning I woke up to a shock. My hard-won weight plummeted this week. So did my body fat. Not good. So, like Ms Garmin, I’m recalculating my route from here to there–wherever that would be.
A few days ago I told D I felt I might not be long for this world. I think about death often. Am I ready? Probably. But do I want to die in my 70s? No. I’m not raising an alarm here—I’m just trying to point to change in my inner world.
I never used to think this way about myself. Not even when I was in desperate need of retiring from being dean. Back then I thought retirement would improve my health and wellbeing, including the likelihood that I would live to a ripe, healthy elder age.
Still, this past week had plenty of good news. Most exciting was the arrival of a vinyl recording of our daughter’s latest album, Certain Years. Our daughter is Two Ton Boa. She and her husband, also a musician, just released this album in several formats. It’s stunningly beautiful. A different take on life than her earlier recordings.
Our daughter has kindly given me permission to blog about the lyrics on this album and in any of her earlier truth-telling music. I don’t know when I’ll begin doing this. In the meantime, if you like music that haunts you in a really good way, at least take a free listen to the second track on the album, Lion Snow.
The other wonderful event—well, sort of wonderful—was turning in our two cars and downsizing to one. We went for a hybrid (Prius), and took advantage of year-end specials. We just picked it up two days ago, and though I haven’t driven it yet, I hope to get my chance this weekend.
And why was this only ‘sort of’ wonderful? It’s hard to give up that symbol of independence! So I’m counting on the heated front seats being so soothing this winter that I’ll forget all about my dearly beloved wheels that now languish somewhere without their proper owner.
Thanks for listening to this ramble. I pray your health is good enough to get you through today and the weekend without too much distress. I pray you’ll have a good Sabbath rest this weekend. And I pray you’ll be cheered and comforted by memories of certain years that, in wondrous ways, shaped you into the person you are today.
Love and hugs from the blogosphere,
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 19 August 2016
Album cover for Two Ton Boa release, Certain Years
Nurture peace in your heart—
Welcome and savor it
Cultivate it
Water it
Let it rest
Give it space
Take its time for your time
Wrap it around your body yourself
Your shawl becomes you—
Blue as the heavens
Green as the garden
Brown as the good earth Read the rest of this entry »
Telling the Truth 