Tim Woodcock writes: With National Poetry Month coming to an end, it’s time to share a poem by Mary Oliver that I had put aside and earmarked a few weeks back. Coincidentally, with Earth Day Sunday in mind, Mike Willock, had also sent me a reflection by Oliver about her relationship to nature, which I will incorporate into the second half of this blog post. I came across Mary Oliver's poem "Praying" a couple of months ago on a Monday morning. Why do know it was a Monday morning? Because at the school where I work there is a tradition, which dates back about 15 years, of beginning Monday's assemblies with a “poem of the week.” Usually the poem is one selected and read by a teacher, but sometimes it’s by a student; it is also a platform for students to share their own poems, if they have won awarded in local contests, which happens with some frequency. It’s lovely moment of settling in and refocusing as the school week begins. Even during the COVID-inflected turbul...

This poem called "Easter, Pandemic" was read in church as part of a recent service by church member Katy Gordon.  The context: During Easter 2020 - early in the pandemic when things were in full lockdown and six-foot social distancing guidelines were in place - Katy decided to make muffins and to deliver them to various friends over Easter weekend. At JoAnn Ford's house, there was a welcome surprise in the form of conversation outside and a tour of JoAnn's garden. "Easter, Pandemic" by Katy Gordon   A friend gives us a tour of her garden – we watch from six feet back. Around our feet, the chickens chirr, digging and scrubbing the ground for grubs. Easter morning.   What better sermon can there be for resurrection than a woman in her garden, last year’s gourds curing on the ground, this year’s seeds reaching towards the sun?

During National Poetry Month, as a church community we are beginning to a collect and highlight a series of poems that are especially meaningful to us. Mike Willock would like to shine the spotlight on this poem by Lucille Clifton. Mike Willock writes: I learned about this poem from a Stephen Colbert interview with Elizabeth Alexander on April 7. Elizabeth composed “Praise Song for the Day” for President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Here’s the poem: at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989 by Lucille Clifton among the rocks at walnut grove your silence drumming in my bones, tell me your names. nobody mentioned slaves and yet the curious tools shine with your fingerprints. nobody mentioned slaves but somebody did this work who had no guide, no stone, who moulders under rock. tell me your names, tell me your bashful names and I will testify. the inventory lists ten slaves but only men were  recognized . among the rocks at walnut grove some of these honored de...