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Barter – Sara Teasdale
Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children’s faces looking up, Holding wonder like a cup. Life has...
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Article 6
Sometimes, when I read something terrible, or find out about some new kind of oppression, or of a new tentacle emerging from the monster known as the “culture of death”, I have to go and find a poem....
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When Death Comes
This Sunday night I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite poems with you. I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend. When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all...
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Mother of Mine
Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which refers to Mary being conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, without the stain of original sin which taints all of us. This aspect of her...
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The true time of year
Maggie sleeping in her swing this week i love you much(most beautiful darling) more than anyone on earth and i like you better than everything in the sky - sunlight and singing welcome your coming...
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Lest it go unspoken
Welcome Morning There is joy in all: in the hair I brush each morning, in the Cannon towel, newly washed, that I rub my body with each morning, in the chapel of eggs I cook each morning, in the outcry...
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From Blossoms
This is one of my favorite poems. ever. I gave it to Atticus when we had been dating a few months, because for me, it captures hope in words. On this, the first beautiful, true spring day here in...
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In Jerusalem
We know little We can tell less But one thing I know One thing I can tell I will see you again in Jerusalem Which is of such beauty No matter what country you come from You will be more at home there...
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Real Love
It’s like a slap in the face, the stark reality of the poet’s words. It’s the most tragic, the most truly romantic poem I’ve read. It’s love. Not the toothless love of Valentine’s Day. The severe mercy...
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Obligatory Mother’s Day Post
I have a love/hate relationship with Mother’s Day. Unsurprisingly, I don’t remember the first several Mother’s Days of my life. Then, when I was seven, my mother died. Following that were 17 Mother’s...
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Peaches
Sometimes, when the state of the world gets me down, and I want to strangle the internet with my own two hands, I read poetry. It’s a balm to my soul, and it lowers my blood pressure as well. In honor...
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In the Mouth of Language
Tomorrow is my mother’s 55th birthday. At least it would be, if she hadn’t died just a month before her 33rd birthday. I don’t want that to get lost, or to just be a quick take. So today I’m posting a...
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Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar: 5 Years Later
On Friday we celebrated our fifth anniversary. It was somehow appropriate that this year, we spent it at home, with a man coming by to do routine maintenance on the furnace. We held babies, played...
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It’s About Them: In Memoriam
I’m back in the saddle at Ignitum Today this week, posting some reflections on Memorial Day and my family. He hated tattoos. My paternal grandfather, the other Charles Joseph. He died when I was 11,...
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Cultivating Gratitude: Five Favorites
I love this Five Favorites series so very much. Hallie is a genius (and a wonderful lady!). Once upon a time, many moons ago, I participated in a Living Your Strengths program through my parish. If...
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There’s Something About Mary: Poem A Day October
I’ve been Catholic my whole life, but my relationship with Mary has not always been strong. When I was a child, mourning the loss of my own mother, I naturally turned to her, though in a very...
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Radio Silence, Houses, and a Poem
I had so much fun doing the poem challenge in October. I only wish I’d actually been able to post a poem a day. Ah well, perhaps in a season of life when I don’t have two infants underfoot and a house...
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A Poem A Day: An October Challenge
In my deeply entrenched love for poetry, I have decided to share a poem a day for the whole of October. Since I am reading one of Wendell Berry’s novels, Hannah Coulter, at the moment, I’m going to...
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Poem A Day October: To My Mother
I finished Hannah Coulter last night. After spending the last 100 pages or so in tears, sometimes full on sobs, I can say I was somewhat relieved when it was over. But then, oh then, I was so desperate...
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Poem A Day October: Our First Apartment
Since finishing Hannah Coulter (my goodness YES I am still talking about this book), I have been thinking a lot about place, and the places that have made me. One of the biggest of these must be...
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