Spiritual Ramblings

From Writer’s Almanac June 29, 2009.

The Effort by Billy Collins
Would anyone care to join me
in flicking a few pebbles in the direction
of teachers who are fond of asking the question:
“What is the poet trying to say?”

Writers Almanac June 28, 2009
The VCCA Fellows Visit the Holiness Baptist Church, Amherst, Virginia
by Barbara Crooker
We are the only light faces in a sea of mahogany,
tobacco, almond, and this is not the only way
we are different. We’ve come in late, the choir
already singing, swaying to the music, moving
in the spirit. When I was down, Lord, [...]

by Jack Gilbert
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.
Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt.
But there’s music in us. Hope is pushed down
but the angel flies up again taking us with her.
An excerpt from the June 6, 2009 Writer’s Almanac

June 12 was the birthday of Brigid Brophy, born in London (1929). She campaigned for the rights of women, animals, and prisoners, even while she was sick in bed with multiple sclerosis at the end of her life.
She said, “Whenever people say, ‘We mustn’t be sentimental,’ you can take it they are about to [...]