I feel the real medium for me is silence, so I could be writing in any language. To inflect the inner silence, to give it body, that’s all we’re doing. You use the voice to make the silence present. The real subject in poetry isn’t the voice. The real subject is silence. Li Young Lee,Continue reading “day 9: for silence”
Author Archives: Kate Kennington Steer
Sunday 2: for curiosity
Things – including concepts and bodies – are inexhaustible; they show up only partially. If you can see everything, then you’ve already missed a spot. Bayo Akomolafe, These Wilds beyond our Fences (155) To seek context is already to acknowledge you don’t have the whole story … an ecological understanding takes time. Context is whatContinue reading “Sunday 2: for curiosity”
day 7: for discomfort
She loves the wind. There on the edge of the known world, at ninety, In her tall house, any wildness in the elements Is as welcome as an old friend. When the surgically patched elms and sycamores Crack off their heavy limbs in the freak snow storm Of October, she rejoices; the massy hail ThatContinue reading “day 7: for discomfort”
day 6: for fear
I wonder why you brought me to these splintering days, this age of dearth-death and default extinction and the smothering of constellations nostalgia claws at me screaming send me back then I sense a fire that doesn’t consume, a cloud of breath-taking holiness passing across the face of a mountain and it says I putContinue reading “day 6: for fear”
day 5: for darkness
Consider this. In the shadow of a perfectly round object, you will find a rebellious glimmer of light – a bright spot in the middle. I’m not being metaphorical here. I really mean to queer the essential and disturb its eminence. What better way to do it in this case than to point to lightContinue reading “day 5: for darkness”
day 4: for preparation
‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’ A.W. Tozer I reach for the empty suitcase, and wonder if today is the day when I will have enough energy to discern what needs to be put in it. And then I run out of days.Continue reading “day 4: for preparation”
day 3: for change
The ancient Christian monastic traditions, especially desert, Celtic, and Benedictine, offer great wisdom for the journey of unfolding. They understood that the soul’s ripening is never to be rushed and takes a lifetime of work. The gift of the contemplative path is a profound honoring of the grace of slowness. We can grow impatient whenContinue reading “day 3: for change”
day 2: for emptiness
It might seem that we have to generate the sense of openness, freshness, joy, revelry, or stillness we touch in such moments. From the Buddhist perspective, however, such a state of being is already there within us and has been so since the beginning. It’s tantalizing to think that perhaps expansiveness lies waiting to beContinue reading “day 2: for emptiness”
Sunday 1: make room for travelling
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things youContinue reading “Sunday 1: make room for travelling”
#adventapertures is back in 2024
After a break of a couple of years, I decided I wanted to write another series of daily photo reflections for Advent 2024. These #adventapertures (as I call them) bring a huge variety of source material together – from poetry, news journalism, cultural comment, scientific insight and music to biblical writings and liturgy. Each dayContinue reading “#adventapertures is back in 2024”
image into ikon 