We met among alphabets. I saw myself Greek: walking the walls, inviolate as logic, mistress of philosophy’s glassy tongue. Translation came slow. I learned to trust Hebrew’s rich misreadings, risk reading between the lines: language of faith, our leap in the dark. ‘Among Alphabets’ Helen Tookey And when night comes, and you look back overContinue reading “watchnight 2022”
Category Archives: Christmas
Blue Christmas 2: light is in the horizon yet
This piece was originally written for the Godspace blog to be a part of their Advent theme Proclaiming Justice, Seeking Peace Through Advent. It was published on 21 December 2022 here. All images by Kate Kennington Steer. … And if, as autumn deepens and darkens I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems thatContinue reading “Blue Christmas 2: light is in the horizon yet”
whole: Christmas Day
Where is that place apart you summon us? Noisily we seek it and have no time to stay. Stars are distant; is it more distant still, out in the dark in the shadow of thought itself? No wonder it recedes as we calculate its proximity in light years. Maybe we were mistaken at the beginningContinue reading “whole: Christmas Day”
whole: day 2
Who speaks the sound of an echo? Who paints the image in a mirror? Where are the spectacles in a dream? Nowhere at all – that’s the nature of mind! Tree-Leaf Woman (8-11thc. Indian female practitioner of Tantric Buddhism) What is it that I think I know of myself? I may not want to lookContinue reading “whole: day 2”
whole: Sunday 1
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough And held against the world of hoary grass. (from ‘After Apple-picking’, Robert Frost) For the last few years I have been trying to change the way I think and talkContinue reading “whole: Sunday 1”
#adventapertures is coming …
watchnight 2020
The water is one thing, and one thing for miles. The water is one thing, making this bridge Built over the water another. Walk it Early, walk it back when the day goes dim, everyone Rising just to find a way toward rest again. We work, start on one side of the day Like aContinue reading “watchnight 2020”
Christmas Day 2020
O Colors of Earth, anoint me and robe me with all the attributes I need for my life work: purple for wisdom, meditation, transformation and spirituality; red for passion, energy and courage; blues and greens for calm restfulness, balance, healing, hope, serenity, and contemplation; golden yellows for optimism and joy, lucidity, compassion and illumination, andContinue reading “Christmas Day 2020”
feeling blue
(all images by Kate Kennington Steer) I put on some music, trying to catch a mood, but the invented rhythms do nothing. So I listen instead to the cackle and spit of the fire, the roar and hiss of the rain, the howl and whip of the wind and ah, yes, there it is. ‘MoodContinue reading “feeling blue”