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Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have
displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human
and ecosystem health, something global culture is trying to
rediscover under the label of sustainability. A spiritual resource
for sustainable living, this poem records the creation story of the
Sami, a nomadic people of Northern Europe, and then retells several
Scandinavian folk-tales derived from their playfully animistic
world view. Their deep kinship with the wild is shown in their awe
for bears: The bear is more like people are Than any other thinking
creature: He stands up on two legs to strike, With eyes that skewer
like a spike, And when we cut away his skin He looks like a great
bloody man.
Here a medieval Muslim mystic records his living meditation on
becoming one with God, where he likens himself to a moth leaping
into flame: In that bright instant, wings aflame, Reduced to
fragments of his name, The moth-ash shows his body's form Where no
mark will distinguish him. Rumi wrote three centuries later on
Al-Hallaj's words, 'I am God, ': "People imagine that it is a
presumptive claim, whereas I find it is really a presumptive claim
to say 'I am the slave of God'; for, 'I am God' is an expression of
great humility. The man who says 'I am the slave of God' affirms
two existences, his own and God's; but he that says, 'I am God, '
has made himself non-existent and has given himself up, and says 'I
am God, ' that is, 'I am naught, He is all; there is no being but
God's.' This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement."
In the darkest hours of the 17th century German witch hunts, Spee,
a Jesuit priest, meditated on the confessions of accused women and
resolved to subject the church's torture practices to a rigorous
logical analysis. The result is a cogent and persuasive argument
against all torture, and a demonstration of the overarching power
of the human spirit in a time of trial. This book combines poetic
meditations on Spee's uniquely compassionate essays with starkly
lit photographs (from a state collection in Toledo, Spain) of many
of the torture instruments used by church functionaries.
Thomas Paine claims the title The Father of the American Revolution
because of Common Sense, the pro-independence monograph pamphlet he
anonymously published on January 10, 1776; the work quickly spread
among the literate, and, in three months, sold 120,000 copies
throughout the American colonies (with only two million free
inhabitants), making it a best-selling work in eighteenth-century
America. It is here given a concise metered form suitable for
theatrical adaptation and public performance.
This novel documents the idealistic passage of a young couple from
WWII-era Brooklyn into a bleak terrain in upstate New York, where
they establish a family farm. Within a span of twenty years, they
raise five boys and watch them leave their dreams behind, one by
one. As alcohol and disillusionment begin to cast their long
shadows over the succeeding generation, each of the family's sons
develops a suite of defensive behaviors; until, at last, the
youngest son, Zeekie, finds redemption in becoming the family's
storyteller.
Limited resources, increasing populations, and unyielding political
and religious systems have engendered conflicts around the world.
As a consequence, commercial interests, established institutions,
and government powers have threatened fundamental aspects of human
rights. In an effort to protect our rights, this book treats each
article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the source
for a poem, in the form of a "secular psalm." The psalms are
pointed and arranged with Anglican Chant tunes for use in religious
ceremonies or special events related to human rights issues (such
as Yom Hashoah Remembrance Observances.) Like a pebble cast in * to
the * water, Or a * son, * or a * daughter, Each of us makes a *
circle of * giving - A wave goes out across the * surface * of the
* living. The book also includes the author's poetic paraphrase of
Aldous Huxley's "Propaganda in a Democratic Society."
The late sixties and early seventies in America spawned all manner
of idealistic dreams through which young people thought they could
re-invent the notion of the modern. These five stories investigate
the ways that avoidance of commitment, in both public and personal
spheres, leads to critical choices for the reluctant protagonist
Jack Lindsay. We see the sad force of a role model's suicide; the
calculated betrayals of unsatisfied love; the hidden pathology
behind a conspiracy; the hard-heartedness of raw personal
preference; the vicious and circuitous powers of alcohol addiction.
The voice that tells these stories is sparse, detached, cynical,
and destined to learn little from failure.
Limited resources, increasing populations, and unyielding political
and religious systems have engendered conflicts around the world.
As a consequence, commercial interests, established institutions,
and government powers have threatened fundamental aspects of human
rights. The poetry in this book interprets, in a metered format,
sworn statements obtained at Baghdad Correctional Facility, Abu
Ghraib, Iraq, January 16-21, 2004, and obtained by the Washington
Post. It finds a dark music in the plain speech of men detained and
manipulated by strangers: He said, If I give you some torture, What
do you think? Would that be fair? I asked him, Why torture me then?
He said, We need more information.
Continuing in the grand tradition of Rumi and Kahlil Gibran, Kabir
invites us to explore the light within our own sensuality. This
incomparable 15th century poet, weaver, mystic and musician of
Benares helps us to find the eternal goodness of pure sensation,
without allegiance to any creed or cause. "Open the window to the
west, / In the sky of love, now be lost; / Drink the sweeter honey
that steeps / And imbues with heat, the petals / Of the lotus of
the heart's lips. / Receive the waves in your body: / What splendor
is in the warm sea / Hearken to the sounds of conches / And bells,
rising through the branches." The poetry of this 15th century
mystic has been recreated in modern English rhymed couplets by
Jabez L. Van Cleef, joining the ranks of his poetic interpretations
of spiritual texts from all of the world's great religious
traditions.
This is a book of aphorisms written by Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Ata
Allah al-Iskandari (d. 1309), here called Ibn Atallah, the third
sheikh of the Shadhili Sufi order. He was born and grew up in
Alexandria, then lived and died in Cairo. Ibn Atallah is well known
for compressing large thoughts into a small space. The shape of the
thought is smooth, small, dense, and hard. He chose the form of
aphorisms to express himself because he wanted above all to spread
the word of what he believed in, and indeed, many of these
statements could be likened to a pebble that one might carry in
one's pocket.
The late sixties and early seventies in America spawned all manner
of idealistic dreams through which young people thought they could
re-invent the notion of the modern. These three stories investigate
the ways that established institutions at first allured, and then
later deluded, the reluctantly willing protagonist Jack Lindsay. We
see the virtuous earnestness of the young teacher waylaid by the
shrewd encroachments of his own desire; the continued bending of
his sexual morality to pursue the attractions of opulent living and
haute couture; and, finally, the drowning of a young couple's
aspirations in the ocean of their own excessive carnality. The
voice that tells these stories is sparse, detached, cynical, and
destined to learn little from failure.
To promote a stronger general sense of community, THE SONG OF
MATTHEW retells the gospel story as a poem arranged in blank verse
iambic pentameter, the form used by Milton and Shakespeare. It
retains the meaning of conventional versions of the story of Jesus,
while offering suitable texts for musical settings of the entire
gospel or any passage of particular interest. The text does not
include any of the false and sinful condemnations of Jews which
have historically contributed to the practice of eliminationist
anti-semitism. The crucifixion of Jesus is shown as the assertion
of Roman power, with the collusion of certain religious
authorities, within the context of a cosmopolitan community. In all
other respects it is a text for singing that is "congruent" with
holy scripture, as advised in The Book of Common Prayer.
A flower of mystical insight from 14c. England, this book records
the visions and prescient theological world-view of Julian, an
anchoress at Norwich. Her unique and visceral retelling of both the
birthing and the dying of Christ, the first book to be written in
English by a woman, has never been excelled in the clarity and
eloquence of its language. Here, preserving the humility of the
original in a modern idiom, is a metered poetic version of her
revelations: ...she who's Mother of our Savior Is mother of all who
shall be saved; And our Savior our very Mother, In whom we are
endlessly born Yet never shall come out of him.
Medieval Muslim philosophy of religion and ethical living by the
polymath Al-Ghazzali, here interpreted in modern English verse by
poet Jabez L. Van Cleef. This book will impart an appreciation for
the unity of all human spirit in its quest for knowledge and
understanding of the divine.
Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have
displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human
and ecosystem health, something global culture is trying to
rediscover under the label of sustainability. Since the beginning
of time, human beings have told the story of their own beginning,
and of the origins of the four directions, the heavens, the
God-People, the earth, and all its creatures. The Navajo People
tell a story of great psychological power and depth. First recorded
by 19th century ethnographers, the Navajo Creation story is here
interpreted as an epic-length poem.
Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have
displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human
and ecosystem health, something global culture is trying to
rediscover under the label of sustainability. Since the beginning
of time, human beings have told the story of their own beginning,
and of the origins of the four directions, the heavens, the
God-People, the earth, and all its creatures. The Mayan creation
story is a wild and wooly epic showing the repeated errors of the
gods in attempting to perfect a human creature. The story is here
interpreted as an epic-length poem: They did not remember their
Creator, They did not offer praise to their Maker; They forgot the
Heart of Heaven And therefore fell from favor again. So this was a
trial, an attempt at man. These creatures spoke, but their faces
had no expression...
Rarely, if ever, has history experienced a more penetrating
demonstration of the overarching power of the human spirit in a
time of trial. This book is a poetic interpretation of the inquiry
and condemnation of Jeanne, the maid of Domremy, recorded in 1431.
Drawing on the verbatim record of the trial, this book gives the
modern reader a rare look at the speech and personal demeanor of an
illiterate person in the Middle Ages; made rarer by the gender and
the unique personality of Jeanne, who here both originates and
personifies our universal concept of human dignity.
Reminiscent of Carl Sandburg's beloved children's poetry, these
stories were ad-libbed by the author for his children and then
written in a notebook for later refinement, which never came to
pass; so that they retain the atmosphere of spontaneity and lame
humor often encountered in the last half hour before bedtime, as in
this example: I would say the highlight of the whole evening came
during the Amateur Hour when three of the most common backyard
vegetables from our own neighborhood sang a lovely trio of their
own devising, which means they wrote the words and music, taught
the song to the accompanist birds, and practiced the dance part to
perfection. They had made beautiful matching costumes out of each
other, as will be evident when you see the lyric to the song they
sang: Lettuce, Turnip and Pea... Lettuce, Turnip and Pea...
"The theory behind writing these poems is that if you are feeling
miserable, and you write about how you are feeling, with as much
precision and thoroughness as you can muster, you will induce in
yourself a kind of satisfaction that you are able to make something
worthwhile emerge from the misery. " "The theory behind publishing
these poems is that if someone else with similar feelings to your
own comes along and reads about these painful states of mind, that
person may also come to feel a little better, either from a better
understanding or from a general sense of companionship."
Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have
displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human
and ecosystem health, something global culture is once again trying
to rediscover under the label of sustainability. A spiritual
resource for sustainable living, these verses record the inimitable
practicality of stories and proverbs told by the Igbo people of
West Africa. If you imitate the upright, Then you will be upright;
If you imitate the crooked, Then you will be crooked. The
collection of sayings is based on life in villages, farms and
forests, treating birds, insects and animals as everyday familiars.
The stories personify wild creatures (primarily, the tortoise) to
offer moral instruction about greed, power, and the natural human
trait of being ruled by transient appetites.
To promote a stronger general sense of community, THE SONG OF MARK
retells the gospel story as a poem arranged in rhymed couplets with
four stressed syllables per line, a form called long meter. It
retains the meaning of conventional versions of the story of Jesus,
while offering suitable texts for musical settings of the entire
gospel or any passage of particular interest. The text does not
include any of the false and sinful condemnations of Jews which
have historically contributed to the practice of eliminationist
anti-semitism. The crucifixion of Jesus is shown as the assertion
of Roman power, with the collusion of certain religious
authorities, within the context of a cosmopolitan community. In all
other respects it is a text for singing that is "congruent" with
holy scripture, as advised in The Book of Common Prayer.
Writings of Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, and Henry David
Thoreau are here brought into a common format by paraphrasing the
text into metered lines (iambic pentameter); the lines are arranged
to create three-line stanzas in a single unified master document.
The result is a long poem in which the successive lines are bound
rhythmically but not always by meaning. In each stanza the first
line is from Thoreau, the second line from Gandhi, and the third
line from King, as shown here: I hold this saying close beside my
heart: I am not a visionary person; You cannot deny we face a
crisis...
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