As I’ve been getting back into writing again, I’ve been thinking about what I read and how it feeds me. In September I read a poem by Benjamin Myers and a thought he had about poetry, something along the lines of how poetry feeds a particular part of the soul. I was struck by this and his poem “Field,” and felt how I have been malnourished in this regard for a while. Anyway, my list is pretty much the Well-Read Mom book club list, that’s about all I can usually keep up with. So, shout out to Well-Read Mom! This is my fourth year in it and I love it, highly recommend. It’s nation-wide so maybe there’s a group near you! I especially like when it gets me to read and love books I wouldn’t pick up on my own.
January:
-Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
-Summa Domestica by Leila Marie Lawler
-The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot (was surprised how much I loved this, and discussing it and learning more about Eliot)
February:
–True Grit by Charles Portis (picturing the movie in my head the whole time. A fun one.)
March:
–Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (liked it, then loved it after discussing it)
–Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy (helped me navigate some new parenting things this year! some good mantras to keep in mind – “This is a good kid having a hard time. I am a good mom having a hard time.” )
April:
–Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas (“On Monday mornings I cleaned the rectory for the good of my soul.” one of my all time favorite novels. Like, the kind of novel I would want to write. Has some gut punching moments of grace.)
-A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken (a reread for me but didn’t finish it this time)
May:
-The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
reading parts of Anne of Green Gables series with Evangeline
June:
–Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (didn’t finish but enjoyed)
July:
–The Mysterious Benedict Society Books 2 and 3 (summer reads with Evangeline)
August/September:
–Helena by Evelyn Waugh
–He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, SJ (a friend lent to me for my retreat and it was exactly what I needed. my mantra all fall was, “For what can ultimately trouble the soul who accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do His will?” powerful words from a man who spent 20 years in Siberian prison camps)
–Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (was suprised by this book! loved the narrative voice, how disarming it was, how deeply Christian a novel it is for a popular audience. and the ending is amazing)
September/October:
–The Risk of Education by Luigi Guissani (still reading slowly)
–Hannah’s Children, The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk (surprisingly cathartic/encouraging to hear these women’s stories and really enjoyed discussing this with other college educated women in my neighborhood who have lots of kids)
November:
–The Aeneid by Virgil (glad I read it, enjoyed learning more about it and Virgil, how many people and works have been influenced by it in the last two thousand years – crazy!)
December:
–My God and My All by Elizabeth Goudge (biography of St. Francis. soooooo good. highly recommend. makes me want to visit Assisi someday. And read more of her novels.)
And that’s a wrap!
Month: December 2024
morning prayer (in advent)
when I can rise before the sun,
before anyone else,
and sit by the window, sit in
the peace of stillness
it is a good morning
when the toddler bursts awake yelling,
finds me and burrows warm onto my lap,
I light a candle – he quiets
and there is still a peacefulness
the year is dying and I feel deeply
that desire to draw close to the flame
as the dark and cold press in,
as the garden settles into its rest
something about the small candle
on the windowsill of a messy room,
he feels it too in his warm little body,
the dawn from on high breaking upon us
it draws us both, compels us onward
toward that home we have never seen
but have always longed for
this is the peace I seek
in the stillness of the morning
the school of love
it’s on the days when I can be on hands and knees, cleaning a bathroom, or bent over mopping a floor, and contemplate how it took almost a decade for my edges to be softened, for my selfishness to be peeled back just enough to be ready to welcome that stranger, that fifth child, who always wanted to be held, who cried so much, needed so much of me.
or how it took over two years of knowing that woman, inwardly rolling my eyes at her repeated stories, her outdated ideas, until I found myself one day asking for her advice, realizing I aspire to be like her in forty years.
it’s thinking I’ve arrived in the spiritual life because I can clean a bathroom without being consumed by rage, when it’s really just what You want for me on this particular morning. a glimpse that what You offer me is always, always better than what I grasp for myself.
a prose poem for ya, from the same monday in november when the cleaning of the house and writing poetry went hand in hand.
the trial of desire
the trial of desire
it is the squirrel above me
on the thinnest branch
it is the rainbow over
the school this rainy morning
it is the floor swept
unasked, by that child
it is you, rising in the cold
to hunt for the one beeping
smoke alarm while I
remain in the warmth
it is our tiredness softening us
so that when beauty breaks in
and moves us to tears –
we can see it is this we are
actually seeking – our
daily bread –
and why my poems all seem
to be love poems
a poem from a monday morning in november when poetry just seemed to pour out as I went about my chores. I receive it all as grace, really enjoying this slow slow process of creating and sharing poems again. photo by my neighbor Mary 🙂
Glimpses of Joy 