Day 20 — personal readings + brief verses

A second Festival of Grief poem although far from the worst day I’ve endured in these past 35 years. Playing round with the meaning of the word “reading” based around verses pertinent to today. I love how a theme can forge a type of poem you’d never consider otherwise. Factoid is short sharp & shiny.

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Three Readings

Halfwit 15:4 – And, behold, there was a great downpour upon the holy day: and the stone was rolled back, and all the waters swirled in fury down the hole; and the angel cried out in pain, and called his name; and lo, he ran in, but nothing could he do except embrace her for the messenger of the Lord had already decided, what was to be, and had descended from heaven, and sat upon their hopes. 

Fishtail 15:6 – And when they looked, they saw that another had come in, swiftly, sudden and unexpected, like a guest in the night filling that room from whence the stone had previously been rolled away: but lo, though she was quiet and calm and oh so gentle, she likewise could not stay; for her need elsewhere was very great; and so she departed causing a second great pain to the angels. 

Hijinks 21:7 – And so in this way, many moons passed and the dark cave was almost but not entirely forgotten, until much perplexed thereabouts, they found the old stone rolled across and the angels hearts’ at once gladdened and grew afraid lest the sadness be returned; and so it indeed came to pass that before the season’s end, two messengers stood by them in shining garments; took their hands and lead them away from the sepulchre to whence they were never to return. 

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Day 20 Factoid – shortest bible verse (is very short)

John 11:35

the short
est verse
in the Bi
ble is also
my favo
urite …

Jesus wept. 

Day 11 — sacred spaces + holy books

The poetry volume I read today was On the Wire, assembled by friends of Adelaide poet John Pfitzner (& one of my two fellow poets along with Rachael Mead in New Poets’ 17) after his death.  In that collection there’s a poem called “Sacred Place”. I combined this theme/idea with a NaPoWriMo prompt from a few days ago which I’ve been keen to try. It’s a form poem & I always like to do at least a couple of them during this month especially if I’ve never written one before. The form & idea seem to blend very well.

The ghazal originates in Arabic poetry, and is often used for love poems (especially spiritual/divine love). Ghazals commonly consist of five to fifteen couplets that are independent from each other but are nonetheless linked abstractly in their theme; and more concretely by their form. In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:

the lines all have to be of around the same length (formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed);

and both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.

Another aspect of the traditional ghazal form that has become popular in English is having the poet’s own name (or a reference to the poet – like a nickname) appear in the final couplet.

The Poetic Factoid came out of a google concerning THE Most Sacred/Holiest Books, of which oddly, there was little consensus. 

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sacred spaces: a ghazal

my 4 poster bed was chosen cos it also holds books
softest safest sublimest place i know to read books

air chairs under ancient elms float light as words
drift in & out of wispy worlds as i read books

Dorothea’s wingtip chair by the window more
a chairshelf ATM but where i’ve often read books

outdoor setting made from an old oak barrel 
there beneath the silver birch i read books

north-facing scorched wide-armed wooden bench 
in autumn setting sunshine i love to read books

beautiful bench of ceramic fish in the shade
an elegant corner to stay cool & read books

— the truth is every space becomes sacred
every time gareth takes out one of his books

settles in & experiences the miracle of reading

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Day 11 Factoid – Holy Books

most holey

google ain’t too definitive
regarding the holiest book
there are a few frequently 
mentioned contenders

Christianity’sBible(Old&NewTestaments)Islam’sQuranJudaism’sTanakh&TalmudHinduism’sBhagavadGita
VedasUpanishadsPuranasBuddhism’sTripitaka(PaliCanon)Sikhism’sGuruGranthSahibTaoism’sTaoTeChing
Jainism’sAagamConfucianism’sAnalectsShintoism’sKojikiNihonShokiZoroastrianism’sAvestaBaha’iFaithth
eKitábiAqdasKitábiÍqánScientology’sDianetics&TheLatterDaySaints’BookofMormonAnotherTestamentofJ
esusChristakaAnAccountWrittenbytheHandofMormonuponPlatesTakenfromthePlatesofNephi
among others

a lot of work working out the best one

my suggestion for a smaller list
Cosmos. Carl Sagan. The. End.