Final Project Introduction: Poetry of Presence

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Gerard Short
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1 Final Project Introduction: Poetry of Presence Mark Parsons DM-A608: Poetry for Spiritual Formation May 24, 2018

2 2 As a student, teacher, and writer of poetry, I believe that one must begin with a well-grounded understanding of what poetry is and how poetry works. Academic conversations about poetry must address the poet s context and biography as well as the poem s sound, form, meter, diction, rhyme or lack of, craft, and voicing. Understanding the aforementioned concepts helps the reader and student of poetry to understand much about how a particular poem came to be and how it functions, at least in terms of literary analysis. Such matters are often the focus of courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. But one must only begin there, not stop there. After all, isn t poetry more than understanding terminology like enjambment, caesura, or iambic pentameter? Isn t poetry more than a structural analysis or dissection of voicing? Isn t a poem more than what the poem means whatever that means? Mary Oliver writes in her book A Poetry Handbook: Poetry is a serious business; literature is the apparatus through which the world tries to keep intact its important ideas and feelings. 1 This serious business of conveying important ideas and feelings is not left only to the analytical or intellectual realm. A serious study of poetry moves beyond the words on the page to the greater significance and spirit of a given work, whereby we might become fully immersed in the poem and allow ourselves to be changed in the process. How is it that we are changed by encountering and immersing ourselves in poetry? Theologically speaking, we must turn to the nature of God and creation for our first clue. God is at work in the reading, writing, and sharing of poetry, and has been from the beginning of creation. That creation itself began with a word that is, all was 1 Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry (New York: Mariner, 1994), 108.

3 3 spoken into being gives us a deeper understanding of the sanctity and divine potential of words. How can one read Genesis 1-2 and not hear the Creator s poetic voice? And as those created in the image of God, can t we argue that it is in our spiritual DNA to be about the creative work of wordsmithing, word-working, word playing? Even the great poets of history see this connection between our origins and our need for expression in word form: Percy Bysshe Shelley writes that poetry is connate with the origins of man. 2 In terms of origins, we need look no further than Jesus himself. John s gospel tells us in the very first chapter that Christ was the Divine Word, Logos, the Incarnate Word, the Word made flesh. We see words play out in Jesus ministry as he used words to proclaim, heal, teach, praise, rebuke, admonish, advise, and ritualize. Further, Jesus story made known in the gospels is a story that, after having been passed down in words via oral tradition, was written down by the gospel writers. At its core, the Judeo- Christian faith is one of words: words spoken, words heard, words written, and words read. How does a faith tradition and its writings move from words to something more, something deeper, something Wholly/Holy Other? With a full reliance on the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God who empowers words to become More. The Spirit helps us to better understand the nature of God and ourselves. When we approach poetry with the expectation that God is there waiting to meet us, we are more likely to find God (and self). If indeed [T]he purpose of art and architecture [is] to reveal the beauty of God, as medieval thinkers argued, then surely poetry seeks to reveal something of the nature of 2 20 Poets on The Meaning of Poetry, Flavorwire,

4 4 God no less than a painting by Van Gogh, a sculpture by Michelangelo, a song by Bach, or a play by Shakespeare. 3 The question is not so much whether God can be revealed and experienced in poetry, but rather how we can experience God in this way. The answer is presence. When we are fully present with God, an encounter is more likely to happen. So it is with poetry! When we approach a text with prayerful expectation and intentional spacemaking, we invite the Holy Spirit to do her work. Esther De Waal puts it this way: Good order and beauty ask of the onlooker an attitude of reverence and respect and a certain humility, a willingness to take time, and to standing back perhaps even to take off our shoes and go barefoot. 4 We prepare for the divine encounter through presence. In the Poetry as Spiritual Formation Doctor of Ministry course at Wesley Theological Seminary, students were encouraged to read a poem whole. Dr. Kathleen Staudt proposed a process: (1) read and listen, (2) meditate, (3) write, and (4) pray. Following in the tradition of lectio divina, reading a poem whole is a way of spiritually experiencing words. It is a holy listening/reading with the heart. While hearing and reading the poem, one is invited to identify words or phrases that stand out. The idea is that by attending to the poem in this manner of prayerful presence, certain themes, words, images, or phrases will emerge. After identifying that which stands out and sitting with it for a time in silence, one should explore those ideas or words in a freewriting experience. Attention should be on what the heart is saying and feeling, not on proper grammar, elaborate words, or carefully crafted prose. Finally, one is invited to sit 3 Esther De Waal, Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness (Ontario: Novalis, 2003), Ibid., 129.

5 5 in prayer with the poem, the images and words which stood out, and the writing that emerged from the process. It is in prayer that we can both talk to and hear from God, giving thanks for God s presence in the process of reading the poem whole. 5 In my experience of reading the poem whole, I found the most important aspect is to sit in silence with the words and images that emerge and take those words and images to God in prayer. Silence is a rare commodity in our technology-saturated world. To intentionally be still is countercultural. But it is only in being still that we can be fully present. The silence that is required is an expectant silence (what De Waal calls listening silence ) so that we are moved toward prayer with God. 6 Like silence, prayer is also a rarity today. But the silent expectant prayer that is part of reading a poem whole requires a certain level of commitment and intentionality. Again, Esther De Waal: It is so easy and attractive to read about prayer and to talk about prayer. But unless we go to pray there is no prayer. 7 When we truly desire God and desire to encounter God in poetry, we will see the immense value of silence and prayer. As an artist, times of silence and prayer often lead to artistic expression. Whether through writing a poem or song, drawing or sketching, drafting a monologue or skit, or some other artistic medium, I often feel called to respond artistically to the movement of God s Spirit. Rather than doing a standard paper project for the Poetry as Spiritual Kathleen Staudt, Poetry as Spiritual Formation Lecture, Wesley Theological Seminary, May 14, 6 Esther De Waal, Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness (Ontario: Novalis, 2003), Ibid., 49.

6 6 Formation course final, I decided to apply course learnings in the creation of a multimedia art presentation. The idea first came to me when I read Esther De Waal s description of Thomas Merton s love of photography. She writes that Merton handled a camera as an artist would, and used it as an instrument of delight and perception. 8 Like Merton, I love photography and the unique way it allows me to capture that which has captivated my attention. I, too, use my camera as a contemplative instrument to capture whatever crosses my path and demands my attention. 9 As with poetry, shooting photographs requires a certain attentiveness and mindfulness in order to gain meaning and perspective. Prayerfully reading poetry (or what Staudt calls reading the poem whole) is similar to approaching photography with attentiveness: I linger on what crosses my path and demands my attention. As I read through the poems in my slim volume by Bonnie Thurston and as I read and heard the poetry during the Poetry for Spiritual Formation course, I was reminded again of the power of photographs. As words and phrase caught my attention in prayerfully hearing and reading the poems, I was drawn to the idea of capturing the essence of the poem or my response to the poem via photograph. I often thought of photos already in my portfolio, but I sometimes thought of photos that could be taken in response to the poems we explored. The presentation portion of my final project focuses on the poems which demanded my attention either in whole or in part. These poems begged me to sit with them a while. After selecting the poems, I realized they had a common thread: 8 Esther De Waal, Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness (Ontario: Novalis, 2003), Ibid., 65.

7 7 presence. How ironic that in the process of approaching the course poems with intentionality, mindfulness, and attentiveness I found myself drawn into the poems about presence! For each poem I selected, I have provided the text of the poem, a reflection on the poem, a photograph I selected based on my reading of the poem, and information about each photo and why I chose it. The presentation is designed to be experienced prayerfully as each poem leads to a place of contemplation and prayer. By using an online multimedia platform, I will be able to share the project with persons in my ministry context for their own personal devotion.

8 8 Bibliography 20 Poets on The Meaning of Poetry. Flavorwire. poets-on-the-meaning-of-poetry. De Waal, Esther. Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness. Ontario: Novalis, Oliver, Mary. A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. New York: Mariner, Staudt, Kathleen. Poetry as Spiritual Formation Lecture. Wesley Theological Seminary. May 14, 2018.

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