{"id":10294,"date":"2015-04-27T19:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T23:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10294"},"modified":"2015-04-27T19:00:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T23:00:35","slug":"hopes-feathers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/04\/hopes-feathers.html","title":{"rendered":"hope’s feathers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Via<\/a>
Via wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a poem today, as I wrestle with a body intent on discomfort. Which leads to thoughts of mortality, of course. And the grateful realisation that I’m basically pretty healthy.<\/p>\n

Not so my aging mother-in-law, who drifts through twilight days unmoored, like feathers in the air.<\/p>\n

Here’s a poem that captures far better than I can how Hope, that thing with feathers, isn’t always pretty:<\/p>\n

Hospital Writing Workshop<\/a>
\nRafael Campo, 1964<\/p>\n

Arriving late, my clinic having run
\npast 6 again, I realize I don\u2019t
\nhave cancer, don\u2019t have HIV, like them,
\nthese students who are patients, who I lead
\nin writing exercises, reading poems.
\nFor them, this isn\u2019t academic, it\u2019s
\nreality: I ask that they describe
\nan object right in front of them, to make
\nit come alive, and one writes about death,
\nher death, as if by just imagining
\nthe softness of its skin, its panting rush
\ninto her lap, that she might tame it; one
\nobserves instead the love he lost, he\u2019s there,
\nbeside him in his gown and wheelchair,
\ntogether finally again. I take
\na good, long breath; we\u2019re quiet as newborns.
\nThe little conference room grows warm, and right
\nbefore my eyes, I see that what I thought
\nunspeakable was more than this, was hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a poem today, as I wrestle with a body intent on discomfort. Which leads to thoughts of mortality, of course. And the grateful realisation that I’m basically pretty healthy. Not so my aging mother-in-law, who drifts through twilight days unmoored, like feathers in the air. Here’s a poem that captures far better than I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,66,848,436,994,985,22],"tags":[1227,11,1181,1187,262,970,1285,995,318],"class_list":["post-10294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-elders","category-healing","category-health","category-hope","category-national-poetry-month","category-poetry","tag-aging","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-healing","tag-health","tag-hope","tag-national-poetry-month"],"yoast_head":"\nhope's feathers - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just a poem today, as I wrestle with a body intent on discomfort. Which leads to thoughts of mortality, of course. And the grateful realisation that I'm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/04\/hopes-feathers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"hope's feathers - Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just a poem today, as I wrestle with a body intent on discomfort. Which leads to thoughts of mortality, of course. 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