"Toolbox: Inherited Instruments" is a six-sequence poem of raw ancestral sacredness wielded by Aotearoa (New Zealand) poet Topher Shields.
Tag: ritual
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer – For When We Greet Each Other
A poem about seeing and honoring what is divine in others and in ourselves, as though all our lives depended on it.
Richard Stimac – Oryoki
In his poem "Oryoki", Richard Stimac gives us a hard look at ancient Buddhist ritual in all the synthetic trappings of the 21st century.
In the Name of the Stranger – Pádraig Ó Tuama on the Language of The Troubles
Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on the use of the word 'trouble' in Irish language, and its relationship to grief and mourning.
Kazim Ali – Ramadan
Kazim Ali's 'Ramadan' touches on the mysterious dimension of spiritual practice and reflects on what is known and what can never be known.
To Walk the Stones
BY MATTHEW WILLIS - What the stones at Kyoto's Jishu Jinja shrine can teach us and warn us about love in our lives
M. Christine Benner Dixon – Portrait of Dad at the Cutting Board
M. Christine Benner Dixon's poem is an intimate portrait of her father, remembered from childhood.
I Had a Brother Once: A Poetic Ritual for a Sibling’s Grief
I Had a Brother Once is an elegiac and honest account of the devastation of suicide, the senselessness of grief, and the imperatives and difficulties of narrative when a loved one's life is on the page.
‘Telling Stories is the Single Thing That Makes Us Human’ – A Conversation with Adam Mansbach
A conversation with Adam Mansbach about loss, grief, and the process of writing his new book, I Had a Brother Once, in the form of an epic poem.
Agha Shahid Ali – Prayer Rug
Themes of cultural and religious identity loomed large in Agha Shahid Ali's work, as written in his poem Prayer Rug.