Mindful Poetry Gathering- January 2023

This month for Mindful Poetry Moments we gathered to listen and contemplate the poem "School Prayer" by Diane Ackerman. Elena Estella Green opened with a gentle body scan meditation. Barbara Schwartzbach selected and presented the poem and gifted us with a wonderful prompt: "Write a prayer for school."

We were so moved by the poems created during our refreshing hour together.

Here is a video of the gathering and live reading of the poems created by our gatherers. More poems created by the group are shared below!

Pledge of Allegiance
by Emily Little

Pledge allegiance to the grass as it passes,
beneath your red-clay-tinged gym shoes.

Pledge allegiance to the dewy monkey bars,
hooting and hollering for your playful attention.

Pledge allegiance to you brother’s smaller hand,
in your barely bigger one, and the protection you pass on.

Pledge allegiance to the raindrops collecting in puddles,
(puddles your mom asked you not to jump in, save them for 2:30, or don’t.)

Pledge allegiance to the wind blowing your bare arms, your coat trailing,
your dad wrapped in jacket, scarf, arms crossed to the wind.

Pledge allegiance to each child who greets you,
by name or by reserved wave.

Pledge allegiance to the easily shared smiles,
from every teacher, urging you towards class and learning.

Pledge allegiance to Doug the Beagle, laughing at all you small children filing into a brick building,
From his perch in his Honda window.

Pledge allegiance to the earth that brought you here,
Pledge allegiance to the warmth of relationship that keeps you here, and
Pledge allegiance to your tiny voice,
                             in your tiny head.
                             your small spirit,
                             in your small body
                             your imagination,
                             bursting from you.
                             your deep knowing
                             inside of you.

Pledge allegiance to all of that, the flag will be just fine.

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Morning Prayer
by Steven Barragán Naranjo

As the sun rises powerful
With so much energy
Happily helping the trees
Warming everyone's soul

I rise powerful
With so much energy
Happily helping others
Warming everyone’s soul

As the flowers open
With so much beauty
Growing against adversity
Giving this planet color

I open to the things I can’t control
I beauty the things I do
I grow despite adversity
Giving this planet color

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To those who will be set on fire
by Wade Hopkins

Our thoughts and prayers should calm your protestations

To those who cannot breathe.

Take comfort in the new soaring atrium that overlooks the street

Know that the best minds of old have designed this sanctum to marshal your spirit

And as you are on fire, quiet yourself, what will be, will be

And as you cannot breath, come again, and again to this church of the past

Find here our shared treasure of martial glory and

As you succumb, listen. Listen silently to the heedless dead.

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Mansions of the Stars - A School Prayer
by Elena Estella Green

Stars are such friendly things
At night on an NYC roof
We tried to count them.
I know now that it was a way
To make us sleepy.
We said traditional prayers before bed
But the stars hummed in mind
Beautiful hymns against the backdrop of night.
Life was simple for 5 years.
Trauma is for another tale.
Nature was my teacher then.
Thank God for Central Park.
The tiny waterfall, where years later
I buried my dog’s ashes.
I fell in love with birds.
A universe in a rectangle of green.
The breeze from Belvedere Castle
Where we played Camelot.
We ate Chinese food and fed the ducks.
This is a memory prayer.
Just before school
I would cram as many stars
In my pocket and a trail of stardust
Led from home with mother
To my desk of possibility.

###

In Praise of the Green Rasberry v1
by Troy Bronsink

In the name of the stranger, hunched over, across the street
marching and shouting, walking against the wind.
In the name of the man who has come to the door
opening to see what the fuss is all about.
In the name of the winter blue thorn bush waving bare in praise.

I make of my life a promise
to welcome what I cannot yet understand,
to guard what is precious to others like it is ours,
to nourish what is growing,
to celebrate the builders of school boards, corporations, and faiths
            that welcome and nourish me.

In the name of this red warmth I feel under my chest
connected to the power of my feet and arms,
in cadence with my pumping heart and its deep passion
harmonizing with a mind that seeks to sort
and make sense of this life I’ve been born into;

I will not break faith with love.
I will not invade another to save myself or control what is larger than me.
I will not abandon another, casting them with inventive stories of shame.
I will stay connected, and aware.
I will follow gifts, tools, and teachings that aid my awareness and connection.
I will build these for others with my very life, in class and home today.

In the name of this moment when parts of the poem make sense,
while others parts may set me into bewilderment or overwhelm,
I will stay, welcoming the unknown and the known.

I say Yes to this intention.
I say No to any that would sow the tyranny of suffering in my life.
I sing this with my name,
like staring, compassionately, into the mirror while brushing my teeth.
I let my Yes crown like an new green raspberry
and I wait,
trusting the orange sun and black soil to ripen it plump and soft.

I even say Yes, today, to the future harvest,
biting then into the berry bursting from this life I now lead
crossing ts and carrying zeros,
the fruit of my Yeses and my Nos.

###

I Pray
by Maureen P. Medina

“I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred; healer of misery;
in the name of the sun and its mirrors; in the mansions of the stars.”

It’s time for school and a prayer
I pray that you wake and have a hearty breakfast
colorful and vibrant, I pray that you are nourished

I pray that you arrive safely whether you’re strolling
carpooling or on the bus, I pray that you are safeguarded 

I pray that you find your friends, the kind ones and the bossy ones
play, sunbathe, imagine, and learn, I pray for your innocence

I pray that you are who you are without fear or reservation
May your roots be watered and held sacred, I pray that you are protected

I pray that you repeat this dance, that you nurture and relish it
and make it back home and to every destination; I pray for your return

I pray that the systems that mean to harm you, destroy
your vitality, identity, and spirit are not guided by bullets and bigotry

— this time, I pray for them.

I pray that they learn how to love instead of learning how to shoot
It’s time for school. This is my prayer, my plea.

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Students Should Sleep
by Bryce Kessler

Now I lay me down to sleep.
No more tests or grades to keep.

The day is done,
and rest has come,
until school's in tomorrow.

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Mindful Poetry Moments, a collaboration incubated by The On Being Project and now supported by The Well and partners The Hive, The Mercantile Library, and WordPlay, offers a chance to pause and reflect on poetry’s ability to encounter ourselves, the world, and the mystery of each other.