Welcome to Litsy!

Once the mind is reduced
to the brain, then it falls within the grasp
of the machine. It is the mind incarnate
in the body, in community, and in the earth
that they cannot confine. The difference
is love; the difference is grief and joy.
Remember the body's pleasure and its sorrow.
Remember its grief at the loss of all it knew.
Remember its redemption in suffering
and in love.

—from 1990, III

I would not have been a poet
except that I have been in love
alive in this mortal world,
or an essayist except that I
have been bewildered and afraid,
or a storyteller had I not heard
stories passing to me through the air,
or a writer at all except
I have been wakeful at night
and words have come to me
out of their deep caves
needing to be remembered.

—1994, VII

The body in the invisible
Familiar room accepts the gift
Of sleep, and for a while is still;
Instead of will, it lives by drift

In the great night that gathers up
The earth and sky. Slackened, unbent,
Unwanting, without fear or hope,
The body rests beyond intent.

Sleep is the prayer the body prays,
Breathing in unthought faith the Breath
That through our worry-wearied days
Preserves our rest, and is our truth.

—1990, V

VIII
What do the tall trees say
To the late havocs in the sky?
They sigh.
The air moves, and they sway.
When the breeze on the hill
Is still, then they stand still
They wait.
They have no fear. Their fate
Is faith. Birdsong
is all they‘ve wanted, all along .

——-Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir

I love the title of this poetry collection. It‘s like the trees are singing!
#naturalitsy

#poetrymatters
#verify
@TheSpineView

#5JoysFriday!
1. An encouraging meeting with my spiritual director
2. Reading A Timbered Choir by Wendell Berry—pictured is the first stanza of “I Go Among Trees,” and here‘s the full poem: https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2022/9/20/i-go-among-tree...
3. A delicious Greek dinner and a walk in the park with a good friend (and when walking by the aquatic center, discovering our city offers artistic swimming!)⤵️

My first Wendell Berry. I liked it.

#StorySettings #Farm Wendell Berry is such a gifted writer. Well drawn characters and an incredible sense of place. Though his setting is in Kentucky, there are things in these two books common to farmers everywhere.