Poetry and article success

Put out the bunting, but today we’ve reached our 100th meditation poem and here it is, hurrah:

Meditation 100

Somewhere between
curse and response

the pale houses
elongate

like palms or gardens
beside a cool river,

aloes, cedars, rain.
They are not destroyed

by wishing it
and the bright star

is rising still.

At work, I tried to make sense of changes to some conference notes which are extra difficult as I didn’t actually attend it, plus I attempted to negotiate my way through the new travel booking system. There’s lots of stuff about which airline you prefer (even though we only ever take trains here at the coalface), but really just as long as it keeps in the sky when it should and knows how to take off and land, who really cares??

We had our rescheduled Steering Group meeting at lunchtime. Goodness me, what a lot of sandwiches. I think I’m growing strangely accustomed to the University bread … Talking of matters culinary, I must say I was hugely disappointed with my sneaky Starbucks cappuccino yesterday – there was hardly any foam, sigh … And as everyone knows it’s the foam that makes it just so exciting. Ah, the astonishing frustrations of coffee. It’s amazing I’m still sane. Anyway, the meeting was hugely demanding and I have acres of notes, deep groan. And less time to write them up in now, as an extra meeting has been scheduled in on Monday lunchtime when I least expected it. So this afternoon was spent trying to type up as much of the dang minutes as possible, so I can get ahead ready for the thrills and spills of next week. In order to do this, I’ve had to order my second decaff cappuccino of the week (shock! horror!) – but heck at least this one’s got foam.

Tonight, I’m off to the Bible Study Lent group where we’re continuing our journey through Job. How I love the poetry of it – though it does strike me that the more we think we know about God, the less in fact we do. The whole thing’s a mystery really – which is why the poetry works so well, and attempts at literal explanations simply deaden it. I think the path towards understanding doesn’t necessarily lie in the mind, but somewhere far, far deeper. Like people really – the more you think you know them, the less in fact you do. People – like God – are always more than the sum of their apparent parts.

Hmm, that’s today’s sermon over, thank the Lord. Anyone got any chocolate?? I think we all need some … Ooh, and the good news is that the plumber – when prompted by Lord H – has finally remembered us which means that a little more has happened to our heating system, though it’s not over yet, Carruthers. We have a funny timer switch now, plus some more cables, but he’s left it not quite wired up, so we’re hoping he’ll come back and finish the job at some point. He’s a lovely chap but rather spaced out, so produces great work, but slowly. Much like Vermeer then.

Ooh, and The View From Here magazine have kindly accepted my article on reading for writers, and it will be published on site in May and in the print edition in June, hurrah! Thank you so much for that, Mike.

Today’s nice things:

1. My 100th meditation poem
2. Cappuccino with foam
3. The poetry of Job
4. Climbing the plumbing mountain
5. Article acceptance.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - contemplating the mystery of life