A poem from the manuscript
The Solstice Book
was recently published in
Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts.
Founded in 2020, Pensive
is an online global journal housed at the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue,
and Service at Northeastern University.
The poem belongs to a series written in the Fall and early Winter of 2023 from several experiences on the Oregon coast.
You can find the poem "Everything has its own prophet" here.
I've always been fascinated by the word "prophecy".
The standard meaning is basically a message inspired by a divinity of some sort to someone who serves as vocal intermediary between humans and the divine.
In the poem, "prophets" are communicating vessels for other things on the beach. They can be anything within the surrounding environment, so that each creature, person, stone, grain of sand, ice molecule, is provided a voice by something else.
Here’s the beginning of the poem:
Everything Has Its Own Prophet
The stone washed up by the last wave, the one that fits
into the snug center of my palm, was once the prophet
for a bullwhip kelp forest, long gone. It whispers about
ruins and space. The thread of bladderwrack near my feet
was once the prophet for the kingdom of salt…
coming January 28th.
Cover image by Clark Walding: Distant View, 1992.
Oil and wax over color montype. 44 x 44 inches (111.7 x 111.7 cm). Used with permission of the artist.
