Dear Mr. Pope,
I am writing to you from my kitchen table,
where the clouds of summer have resumed,
and in this factitious time, the chill sets in.
Here there are fewer disasters
than in other homes. We are sitting
in wait of the next sign
or wonder, and I wanted to ask if
you know what it could be. There are
better questions like:
Who shaped the round body of the bird?
Who set forth the silver flicking of the fish tail? Who
measures the brilliance of the air on
the days it drips cleanly into the lunged world?
And, there is one more thing. In my
many years of mourning god, I seem
to have found god once again – perched
and in flight. In these years I have learned
god does not wish to be forced on anyone,
in fact, god does not even want to be
conveniently suggested. So, Mr. Pope, What fresh
faces of god will surprise you today?
And if they were to pass by, what shape would
your own face take? And what is eternal life,
but the stretching and joining of each moment
to the next - which is happening here, now, today.
So then if eternal life is here and now (surely it is!)
Then how can we pick up and begin to live?
Sincerely.
Danielle Isbell is a writer, dialogue facilitator, and poetry reader for Vita Poetica. She has a background in theological studies and conflict transformation, and keeps coming back writing that breaks open new possibilities of language and imagination. Her writings center on the spirituality of nature, the sacredness of the unknown, and the window she loved in her childhood home. You can find other writings of hers on danielleisbell.org.
Amethyst Review 