Give Sorrow Words
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.
(Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.1.50-1)
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.
(Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.1.50-1)
African goddess mask emerging from Botswana basket…greeting and welcoming guests as they enter the Goddess Gathering Room. —JGR The phrase “Outer, Inner, Secret, and Innermost Secret” comes from a practice sequence in Tibeten Buddhism. OUTER In the design of space in my apartment, the Outer room in the front room…what most folks would call the…
“Poetry is words on a page nibbling at the edge of something vast.” –Nebraska’s less-well-known poet laureate, William Kloefkorn (Suggested by Susan J. Tweit) Biography William Kloefkorn was named Nebraska Poet Laureate in 1982 and held that distinction for more than a decade. Often called “the Garrison Keillor of contemporary American poetry,” Kloefkorn’s poetry collections…
The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return.” ~Maria Edgeworth~ (1 January 1767 – 22 May 1849) Anglo-Irish novelist
Riehlife: Theo, do you have a spiritual path you follow? Does this come into play with your view of guest service? Theo: When I was growing up in White Plains, New York, my parents often took us to different types of religious service, from Presbyterian to Catholic, 7th Day Adventists to readings of the Torah….
Sogyal Rinpoche, author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” and the head of Rigpa, an international Buddhist group urges us on to follow a compassionate logic.–JGR _____________________________________________ We may say, and even half-believe, that compassion is marvelous, but in practice our actions are deeply uncompassionate and bring us and others mostly frustration and…
Watching Northfork again recently, I was moved by Nick Nolte’s testimony to the power of witnessing in one of the DVD extras. Nolte said he felt witnessing is what gives meaning to our lives. Nolte sat with his mother during her last four days, and watched her die–helped her die, by witnessing her death. From…
I loved the quote you use for this thought. My current book is about unwitnessed grief. I said that grief has many siblings — guilt, anger, separation among others but of course, Shakespeare says it best.
Your course sounds wonderful. I’ve suggested the “I remember” exercise and also the “I don’t remember” exercise that Natalie Goldberg uses in her Writing the Bones workshop. But your expansion of it to include differing points of view and to make it a way for people to express ranges of sorrow is truly inspired. Thank you for telling us about it on the Women writing the West website and for having this site and blog. You are appreciated! Warmly, Jane
I have articls about grief and a journal called A Year and a Day which I kept after losing my wife. Idaho State Unvieristy is the publisher.
Michael Corrigan