Write Right Prunes Tomatoes
Reflecting on Anne Sexton’s “Letter Written on a Ferry”
Anne Sexton’s poem “Letter Written on a Ferry While Crossing Long Island Sound”—which is far too long to include with this brief reflection—begins in the middle of things. The speaker says, “I am surprised to see / that the ocean is still going on.” With that single sentence the speaker alludes to a history not ever fully disclosed to the reader. Hints exist, though, such as the “dearest” to whom the speaker directs her thoughts. Other words suggest a fraught relationship, words like “ripped” in the first stanza and “although everything has happened / nothing has happened” in the second.
[Read more…] about Reflecting on Anne Sexton’s “Letter Written on a Ferry”Write Right Boards the Ferry
Reflecting on Claude McKay’s “Subway Wind”
Subway Wind
Far down, down through the city’s great gaunt gut
The gray train rushing bears the weary wind;
In the packed cars the fans the crowd’s breath cut,
Leaving the sick and heavy air behind.
And pale-cheeked children seek the upper door
To give their summer jackets to the breeze;
Their laugh is swallowed in the deafening roar
Of captive wind that moans for fields and seas;
Seas cooling warm where native schooners drift
Through sleepy waters, while gulls wheel and sweep,
Waiting for windy waves the keels to lift
Lightly among the islands of the deep;
Islands of lofty palm trees blooming white
That led their perfume to the tropic sea,
Where fields lie idle in the dew-drenched night,
And the Trades float above them fresh and free.
Source: Claude McKay: Complete Poems (University of Illinois Press, 2004)
[Read more…] about Reflecting on Claude McKay’s “Subway Wind”Write Rights Finds the Subway Wind
Big Storms, Small Stones
The more I tell my residency story, the more I recognize the ways God has worked in and through my life. Perhaps other believers come to the same realization. God works, sometimes with tempests and big fish, to draw me closer to himself and his purpose. Other times, he uses quiet moments, small stones, loaves and, yes, more fish, to direct my mind, heart, and hands toward him and his glory.