"This Year In The Gatherings At The River"

"Old log in the river (see face?)" By pjsixft ("PJ")

We had intended to share this poem last month, during The Lies That Build Empire, but due to a mixup on our part, it slipped through the cracks. In a way, I'm glad for the new timing. Following last night's episode in Brooklyn, when New York City police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old black boy (spurring the neighborhood to protest), Lawrence's poem is an important reminder that the river's observations, like our own in engaged Buddhist practice, can be open without getting stuck in neutral. While we practice not holding to fixed views, we nevertheless DO see inequality; we DO see injustice; we DO cherish the "Beloved in a World of Strife;" we DO endeavor to disturb the streets, the status quo…Thank you, Lawrence, for sharing this with us!metta and solidarity,Katie[divide style="2"]

This Year in the Gatherings at the River

 By Lawrence Wrayfor Art McDonaldThe river says I know youmop their floors day and night,but the winter is too coldfor glass in your windows.It says I know you serve their mealsin glassy restaurants.  I know youpress their suits, haul away their garbage,wear their discarded shoes.The river says I know you nursetheir forgetful, ailing parents,but in prisons your children maketheir wages, as inmates and guards.It says I know your bodies, bluedand broken, are too expensive to bedoctored, and still I mend your bonesas when you were a child.And the river says I know your name.It is a blessing.  It means Belovedin a World of Strife.  It disturbs the streetswith wild singing.  Of a world of strife,it says I was, I am, I shall be.  It says I seethe smudge bodies of your dead,their hands above your face, huddledand shading the sun from your eyes.[divide] Lawrence Wray is a homeschooling parent of two grade-school age daughters. His poems have been published in Weave, qarrtsiluni, Blood Lotus, and other places. He teaches writing classes at a homeschooling cooperative, and participates in anti-war and peace vigils through the Thomas Merton Center.