"Honeymoon with Big Joy" #10

Featuring Lucille Clifton and Clifford Brown

Oct 13, 2023

Welcome to “Honeymoon with Big Joy”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

En-JOY the music

Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading, perhaps with your eyes closed.

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HAG RIDING
Lucille Clifton

why
is what i ask myself
maybe it is the afrikan in me
still trying to get home
after all these years
but when i wake to the heat of morning
galloping down the highway of my life
something hopeful rises in me
rises and runs me out into the road
and i lob my fierce thigh high
over the rump of the day and honey
i ride      i ride


(from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010)

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

This is a jubilant poem. Despite her age, the “hag” (or old woman) still greets each morning with hope and energy, rejoicing that she has one more day to ride! “Why” she feels this way is the question. So let me ask you: how do you greet the morning—and why?
How (if at all) does your age, or the aging process, affect your ability to feel and express joy?
Clifton writes, “. . . something hopeful rises in me / rises and runs me out into the road.” Note that she doesn’t talk about specific hopes that must be satisfied but rather about having a general feeling or orientation of hopefulness. How does hopefulness help activate your joy?

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

Join us on October 31 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Honeymoon with Big Joy.” Registration is required for this celebration.