Staying Power #146: "The Sister of Mercy with Advanced Alzheimer’s Speaks of Prayer"
A found poem
What follows is a “found poem.” To create it, I took lines from a story I’d read this week on Braided Way and rearranged them into a poem, leaving the words mostly verbatim.
I want to thank Mary Alice Dixon, the author of the prose piece, for inspiring this poem. Most of all, blessings on the Sister of Mercy, whose true name I don’t know. Despite advanced Alzheimer’s, she remains a mouthpiece for the Mystery Beyond All Names.
“Yesly,” indeed.
THE SISTER OF MERCY WITH ADVANCED ALZHEIMER'S SPEAKS OF PRAYER Phyllis Cole-Dai a found poem* Hear her sing The Lady God startles
Yesly, yesly She will come swept by two birds in the season of kindness Yesly I am wed to being Being in love Being will branch Being will provide Being will fall to light Swept by two birds Order will come Shake it Shape it Beauty of mercy It will come In the season of kindness Swept by two birds Yesly The underside is captive The praying is the going God she lives God she gives food She loves She He God He startles Yesly she does The gift Swept by two birds Yesly Yesly It is And it is not canonical She is swept by two birds God startles Yesly God startles *I gathered these words of “Sister Rose Lynn” (a pseudonym) in “Swept by Two Birds and a Rose,” posted by Mary Alice Dixon on Braided Way, August 8, 2023.
The Gentle Nudge
Join other Rafters this week . . .
WEDNESDAY: Creatives’ Coffee (Zoom, 4:00-5:30PM Central, at this link)
THURSDAY: Poetry Pick-Me-Up (Zoom, 12:00-1:00PM Central, at this link)
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“The cardinal gifts of the Holy Ghost,” the monk is saying, “are faith, hope, and love. These are gifts. Ask for those gifts. Ask. Ask for more faith. Ask for more hope. Ask for more love.”
Brilliant!