I just went back to catch up on some old posts and am reading this poem at the heels of your post on Salman Rushdie’s acceptance speech and was thinking how someone ought to quote Mary’s poems there if not outright award her the peace prize. I know, I know, accolades, blah blah, but what the world is in desperate need now is the reminder of our short time here, the gentle nudge to look at those things we’ve written in the sand that are being washed away by the tide, to help us acknowledge to ourselves and to one another how beautiful and magnificent life is; to recognize it within our own souls and within the souls of the other. Your poetry ever so pointedly brings presence to that knowledge. So I award my own peace prize to Mary PointDeTruth Mcalaughlin. May one day the walls of some stuffy academic hall be softened by your words and may they ring true in the hearts of those who had never heard them. ❤️
I hardly know how to thank you for this encomium, Tonika. I mean, really. And the name Poindexter, such a locus of childhood ridicule, has finally found a redemptive version! Thank you so much; your words bring me a wee bit of embarrassment but mainly deep joy. xox
Oh my! Thank you Mary!!! I so needed that. I was reminded of a few memorial services that I have attended in which some of the most heartfelt beautiful remembering was shared. The gift that was left for each person who spoke of the departed was love. Love as caring and kindnesses given. Love as bedrock and firmament. Love that has touched so deeply and changed lives. Love is remembered and held in the heart. Thank you for sharing your beautiful heart again and again!
Also, thank you for sharing that lovely song...I had a good long cry. I was softened.
A dear man that I know says this to me, "I am love with you". "I am love with you Mary".
This feels like church to me this morning along with the video. I love reading and then also listening to you read it. What a beautiful journey of impermanence. Thank you Mary for continuing to write and share your beautiful heart and mind. 🙏
So deeply true, these things sought that time will - absent the content and substance of love - reveal to be the hollow nothing they really are.
This is a poem for this time, for the end of the world quickly falling away, for all the insanities and inanities of those in pursuit of ill-gotten dominion, fueled by vanity and puffed-up importance.
Gosh, Kathleen... thank you. It is marvelous to know that it reached you. "Insanities and inanities... vanity and puffed-up importance" for SURE. I know there has always been human pride, always been overreach, but has there ever been a time when so few could affect so many?
This poem is stupendous, Mary. One hardly knows how to respond. It's a good thing that it's not too late for all of us to understand and acknowledge the truths expressed in it. It's as tragic as it is hopeful, a paradox of sorts. Anyway, there's so much to ponder here and take to heart. Thank you, Mary.
And the video/song was outstanding, brought tears to my eyes. Powerful in a soft, loving way. What's amazing is that this whole thing posted here is something I could actually send to every single friend I know and not worry about how they would react or respond. Finally, common ground!! xox
I love your comment, Rocket... especially the part about sending it to anyone. Makes my heart sing, because it means I achieved my goal in writing it. Thank you for telling me that! xox
Another thought on your Jason Mraz song. I've been saying that our love is being used against us. And I've been tripping over my double negatives in following it up--that it doesn't mean the answer is not to love. Duh! As Jason says simply, "Love is still the answer." What's the question?
Was it Picasso who talked about how artists steal from one another? Steve Jobs said he did, but Jobs is a robber (and probably liar) himself, so who knows? Anyway, it's all been said before. All we can do is recombine, no? Keep leaning!
Such a testimony to the power of slow-writing! Poetry is the epitome of that slow distillation. I had recently read the original of Ozymandias, so yours extended that thought in the most interesting way, making me think of all the airports, freeways, museums, universities emblazoned with those gilt names of warmongers. And I love Jason Mraz. Great way to finish and lovely to listen to on a slow rainy Sunday morning.
Well, Mary, I had to look up Ozymandias! :) This is a stunning poem accompanied by a stunning Thomas Cole and a heart-opening video by Jason Mraz. Glad I saved this for today, when I could drink it in. I love your writing so much. XOXO
An' Mary unveiled the monster, "per se" (as it wuz--per Percy we might add), in the erstwhile-Victor who wuz not victorious... indeed his "fall" wuz "monumental," his creations destroyed by unmitigated hubris.... Yet were it not for the pen (taken up by Mary--one here, one 'bout 200 years ago!) -- the sands of time (and of Egypt !) or those of coal-dusted London would have fully erased a museum relic -- modern an' ancient at the same time...
doffin' my derby fer this verse obverse (the flip side of old ta be exact...) --an' hopin' there's a bit of the fortune teller in ya too ;-)
Your comment is a piece of art in itself, Daisy, thank you!
Part of my desire to write it was to conjure its reality into existence, actually, through the power of words... so yes, fortune teller and perhaps fortune speller?? xox
I just went back to catch up on some old posts and am reading this poem at the heels of your post on Salman Rushdie’s acceptance speech and was thinking how someone ought to quote Mary’s poems there if not outright award her the peace prize. I know, I know, accolades, blah blah, but what the world is in desperate need now is the reminder of our short time here, the gentle nudge to look at those things we’ve written in the sand that are being washed away by the tide, to help us acknowledge to ourselves and to one another how beautiful and magnificent life is; to recognize it within our own souls and within the souls of the other. Your poetry ever so pointedly brings presence to that knowledge. So I award my own peace prize to Mary PointDeTruth Mcalaughlin. May one day the walls of some stuffy academic hall be softened by your words and may they ring true in the hearts of those who had never heard them. ❤️
I hardly know how to thank you for this encomium, Tonika. I mean, really. And the name Poindexter, such a locus of childhood ridicule, has finally found a redemptive version! Thank you so much; your words bring me a wee bit of embarrassment but mainly deep joy. xox
You deserve every word and more. Xoxo
Oh, I love this so much, Tonika! XOXO
🔝What she said! 😘
Oh my! Thank you Mary!!! I so needed that. I was reminded of a few memorial services that I have attended in which some of the most heartfelt beautiful remembering was shared. The gift that was left for each person who spoke of the departed was love. Love as caring and kindnesses given. Love as bedrock and firmament. Love that has touched so deeply and changed lives. Love is remembered and held in the heart. Thank you for sharing your beautiful heart again and again!
Also, thank you for sharing that lovely song...I had a good long cry. I was softened.
A dear man that I know says this to me, "I am love with you". "I am love with you Mary".
And I, you, Denni. So glad this delivered softness. ❤️
Awesome Mary I love reading your heart full writing. This is stellar. Favorite line…
“Too late to him came this:
Time erases all but love;
all else is carved in sand“
Thank you, Jojo!
This feels like church to me this morning along with the video. I love reading and then also listening to you read it. What a beautiful journey of impermanence. Thank you Mary for continuing to write and share your beautiful heart and mind. 🙏
Your comment was the first that arrived, and it warmed my heart! Thank you, Cath, for continuing the work of opening more and more hearts to love! xox
Mary I want to repeat every bit of this poem.
So deeply true, these things sought that time will - absent the content and substance of love - reveal to be the hollow nothing they really are.
This is a poem for this time, for the end of the world quickly falling away, for all the insanities and inanities of those in pursuit of ill-gotten dominion, fueled by vanity and puffed-up importance.
Thank you, I will re-read and re-read again.
And this...
"The day his name was forgotten,
as on every day before it
and every day after,
the air rippled ever so gently,
birds warbled as they always do,
and the slow river wound itself
through green folds in the earth,
ferrying silicon to grateful trees
who traded it for hardiness,
spreading their blessing a little fuller
in the light of the eternal sun
with no regret.
❤️ Perfect ❤️
Gosh, Kathleen... thank you. It is marvelous to know that it reached you. "Insanities and inanities... vanity and puffed-up importance" for SURE. I know there has always been human pride, always been overreach, but has there ever been a time when so few could affect so many?
"but has there ever been a time when so few could affect so many?"
I don't know. But I don't believe there has ever been a time when the few have been seen by so many. Let's hope that makes all the difference.
Indeed. Here's to hope!
What a handsome poem, describing our existence in these times. What a time to be alive to see all that we are blessed with by God through His Son.
Thank you
What a time, indeed! Thanks for your gracious comment.
This poem is stupendous, Mary. One hardly knows how to respond. It's a good thing that it's not too late for all of us to understand and acknowledge the truths expressed in it. It's as tragic as it is hopeful, a paradox of sorts. Anyway, there's so much to ponder here and take to heart. Thank you, Mary.
And the video/song was outstanding, brought tears to my eyes. Powerful in a soft, loving way. What's amazing is that this whole thing posted here is something I could actually send to every single friend I know and not worry about how they would react or respond. Finally, common ground!! xox
I love your comment, Rocket... especially the part about sending it to anyone. Makes my heart sing, because it means I achieved my goal in writing it. Thank you for telling me that! xox
Thanks, Mary. I did send it to about 15 people and have received a number of very positive responses. I'm expecting more! You "done" good! xox
Another thought on your Jason Mraz song. I've been saying that our love is being used against us. And I've been tripping over my double negatives in following it up--that it doesn't mean the answer is not to love. Duh! As Jason says simply, "Love is still the answer." What's the question?
Leave it to Jason to state it in the positive! xox
I paraphrased him at the end of my last video, without attribution. I'm really leaning into this collective mind thing. ;-)
Was it Picasso who talked about how artists steal from one another? Steve Jobs said he did, but Jobs is a robber (and probably liar) himself, so who knows? Anyway, it's all been said before. All we can do is recombine, no? Keep leaning!
Thank you Mary. It is beautiful to remember that this is the natural order of things!
I wrote it first to remind myself, because it IS so easy to forget sometimes. Thanks, Michael! xox
Such a testimony to the power of slow-writing! Poetry is the epitome of that slow distillation. I had recently read the original of Ozymandias, so yours extended that thought in the most interesting way, making me think of all the airports, freeways, museums, universities emblazoned with those gilt names of warmongers. And I love Jason Mraz. Great way to finish and lovely to listen to on a slow rainy Sunday morning.
Yes! The idea "distilled" (that really is the perfect word) after seeing such a name on a massive, newly-built hospital wing.
Glad it complemented the Sunday rain. Sounds perfect, actually.
Well, Mary, I had to look up Ozymandias! :) This is a stunning poem accompanied by a stunning Thomas Cole and a heart-opening video by Jason Mraz. Glad I saved this for today, when I could drink it in. I love your writing so much. XOXO
Thank you, Barbara! I love yours, too. In fact, as I wrote the last stanza, I felt like you were right there with me, nodding... :-)
Well, I am honored to have popped into your beautiful head, Mary! XOXO
An' Mary unveiled the monster, "per se" (as it wuz--per Percy we might add), in the erstwhile-Victor who wuz not victorious... indeed his "fall" wuz "monumental," his creations destroyed by unmitigated hubris.... Yet were it not for the pen (taken up by Mary--one here, one 'bout 200 years ago!) -- the sands of time (and of Egypt !) or those of coal-dusted London would have fully erased a museum relic -- modern an' ancient at the same time...
doffin' my derby fer this verse obverse (the flip side of old ta be exact...) --an' hopin' there's a bit of the fortune teller in ya too ;-)
Your comment is a piece of art in itself, Daisy, thank you!
Part of my desire to write it was to conjure its reality into existence, actually, through the power of words... so yes, fortune teller and perhaps fortune speller?? xox
shucks-an'-yer-welcome! oooh--I think that's a keeper "fortune speller!"