This month the Fratres Dei team got together to compile poetry of our own creation about our experiences with embodied spirituality. We invite you to curl up and enjoy, and take a few moments to explore your own body's relationship with the sacred. We also welcome you to leave a comment with your own poetry or musings.
To My Body
By Rachel Parsons, Founder
Holy ash, animate dust
Stunted conductor, moonstruck cache
I smell the winter in your nose,
carry you from my bed,
scan the grass with your feet.
With your mouth I taste filth.
Your nerves keep me safe
and keep me awake.
You are channel
and dam.
You show me cliffs
and hang me from them.
The conception
that splits.
The growth
and growths.
You warm
and burn.
You sprint, sway, float
break, infect, sprain.
You play, write, know,
block, stop, detain.
Another day.
Senses seen.
More skin to shed;
body to be.
Originally published in Spiritual Direction International's journal, Listen: A Seeker's Resource for Spiritual Direction, October 2019.
Devour
By S. T. Gibson, Contributor
There is no greater longing than for the dissolution of the self
in the appetites of the Beloved,
no higher love than the alchemy of blood to wine
and broken bread to surrendering skin
under the hand of an agile magician.
Cathedral
By S. T. Gibson, Contributor
Love turns some people into birds or beggars,
but you make me into architecture,
into a sanctuary of soft and holy spaces
shaped to catch the sound of your voice.
These eyes: rose windows bathing you in light.
These arms: alcoves open in shadowed embrace.
This heart: a confessional dark enough for your sins.
This mouth: a bell driving away demons
and calling you home.
Arrows
By S. T. Gibson, Contributor
You pierce me between your lashes
with a glance quick as a tailor’s needle,
and somewhere in history
Saint Teresa falls,
her body full of arrows,
her belly full of molten gold.
What is your body spiritually longing for? What does that even mean? You are invited to explore through body-based spiritual direction with a trained embodiment spiritual director. Learn more here.
December 2, 2019 | Denver, Colorado
#spirituality #bodytheology #spiritual direction #spiritual advice