“Peace be with you” not least this Christmas. [1] The wars between Israel and Palestine and between Russia and Ukraine put as all at risk. Even at the level of reading the Guardian or watching the BBC news the violence and suffering are unimaginable and damaging. [2] This drawing by Tony began with the frames. Next came the person and the (ambiguous) hands. Then the dove. And last the title: ‘peace.’ [3] We share the hope and non-violent activism for peace that John Lennon and Yoko Ono had in 1969: “Give peace a chance.” [4] All our lives we have valued the Jesus text of the beatitudes (in Matthew and Luke) and in particular the saying: “blessed are the peacemakers” [Matthew 5,9]. [5] The Welsh word ‘hiraeth’ is usually translated to mean a ‘deep longing for home:’ it can serve here as ‘a deep longing for peace’.
Tony poem - making space
I quietly enjoy beginning each new poem
I note the title-number and
Write the first few lines.
More than ideas, feelings, or memories
[As drawing makes images]
So, writing the words creates the poem.
It is in the work and action of writing
[Writing “myself into being”]
That the poem becomes a ‘thing in itself.’
Then —- there comes a moment,
A pause, as I step-back and decide on a title -
Making space for myself.
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