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Writing
Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry
You will be walking some night / in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine / round about you, and behind you / will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly / that you were about to escape, /and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not / a member, you lost your card / or never had one. And you will know
that they have been there all along, / their eyes on your letters and books, / their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful, / they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep / and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed, /reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made / in your history will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you. / You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you. / There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them, / only an inward clarity, unashamed, / that they cannot reach. Be ready.
When their light has picked you out / and their questions are asked, say to them:
“I am not ashamed.” A sure horizon / will come around you. The heron will begin / his evening flight from the hilltop.
January 17th, 2019 Photos I
‘This is a photograph of me’ by Margaret Atwood
It was taken some time ago / At first it seems to be / a smeared print: blurred lines and grey flecks / blended with the paper; / then, as you scan
it, you can see something in the left-hand corner / a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging / and, to the right, halfway up / what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house. / In the background there is a lake, / and beyond that, some low hills.
(The photograph was taken / the day after I drowned.
I am in the lake, in the center / of the picture, just under the surface.
It is difficult to say where / precisely, or to say / how large or how small I am:
the effect of water / on light is a distortion. / but if you look long enough
eventually, you will see me.)
Also, you may like to check out Catherine Just’s site and view her work at: http://www.catherinejust.com/