What Do Kids Give Up For Lent?
Tag: poems
Mystical and Natural (Theology) Shall Kiss
A friend recently turned me on to this contemporary Catholic poet, and so I purchased Roses For the Most High on Kindle. This work is nothing short of stunning. Colonel Ronald Smith’s name belongs with Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost. One can read just a few lines from Roses for the Most High and hardly disagree:
“I contemplated mantric shores
and living mist upon the moors
when breath of heather blushed the lea
medieval chants by ancient sea
would reeve galactic jewels that kite
the indigo of endless night”
I’m going to push the envelope a bit farther. Smith’s ability, to craft poetry that brings readers deeper into an understanding of our Faith, is truly inspired. Perhaps his military experience, combined with a brilliant understanding of Mystical Theology and the lives of the saints, contributes to making his reflections so captivating. Natural Theologists will appreciate Smith’s way of conveying awe of the beauty of God’s creation as could only be attained through the very unique position of an Air Force pilot who found himself flying in the north and south Polar Regions.
Colonel Smith is a fascinating person. I found this article about him:
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/retired-air-force-colonel-fills-downtown-loft-with-art-and/article_b6355509-2df8-58bc-8574-c0efdd0107f0.html.
His poems belong in the curriculum of every Catholic high school. Seton Homeschool, Memoria Press, Classically Catholic Memory, Homeschool Connections, Kolbe Academy, and other traditional and classical Catholic educators: this poetry belongs in your high school literature requirements, right beside Joyce Kilmer, Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton. I fully expect my grandchildren and their grandchildren will one day be memorizing Smith’s words as part of a classical Catholic education.
Smith’s book starts are on Amazon and also https://www.westbowpress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001128600.
Click here for Author website .
What are you reading? You can share your favorite books by tagging your social media posts with #OpenBook and linking up with us at Carolyn Astfalk’s “My Scribbler’s Heart” blog as well as CatholicMom.
There Was A Little Girl…
How did that old nursery rhyme go? I’ll be honest. I couldn’t remember past “right in the middle of her forehead.” I had to Google it. Turns out, it’s a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! Ha! Who knew? Here’s the rest:
“There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.”
And Mr. Longfellow lived from 1807-1882! How could he have predicted “Molly?”
There’s more, but nothing quite so ingrained upon the memories of most of us (especially us mothers of curly-headed little girls) as that first stanza.
And in our case, the family’s even come to name it. The Lead Curl. It occupies a slightly more prominent frontal-scalp area than Curl Number Two, but is impressively larger than Curl Three. Ironically, the Curls neither accurately predict nor correctly reflect Molly’s moods. In fact, quite the opposite. When Molly has finally succumbed to the evil institution known as “taking a bath,” the curls come out all nice and smooth and bouncy and incredibly ringlet-y and spirally in a perfect shade of brand-new-shiny-penny-copper.
Then she is good.
But when it’s been (cough–a few days) some time since her last shampoo, the curls become less curl-like and more, well, erratic, animalistic frizz? This is the Molly whose heavy, scowling eyebrows, stomping feet and clenched jaw has worn down Momma to the point where cleanliness is relevant, right? I mean, she got most of the chocolate out of her ear and the mud between her toes, I mean, seriously. How harmful can a little mud be?
Moms of Mollies out there (you know who you are) does curl quality correlate with behavior? Please share.