Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Healing

Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds, opens our hearts and makes us brave.
~Anna Deavere Smith

Celebrating Joe Biden's inauguration today!

I love what they have done with flags in the National Mall. (If you haven't seen them, check them out.)

Sharing an excerpt by an Irish poet in his honor, since President Biden's ancestry is more than half Irish.

Eavan Boland from "A Habitable Grief":
This is what language is:
a habitable grief. A turn of speech
for the everyday and ordinary abrasion
of losses such as this

which hurts
just enough to be a scar.

And heals just enough to be a nation.


P.S. Time to revisit A BLESSING FOR ONE WHO HOLDS POWER by John O’Donohue?


Addendum: Loved the inauguration! The president's speech was wonderful. And Amy Klobuchar's, and the music. I cried hardest when the vice-president was being sworn in. Time to catch my breath. xo

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4 comments:

  1. Susan BruckJanuary 20, 2021 at 1:17 AM

    Such a lovely poem--and just perfect for today. Thank you for sharing it! Just the title all by itself is inspiring--a habitable grief.
    I saw part of the memorial service for people who have died during the pandemic earlier today. I don't think I saw the flags, but I saw many candles lit. It was beautiful and a step toward healing. I hope we can heal enough to be a nation!

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  2. RuthJanuary 20, 2021 at 6:10 AM

    Thank you for these treasures! I will remember those words: "a habitable grief."

    Happy Inauguration!

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  3. Margaret SimonJanuary 20, 2021 at 4:07 PM

    It was a glorious event. I feel so relieved. Amanda Gorman is my hero.

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  4. HWYJanuary 21, 2021 at 9:01 AM

    That poem by John O'Donohue was spot on and seems quite fitting under the circumstances.

    I, too, enjoyed the inauguration. Well done, all around.

    I'm incredibly relieved after enduring the last four plus years. I'm hoping, though, that I won't suffer from Post Trump Stress Syndrome.

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