Java & Jesus
July 31st, at 9 am
Attend in-person at the church in the
Alfred Swan Room, or attend remotely
by Zoom
Jim McNamara facilitating
All are welcome!
Please join us even if this is your first time!
Jim McNamara writes: Jill and I attended the Family Camp at Moon Beach this year which was led by Winton and Tammy Boyd. The focus of the week was on naming; what does our name mean and how do we (and others) see it in the daily in-and-out routines of our lives. One of our exercises during the week was “writing” a poem based on the example of the poem “Where I’m From” by
George Ella Lyon, which I have copied below:
Where I’m From
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments–
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.
We were each given a page with a blank outline for doing our own “Where I’m From” poem and given forty-five minutes to try to complete it. Some did, others didn’t – but we all were very moved by the experience. I thought it might be interesting to look into our own backgrounds and influences and to see what (and where) this could take us. What we found at camp was that even when we completed our poem, there was always the desire to go back and revise or extend it. So, this could be an exercise to keep us interested over our August hiatus from Java and Jesus.
Here is my poem from camp:
Jim’s poem from camp
I am from Downers Grove
from books and slide rules
I am from always unfinished completeness
and the eternal scraping of paint
I am from towering elms over the street
whose shade and protection reassure me
I am from the big bad brown teddy bear
and the room full of train tracks
from VanHorn and Stuart
I am from calm analysis and stony strength
and from constant loving care
from tenacious, obstinate persistence
I am from quiet under the rafters high
I am from Jenny VanCycle and Neil McNamara
from very dead liver and mushy brussel sprouts
from an escape from too many sisters and Ireland
and from valley farms in Idaho and Washington
from long trips in the back of a station wagons
I am from those moments surrounded in love
and always in unfinished completeness.
Before our session on July 31st, please write your own poem using this blank poem form, and come prepared to share your poem with the group. If you don’t have a chance to write your own poem, come anyway, and enjoy the poems of others.
There is a book of poems generated by seminars and classes using this poem as inspiration. George Ella has an explanation of how this all came about on her web page:
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To join Zoom discussion by phone: 1 312 626 6799
Meeting ID: 836 4943 6657
Passcode: 315584
If you have difficulty accessing the Zoom discussion,
phone Ken Pennings at 608-556-2371
