ee

Joel Mitchell writes me letters and, upon my request, sends me an ee cummings poem in each of them. This time he sent one to me over email. I thought it was good enough to post:

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

I have yet to read something of his I don't like.

Priorities

While I put away merchandise (aka, STUFF) at my job I sometimes have conversations in my head with, yes God, but also Mr. Selles, the store manager. I imagine these. Who knows if I imagine the God ones. Anyway, today I imagined Mr. Selles pointing out that my socks were mismatched. And then I realized that matching my socks is my second to last priority, watching television being my last. And then I made a priority list for myself:

1st: Loving God
2nd: Loving people (like the first... hahaha)
3rd: The campout
4th: Feeding my addictions (caffeine, nicotine, sugar)
5th: Creating (writing, acting, you know, art)
6th: Travelling
7th: Laughing/Conversation (they tie or are intertwined. you pick)
8th: Work/Income (JC Penney's/JET Backstage)
9th: Dale's Tuesday Night Bible Study
10th: Listening to music
11th: Writing Letters
12th: Thinking about politics
13th: Reading/Watching movies or plays
14th: Eating
15th: Calling people back
16th: Emailing people back
17th: My clothes
18th: Showers
19th: Matching my socks
20th: Watching Television

That was fun. try it. Explot the mistakes in mine, if you want...