Poem: “Epitath,” by Merrill Malloy
When I die Give what’s left of me away To children And old men that wait to die. And if you need to cry, Cry for your brother Walking the street beside you. And when you need me, Put your arms Around anyone And give them What you need to give to me. I want to leave...
Poem: “Blessing the Boats (at St Mary’s),” by Lucille Clifton
may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back may you open your eyes to water water waving forever and may you in your innocence...
OP-Ed- “Plant and nurture the seeds of peace”
by Rosalyn Falcon Collier Express-News, 23 January, 2021 Since 2006, the peaceCENTER has celebrated San Antonio’s peacemakers with a Blessing of the Peacemakers, held the last Sunday of January to dovetail with the start of the internationally recognized Season for...
Inaugural Poem: “The Hill We Climb,” by Amanda Gorman
When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always...
Poem: “At The End Of The Year,” by John O’Donohue
As this year draws to its end, We give thanks for the gifts it brought And how they became inlaid within Where neither time nor tide can touch them. The days when the veil lifted And the soul could see delight; When a quiver caressed the heart In the sheer exuberance...
Poem: “The Man Watching,” by Rainer Maria Rilke
I can tell by the way the trees beat, after so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes that a storm is coming, and I hear the far-off fields say things I can't bear without a friend, I can't love without a sister. The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on across...
NEWS: Commentary: How we can harness, share compassion
From the San Antonio Express-News, 26 November, 2020 By Dennis Slattery The word “compassion” entered the fringes of social discourse years ago and has now moved closer to the center of discussion for many. Etymologically, its history reaches back to ancient periods....
Poem: “Though there are torturers,” by Michael Coady
Though there are torturers in the world There are also musicians. Though, at this moment, Men are screaming in prisons, There are jazzmen raising storms Of sensuous celebration, And orchestras releasing Glories of the Spirit. Though the image of God Is everywhere...
Poem: “When Great Trees Fall,” by Maya Angelou
When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around...
NEWS: Ayala: San Antonio becomes first city to develop ‘compassionistas’
Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, September 12, 2020 A hint of fall this week gave us a reprieve, however temporary, from a summer that was long and hot and steeped in shared stress. No one in the United States was spared the effects of a mismanaged pandemic, a...
POEM: “Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower,” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Quiet friend who has come so far, feel how your breathing makes more space around you. Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell. As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength. Move back and forth into the change. What is it like, such intensity of...
Happy Birthday To . . . Paul & Phyllis
August 3, 1858 Paul Sabatier "Theories cannot claim to be indestructible. They are only the plough which the ploughman uses to draw his furrow and which he has every right to discard for another one, of improved design, after the harvest." August 3, 1920 P.D. James...
POEM: “I Confess,” by Alison Luterman
I stalked her in the grocery store: her crown of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip, her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,watching the way she placed yogurt and avocados in her basket, beaming peace like the North Star. I wanted to ask, "What aisle...
Immigrant Children and Families Need Shelter and Basics Today
Recent court decision ordered the release of children held in immigration custody due to risk of COVID. Several families are being released this weekend including pregnant women. They need to stay in SA for a short period of time before making the final leg of their...
7 AM Prayer for San Antonio during pandemic
May we be blessed as vessels of healing and restoration. May San Antonio be a strong shelter and may all our residents find protection from COVID-19. May we become more mindful of others’ needs and always come together in a spirit of unity. May those who are sick,...
Happy Birthday To . . . E.B. & Fred
July 11, 1899 E.B. White "I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that doesn't have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular, although many men are born upright." July 11, 1926 Frederick Buechner...
Poem: “How We Could Have Lived or Died This Way,” by Martín Espada
Not songs of loyalty alone are these, But songs of insurrection also, For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel the world over. —Walt Whitman I see the dark-skinned bodies falling in the street as their ancestors fell before the whip and steel, the last blood...
Face masks now mandated for 10 years and older
Donation drives now weekly to help equip the most vulnerable in Our City. Children. Seniors. Homeless. Immigrants. Face masks: Need to be new and washable for reuse Can be handmade or purchased Adult and children-sized both are needed Drop off in person every...
Happy Birthday To . . . Cyril & Czeslaw
June 30, 1909 C. Northcote Parkinson "The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take." June 30, 1911 Czeslaw Milosz "Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a...
Poem: “Incendiary Art,” by Patricia Smith
The city’s streets are densely shelved with rows of salt and packaged hair. Intent on air, the funk of crave and function comes to blows with any smell that isn’t oil—the blare of storefront chicken settles on the skin and mango spritzing drips from razored hair. The...
Happy Birthday To . . . Jean & Alan
June 23, 1910 Jean Anouilh "God is on everyone's side... and in the last analysis, he is on the side with plenty of money and large armies." June 23, 1912 Alan Turing "Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition."
Poem: “Boy Breaking Glass,” by Gwendolyn Brooks
Whose broken window is a cry of art (success, that winks aware as elegance, as a treasonable faith) is raw: is sonic: is old-eyed première. Our beautiful flaw and terrible ornament. Our barbarous and metal little man. “I shall create! If not a note, a hole. If not an...
Happy Birthday To . . . Auberon & Jurgen
June 18, 1838 Auberon Herbert "If we cannot by reason, by influence, by example, by strenuous effort, and by personal sacrifice, mend the bad places of civilization, we certainly cannot do it by force." June 18, 1929 Jurgen Habermas "Each murder is one too...
Poem” “Duplex (I begin with love),” by Jericho Brown
I begin with love, hoping to end there. I don’t want to leave a messy corpse. I don’t want to leave a messy corpse Full of medicines that turn in the sun. Some of my medicines turn in the sun. Some of us don’t need hell to be good. ...