Tracy Rittmueller's Blog, page 6

12 Places to Put Poetry for National Poetry Month

For impatient people: Because poetry has made me less self-absorbed and more empathetic, you can skip my explanation of why poetry is important enough to deserve a national month celebrating it, and jump straight to the 12 places to put poetry list. Just click here . So here’s the story about why poetry is so important that… Continue reading 12 Places to Put Poetry for National Poetry Month

Withdrawing from Social Media for Lent

Goodbye for now, friends. I’m soon going on another lenten journey and plan to return in early April. It’s common for people of diverse Christian traditions to “give up” something for lent. You could say I’m giving up social media, but this is more than a time of abstinence. For a Benedictine, lent is also… Continue reading Withdrawing from Social Media for Lent 

Muriel Rukeyser on poetry as a weapon against hate

In her 1949 book, The Life of Poetry, Muriel Rukeyser indicates what motivated her to make poems: “Writing is only another way of giving, a courtesy, if you will, and a form of love.” Rukeyser was perhaps as well known for her political activism as for her poetry. Living through the death and destruction of… Continue reading Muriel Rukeyser on poetry as a weapon against hate

Gailand MacQueen on the spirituality of mazes and labyrinths

The Spirituality Center at Saint Benedict’s monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, has a labyrinth, which I am preparing to walk soon for personal and professional reasons. I suppose I could just drive over there tomorrow and walk it, but that’s not how I take journeys. I read up on the places I’m going because it… Continue reading Gailand MacQueen on the spirituality of mazes and labyrinths

Epiphany: a collaborative poem for the sixth of January by Almut Furchert and me

Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi, or wise men who visited the infant child, whom the angels in Luke’s Christmas story announced as “a Savior, Christ the Lord.” They came bearing precious gifts. They were guided by a star to a divine manifestation, an awe-inspiring spiritual experience, the moment of aha—at last I see!… Continue reading Epiphany: a collaborative poem for the sixth of January by Almut Furchert and me

Are you a poet, too?

I feel as if I’ve hauled my sweaty-palmed, embarrassed self to my first P.A. support group, dreading the moment…ugh..now it’s my turn. Inhale. Close my eyes. Exhale. Open my eyes. Scan the room. Say it. Hi, I’m Tracy and I’m a poet. The reason this is a difficult admission for me? Often I’d prefer to be… Continue reading Are you a poet, too?

Trashing My Brand: in rejection of the insane trend toward the monetization of everything

I can’t remember why branding myself with a reader-friendly, easily pronounceable name seemed important. This past year, while living and learning among an intentional community of like-minded, kind-hearted people I discovered that there is one thing I must bring to the community, and thereby to the world, that fulfills my life’s (and my writing’s) purpose–Authenticity.… Continue reading Trashing My Brand: in rejection of the insane trend toward the monetization of everything

Let’s Get Political; Let Me Hear Your Wisdom Talk!

Yes, this headline is a parody of the vacuous 1981 Olivia Newton John hit song, Let’s Get Physical. And yes, this might be a questionable way to headline the most serious-as-a-heart-attack post I’ve ever attempted to write. So maybe a better title to this, my gut-reaction to the recent, sickening news coming out of Virginia would… Continue reading Let’s Get Political; Let Me Hear Your Wisdom Talk!

On Peace, Justice and the Unjustified Opinion; Love Thy Hater

As I write these words, CNN is airing video footage of the Deadly Clashes at Racist Rally, while all over social media people are publishing their opinions. Some of those opinions are justified, while many, from both left and right, are unjustified and morally reprehensible. It breaks my heart that in Virginia, the expression of opinion led… Continue reading On Peace, Justice and the Unjustified Opinion; Love Thy Hater

Susan Thurston’s “Sister of Grendel”: a cultural critique of the epic hero

“And I have at last accounted for this last part of my story.” Beowulf’s voice surrounds me, and his image again appears whole before me. Beowulf the warrior reaches out his hand as if to touch me. I extend mine toward him. “Which causes more pain, I wonder. The words unsaid or the words not… Continue reading Susan Thurston’s “Sister of Grendel”: a cultural critique of the epic hero