Your Monday Blessing, from Mark Strand

Posted on December 2, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

Your (belated) Monday Blessing, from poet Mark Strand, who died on Saturday:
A PIECE OF THE STORM

Mark Strand
for Sharon Horvath

From the shadow of domes in the city of domes,
A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room
And made its way to the arm of the chair where you, looking up
From your book, saw it the moment it landed. That’s all
There was to it. No more than a solemn waking
To brevity, to the lifting and falling away of attention, swiftly,
A time between times, a flowerless funeral. No more than that
Except for the feeling that this piece of the storm,
Which turned into nothing before your eyes, would come back, That someone years hence, sitting as you are now, might say:
“It’s time. The air is ready. The sky has an opening.”

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Hamlet – Dramatis Personae

Posted on December 2, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Here, to help guide you,
Is a list of the people
Who speak in the play:

Hamlet’s the main man.
His father, the king, is dead.
Uncle Claudius

Is now king – and Dad,
For he’s married Queen Gertrude,
Hamlet’s dear mother.

Lord Polonius
Has two kids: Ophelia,
Hamlet’s sweetie-pie,

And bro Laertes.
Polonius gives advice
In the royal court.

There’s two courtly dupes,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
(Fun to say out loud),

And Hamlet’s true friend,
Horatio, who visits
Denmark from college.

The king’s entourage
Includes Osric, Voltimond,
Others I forget.

Watchmen keep the view,
Reynaldo does the bidding
Of Polonius.

Fortinbras is Prince
Of Norway. Spoiler alert:
We’ll meet his Soldiers.

Gravediggers, Actors
and Ambassadors will all
Make appearances.

So does Hamlet’s Dad,
The former king. He is dead,
To begin with, but…

Get your copy of the whole haiku play at:

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Your Monday blessing

Posted on November 24, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

Food was growing before I ever knew hunger,
The world spun a thousand beats before my heart’s first gasp,
Friends wish me well, even when I’m sleeping,
And justice is a million years away, and happening now.

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Your Monday Blessing

Posted on November 17, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

not the destination
or even the journey
but the day’s worth of road
with the mountains behind you
and the sun up there somewhere and
a grand, wondering maybe whistling through your bones

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What is the role of religious institutions in justice? A dialogue

Posted on November 14, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

Dear friends, I stumbled across an old paper I wrote about congregations and justice. It’s an imagined dialogue between four giants of Unitarianism and Universalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Clarence Skinner, Olympia Brown and Clarence Skinner. I apologize for the “in jokes” for those unfamiliar with these figures. But the basic topic of discussion – what role should churches and other institutions play in public policy, and how they might help the cause of justice – is a question far larger than Unitarian Universalism. I don’t know whether I agree with any of what I wrote, 7 years ago – but that’s the great thing about writing it in the form of a dialogue!

Bob Janis Dillon
03/05/2007
“Problems in Public Ethics”
Prof. Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz

Paper: “Why should religious institutions be engaged with public issues and how can they do it most effectively?” – A Monologue in Four Parts

Notice: the characters in this sketch are fictional, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely incidental – and due to litigiously bad fortune, rather than good academic form.

Setting: Ralph, Olympia, Clarence, and Kenneth meet, as usual, in the town square of a fine old New England town.

Ralph: Ken! Still marveling at the leaves?

Kenneth: You bet, Mr. Emerson. Still oversold?

Ralph: That’s over-soul, my good man.

Kenneth: That’s not what your agent tells me!

Ralph: Ha! Well, I must admit I’m self-reliant. Hello, Olympia.

Continue reading →

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New book published!

Posted on November 12, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

I’m very excited to announce the publication of my new book, “Hamlet in Haiku: The Bard’s Masterpiece Retold in five-seven five”.

This book “translates” the entire plot of Hamlet into haiku form. It’s an homage to the original, which, I believe, can help bring out the many meanings of this great work. Only $2.99! Make a Shakespearean poet very happy and pick up a copy. Here’s a sample:

ACT 5, SCENE 1

First Gravedigger:        Ain’t she killed herself?
.                     .                 .Why the Christian burial?
Second Gravedigger:   Because they said so.

First Gravedigger:        Drowned in self-defense.
.                 .                     .Viz:assaulted by water.
Second Gravedigger:   It’s because she’s rich.

First Gravedigger:        Great folk get away
.                .                      .With everything. Come, my spade.
.                .                      .Adam was thus armed.

Buy a copy! And – if you want to make me REALLY happy – review it on Amazon and include your favorite haiku in the review. Thank you so much!!!

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Your Monday Blessing

Posted on November 10, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

May the night’s peace find its way into the day’s chaos,
Just as the day’s light glimmers on the night’s mystery.

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Your Monday Blessing

Posted on November 3, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

& the letters not written
& the words that didn’t find mouths
& the kindnesses not enacted
& the reconciliations not achieved
& the embraces not extended
& the drawings left unfinished on the counter
& the apologies not made
& the apologies not conceived
& the dreams not built into the rock
& the gardens gone to seed
& the collective sacrament of justice

And the gratitude that shined forth eagerly
And the hope that carried many days on its back
And the compassion that housed a stranger
And the spark that knew only one name

There is one who cuts into every dance.
Let it be us, the living,
who complete the lives of the dead.

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Sermon: “Ghosts”

Posted on October 27, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77V_nPn3BzQ

Thanks to Dorothea Dix Unitarian Universalist Community for hosting me. Here’s the text of the sermon:

It was after the waves of pirates and princesses,
after the ninjas wearing bathrobes and plastic swords,
after the cute little pumpkin being pushed in a stroller,
and the group of skeletons whose faces lit up in the dark.
It was after the adorable, toddling M and Ms;
and the dragon adorned with a mane of old carpet,
after the older kids who were wearing not much of anything
and the other older kids who seemed
to be dressed only as themselves, with backpacks open and expectant.
It was late at night on Halloween,
that steady stream of wonder and delight,
when the ghosts began to arrive.

Continue reading →

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Your Monday Blessing: Halloween edition

Posted on October 27, 2014 by bobjanisdillon

There may come a time in life’s journey when thine own self
rings as hollow and false as an old fool in an usurper’s court.
Fear not.
Well, OK, fear a little, but wonder, too.
Pick up your plastic pumpkin and travel out past the cemetery,
(where all is mud, sweethearts and emperors alike),
out from the false gods to the dark forest
untroubled by hope.

You may well find, as the fearsome shapes
materialize before you into roots and branches,
that the infernal circles and poisoned swords you worry about
are as much your destiny as a dream,
a mere plaything for the mid-life mind.

And then, at last, you can be true
to who you are not, like the child
growing past herself into the world,
trying on outfits two sizes too large,
giggling at the soul’s vast power
to knock on the doors of absolute strangers, and become
whatever it takes
to taste of life’s sweetness.

There, beyond the wood,
by a strange light,
you find yourself recognized
for who you are not yet,
affirmed in your spells and transmutations,
and the sound of providence
will greet your beggars bowl,
as you turn around to see the stars again.

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