The Good Oil

Gardeners of Hope by Colleen Keating

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Gardeners of hope

Photo credit: Alicia Jo McMahan/Freeimages.com

Christmas beckons us to be the gardeners of hope, says Sydney poet Colleen Keating.
Gardeners of Hopeperhaps when we are caught
in the world’s tumultwhen we see the edge
falling away from under us

perhaps in time of overwhelm
in this wrecked and shimmering world

when we seem to be   in between  times
with hope   a misty horizon

we can wall our hearts
put on armour of fear
turn away complacently

yet it is “the tiny not the immense”*
Francis Webb reminds us
will teach our seeking eyes

Christmas beckons us
to be the gardeners of hope
tending the earth  nurturing the soil
with love  art  beauty  poetry

it calls us
to be the ones waiting
for the miracle to come

by Colleen Keating

* From “Five Days Old” in Collected Poems Francis Webb

Previously published in The Good Oil  journal SGS

Hildegard of Bingen in the Christmas edition of Good Oil Journal

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , , ,

‘Search out the house of your heart. Hope lies within,’ writes Colleen Keating. 

It is 1178, the year before Hildegard of Bingen dies. The Bishop has silenced the music in their Abbey as punishment and some of the Sisters are feeling discouraged; however, Hildegard still crossed the Rhine to visit her second convent every week and encouraged her Sisters in their work and prayer.By Colleen Keating

Struggle in Exile

Advent
casts deep sorrow.
It is cold, dark, silent.
Hildegard hears mumblings.
She reassures her Sisters
with her presence at Rupertsberg,
her visits to Eibingen.The darkest nights of the year
anticipate the fledgling Christ Light.
In the Chapel candlelight
resolve flickers in her eyes.
Listen, listen, listen.

My Sisters this is our time to listen.
As we pray the words,
listen to their song in your hearts,
she continues,
The Bishop cannot forbid us to listen.                
Silencing the outer sound
does not silence us.
Search out the house of your heart.
Hope lies within.

She points to the fallowed gardens
blanketed by white-sleeted hay.
Contemplate its promise.
As silence in absence of bird-song
reminds us, music will return.

While the interdict diminishes them,
meal time together brings nourishment:
hot spelt bread, garden broths, teas
and from their harvest of stored foods,
bottled quince, the warmth of
herbs and hot berry wines.
They listen to the Nativity story.
Conversation swirls over the tables.

When the postulants, last season,
singing joyfully, picked purple sloes
and red hawthorn berries in the woods,
to brew and bottle,
little did they know the comfort,
their warm wines would be,
how perfect for this dark time.

Colleen Keating

Colleen Keating is a Sydney-based poet and writer. Through her work she “explores the paradox and wonder of nature, the harsh realities of life, of inequality, injustice and increasing threat to our natural environment”. In November 2017 Colleen published her second book of poetry, “Fire on Water” (Ginninderra Press), which recently won a silver Nautilus Book Award. Colleen’s website is colleenkeatingpoet.com.au

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Hildegard gets a Mention in the Good Oil

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The Good Oil

September 2019

Home    September 2019             Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey

Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey

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Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

Hildegard puts us in touch with ecology and a sense of wonder. Her visionary theology is both grand and utterly intimate, writes Colleen Keating. 

Colleen Keating has recently published a new book of poetry, Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, which tells Hildegard’s story in 100 poems.

“Committing to ecological conversion” stands as one of the four areas of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Statement of Directions. This collection of poetry explores Hildegard’s notion of viriditas – the greening – and the call to discover the interconnectedness of all life.

Below is an extract from her book.

 

It is around 1153.

Hildegard sits in the scriptorium with her scribe the monk Volmar and Sister Clara.

 Fiery Light of Writing

A Cosmic web of Creation

wings into Hildegard’s mind

her hand covers her heart

to cradle its ache for expression.

She breathes into the light.

All one,

sing the leaves of the trees outside

a choir of hosannas tremble along branches

their tracery gilded, fiery-gold against the sky.

All one

whirs each drop of water in the Nahr

as it gurgles along

to become one with the Rhine.

Eyes to the heavens,

Hildegard looks into the heart of light,

dictates to Volmar and Clara.

At times she steeples her fingers in thought

voice hardly audible,

at times she dictates from her wax tablets.

Empty parchments fill

like stars stipple across a night sky.

 

Eyes wide open she invokes,

The oneness of creation and humanity

demands justice.

We know fields will no longer yield their fruits

where human greed and injustice

have sought too quick a yield.

 

From the fertile fields of her mind,

Hildegard crafts words

to comfort, console, confront and castigate.

Under the stamp of Papal Approval

embedded in an era of superstition

her words have power.

Her strange pure tongue,

captivates Bishops and Kings,

filters through all social classes.

 

Her presence, her writings, her preaching

offers the hope of change,

a chance to make sense of the world.

 

 

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German literature scholar,

Dr Gisela Nittel will launch the book

on Sunday 13, October 2019

at the Sydney Writers Centre, Balmain, NSW.

All are welcome.

For more information: touchstoneten@gmail.com

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, visit www.ginninderrapress.com.au

Colleen Keating

Colleen Keating is a Sydney-based poet and writer. Through her work she “explores the paradox and wonder of nature, the harsh realities of life, of inequality, injustice and increasing threat to our natural environment”. In November 2017 Colleen published her second book of poetry, “Fire on Water” (Ginninderra Press), which recently won a silver Nautilus Book Award. Colleen’s website is colleenkeatingpoet.com.au

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