Government

Hugh MacDonald: Poet Laureate 2009-2013

Published date: November 16, 2022
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Hugh MacDonald was appointed Poet Laureate in December 2009, serving until January 2013.

At Merton’s Hermitage

Five poets sit

in a sort of symmetry

our awkward placement of hands

reading like young actors

unused to the stage

suspended somewhere between

giddiness and serenity.

How like boys we are

our casual shoes

our worn blue jeans

John B. somewhat

out-of-sync in green

our dew-stained cuffs

soaked while sponging

through full blown

wild Kentucky grass

after Gethsemane’s

massive breakfast of porridge

and eggs, jams and jellies

clumps of peanut butter

racks of perfect toast

steaming cups of tea

then, the air alive

with butterflies and gnats

Brother Paul

and Marty in the lead

John inquiring after

leaf and blade of grass

we stroll a swath

like Merton cut

through domesticated wild places

from the working monastery

to his Hermitage on the hill.

We look about inside

meditate on this concrete cell

that briefly housed

the soul that was his life

our gift the sharing

of his human frailties

his familiar temptations

his hypnotic soaring range of words

then we humbly sit at this shrine

while below us the long view

spans acres of wood and grass

the downward sloping field before

bends toward the world’s gate

our thoughts for the moment

temperate and peaceful

reflect the shimmer of summer

the shade tree beyond the porch

while behind us the empty bed

where Merton slept and didn’t

where within him wrestled

the love of internal peace

the turmoil of animal joy

the mad man-parts

that we all share

the saints we sometimes are

the beasts we can become

the blackened hearth

that conjures fiery pits

and writhing monsters

that we still smell today

separated by time and space

thankful for each garnered day

for light upon awakening

in dread of one last morning

that ends abruptly in darkness.

 

 

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