“In poetry, language is not the only medium; silence is also a medium. We might even say that, in poetry, the very purpose of the language is to inflect the silences. It’s like after church bells ring: the air resonates with their sound. In poetry, the silences are resonant, from the language that precedes them. . .The silence in poetry is like space in a Gothic cathedral. The function of all that mass of carved stone is to shape a sacred space.”
-Li Young Lee
The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of my favorite places in all of Manhattan. It was my favorite long before I really knew anything about monasticism which to me speaks of the aesthetic draw of monastic spirituality for me long before I could name the hunger I was experiencing.
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
** Visit this week’s Poetry Party! Submit your poem before tomorrow to be entered into the random drawing!**