Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,
In celebration of publishing my new collection of poems, Dreaming of Stones, we are delighted to be working with local video production company Morgan Creative to launch a series of poetry videos.
I have two to share with you today:
First, enjoy this one-minute book trailer they created with gorgeous images from Ireland.
Wings
I wake from a dream,
reach towards day as it hatches,
its tiny beak presses against
the delicate shell of sky.
Today I might learn to fly.
—Christine Valters Paintner, poem appears in Dreaming of Stones: Poems
Dreaming of Stones book trailer from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo.
We will be sharing this series of poetry videos every other week through the spring. I love how images have amplified and deepened the meaning of the poems for me. I hope they offer you a holy pause amidst the rush of life.
This first poem video accompanies the title poem of the collection:
Dreaming of Stones – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo.
Dreaming of Stones
In the world before waking
I meet a winged one,
feathered, untethered,
who presses in my palm
three precious stones,
like St. Ita in her dream,
but similarities end there,
her with saintliness and certainty,
me asking questions in the dark.
All I know is
I am not crafted from
patience of rock or gravity of earth,
nor flow of river,
I am not otter with
her hours devoted to play.
I am none of these.
At least not yet.
The stones will still be singing
centuries from now,
made smooth by
all kinds of weather.
If I strike them together,
they spark and kindle.
Do I store them as treasures
to secretly admire
on storm-soaked days?
Or wear them as an amulet
around my neck?
When the angel returns to me
in the harsh truth of last morning,
will she ask
what have I endured,
treasured, and sparked?
Will she ask what have I hidden away
and what made visible?
(title poem from Dreaming of Stones, first appeared in Spiritus Journal)
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE